| Given the state of world affairs, it’s hard to imagine that one of the oldest and most successful examples of a religious institution thriving peacefully amid political turmoil lies in the heart of the world’s most notorious conflict, especially when that institution is part and parcel to the very land in question. The Patriarchate of Jerusalem is the oldest continuous and only local religious institution in the Holy Land. Autocephalous (self-governing) in administration, it does not orient itself toward an outside authority in the way that the Catholic presence in Jerusalem refers to the Vatican, for example. The Orthodox Church’s Patriarch, who as a bishop is the direct successor of the Apostle James , is recognized by the local governmental authorities of its jurisdiction, and represents all Christians of the Holy Land. Even the ecclesiastical courts are recognized by both Jordanian and Israeli law. Finding Equilibrium in the Political Realm The approach of the Church of Jerusalem to remain an apolitical entity, an idea which is rooted in theology but applied at every practical level, has contributed to its own long-lasting survival and growth in the Holy Land throughout ages of invasion, war, and entry into modernity. Herein lie some important lessons for the various religions, governments and social spheres that constitute the region. One of the biggest questions facing all of them is to what extent and how exactly religion fits at once with politics into the Holy Land, which by definition invites both a religious and political atmosphere. What makes the case of the Patriarchate such an intriguing one for any person or entity seeking to strike the right balance between religion and politics, free speech and respect of beliefs, is that it is based in a city that is primarily important because of its significance to religious groups yet politically crucial to most of the world. If the delicate dance between religion and politics can work here, in this diverse, tense place where religion is the raison d’être, it can work anywhere. |
| The 150th anniversary of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission " s representation in Jericho was celebrated on the Holy Land The Russian Orthodox Church Department for External Church Relations The Russian Orthodox Church Department for External Church Relations Department History Contacts Documents Archive Insights News Patriarch DECR Chairman Social Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Home page News The 150th anniversary of the Russian Ecclesiastica… The 150th anniversary of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission " s representation in Jericho was celebrated on the Holy Land DECR Communication service, 17.12.2023. On December 15, 2023, the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem solemnly celebrated the 150th anniversary of the founding of its representation in honour of St. Zacchaeus, the holy Apostle of Christ, former tax collector, Bishop of Caesarea in Palaestina, reports the REM press service. The land plot, acquired for the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission by its head Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) in 1873, is associated in the Christian Tradition with the location of the house of Zacchaeus, the tax collector. The ruins of a Byzantine monastery and the mosaic on the tomb of Abbot Kiriak, located on the territory of the representation, are viewed as evidence for that claim. With the blessing of His Beatitude Theophilos III, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine, the festive Divine service on a significant day for the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission was celebrated by Metropolitan Timothy of Bostra (Patriarchate of Jerusalem). His Eminence was accompanied by Archimandrite Vassian (Zmeyev), head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, Archimandrite Parthenios, rector of the Church of the Prophet Elijah in Jericho, Archimandrite Roman (Krasovsky), head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem within the Russian Church Abroad, Hegumen Nikon (Golovko), secretary of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, Archimandrite Amfilohiy, clergyman of the Church of Saints Constantine and Helen of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem; Hieromonk Amvrosy (Ignatov), clergyman of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission " s representation in honour of the Holy Forefathers in Hebron, Hieromonk Innocent (Bespalov), clergyman of the Gorno Nunnery in Ein Karem, and Hieromonk Abraham (Romanian Patriarchate), resident of the monastery in honour of the Holy Prophet Elijah in Jericho. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Speech by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and representatives of Russia’s religious communities. On 25th October 2023 a meeting took place at the Saint Catherine Hall of the Moscow Kremlin between the Russian President Vladimir Putin and representatives of Russia’s religious communities. Participating in the meeting was His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus " . After the presentation by the Russian President, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church addressed the Russian head of state and all those gathered. “Vladimir Vladimirovich, I express my gratitude to you for the initiative of holding this meeting and for the words which you have just addressed to us. This is indeed a much-needed and urgent meeting. I am especially concerned over the many new conflicts which have arisen with renewed force in the eastern mediterranean. The attention of the faithful of the Abrahamic religious traditions has been focused on this region for centuries. Jerusalem was and remains a holy city for both Christians, Jews and Muslims. Palestine and Israel are territories making up the Holy Land where the most important events in world history took place, primarily events directly tied to the encounter between God and the human person. Russia has historically supported the closest ties with the Holy Land, it strives to retain a Russian presence there, the history of which is exceptionally replete with facts and events. The many written testimonies and cultural artifacts point towards the fact that pilgrimage to the Holy Land was one of the most desired and significant events in the life of God-fearing Russian people. It was the securing of the opportunity of visiting the Holy Land for a great number of our compatriots that was one of the main goals of establishing more than 140 years ago by Emperor Alexander III the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society. This organization has undoubtedly made a significant contribution to supporting the Palestinian people, primarily in the educational and social spheres. Schools, homes and hospitals were built, which is to say that great charity work was done aimed at supporting the local population. |
| “The Success or Failure, the Progress or Destruction in Spiritual Life Begins with the Marriage” Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Human life is certainly a serious matter, a spiritual battle and a course toward a goal that is heaven. Marriage is the most critical and most important vehicle of this course. Message of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the 42nd Clergy Laity Congress in Philadelphia July 7, 2014 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Your Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of America, most honorable Exarch of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, beloved brother in the Holy Spirit and concelebrant of our Modesty, Your Eminences Metropolitans, brother members of the Holy Eparchial Synod, Your Graces, Bishops of the Holy Archdiocese of America, Most Devout and Reverend Clergy, Most Honorable Archons, those holding official of the Holy Mother Great Church of Christ, honorable representatives of Parishes and Communities and of all individual bodies and organizations of the Holy Archdiocese, Most Erudite educators, members of the National Ladies Philoptochos Society and of individual Philoptochos Chapters, all esteemed members. All of you, beloved brothers, sisters and children of the Lord and of our Modesty, who will convene in the forty second (42 nd ) Clergy Laity Congress of this Eparchy of our Ecumenical Patriarchate in the City of Philadelphia; grace and peace and blessing from our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ be with you. Our Modesty, your Patriarch feels great spiritual joy and affection by seeing in spirit from Constantinople the children of the Holy Mother Great Church of Christ in America, participating through their representatives, clergy and laity, in the works of the 42 nd Clergy Laity Congress of the unified Holy Archdiocese of America that is being navigated for fifteen years in a God-loving way, prudently and blessedly by your beloved Eminence, holy brother Archbishop Demetrios of America. We glorify and bless the most holy Name of the Lord, from Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, for He gave to the Ecumenical Patriarchate as inalienable inheritance the blessed people of God who live in America and the largest and most glorious active ecclesiastical Eparchy in the free Land of America. |
| Churches discuss problem of shrinking Christian population in Middle East. Housing recommended Jerusalem (Nov. 1) Only days after a special Vatican Synod on the Middle East ended a week of deliberation about the rapidly shrinking Christian communities in the Arab world and Israel, Christians faced a massacre in Baghdad and renewed troubles in Jerusalem. Fifty-eight people including a priest were reported dead Sunday after Iraqi troops stormed the Catholic Sayidat al-Najat church in Baghdad where gunmen linked with al-Qaida had taken dozens of hostages and begun killing them. It was just the latest bout of the anti-Christian violence that has sparked a massive wave of emigration from the troubled country in recent years. In Jerusalem, it remained unclear what caused a blaze early Friday morning that swept through the Alliance Church on Prophets Street, next door to the Jewish ultra-orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim. The use of the church by evangelical and Jewish messianic groups aroused suspicions that the fire could have been started deliberately, but Jerusalem police said their initial investigation did not appear to suggest arson. Decades of discrimination, poverty and occasional violence have taken their toll on the Christians of the Middle East. Tens of thousands have left the region in recent years. Reversing the decline of the rapidly shrinking Christian communities in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and the Holy Land were high on the agenda of last week's Vatican Synod. While the problem of violence in Iraq and elsewhere seems intractable for many Christians, in the Holy Land, church officials have hit on a novel solution: real estate. Churches in Jerusalem and the West Bank, alarmed by the rapid rate of Christian emigration and the creeping loss of some church-owned land to Palestinian gangsters, have initiated a major building program to provide affordable housing to Christian families. A 2006 survey carried out by Sabeel, a Christian think-tank in Jerusalem, showed that the 2005 Christian population of 160,000 in Israel and the West Bank had barely grown since 1945 due to massive emigration caused by continuous warfare, occupation and discrimination. More Palestinian Christians now live in Chile than in the Holy Land, where Christians account for less than 2 percent of the population. In cities like Bethlehem and Ramallah, which a generation ago had Christian majorities, they are now outnumbered by Muslims. |
| Epistle of Patriarch Kirill and the Holy Synod on the Occasion of the 1,030th Anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’ Source: Official Website of the Moscow Patriarchate Epistle of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to the archpastors, clergy, monastics, and laity on the occasion of the 1,030th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’ This document was adopted at the July 14, 2018 session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. Baptism of Rus’ Blessed is the Lord Jesus Christ Who came to love new people, the Russian land and enlightened it with holy baptism (Tale of Bygone Years) Beloved in the Lord eminent archpastors, all-honourable presbyters and deacons, God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters: Today the plenitude of our Church is commemorating the Holy Grand Prince Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles, and recalling with gratitude how 1030 years ago, thanks to this chosen man, mighty in spirit, a watershed event in the history of the Slavic peoples took place. By the action of the Omnibenevolent Holy Spirit, the Prince freed himself from pagan delusions, embraced in faith the Only-Begotten Son of God Jesus Christ and, having received the holy Baptism with his brothers-in-arms, brought the salvific light of the Gospel to Rus’. Why do we call the Baptism of Russia the watershed in the history of our peoples? We do so because it changed forever the entire Slavic civilization and predestined the further course of its development. It was indeed the decisive turn from darkness to light, from wandering in the dark of false ideas to finding the divinely revealed truth and salvation. The Generous Lord the Lover of mankind granted us the unrivalled mercy and great happiness – the possibility to belong to the Orthodox Church, to make up One Body of Christ and to partake of the inexhaustible “spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14). Thus, we “are no longer strangers and sojourners, but… are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone” (Eph 2:19-20). |
| His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem Gives an Interview to the Russian Newspaper “Izvestia” Source: DECR Answering questions from a correspondent of the “Izvestia” newspaper Sofia Devyatova, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem spoke, in particular, about the threats to the Christian presence in the Holy Land, about his vision of ways to overcome problems in the inter-Orthodox relations, and about vaccination and pilgrimage during the pandemic. – Earlier, you voiced a reminder to the entire Christian world about dangerous associations that want to expel Christians from Jerusalem and from the Holy Land in general. How alarming is the situation regarding the change in the status of ownership? Is it possible to find a compromise that will suit all parties? – Today we face a clear and present danger. Christians everywhere should be alarmed on behalf of their brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. The threat of our exclusion is real. Over decades, we have sadly become all too accustomed to Israeli extremist groups who seize properties from Christian families and church institutions, by nefarious means. Now their incursion threatens to extend further. If these radical groups grasp hold of strategic properties on the Christian pilgrim route at the Jaffa Gate, yet more Christians will move out of Jerusalem and millions of pilgrims from around the world will have the spiritual journey of a lifetime damaged beyond belief. Furthermore, the loss of the Christian community, a community that provides education, healthcare, humanitarian support to people of all faiths in the region, would have a devastating effect on the most vulnerable and tragically tarnish the city of Jerusalem as the religious capital of the world. Despite this, Christians everywhere are part of the community of the resurrection. Those of us who worship at the site of Christ’s death and resurrection, bear particular testimony to that sure and certain hope. In this spirit, we seek to work with our neighbours to discover a solution that protects the multi-religious and multicultural tapestry of the Holy City. |
| St. Theodore the Prince of Smolensk and Yaroslav Commemorated on September 19 The holy right-believing Prince Theodore of Smolensk and Yaroslavl, nicknamed the “Black” [i.e. “dark” or “swarthy”], was born at a terrible time for Rus: the Mongol invasion of 1237-1239. At Baptism he was named for the holy Great Martyr Theodore Stratelates (February 8), who was particularly esteemed by the Russian warrior-princes. Prince Theodore was famed for his military exploits. The child Theodore was not in the city when, through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos, the holy Martyr Mercurius (November 24) delivered Smolensk from being captured by Batu In the year 1239. They had taken him away and hidden him in a safe place during the warfare. In 1240 his father, Prince Rostislav died. He was a great-grandson of the holy Prince Rostislav of Smolensk and Kiev (March 14). His elder brothers as heirs divided their father’s lands among themselves, allotting to the child Theodore the small holding of Mozhaisk. Here he spent his childhood, and here he studied Holy Scripture, the church services and military science. In the year 1260, Prince Theodore was married to Maria Vasilievna, daughter of holy Prince Basil of Yaroslavl (July 3), and Theodore became Prince of Yaroslavl. They had a son named Michael, but Saint Theodore was soon widowed. He spent much of his time on military campaigns, and his son was raised by his mother-in-law, Princess Xenia. In 1277, the allied forces of the Russian princes, in union with the Tatar forces, took part in a campaign in the Osetian land and in the taking of “its famed city Tetyakov.” In this war the allied forces won a complete victory. From the time of Saint Alexander Nevsky (November 23), the khans of the Golden Horde, seeing the uncrushable spiritual and the military strength of Orthodox Russia, were compelled to change their attitude. They began to draw the Russian princes into alliances, and the khans turned to them for military assistance. The Russian Church made use of these providentially improved relations for the Christian enlightenment of the foreigners. Already in 1261, through the efforts of Saint Alexander Nevsky and Metropolitan Cyril III at Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde, a diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church was established. In the year 1276, a Constantinople Council presided over by Patriarch John Bekkos (1275-1282) replied to questions of the Russian Bishop Theognostus of Sarai concerning the order for baptizing Tatars, and also for receiving Monophysite and Nestorian Christians among them into Orthodoxy. |
| Exhibition ‘Moscow – the Holy Land of Prince Sergey Alexandrovich and Princess Elizabeth Feodorovna’ was opened in Moscow Source: DECR On November 2, 2015, a large-scale exhibition ‘Moscow – the Holy Land of Prince Sergey Alexandrovich and Princess Elizabeth Feodorovna’ was opened at the State Museum of History. It is timed to the end of the year marking the 150th birthday of Princess Elizabeth Feodorovna and the 110th anniversary of the tragic death of Prince Sergey Alexandrovich. The exhibition is organized by the Elizabeth-Sergey Educational Society foundation, Russian Ministry of Culture, State Museum of History and ROSIZO state museum-exhibition center in cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church and Patriarchate of Jerusalem with the support of the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Moscow city department of national policy, interregional relations and tourism. Taking part in the ceremony were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations (DECR), Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, a DECR vice-chairman, and Mr. V. Legoida, head of the synodal information department. Among the attendees were also Moscow Mayor S. Sobyanin, Russian Minister of Culture V. Medinsky, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs M. Bogdanov, Deputy Minister of Culture Ms. A. Manilova, Deputy Mayor of Moscow A. Gorbenko and other city officials. There were also S. Stepashin, president of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS), and Ms A. Gromova, chair of the supervisory board of the Elizabeth-Sergey Educational Society, a foundation for promoting the revival of the traditions of mercy and charity. Present at the opening were also representatives of state museums, archives and church museums as well as private collectors in Russia. In his address, Mr. Medinsky reminded the audience that Sergey Alexandrovich, an uncle of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, was one of the founders of the Museum of History and presided over its patron board for many years. ‘We remember the wife of the prince, Elizabeth Feodorovna, as an outstanding benefactor, leader of many charitable initiatives, founder of the Ss Martha and Mary Convent, who fully dedicated herself to the tasks of charity. For this, already in her lifetime, she was nicknamed the White Angel of Moscow’, the minister said. |
| The Interference by the Phanar in the UOC-MP Affairs Divides and not Unites People in the Entire Orthodox World Source: Orthodox Life (Russian) Why does the Phanar act so cautiously with Orthodox in America and yet acts in such an irresponsible way in Ukraine? What is the stand of the ROCOR on the policy of the Phanar in Ukraine? We have discussed these and other topical issues with Archpriest Seraphim Gan, Chancellor of the Synod of Bishops and Personal Secretary of the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. —Your Reverence, can you tell us about the situation with the Orthodox jurisdictions in the USA? —In 2019, we are going to celebrate the 225th anniversary of the arrival of Orthodoxy to North American continent. The true faith was spread in our land by a group of missionary monks from Valaam Monastery. Among the saints who shone forth in this land are St. Herman, the Wonderworker of Alaska, who came from Valaam Monastery; the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Metropolitan Innocent (Veniaminov), a great hierarch and the Enlightener of North America; and His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, the future confessor of the faith of Christ, who reinforced the Orthodox presence in the USA and zealously provided spiritual guidance to all Orthodox ethnic groups represented there. St. Tikhon encouraged the translation of Orthodox services into English. He appointed bishops and clergy in the Diocese of North America of the Russian Orthodox Church to give due pastoral care to Serbs, Arabs, Greeks and other Orthodox who found themselves in a foreign land. The famous Holy Hierarch Raphael (Hawaweeny) of Brooklyn (1860-1915; canonized by the OCA in 2000) was consecrated a bishop by the future Patriarch Tikhon to rule Antiochean parishes on the territory of North America. St. Raphael served in Arabic, English and even Church Slavonic in the parishes under his archpastoral care. His holy relics (as were the relics of St. Tikhon of Moscow) were uncovered in the 1990s and found incorrupt. |
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