| Meeting between the OCA and traditionalist Anglicans held Source: OCA Natalya Mihailova 23 August 2016 With the blessing of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, a meeting between the Orthodox Church in America [OCA] and the Anglican Church in North America [ACNA] was held at Immaculate Conception Seminary here on Wednesday and Thursday, August 17-18, 2016. Metropolitan Tikhon welcomes ACNA representatives to OCA Chancery. Shortly after its establishment in 2009 by traditionalist former members of the Episcopal Church in the USA and the Anglican Church of Canada, the ACNA entered into informal conversations with the OCA. His Eminence, Archbishop Melchisedek of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania delivered the main dialogue paper, titled “The Universe of Christian Discourse,” which set out to reestablish a common methodology and vocabulary for fruitful and reconciliatory discussions. Priest John Parker, Chair of the OCA’s Department of Evangelization, delivered a talk on the holy priesthood from the Orthodox Christian perspective. ACNA Bishop Keith Ackerman delivered a similar talk from the Anglican perspective. Also present at the meeting was Protopresbyter Leonid Kishkovsky, OCA Director of External Affairs , who offered a perspective on the June 2016 Orthodox Council held in Crete. “The OCA conversations with the ACNA are valuable because we are discovering significant theological affinities as well as identifying some significant theological differences,” Father Leonid said. On Thursday, August 18, Metropolitan Tikhon welcomed Archbishop Foley Beach, ACNA Primate, and members of his delegation at the OCA Chancery. While they had been introduced informally at the 18th All-American Council in Atlanta, GA in 2015, the occasion marked their first formal meeting. OCA and ACNA representatives presented Metropolitan Tikhon and Archbishop Beach with icons of Saints Tikhon of Moscow, John Kochurov and Sebastian Dabovich, which were blessed in the Chancery’s Saint Sergius of Radonezh Chapel. The three saints had participated in a significant Anglican/Orthodox gathering in Fond du Lac, WI in the early 1900s. |
| Why So Few? So few what? People, I mean; so few people actually becoming Orthodox from a completely unchurched background? Let " s be honest here. The growth of Orthodox Christianity in the last 30 years in the west has come about largely through the movement of those who already consider themselves Christians, committed members of other churches in fact, who have discovered Orthodoxy to be the truth about Christ and His Church. 29 September 2008 Source: www.orthodox.clara.net/ So few what? People, I mean; so few people actually becoming Orthodox from a completely unchurched background? Let’s be honest here. The growth of Orthodox Christianity in the last 30 years in the west has come about largely through the movement of those who already consider themselves Christians, committed members of other churches in fact, who have discovered Orthodoxy to be the truth about Christ and His Church. Praise God for those people. I am one of them myself. This however, is not evangelism. Evangelism is preaching and living out the gospel to those who know not Christ at all but who come to receive him as Lord and God in his body which is the Orthodox Church. There are plenty of people in the west who would fit that category as a focus for our evangelisation. In the UK at least such persons constitute the majority of the population, probably 80-90%. The fact that at the last UK Census (2001) about 70% self-declared as Christian means little, for survey after survey shows that this is little more than a tribal response and not reflected in any reasonably sufficient understanding of what the Christian faith actually is and certainly not sustained by any involvement in any church let alone the Orthodox Church. Of course, other churches are asking “Why So Few?” all the time as well. Let us eavesdrop on a conversation between two Christians (not Orthodox) also much exercised by this question. In this conversation you will find many of the positions and counter arguments favoured by non-Orthodox Christians in the west. It’s a “invented” conversation of course but I present it so that we might, as Orthodox Christians, offer our own critique as to why many western cultures are so seemingly impervious to Christianity in general and Orthodox Christianity in particular. Let’s call our conversation partners John (J) and Mary (M). John is a conservative independent evangelical of Calvinist hue; Mary a liberally inclined Roman Catholic. |
| Metropolitan Hilarion meets with State Secretary of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs April 24, 2013 On 24 April 2013, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, currently on a working visit to Germany with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, met with Ms Emily Huber, State Secretary of the German Federal Foreign Office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Metropolitan Hilarion told State Secretary Huber about joint Russian-German public projects, in which the Russian Orthodox Church takes part, including the “Petersburg Dialogue.’ He noted that the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations has fruitfully participated in the activities of the working group of “The Churches in Europe” forum since its inception in 2007. This group unites representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. They meet to discuss public and religious life in thee two countries. Discussed at the meeting were church-state relations in Russia, inter-Orthodox contacts and inter-religious dialogue with participation of the Russian Orthodox Church, and also the problem of eroding traditional values in the contemporary European society and the problems of family and marriage. Metropolitan Hilarion paid a particular attention to the dire situation of Christians in certain Middle East countries. He believes that political changes and military conflicts in these countries have worsened the situation of many local Christian communities. Many thousand Christians were forced to leave their homes. Christian churches are destroyed, and Christians are subjected to violence. On April 22, the unidentified persons kidnapped and take to Turkey Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo, the Orthodox Church of Antioch, and Archbishop of Aleppo Mar Gregorios John Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Church. The mass media reported that the bishops had been released, but this information had not been confirmed by the facts as nobody has seen the bishops since their kidnapping. |
| Israeli Priest to U.S. Pastors: ‘Your Responsibility’ to Protect Mideast Christians Source: Algemeiner.com Priest Father Gabriel Nadaf: Israel is the only place in the Middle East where Christians are safe, and that Israeli Christians want to “serve the country that protects us.” Natalya Mihailova 07 August 2014 “The silence [in the West] to what is happening in the Middle East to Christians is an enormous sin,” Nadaf said. The pastors, who hail from every U.S. state and the District of Columbia, are touring Israel as part of a three-day solidarity mission organized by Christians United for Israel (CUFI). The mission intends to show “support for the Jewish people at a time when the nations of the world have expressed unilateral condemnation for Israel’s choice to defend her citizens from terrorists’ attacks,” according to a pre-trip letter to the pastors by CUFI founder Pastor John Hagee. Father Gabriel Nadaf addresses a group of 51 Evangelical pastors from the U.S. on Tuesday. Photo: Sean Savage. Nadaf, a Greek Orthodox priest and the leader of the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum, has been an outspoken proponent of Christian integration into Israeli society by encouraging young Christians to serve in the Israel Defense Forces. He told the U.S. pastors that Israel is the only place in the Middle East where Christians are safe, and that Israeli Christians want to “serve the country that protects us.” Mideast Christians have come under assault throughout the region by Islamic extremists, especially in Iraq and Syria, where jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) terror group have forced Christians to convert, leave, or die. As an outspoken proponent of Israeli Christians forming their own identity apart from the Jewish state’s Muslim citizens, Nadaf has received numerous death threats from Arabs, and his son was assaulted last year. Nevertheless, he said his efforts have led to a huge increase in Christian enlistment in the IDF over the past few years, with 184 Christians currently serving in the army. |
| Photo: antiochian.org These organizations show how individuals can join their ministries to help more women and children and show them God’s love. In June, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the 49-year-old Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in all 50 states. With the high court’s decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, the issue of abortion law was sent back to each individual state to be decided legislatively. Yet the inevitable protests, slogans, shouting, and angry social media posts all obscured the person who is at the heart of the abortion question: a woman who finds herself pregnant and alone. In this new era, Orthodox Christian providers of crisis pregnancy ministry consider the Dobbs decision an opportunity to increase outreach in loving, sacrificial ways. Photo: antiochian.org Fr. Adam Roberts of St. Paul Church of Katy, Texas , understands this. In 2019, he and producer Fr. John Finley, chairman of the Antiochian Archdiocese’s Department of Missions and Evangelism, released a nine-part documentary, “ In the Name of Choice ,” that raised the central question: how can we as Orthodox Christians show love and compassion to both the mother and the child, when she is struggling with a pregnancy in which she has neither the resources nor the support to see it through? “There is a lot of new interest in the documentary,” Fr. Adam said. “A number of people have told me that they want to do crisis pregnancy ministry full time when they retire after seeing the film.” “In the Name of Choice” profiles several established Orthodox crisis pregnancy ministries, including the Ohio-based Zoe for Life and The Treehouse in Wichita, Kan. These agencies provide a template for any parish or diocese interested in pro-life work that focuses on the needs of both mother and child. Photo: antiochian.org One organization that has been preparing for this new day is Orthodox Christians for Life (OCLife), a non-profit, nationwide movement dedicated to equipping parish communities for pro-life ministry and strengthening the commitment to the sacredness of human life from conception to death. |
| Five Christian Patriarchs meet with President Obama at the White House Source: Syriac International News Agency Natalya Mihailova 13 September 2014 WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — For the first time in history, five Christian Patriarchs representing Christian communities in the Middle East visited the White House to discuss the protection of Christians in theMiddle East with President Obama and National Security Advisor Susan Rice. In Defense of Christians President Toufic Baaklinisaid, “We want to thank President Obama at this critical moment in history for meeting with the representatives of these Christian communities from the Middle East who face suffering and hardship for professing their religious beliefs.” Attending the meeting with the President are: His Eminence, Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Cardinal Raï Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East His Beatitude, Gregorius III Laham Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Alexandria and Jerusalem His Beatitude, Mor Ignatius Aphrem II Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch His Beatitude, Ignatius Youssef III Yonan Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East His Beatitude, Aram I Keshishian Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church His Eminence the Most Reverend Metropolitan Joseph Al-Zehlaoui Archbishop of New York and All North America of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church (Official representative of His Beatitude Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X of Antioch and all the East) His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church ofAlexandria (Official representative of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, the 118th Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of All Africa on the Holy Apostolic See of St. Mark the Evangelist of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria) His Excellency Ibrahim, Ibrahim Bishop Emeritus of Chaldean Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle (Official representative of His Beatitude Louis Rahphael Sako I, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon and the Head of the Chaldean Catholic Church) |
| National evangelization and outreach study released by Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA Moscow, April 25, 2017 Photo: assemblyofbishops.org A new study on the state of evangelization and outreach in Orthodox parish in America has been released by the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA , a group including all the active canonical bishops of all jurisdictions in America. The study, “Go and Make Disciples: Evangelization and Outreach in US Orthodox Parishes,” is the first of its kind, exploring the practices and strategies implemented in “exemplary” parishes from seven Orthodox jurisdictions in America. Both the Full Report , prepared by Alexei Krindatch, the Assembly's Research Coordinator in cooperation with Fr. Eric Tosi (OCA), Fr. John Parker (OCA) and Adam Roberts (Antiochian Archdiocese),and an Executive Summary are available from the Assembly of Bishops’ site. “An urgent need exists in Orthodox parishes in the United States for a much stronger emphasis on evangelization and outreach. The national studies conducted in 20152016 indicated that without paying serious attention to evangelization and missionary outreach, the Orthodox Church in the United States is likely to stagnate, lose its vibrancy and vitality, and decline in members,” the summary reads. The study found that the majority of clergy, both in those parishes identified as “exemplary” and in the “normal” parishes, view Orthodox evangelism more as a “passive” (“Come and see”) endeavor, believing the Church’s teachings and practices and the beauty of its worship will serve to draw people to it, although clergy in the “exemplary” vs. “normal” parishes differ greatly in terms of how this approach is embodied. The study found that essentially all clergy believe that genuine Orthodox Christian lives and parish communities are the best witness to the faith, but “exemplary” parishes provide a better example of it, as well as providing a more inclusive and meaningful worship experience. |
| What the US Can Do to Help Christians in Egypt and Syria An interview with Robert P. George, new chairman of US International Freedom Commission SOURCE: The Catholic World Report By John Burger A Coptic Orthodox bishop prays with local residents at burnt and damaged evangelical church in Minya, Egypt, Aug. 26. (CNS photo/Louafi Larbi, Reuters) Robert P. George is the new chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a panel on which he has served as a commissioner since 2012. Though he has a personal interest in religious freedom—his father’s family is Syrian Orthodox, and some of his relatives have fled Syria due to religious persecution—his outlook is global, overseeing research and reports on limitations on religion worldwide, involving Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and others. Robert P. George The longtime McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, George is a visiting professor at Harvard Law School this year. He is the author of Conscience and Its Enemies (ISI, 2013) among other works. He spoke with CWR August 26, as the Obama administration weighed options on a military response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government against rebels and civilians. The escalation in Syria came a week after tense fighting in Egypt between the country’s military and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi. During the conflict, scores of Coptic Christian churches, institutions and businesses were attacked and destroyed by fire. One church that was razed, the Church of the Virgin Mary in Delga, had survived many upheavals since it was built in the 4th or 5th century. Now it lies in rubble. CWR: What do we know about what’s going on with the Coptic Christians in Egypt? George: The situation in Egypt and the equally horrific situation in Syria illustrate the general plight of Christians in the Middle East. These are very ancient Christian communities, going back nearly to the foundations of Christianity, in many cases. Yet, over a number of years now we’ve seen the erosion of these communities, to the point where one begins to become concerned that before too long there will be no Christian communities left in the Middle East. The Christian community in Iraq was devastated as a result of the Iraq war. Many, many Iraqi Christians fled. In many cases, they fled to Syria, of all places, and now what do we see? They’re now having to flee from Syria. |
| “This is My Body” means “This is My Body!” Ancient Christians were subjected to vicious slanders. They were accused of atheism (for rejecting the gods of Rome), treason (for denying the emperor’s divinity), and sexual orgies (for speaking so passionately of loving one another). Even the stealing and murdering of infants – a slander later applied to European Jewry – was not beneath them. Finally, given their bizarre talk of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of a criminal who had been put to death, they were suspected of cannibalism. For these and other provocations, they would pay a price in blood. They might have acquitted themselves of this last charge had they understood the “flesh” and “blood” of their central ritual as poetic license. Instead, they took literally the gruesome intensity of Saint John the Evangelist, who presents Jesus as saying that life itself is possible only to those who eat His flesh and drink His blood. The belief that Eucharisic bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood of Christ is now commonly called the “real presence.” It has become a standard of division between Catholics, who retain it, and Protestants, who generally reject it in favor of a metaphorical interpretation. Regrettably, any discussion of whether these words ought to be taken literally has been tainted by the metaphysical explanation of how such a change might be possible. The dogma of transubstantiation emerged with the Western rediscovery of Greek philosophy. According to Aristotle, every object has both “substance” and “accidents.” The substance is the underlying essence – the “breadness” of bread. The accidents are the outer appearance – bread’s taste, texture, smell, etc. According to the metaphysics of transubstantiation, the bread and wine retain their accidents, while their substance is transformed into flesh and blood. To a modern mind, this sounds like hocus pocus – a term that is itself a corruption of the Latin “Hoc est corpus meum” – “This is my body.” Our rationalism tells us to accept as real only what is physically observable. Once considered scientific, metaphysical explanations no longer satisfy our minds, which prefer the alternative of reducing the words of the Gospel to a metaphor. |
| Saint Andrew House here was the site of the first Orthodox Church in America Mission School April 20-24, 2015. Photo: http://oca.org/ As reported earlier , funding for the gathering was made possible through a bequest to the OCA for use in the areas of mission and evangelism. Twenty-six participants—13 clergy and 13 lay leaders representing nearly every OCA diocese—attended, in addition to faculty members headed by Archpriest Eric G. Tosi, OCA Secretary, who organized and facilitated the event. Classes were taught by a number of clergy instructors with years of collective experience in mission ministry. Father Eric opened the week with presentations on creating a vision of mission ministry and building a community, drawing on his personal experience as a mission priest in years past, while Archpriest David Rucker, a seasoned missionary in Central America, Alaska and elsewhere, offered a detailed presentation on the Theology of Mission. He drew upon numerous resources and shared some of his experiences in the mission field, emphasizing the centrality of not only become “fishers of men,” but the importance of “knowing one’s fish.” Building upon these themes, the second day opened with classes taught by Priest John Parker, Chair of the OCA’s Department of Evangelization , and Archpriests Daniel Kovalak, Williamsport, PA, and John Reeves, State College, PA. Father Parker emphasized the importance of evaluating mission communities, sharing examples from his own mission ministry. Father Daniel reviewed a number of principles crucial in mission management, while Father Reeves spoke delved into the critical area of stewardship and finance, based on his years of experience in this field. His Eminence, Archbishop Nathaniel and His Eminence, Archbishop Michael, engaged participants in nightly roundtable discussions which offered opportunities for free-ranging questions and reflections. Wednesday’s program opened with a presentation by Father Reeves on the various challenges faced by mission clergy and their communities, after which Archpriest Dr. Steven Voytovich, Dean of Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, spoke in detail of the importance of understanding the elements that make up a healthy parish community. In a second presentation, Father Parker shared insights into the centrality of catechesis in sharing the faith with others. |
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