| 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 Interview given by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman, to Italian news agency SIR Interview given by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman, to Italian news agency SIR. – Can you tell us in which atmosphere and with what sentiments the Holy Synod in Minsk made the decision to break the Eucharistic communication with Constantinople? – The Statement issued by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 15, reads: “To admit into communion schismatics and a person anathematized in other Local Church with all the ‘bishops’ and ‘clergy’ consecrated by them, the encroachment on somebody else’s canonical regions, the attempt to abandon its own historical decisions and commitments – all this leads the Patriarchate of Constantinople beyond the canonical space and, to our great grief, makes it impossible for us to continue the Eucharistic communion with its hierarchs, clergy and laity.” The aforementioned “great grief” is not just a figure of speech: it was a very hard decision, but, regrettably, the latest steps taken by Constantinople left us no other choice. We had not closed doors to the dialogue. In late August, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited Istanbul to discuss the situation with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in a fraternal manner. Our Synod called and continues to call for the pan-Orthodox deliberations on the burning issues. By the way, other Churches put forward the same suggestions. However, Constantinople, following and advancing a theory of some special status of the Patriarch of Constantinople, comparable to the status of the Pope in the Catholic world, rejected all the appeals calling for the conciliar resolution of the problems and by its actions destroyed the unity of the world Orthodoxy. – Is it correct to speak of “schism”? And what does it exactly mean for the future of the inter-Orthodox relationships? |
| 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 Interview of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk to Interfax news agency Your Eminence, recently the Lutheran Archbishop of Turku, Kari Mäkinen, stated that the Russian Orthodox Church has suspended dialogue with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland because of the differences concerning the situation of sex and gender minorities. Can you comment on this statement? The dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland began in 1970. For the past period, many theological and other issues were discussed and a number of joint documents were adopted to reveal the views of the two Churches on various theological and social issues. The next round of the dialogue was to discuss issues of Christian anthropology, that is, the teachings on man and his relations with God and the world around him. In recent years, the Protestant community in the West has experienced a serious crisis as many communities have reconsidered some important provisions of the Christian theological and moral teaching. The impact made by liberal secularism on church life has led some Protestant communities in the West to make a decision to establish female priesthood and female episcopate. It has considerably complicated our theological dialogues with them since their aim was to bring Orthodox Churches and Protestant communities closer together, not to divide them. Another step was made by the decision of several Protestant communities to bless same-sex unions. As a result, dialogue with them has become impossible. This practice is directly contrary to the Christian morality and the moral norms on which the gospel’s teaching is based. The rejection of fundamental ethical norms erodes the notions of sin and virtue and deprives people of moral guidelines, making them helpless in face of their own passions. |
| The Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church will meet in June this year, according to the Athens News Agency-Macedonian Press Agency (ANA-MPA). A decision was made as the Primates are gathered in a Synaxis at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy, Geneva, whose work is done under the presidency of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Of course, for the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church to meet in June, during the period of Pentecost (06/19/2016), the Primates in Geneva must definitely choose the themes and regulations. The decision to convene the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church in Crete, rather than at the headquarters (Constantinople) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was dictated by the " exceptional objective circumstances " (i.e. the recent Russo-Turkish crisis), which basically prevents the Moscow Patriarch Kyrill and his delegation from visiting the City. That is why this Synaxis of Primates is meeting in Geneva and not in the Phanar, as originally planned. The gathering in Geneva involves eleven of the fourteen Primates, with their delegations. Three are missing: Patriarch John of Antioch, Metropolitan Savvas of Warsaw and All Poland for health reason, and Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece for personal reasons. The work of the Synaxis will continue until January 28th. The convocation, " barring the unexpected, " of the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church this year in Constantinople was decided in March 2014 at the Synaxis of the Primates, which had gathered at the Phanar. The themes of the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church includes the following ten topics: 1. The Orthodox Diaspora. 2. The manner in which Autocephaly is assigned. 3. The manner of the administration of Autonomy in semi-independent Churches within the limits of Autocephalous Churches, such as the Orthodox Church of Finland under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. 4. The Diptychs. This is the order of the Autocephalous Churches, according to honor and ranking, by which the Primates are commemorated. The order of the Churches may change. (For example, the Church of Cyprus, although it is one of the most ancient and was recognized by the Third Ecumenical Synod in Ephesus in 431, is tenth in the order, having been surpassed by Patriarchates, which have been granted Autocephaly in recent times by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and not by an Ecumenical Synod.) |
| Archive People in Mariupol have received aid from religious communities in Russia 17 April 2022 year 11:42 On April 15, 2022, in the left bank part of Mariupol, the distribution of the humanitarian aid collected by believers in Russia took place as part of the work of the Interreligious Working Group for Protecting the Rights of Believers against Discrimination and Xenophobia under the Presidential Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations. As a result of the joint efforts, about 15 tons of humanitarian supply consisting of, among other things, a thousand of food packages was collected in a short term and delivered to people in Mariupol. Each kit includes over ten kilograms of the most essential foodstuffs: macaroni, canned high-quality fish and vegetables, pastry, sweets, tea, sugar and other foodstuffs. The aid is targeted: beforehand a list of those in the greatest need was compiled locally and already today the food packages have been distributed to concrete families. Another part of the supply includes children hygienic essentials, as well as aids for nursing bed-ridden patients and the elderly. On the same day, a press conference was held at the International Multimedia Center “Russia Today” on the organization of the humanitarian aid given to Donbass by traditional confessions and religious communities in Russia. Journalists had an opportunity to ask questions of secretary for inter-Christian relations of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate and leader of the Interreligious Working Group for Protecting the Rights of Believers against Discrimination and Xenophobia, Hieromonk Stephen (Igumnov), adviser of the Presidential Office for Domestic Policy Pavel Kostylev; head of the legal service of the Diocese of Russia and Novo-Nakhichevan of the Armenian Apostolic Church Deacon Michael Parsadanian; representative of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha in Russia Bato-Lama Dugarov; head of the Administration of the Presiding Bishop of the Russian Church of the Evangelical Faith Ivan Borichevsky; representative of the Russian Union of the Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals), Rev. Pavel Renner; fist vice-chairman of the Euro-Asian Division of the General Conference of the Church of the Seventh Day’s Christians Oleg Goncharov; and representative of the Russian Orthodox Old Belief Church Roman Atorin. The press conference was moderated by Ms. Olga Lipich, editor-in-chief of the Religions and World View section of the International News Agency “Russia Today”. |
| In recent years, hundreds of Christians have been kidnapped or wrongfully imprisoned, their faith used against them. This sampling helps illustrate how hard it can be for the “little guy,” meaning the estimated 200 million Christians around the world who live under constant threat. Photo: AP Photo, Muzaffar Salman, File ROME – In most parts of the West today, the right to freely choose and live one’s religion is taken for granted. Yet two-thirds of 2.3 billion Christians in the world today live outside the West, often in some fairly rough neighborhoods where religious freedom is honored more in the breach than the observance. According to the latest report from Open Doors, an international watch group that produces annual studies on the situation facing Christians around the world, there are over 60 countries where Christians are targeted for reasons of faith and are in physical danger. Here’s a sampling of Christians kidnapped or wrongly imprisoned amid faith-based conflict, which helps illustrate how hard it can be for the “little guy,” meaning those estimated 200 million Christians around the world who live under constant threat. For what it’s worth, it’s incomplete not for lack of space, time or willingness, but because most of those who are taken on a daily basis never make headlines. Fathers Dom Dawng Nawng Latt and La Jaw Gam Hseng, detained by the Burmese (Myanmar) army on December 24, 2016 On Thursday, the state news agency reported that these two priests had been arrested for allegedly giving information regarding the army to ethnic separatist groups. Human rights organizations, however, point out that the arrests were made because the priests allowed reporters to take pictures of a Catholic church that had been bombed by the military on November 23-24. According to Morning Star News, foreign journalists who’d taken pictures of the destroyed church and adjoining school were pressured by the area authorities- under pressure from the army- to delete the images. |
| 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 Metropolitan Anthony of Borispol: Our faithful feel betrayed by the Ecumenical Patriarchate Metropolitan Anthony of Borispol, chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, answered questions from the Romfea Greek church news agency. The text of the interview is published on the website of the UOC Synodal Information and Education Department. - Your Eminence, on November 13, the Bishops’ Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church took place. What are the principal results of this Council? - First of all, the Bishops’ Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has testifies to and re-affirmed the internal unity of our Church. We know that representatives of our state, who have advanced the idea of autocephaly, have promised to the Ecumenical Patriarch that from 20 to 25 bishops of our Church will allegedly come to the so-called ‘uniting council’ intended to create a new ‘united church’. If not twenty but at least ten bishops will come for sure – this is something of which they in Fanar were sure. In our mass media, it was written that Metropolitan Emmanuel of France was secretly present in Kiev in these days to prepare the so-called ‘uniting council’. Actually, it was only one bishop, namely, Metropolitan Simeon of Vinnitsa, who refused to sign the decision of the Bishops’ Council. This position of Metropolitan Simeon has provoked strong protests among the clergy of his diocese (nearly 50 priests in the city of Vinnitsa protested, and a multitude of lay people supported them). Therefore, Metropolitan Simeon, even if he himself refused to sign these decisions, had to make an official statement that, despite all of this, the decision of the Bishops’ Council is obligatory for the whole Ukrainian Church including the diocese of Vinnitsa. He said that because he realized there is a risk of losing his diocese which does not support him in this matter. |
| 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 Metropolitan Hilarion: Constantinople is no longer the leader of the world Orthodoxy Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, gave an interview to TASS news agency. - Your Eminence, the other day the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church made a decision to discontinue the Eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. How will his decision affect church life in our country and the life of the world Orthodoxy as a whole? - The daily church life of parishioners of churches in Russia will not be affected in any way: divine service are celebrated, people make confession and take communion and live a full-flegded church life. As for the situation in the world Orthodoxy, the actions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to recognize the schismatics in Ukraine, to invade somebody else’s canonical territory and to state its right to cancel decisions made by other Churches have completely changed the pattern of cooperation which took shape in the 20 th century. The Patriarch of Constantinople, who has positioned himself as the coordinator of common Orthodox activity, can no longer be such a coordinator for an obvious reason. He has self-distructed as the coordinating center for canonical Churches by having opted for schismatics and having fully associated himself with them. - Have any alternative responses been considered to the essentially non-canonical decisions of Constantinople? - I would like to draw your attention to the fact that, though Constantinople used to make unfriendly steps towards the Moscow Patriarchate for quite a long time, to which we had to react, at each stage we would still leave an opportunity for them to think twice and review their decisions. However, the decisions of the Patriarchate of Constantinople Synod published on October 11, which ‘revoked’ the decision adopted over 300 years ago to transfer the Metropolis of Kiev to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, admitted to communion the leaders of the schism in Ukraine and stated its readiness to realize the project for ‘Ukrainian autocephaly’, regrettably has not left us with any arguments against a breakup of relations. |
| 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 Metropolitan Hilarion: Middle East and Ukraine – parts of the same strategy The causes of the wide spread of radical Islamist ideologies and ways of solving the problem; the military conflicts in the Middle East as related to the escalation of violence in Ukraine; the fate of the kidnapped Metropolitans of Syria are subjects of the interview given to RIA-Novosti by the chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. - How would you describe the increasing spread of radical Islamist ideologies and violence towards people of other religions in the Middle East? What does it all lead to? And who profits? - The recent growth of extremism under religious slogansis a serious challenge to the entire world community. The destabilization in the Middle East is a consequence of not only the civic confrontation but also of the fact that leading world powers have their own political and economic interests in that region. Some countries stir up inter-confessional strife there, which leads to grievous consequences for the region. When killers, kidnappers and extremists are supplied with arms it is impossible to justify it by any far-reaching political purposes. The destabilization of the entire Middle East, encouraged from outside, has led to the fact that Christians in several countries are facing the threat of full elimination. We are especially concerned by the fact that as a result of this confrontation, Christians are leaving the Middle East en masse and the scale of this exodus is growing every month. Being native people of the region, Christians have to flee their home on pain of death. And even in refugee camps they cannot feel safe in the face of discrimination, threats and kidnappings. The situation in Egypt has shown that when power is taken by those who sternly and resolutely oppose radicals the situation of Christians improves. In a recent interview given by Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria to your news agency, he said that the situation of Christians in Egypt stabilized thanks to the policy adopted by the new President of the country Abdel Fattah Sisi. |
| Turkey Builds 9,000 Mosques, Bans Orthodox Christian Liturgy A total of 8,985 mosques were built between 2005 and 2015 by the Turkish government over the last decade in Turkey, according to statistics released by Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet). The Central Anatolian province of Konya contained the highest number of mosques, Dogan News Agency reported on Sept. 16. Ankara, the southern province of Antalya, the Black Sea provinces of Ordu and Trabzon, and the southeastern province of Diyarbakr were among the other provinces with over 2,000 mosques. While the Turkish government has built so many mosques across the country with state funds, it has banned Orthodox Christian liturgy in the Sumela Monastery, a historic site in Trabzon. Sumela Monastery, located in the district of Macka -- or Matsuka in Greek -- in Trabzon province is one of the oldest monasteries in the Christian world. According to records, it was built by two Athenian monks, St. Barnabas and his nephew St. Sophronios, and was inaugurated by the bishop of Trabzon in 386 A.D. The province of Trabzon, located in the ancient region of Pontos, the northeast portion of Anatolia adjacent to the Black Sea, also has a long Greek and Christian history. The word “Pontos” means “sea” in Greek. “Trabzon was settled by Greeks probably by the 7th century BC,” writes researcher Sam Topalidis for the website Pontos World. “Trabzon was the ancient capital of the Greek speaking Komnenos Byzantine Kingdom (1204–1461). It survived until 1461, eight years after the fall of Byzantine Constantinople when both localities fell to the Ottoman Turks.” After the city’s invasion by the Ottoman Turks, the local demographic began to change; but for centuries, Christians were the majority in the city. According to Topalidis, Trabzon’s Muslim population increased dramatically under the Ottoman rule due to: “However, the most important reason for the conversions was probably due to the higher taxes paid by Christians (compared to Muslims), a strong economic incentive for the poorest Christians,” writes Topalidis. |
| Tweet Нравится Leo Tolstoy—A Mirror of Russian Doubt It is well known that the decision of Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to exclude Lev Tolstoy from the Church was a decision that split Russian society. The great writer's magical personality, his inspired and tragic spiritual searches left no one indifferent to him. After all, both aspects were strikingly resonant with his era—one that brewed great trials for Russia. Of course, the journalists could not pass up such a rich theme for polemics during the centennial commemoration of Leo Tolstoy's death. That is why the debate organized on November 23 by RIA Novosti (a Russian news agency) on the theme of Tolstoy went on for three hours. Present were press agents, representatives of Russian bohemian circles, amongst whom were the author's great-great granddaughter, Thecla Tolstaya, and Priest George Orekhanov, the author of two books that studied Leo Tolstoy's works from an unconventional angle. A contemporary interpreter of Tolstoy's writings, theatrical producer Mikhail Ugarov, tried to set the tone of the discussion. He proclaimed, " Heresies aside, Tolstoy was a major religious thinker whose influence cannot be denied. " In his opinion, the Church not only could not forgive Tolstoy, but it cannot repent of that fact. Against all expectation, this argument did not become a catalyst for sharp polemic. Many fans of Tolstoy's works agreed with the dean of the St. Tikhons Humanitarian University, Priest George Orekhanov. The latter related that, " To the attentive reader, several Tolstoys exist: in Chertkov's publication we see the accuser, the struggler against monarchy. Another Tolstoy is the doubter, the truth seeker, and that is the image which the modern reader has yet to rediscover. " It is widely believed that during the critical epoch of the late nineteenth, early twentieth centuries, the Russian intelligentsia quite readily abandoned Christ. In the words of the philosopher Khomyakov, " If freedom of religious confession were granted in Russia, there would be few Orthodox left—the aristocracy would fall for Catholicism, while the peasantry would become Old Believers. |
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