| Archive In conclusion of his visit to Strasbourg Patriarch Kirill answered questions from journalists 27 May 2019 year 22:14 On May 27, 2019, His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, completed his visit to Strasbourg, France. At the airport, His Holiness was seen off by Metropolitan Ioann of Chersonese and Western Europe, Russian ambassador to France A. Meshkov, Russian permanent representative to the Council of Europe I. Soltanovsky, Russia’s consul general in Strasbourg Yu. Solovyov, Moscow Patriarchate representative to the Council of Europe and rector of the Parish of All Saints in Strasbourg Archimandrite Philip (Riabykh). Before the departure, the Primate of the Russian Church answered questions from mass media reporters: – Why is it so important to open an Orthodox church in Strasbourg, which is called the European capital city? – In opening new churches, we, first of all, respond to people’s wish, for it is impossible to build a church in a place in which there are no believers. For this reason, the opening of a church in Strasbourg is our response to the numerous requests of the Orthodox people, including Russians, Ukrainians – those who reside in Strasbourg and those who often come to this city. The consecration of the church in the presence of a great number of people was a visible testimony of the fact that they need this church. I would like to thank the city authorities, the Catholic Archbishop of Strasbourg, the public who have supported the idea of building a Russian Orthodox church. The construction was carried out in a benevolent and good setting. And, of course, the consecration of this church and a prayer together with Strasbourg townsfolk became an important event for me. – What were you talking about during your meeting with the Council of Europe general secretary? Did you discuss the future of the relations between Russia and the Council of Europe? – Today, there was a positive and substantial talk [with the Council of Europe Secretary General Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland]. We discussed many issues including the participation of Russia in the Council of Europe. In the attitude of the secretary general I saw nothing that could prevent Russia from resuming her participation in the work of this organization. I do not want to go into details of this topic, for it lies in the political sphere. I try to avoid making comments of this kind. But I very much hope that Russia will take her place in the Council of Europe, will continue cooperation with it because the decisions of this organization are important also for ordinary people living in Europe. Besides, it is a remarkable platform for broad and diverse dialogue between representative of Russia and the Council of Europe. I hope that everything will return to its course and this page of misunderstanding will be turned over. |
| Moscow monument to Prince Vladimir provokes ire in Kiev The unveiling of a monument to Prince Vladimir of Kiev, who brought Christianity to Kievan Rus, in Moscow has caused a painful reaction in Kiev, which has accused Russia of a " hybrid appropriation " of Ukrainian history. Moscow points out that Vladimir brings people together with the help of Orthodoxy. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has responded to the erection in Moscow of a monument to Prince Vladimir (Volodymyr in Ukrainian), the man who brought Christianity to the medieval Russian state, by claiming that Russia is indulging in historical revisionism. " In these days, yet another monument has been opened: In the Kremlin, near the unburied Vladimir Lenin, they unveiled a monument to our equal-to-the-apostles Prince of Kyiv Volodymyr. This is yet another attempt of a hybrid appropriation of history, " said Poroshenko on Nov. 8 following the emergence of the 24-meter monument to the prince in the Russian capital. The monument to Prince Vladimir on Borovitskaya Square in Moscow, near the Kremlin, was unveiled on Nov. 4 in an official ceremony attended by senior officials and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. Unveiling the monument, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that " this choice [Orthodoxy] has become a common spiritual source for the peoples of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. " According to Putin, Prince Vladimir is a particularly revered saint, statesman and warrior, as well as the spiritual founder of the Russian state. ‘Kind reminder’ from Kiev The emotional reaction of the Ukrainian authorities to the installation of the monument to Vladimir followed within a few hours after the ceremony in Moscow. Ukraine's official Twitter-account published a photo of another monument to Vladimir – the Kiev one – and a message in English: " Don't forget what the real Prince Volodymyr monument looks like. Kyiv brought Orthodox Christianity to the [sic] Rus. Kind reminder to @Russia. " |
| Photo: greekamericangirl.com My fate brought me to Mexico City during Holy Week of 2019. Feeling a bit guilty that I would be missing the divine services for the most critical period of the Church calendar, what a relief it was when after a short Google search, I uncovered not one, not two, but three separate Orthodox denominations operating in the various corners of the megalopolis that is Mexico City. Mexico is a staunchly Catholic country, so the fact that the Orthodox can stake a claim of ground is nothing less than extraordinary. Down a quiet tree-lined street, in the Colonia Cuauhtemoc just south of the Avenida de la Reforma, stands a white stucco Spanish California-style mission house. It is unassuming and if you were not paying attention, you would miss the label on its iron gate: Monasterio de la Santisima Trinidad. The facade is made of white stucco buttressed by a central tower. The interior features traditional red clay glazed tiles, exposed wood beams, and earth tones. The central patio holds the nave with a curving stairway leading to the choir station and the cells of the monks on the second floor. The Church of the Holy Trinity, La Santisima Trinidad is home for the many Russians, Ukrainians, and former Soviets living in the city. While it started as a church, it has now become a monastery comprised of two brethren, Father Christophoros, a convert from Armenian who served in Cyprus, and Father Arseny, a Mexican convert to Orthodoxy who serves as an iconographer as well as chanter. However, the story of the monastery is entwined with the story of its Igoumen, Archimandrite Nektariy Haji-Petropoulos. His life’s journey with its many diversions, skips and stops, is a tale of traveling mercies that have culminated in the founding of this spiritual center, the heart of the Russian Orthodox presence in a country that once proved hostile to it. “Our existence is a miracle, veritable proof of the Grace and Mercy of God, in as much as, despite all of our needs and challenges, we have become the heart, the soul, and the conscience of the Russian Orthodox community in Mexico,” Igoumen Archimandrite Nectariy exclaims. Archimandrite Igoumen Nektariy Haji-Petropoulos |
| 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 The Extreme Inconsistency of the Behaviour of Patriarch Bartholomew Protopresbyter Ioannis K. Diotis. Theologian, social commentator, writer and publisher. Recipient of awards fr om the Academy of Sciences of Athens for his activities. It is with unprecedented hostility that the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has attacked the Russian Orthodox Church, which accounts for almost half of the world’s Orthodox population. The Patriarch’s behaviour is inconsistent. Here are a few of the ‘outpourings’ of the Patriarch’s heart as published on 2 nd February 2023 by the Ark of Orthodoxy web portal. “It is the Russian Church, which lacks a healthy ecclesiastical consciousness, and not Ukrainian autocephaly, which has widened the gulf between Ukrainians and Russians.” It is the Patriarch himself who lacks an Orthodox ecclesiastical consciousness. It is he, through his uncanonical interference in another church jurisdiction belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate, who has widened the church schism in Ukraine. It is he who granted pseudo-autocephaly to the pseudo-church that he himself instituted in Kiev made up of schismatics, the excommunicated, and self-consecrated who have no priestly rank and persons anathematized headed by the pseudo-primate and pseudo-bishop Epiphanius. He has attempted to deceive all the heads of the churches, all of the fullness of Orthodoxy by asserting that he had restored from the perspective of ecclesiology all those upon whom the Moscow Patriarchate had imposed canonical sanctions. As a journalist I asked the Patriarch to make publicly available the procedure by which he restored those placed under ecclesiastical sanctions, but he said nothing in reply, which masked his nakedness from the ecclesiological perspective. And again, the Patriarch is faced with a challenge for the simple reason that he is obliged to do this. This is a general requirement, a requirement of the whole Orthodox Church. |
| 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 Bishop Victor of Baryshev: The visit of the Patriarch of Constantinople to Ukraine will cause suffering to millions of Orthodox Ukrainians The UOC Information-Education Department has published the translated interview of the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Representation to European international organizations, Bishop Victor of Baryshev, to news-politics.com. - Your Eminence! Recently on the Day of the Baptism of Rus we watched and read that in the procession with the cross in Kiev had participated more than 300.000 believers. Please, share your emotions with us. After all, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is the largest confession in Ukraine? According to our calculations, there were about 350,000 participants in the Great Cross Procession in Kyiv this year. It is the biggest number of participants for the entire time of processions with the cross in Ukraine in general, and in Kyiv in particular. It’s noteworthy that the Great Cross Procession was held on Tuesday, July 27, which means that a lot of Orthodox believers of our Church could not join it because of the working day. In addition, a fairly large number of believers were unable to get to Kyiv either because of financial difficulties or because of the lack of transport. Let me underscore that the overwhelming majority of believers traveled to the capital of Ukraine to participate in the procession with the cross on their own: people came by trains, electric trains, private cars or buses. Therefore, those who came to Kyiv are the people who really had a strong wish to walk along the streets of the capital of Ukraine with a prayer for peace in the country, unity and a peaceful life for the Church. - You might be wondering – why did they do it? What exactly prompted them to attend such an extremely difficult, both physically and financially, event? |
| Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) on the Newly Formed “Church”: “Titanic” is Built and Hits the Road Source: Orthodox Life (Russian) Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) speaks about the signs of the true Church, persecution of Christians, church raiding, and the newly formed “church”. – Your Eminence, why is there persecution of Christians? It seems as if it is increasing all over the world. – Persecution of Christians and hatred of them have existed since the very beginning of Christianity. God immediately warned us about it and commanded to find salvation, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake” (Matthew, 24:9). There is no other way to salvation. Christians challenge the world, worldly laws while keeping the Lord’s commandments. They prevent others from committing iniquities with their lives and moral values. Therefore, the world seeks to destroy them, to wipe them off the map. Christians awaken conscience that calls for the change and repentance, and this is a very painful and difficult process. It is easier to remove the stimulus than to change oneself. Indeed, persecution of Christians around the world has reached unprecedented proportions and cruelty these days. We know about the killings of Christians in the Middle East: in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. According to official estimates, the Christian population in the region has declined by two thirds in just five years. It is the hardest trial that involves strength of mind and strong faith, which modern confessors and martyrs display. For all Christians this is an example of courage and devotion to Christ till the end. – In our country, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has also faced persecution, but in a slightly different form. There is a substitution of concepts: black is called white and vice versa. The Church’s enemies want the true Church to disappear from the face of the earth, want to replace her with a fake, a false church. Why does it happen and how should one deal with it? |
| On February 15, 2016, during his visit to the Republic of Paraguay’s capital Asuncion, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the Russian plot at the central city Recoleta Cemetery, in which Russian émigrés, who joined the Paraguayan Army as volunteers and were killed in the Chaco War (1932-1935), were buried. The primate of the Russian Orthodox Church honored the memory of the dead compatriots and read at the cemetery the prayer for the repose of their souls. Participating in the prayer service were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations (DECR), Metropolitan Anthony of Borispol and Brovary, chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Bishop Peter of Cleveland (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, ROCOR), Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Administrative Secretariat, Bishop John of Caracas and South America (ROCOR), Bishop George of Canberra (ROCOR), Bishop Leonid of Argentina and South America, Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan (ROCOR), Bishop Anthony of Bogorodsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Office for Institutions Abroad, Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman, Archpriest Andrey Milkin, head of the Patriarchal Protocol Service, and the Rev. Maxim Boyarov, rector of the church of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Russian Land in Buenos Aires. Praying at the service were descendents of first wave Russian émigrés. As a sign of respect for the memory of the Russian soldiers, the Paraguayan Army Guards of Honour clad in the uniform of Chaco War times lined up at the cemetery. Prayers were lifted up for the repose of the souls of " the leaders and soldiers of our Motherland who gave their lives for this country and her people and for all Orthodox Christians buried in this land. " At the Society of Officers building, a meeting took place between His Holiness and compatriots and descendents of Russian émigrés. Participating in the meeting were Metropolitan Hilarion, Russian Ambassador N. Tavdumadze and Russia’s Honorary Consul I. Fleischer-Shevelev. |
| 50 Scholars Participate in the Conference “The Legacy of Mt Athos and Traditions of Hesychasm in the History and Culture of Ukraine” Source: ROCOR Photos from news.church.ua Some fifty scholars are taking part in the conference “The Legacy of Mt Athos and Traditions of Hesychasm in the History and Culture of Ukraine” held in Odessa, Ukraine, which began on July 20, 2019, on the territory of the former Athonite St Andrew Metochion of St Elias Skete (now the Odessa St Ilya Monastery), scheduled to coincide with the 170th anniversary of the birth and 25th anniversary of the glorification of St Gabriel of Athon the Odessa Wonder-worker, as reported by afon.org.ua. The organizers of the event are Odessa St Ilya Monastery, the International Institute of the Athonite Legacy and “Christian Odessa” Museum. The plenary session began with the customary greetings received from eminent archpastors. The first was from His Beatitude Metropolitan Onouphry, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who noted that by studying the importance of the Athonite tradition of Hesychasm and theology in the history of Ukraine, the forum participants are not simply touching upon some theoretical questions, but strive to “recognize and understand the depth and active living tradition of monastic asceticism as being constantly in the presence of God and perpetually praying, which makes monasticism the true ‘salt of the earth,’ defending our world from decay and death.” The Primate of the Ukrainian Church expressed hope that “all who study and analyze this remarkable and blessed theme will not only enrich our knowledge, but become another important milestone on the path of our spiritual perfection and experienced contact with the grace-filled power of prayer.” In his message, His Eminence Metropolitan Savva of Warsaw and All Poland stressed the importance of prayer, and, consequently, the significance of the forum’s dedication to the Athonite traditions. “Prayer, which unites all ascetics, serves as a consolation for many, and the means of resolving earthly problems. Especially today, in this era of spiritual dissolution, both the individual believer and contemporary society need it,” he wrote. |
| The June 20 Gray Falcon commentary “Failure to Communicate” has this excerpt, that led me to an extremely anti-Russian and anti-Serb article, from a venue which has previously slanted in that direction: “The latest example of this ‘flipping the script’ is a New Republic feature comparing Putin to Milosevic. In reality, it is the West acting towards Russia the same way they acted towards the Serbs two decades ago. I’ve argued before that Putin is aware of this, though the Russian public and media in general may not be.” Whether the issue is the Caucasus or Ukraine, bombing Russia hasn’t been considered, unlike what Serbia hypocritically faced. Russia’s nuclear power stature provides it with more cover. Contrary to what the aforementioned New Republic article “History Repeats Itself” of this past June 19 suggests, the disputes involving Russia and Serbia, haven’t been simple instances of sinister action by the two against less culpable others. On the subject of Serbia and in contrast to that New Republic piece, I’m reminded of the August 1999 First Things commentary “The Condescension of the Christian West“, which is written by someone who has supported the so-called “Orange Revolution” and more recent Euromaidan protests in Ukraine. (The First Things article is mentioned without necessarily agreeing with everything said in it.) The New Republic article in question underscores the prevailing biases evident within neoliberal and neoconservative leaning circles. Its negatively inaccurate analogy between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the late Yugoslav/Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic is nothing new. Former Clinton administration official Christopher Hill had previously spun that image. He’s by no means alone, among Western foreign policy establishment sources, who’re essentially providing cover for the extreme nationalism that patriotically reasoned Serbs, Russians and some others oppose. The New Republic article’s comparison between the Russian and Serb Orthodox churches (viewed with negativity), with the Croat Catholic and Ukrainian Greek Catholic variants (spun more favorably), is one of several examples. The WW II period and thereafter have seen noticeable pro-Ustasha sentiment in the Croat Catholic Church, which has included Jasenovac concentration camp head Dinko Sakic and key Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic being openly lauded by some Croat Catholics. Similarly, pro-OUN/UPA sentiment in the form of lauding Galician Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, is noticeably evident within the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. |
| 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 The Metropolitan of Kykkos Nicephorus: “The unilateral decision by Patriarch Bartholomew on Ukraine threatens pan-Orthodox unity with a schism of monstrous proportions” On 16 th September a joint presentation by the metropolitan of Kykkos and Tillyria Nicephorus and the metropolitan of Tamasossos and Oreini Isaiah (the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus) was heard at the “World Orthodoxy: Primacy and Conciliarity in the Light of Orthodox Dogmatic Teaching” conference taking place in Moscow at the Christ the Saviour Cathedral. Before this, the metropolitan of Tamasossos and Oreini Isaiah greeted the conference participants with the following words: “Your Holiness, Your Graces, much-esteemed conference participants. I would like to thank you for inviting me and the elder metropolitan of Kykkos and Tillyria Nicephorus to take part in this theological forum. Metropolitan Nicephorus and I decided to give a joint presentation based on metropolitan Nicephorus’ recently published book on the topic of resolving the present-day Ukrainian problem on the basis of the holy canons. This book was recently translated into Russian. … You know that geopolitical events have compelled Cyprus to fall in line with Euro-American policy with all the attendant consequences. In spite of this, we are speaking out and writing, and we are also beseeching God to enlighten us to ‘rightly divide the word of truth’ as our episcopal conscience dictates, no matter what the negatives consequences may be for us. I will no longer detain your attention and I offer you some thoughts by metropolitan Nicephorus, hoping that the saints and martyrs of Orthodox Cyprus and Russia will intercede before our Lord Jesus Christ and the Most Holy Mother of God for the unity of the Orthodox Church and the speedy resolution of this grave ecclesiastical problem which should never have arisen.” |
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