| 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 of Volokolamsk addresses General Assembly of the World Council of Churches On November 1, 2013, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, delivered an address at a plenary session of the 10 th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches, taking place in Busan, South Korea. The WCC remains to this day a unique instrument of inter-Christian cooperation that has no analogy in the world, said Metropolitan Hilarion, who leads the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the WCC Assembly. In his address, the DECR chairman spoke on major challenges faced by the Christian world today. Among them is the militant secularism which is gathering strength in Europe and America as it seeks to expel religion from public life and to reject the basic moral norms common to all religious traditions. One of the main directions of its activity today is the straightforward destruction of traditional notions of marriage and the family. This is witnessed by the new phenomenon of equating homosexual unions with marriage and allowing same-sex couples to adopt children. Metropolitan Hilarion drew the attention of the assembly participants to the fact that over the past few years same-sex cohabitation has been legalized in a number of states in the USA, a number of Latin American countries, New Zealand as well as France, England and Wales. “Those countries that have recognized in law homosexual unions as one of the forms of marriage are taking a serious step towards the destruction of the very concept of marriage and the family. The family in its Christian understanding is falling apart to be replaced by such impersonal terms as " parent number one " and parent number two”, he stated. The head of the DECR stressed that the response of the Christian Churches to the challenges of the modern world should be based on Divine Revelation as handed down to us in the Bible. “In speaking out against all forms of discrimination, the Church nonetheless must vindicate the traditional Christian understanding of marriage as between a man and a woman, the most important mission of which is the birth and upbringing of children”, His Eminence said, expressing the regret that not all Churches are ready today to vindicate the biblical ideals by going against that which is fashionable and prevalent secular outlook. |
| On This Day November 8, 1866: The Arkadi Monastery Holocaust, Where Cretans Pay Ultimate Price for Freedom One of the bloodiest events in modern Greek history took place at the historic Monastery of Arkadi in central Crete when rebels and almost a thousand men, women and children were hunkered down within the monastery walls, surrounded by 15,000 Ottoman Turkish soldiers who were sent to stop a revolt in the region. The monastery walls were manned by only 259 armed men— Cretan revolutionaries, including 45 monks almost 700 women and children from nearby villages, seeking refuge from the encroaching Turks. The Turkish commander demanded surrender at the monastery walls. The Cretans responded with gun fire. The bloody battle was on and soon, the monastery gates were stormed and a violent battle ensued. The numbers were overwhelming and eventually, all of the Cretan rebels were killed, leaving about 700 helpless women and children holed up inside a storage room inside the monastery compound that was usually used for olive oil and food— but since the revolt, was a storage room for gun powder and explosives. Soon the Turkish soldiers surrounded the massive warehouse that was filled with people and at the most opportune moment, a rebel by the name of Konstantinos Giaboudakis who was inside the room gathered the consensus of all inside to do the unthinkable— ignite the gun powder and die, en masse, as free Greeks. The ensuing explosion also killed more than 1500 Ottoman soldiers The desire of the Cretan villagers to die as free Greeks and the actions of the Turks shocked the world’s public opinion and brought focus on the Cretan struggle for independence. Philhellenic volunteers began arriving on Crete from Serbia, Hungary, Italy— and a Frenchman named Gustave Glourens— so moved by the freedom-yearning Cretans enlisted in their rebel army and organized a small group of foreign rebel fighters, including three other Frenchmen, an Englishman, an American, an Italian and a Hungarian. This group published a brochure on The question of the Orient and the Cretan Renaissance, contacted French politicians and organized conferences in France and in Athens. |
| Archive His Holiness Patriarch Kirill attends concert at Strasbourg Cathedral performed by choir of Kiev Theological Schools 26 May 2019 year 23:45 A concert performed by the choir of the Kiev Theological Academy and Seminary at the Strasbourg Cathedral on 26 May 2019 attracted a very large audience. Among those who attended the concert were His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia accompanied by his delegation and Archbishop Luc Ravel of Strasbourg. Earlier that day a dinner in honour of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church was given on behalf of Archbishop Luc Ravel. In the cathedral the Archbishop of Strasbourg addressed the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church with a speech of greetings, emphasizing an importance of his visit to Strasbourg. He also mentioned the historical meeting between Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Francis that took place in Cuba in 2016. In his speech the Roman Catholic hierarch mentioned the European Parliament election held in France that day. The Archbishop of Strasbourg expressed his conviction that Europe should uphold its Christian roots, called upon Christians of the East and West of Europe to bear joint witness to the greatness of Christ and Gospel, and noted that states should respect the religious identity of its citizens. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill thanked Archbishop Luc Ravel for the warm hospitality, saying, “I have already had an opportunity to thank you for giving support to the construction of a Russian Orthodox church here, in Strasbourg, and now, in the presence of your flock, I would like to thank you once again. This construction drew favourable attention of the citizens of Strasbourg, many of whom are your flock.” His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia also noted that there are many Russian Orthodox Christians living in Strasbourg, for whom an opening of a church is a great joy and consolation. “I believe it to be very important when modern people feel need for a church, because the modern civilization’s values lie in another dimension, far from the spiritual one. When we build churches, when we gather in churches in such multitudes as now, we bear witness to our Christian faith. We insist on the intransient importance of Christian values and express willingness to defend and uphold these values and to bring up our children in accordance with them,” His Holiness continued. |
| Syrian Church Representative in US Calls for End to Bloodshed admin 31 August 2013 © REUTERS/ Mohammed Azakir/Files MOSCOW, August 30 (RIA Novosti) – A Syrian Christian church representative in New York called on Friday for the world community to peacefully resolve the “endless war” in Syria, amid US talks of military intervention in the two-year civil war. The entire world community needs “to sit down together and, through peaceful conversation, agree on a resolution instead of this endless war. That is my message,” Bishop Nicholas Ozone, who serves the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, whose patriarchal headquarters is in Damascus, told RIA Novosti. Christians make up an estimated 10 percent of Syria’s mostly Muslim population. The country’s Orthodox Christians are represented by the Antiochian Orthodox Church, also known as the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, and the Syriac Orthodox Church. US President Barack Obama said Friday that he was considering a “limited” attack in Syria, where, according to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have already been killed in the civil war. US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a speech the same day that there was “clear” evidence that the Syrian government had carried out toxic gas attacks on its own citizens. Two Christian hierarchs – the Syriac Orthodox archbishop of Aleppo and the Greek Orthodox archbishop – were abducted by unidentified assailants in Syria in April, and their whereabouts are still unknown, the Syriac church said. About two weeks ago, unidentified gunmen killed a group of Christians in central Syria, The Associated Press reported. Bishop Nicholas said some 3 million Christians were living in Syria at the onset of the conflict, but many had since fled under asylum to France, Britain, the United States and Russia. He said he hoped they would return when the conflict was over. In July, representatives of the world’s Orthodox Churches gathered in Moscow for celebrations of the 1025th anniversary of the Christianization of Kievan Rus, a medieval state comprising parts of modern-day Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. They adopted a joint statement focusing on the position of Christians in the Middle East. |
| Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk addresses General Assembly of the World Council of Churches admin 05 November 2013 November 1, 2013 On November 1, 2013, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, delivered an address at a plenary session of the 10 th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches, taking place in Busan, South Korea. The WCC remains to this day a unique instrument of inter-Christian cooperation that has no analogy in the world, said Metropolitan Hilarion, who leads the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the WCC Assembly. In his address, the DECR chairman spoke on major challenges faced by the Christian world today. Among them is the militant secularism which is gathering strength in Europe and America as it seeks to expel religion from public life and to reject the basic moral norms common to all religious traditions. One of the main directions of its activity today is the straightforward destruction of traditional notions of marriage and the family. This is witnessed by the new phenomenon of equating homosexual unions with marriage and allowing same-sex couples to adopt children. Metropolitan Hilarion drew the attention of the assembly participants to the fact that over the past few years same-sex cohabitation has been legalized in a number of states in the USA, a number of Latin American countries, New Zealand as well as France, England and Wales. “Those countries that have recognized in law homosexual unions as one of the forms of marriage are taking a serious step towards the destruction of the very concept of marriage and the family. The family in its Christian understanding is falling apart to be replaced by such impersonal terms as ‘parent number one’ and parent number two”, he stated. The head of the DECR stressed that the response of the Christian Churches to the challenges of the modern world should be based on Divine Revelation as handed down to us in the Bible. “In speaking out against all forms of discrimination, the Church nonetheless must vindicate the traditional Christian understanding of marriage as between a man and a woman, the most important mission of which is the birth and upbringing of children”, His Eminence said, expressing the regret that not all Churches are ready today to vindicate the biblical ideals by going against that which is fashionable and prevalent secular outlook. |
| European Catholics to Go on Pilgrimage to Holy Places in Russia St. Nicholas Maritime Cathedral on a rainy day Moscow, August 21, Interfax – Representatives of clerical and academic community of the Roman Catholic Church will participate in the Summer Institute which will be held in Russia on August 24 – September 2 in Russia. “Bishop of Saint-Die-des-Vosges (France), president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity Mgr Didier Berthet will head the delegation,” press service of the Church Post-Graduate and Doctoral School of the Moscow Patriarchate reports on its website. Representatives of the Holy See were invited by the Moscow Patriarchate for extending their knowledge about Orthodox Christianity and modern Russian culture starting from 2015. Protection of Christians and preserving traditional values will become the central topic of the coming institute. The program includes acquaintance with work of Synodal departments of the Russian Orthodox Church, pilgrimage to the holy places and sights of Moscow, Sergiyev Posad, Veliky Novgorod and St. Petersburg, and meetings with renowned people. The Summer Institute is financed by the Russky Mir Foundation and Urbi et Orbi Catholic charitable foundation. Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Also by this author Today " s Articles Most viewed articles Functionality is temporarily unavailable. Most popular authors Functionality is temporarily unavailable. © 2008-2024 Pravmir.com |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf CAROLINGIANS CAROLINGIANS. This name refers to the court of Charlemagne (q.v.), and in particular to the theologians and church leaders whom that king and his successors sponsored in the late 8th and early 9th c. The importance of the Frankish Kingdom (present-day northern France and West Germany) begins in fact with Charlemagne’s father and founder of the dynasty, Pippin I, and the latter’s alliance with Pope Stephen II and the papacy (q.v.) in 754. The alliance promised the popes freedom from the manipulations of princes (including the emperors at Byzantium [q.v.]) in return for recognition of the dynasty’s legitimacy. It marked thus an epochal shift in the ancient axis of the Christian oikoumene (q.v.), from a line running east-west along the Mediterranean Sea to a north-south extension from Rome (q.v.) to the mouths of the Rhine. In this shift the Western Church turned in on itself and, more importantly, away from Constantinople (q.v.) as the throne of the sole Christian emperor. (One should note that the East under the Isaurian Dynasty [q.v.] was going through a similar process.) The shift is marked at once by a political schism, the crowning of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III in 800 as “Roman Emperor,” and by the efforts of the new emperor’s court theologians to isolate the “Greeks,” in support of their sovereign’s universal claims, by branding the Church of Constantinople and the Empire it served as heretical. They drew strength from the establishment and stimulation of new schools and a program in Latin, all of which took place in the context of the Church. The Carolingian theological program saw, among other things, the addition of the filioque to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (qq.v.), together with an insistence on the addition as a necessary article of the Christian faith. Particular stress was also laid on the papal office, an emphasis that was marked in turn by the creation of documents, such as the Donation of Constantine (q.v.), purporting to be ancient testimonies to the pope’s role both as governor of the universal Church and as source of all Christian political legitimacy. In effect a kind of revolution, the Carolingian reform paved the way for modern Europe and, more proximate to its own time, for the Gregorian reforms of the 11th c., the ensuing final rupture between the East and West, and the great papal theocracy of the High Middle Ages. Читать далее Источник: The A to Z of the Orthodox Church/Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson - Scarecrow Press, 2010. - 462 p. ISBN 1461664039 Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное |
| What Ever Happened to the Holy Altar of Hagia Sophia After 1453? According to legend, after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, three Venetian ships fled the city filled with various relics to avoid their capture by the Turks, but the third which carried the Holy Altar of Hagia Sophia, sank into the waters of the Bosphorus in the Marmara region. Since then, in the exact area of the sinking, the sea is always calm and serene, no matter what weather conditions are prevailing in the area. This phenomenon is testified by modern Turkish scientists, who have attempted at various times to discover the cause of this strange phenomenon, but due to the muddy composition of the seabed, their efforts have been fruitless. In the book by Dorotheos of Monemvasia titled A Chronicle from the Creation of the World Up to 1629 (1781), we read: " The Venetians took the most wondrous and famous Holy Altar of Hagia Sophia, the much valued and most beautiful, out of the Temple and onto a ship, and as they set sail and headed for Venice, O the miracle! Near the island of Marmara the ship opened and out fell the Holy Altar into the sea, sinking where it remains today, and this is obvious and testified by many, for that entire area, when there is a storm, and the waves of the sea become fearsome, there is calmness in the place where the Holy Altar is and the sea remains undisturbed. And they go there with boats, to take water from that part of the sea where the Holy Altar is, and it smells of a wonderful fragrance, from holy myrrh and other fragrances. " The father of Greek folklore, Nicholas Politis (1852-1921), writes about the incident: " The day the City was taken, the Holy Altar was placed on a ship, to take it to France in order to not fall into the hands of the Turks. But there in the Sea of Marmara, the ship opened and the Holy Altar sank to the bottom. In that spot the sea is like oil, no matter how much of a sea storm is taking place around it. And this spot is always known by the calmness which is always there and the fragrance coming from it. Many have even been made worthy to see it in the depths of the sea. " It could be just another myth that has managed to survive for centuries in the hearts of the Greeks. But according to the local Turks of Istanbul today, this spot in the sea remains a real unexplained phenomenon. Mystagogy 17 июля 2015 г. Смотри также Комментарии Sally Iloff 11 января 2016, 06:00 What is made to serve God always remains to serve God in original form. God bless this holy place in the sea! Мы в соцсетях Подпишитесь на нашу рассылку |
| In 909, when Viking raids on Mercia began, most of St. Oswald’s relics were translated from Bardney to Gloucester in Gloucestershire by Ethelflaed, daughter of Alfred the Great. The Priory of St. Oswald was founded in Gloucester and it existed till the Reformation. Surprisingly, a part of this tenth century priory has survived to this day (along with several other former monasteries in this city as well as its magnificent eleventh century Cathedral), and a Saxon cross was discovered there not long ago. St. Oswald’s head was later translated to Durham Cathedral and laid in the same tomb where St. Cuthbert’s relics rested. His head is believed to be there to this day. In late medieval times an arm of the saint was translated to Peterborough Monastery (now Peterborough Cathedral in Cambridgeshire) where the chapel in which the relic was held has survived, and there is a Roman Catholic church of St. Oswald in this city. Some minor relics were also kept in Ely (Cambridgeshire) and even abroad—in Ireland and many European monasteries and cathedrals, especially in Germany. Saint Oswald " s church, Bad Kleinkirchheim, Carinthia, one of many churches and place names which commemorate Oswald St. Oswald was considered to be not only one of universally venerated saints in England, but also one of the universal and most famous saints of all Europe. The baptismal name “Oswald” is still very popular in many countries of Europe. Seventy ancient churches were dedicated to St. Oswald in England, and taking into account modern Anglican and new Roman Catholic churches in England, the total number is now even more. There are important churches of St. Oswald in most parts of England, including the churches in both Heavenfield near Hexham and in Oswestry, associated with the Oswald’s victory over pagans and with his martyrdom. Some place-names, like Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire and Kirkoswald in Cumbria, preserve his memory as well. Outside England today St. Oswald is also venerated in Germany (where over twenty churches are dedicated to him), France, northern Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia and Australia. A portion of St. Oswald’s relics is most likely kept at Hildesheim in Germany, Lower Saxony. |
| “As the Holy Spirit moved the hearts and souls of various races, each responded according to its own endowments, to develop our present liturgical The true spirit of our Church, and the witness of the Apostles, must be understood in this way: unity, not uniformity. Orthodox saints in the western whose spiritual life was grounded in the Liturgy of St. Gregory of Rome. The Western Rite has a rich history in modern times, and especially in our recent century. In the 18 th and 19 th centuries, long and heartfelt dialogues took place between Christians in western nations and Orthodox hierarchs. These dialogues finally bore fruit in the 20 th centuries, when a number of Western Rite parishes were brought into communion with the Orthodox Church. The largest, initial groups were in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and France (where St. John of San Francisco was a key contributor and avid supporter). Finally, with the direction of Sts. John, Tikhon, and Raphael, and that of many hierarchs, the Western Rite that we know today has taken root in our American soil. Here, a host of churches worship God and receive the sacraments with the western traditions that have been passed down in since the times of Apostle Peter. St. Peter Western Rite Orthodox Church, Fort Worth, Texas Is the Western Rite liturgy fully Orthodox? The liturgy used in the Western Rite was written by the Apostle Peter and codified by St. Gregory the Great. It is responsible for nurturing the sanctity of hundreds of saints. It has been revered by all the Church Fathers, and embraced by many modern day saints, hierarchs, and theologians. In the 6 th century, St. Gregory the Great took the Roman liturgy that had been passed down from the apostles and reorganized it. Fr. John Connely explains, “St. Gregory revised the variable parts of the liturgy, the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels; but the only change which he made in the Ordinary was by the addition of a few words which is noticed by the Venerable Bede [Hist. Eccl. Lib.2, |
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