| John Anthony McGuckin St. Tikhon (Belavin) (1865–1925) KONSTANTIN GAVRILKIN Vasilii I. Belavin was born into a priestly family in the Pskov diocese. He studied at the Pskov Seminary and St Petersburg Theological Academy, became a monk with the name Tikhon in 1891, and was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood shortly after. After a few years at the Kholm Seminary, where he became the dean, he was consecrated bishop of Lublin, vicar of the Kholm-Warsaw diocese, in 1897, but a year later was sent to the United States as bishop of the Aleutians and Alaska, and he remained there until 1907. In his nine years in America, Tikhon reorganized and expanded the diocese, initiated a number of missions, and encouraged the use of the English language (instructing that Anglican prayer books should be used until translations of Orthodox texts could be published). He provided pastoral care for diverse ethnic groups of Orthodox immigrants from the Old World, since the Russian Church was the only autocephalous church with a proper administrative presence and resources in the United States at the time (the situation dramatically changed after the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, when its material support of the church also evaporated). By 1907 the now archdiocese of the Aleutians and North America had two vicar bishops (in Alaska and Brooklyn) and St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania was under construction, together with new churches in various regions. In 1907 Tikhon was summoned back to Russia and appointed first to Yaroslavl’, then to Vilnius (1913), and finally to Moscow (June 1917). When the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church was convened in Moscow in August 1917 for the first time since the 17th century, Tikhon was elected its chairman and elevated to the rank of metropolitan. The council continued its work despite the Bolshevik coup d’etat in October and the beginning of the new regime’s persecution of the church, which intensified after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1918. Among the council’s primary goals was reestablishment of canonical order in the administration of the church and, first of all, the restoration of the office of patriarch, which had been abolished by Peter the Great in the early 18th century. After a few rounds of voting, Tikhon was elected out of the three leading candidates by the drawing of lots. |
| The 75th Anniversary of the Establishment of the ROC Representation Celebrated in Beirut Source: DECR Photo: mospat.ru On November 6-9, 2021, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Beirut Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church is celebrated in Beirut. On November 6, the St. Demetrius Parental Saturday, Patriarchal Exarch for Western Europe and head of the Moscow Patriarchate office for the institutions abroad Metropolitan Anthony of Chersonesus and Western Europe celebrated the Liturgy for the Repose of the Souls of the Dead in the church of St. John the Baptist in Beirut. He was assisted by Bishop Anthony of Moravici, representative of the Patriarch of Serbia to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; Archpriest Nectarios Khayrallah (Orthodox Church of Antioch); Archimandrite Seraphim (Shemyatovsky), representative of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands of Slovakia to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; and Archimandrite Philipp (Vasiltsev), rector of the Beirut Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church. Among the worshippers were Metropolitan Niphon of Philippople, representative of the Patriarch of Antioch to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; Prof Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin, PhD, Moscow Theological Academy; and Mr. E.I. Skopenko, head of the Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage. The liturgy was celebrated in Russian and Arabic. Liturgical commemoration was made for the deceased rectors and parishioners of the Representation. In his sermon, Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin reminded the congregation that the name of the commemoration of the dead is connected with the victory of the Holy Prince Dmitry Donskoy and his troops in the Battle of Kulikovo, noting that the Lord awaits a feat from each Christian. After the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Anthony of Chersonesus and Western Europe addressed the congregation, greeting the Representation community and the guests. He conveyed to participants a blessing and best wishes from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. |
| Presenting his report to the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which opened on February 2 in Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia spoke on the preparations for the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. " We believe that the Church of Christ is One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic, as the Creed clearly states. The Church is one by her nature. The existence of many autocephalous Churches in the world is a form of the Church’s existence in history most suitable for carrying out her salvific mission. We also know that the Church’s decision-making, important for the Orthodox plenitude, has always required the participation if not of all the Orthodox hierarchs then at least representatives of each Local Church. In this sense, Ecumenical Councils and some other Councils of pan-Orthodox significance are a visible expression of the unity of the Church, her conciliar nature, a reflection of her self-awareness as one body in Christ (cf. Rom. 12:5). " The reception by the whole Church of a particular Council has always been gradual and, as church history shows, no Council could impose its decisions on the Church if they proved to be rejected by the people of God, if there was no pan-Church reception of a Council’s resolutions. " For this reason, no Ecumenical Council became such only by the fact of its convocation: its real significance became clear only after some, and sometimes a very long time. " We do not call Ecumenical the forthcoming Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church. Unlike ancient Ecumenical Councils, it is not called to make decisions on doctrinal issues because such were made long ago and are not subject to revision. It is not called either to introduce any innovation in the liturgical life of the Church and her canonical order. Nevertheless, it may, if prepared correctly, become an important factor in consolidating the inter-Church unity and cooperation and contribute to the clarification of the responses that the Orthodox Church gives to challenges of today on the basis of her age-old Tradition. " |
| John Anthony McGuckin Africa, Orthodoxy in JUSTIN M. LASSER Christianity on the African continent begins its story, primarily, in four separate locales: Alexandrine and Coptic Egypt, the North African region surrounding the city of Carthage, Nubia, and the steppes of Ethiopia. The present synopsis will primarily address the trajectories of the North African Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and the Nubian Orthodox Church. The affairs of Christian Alexandria and the Coptic regions have their own treatments elsewhere in the encyclopedia. ROMAN-COLONIAL NORTH AFRICA After the Romans sacked the city of Carthage in 146 during the Third Punic War, they began a sustained colonizing campaign that slowly transformed the region (modern Tunisia and Libya) into a partially “Romanized” society. In most instances, however, the cultural transformations were superficial, affecting predominantly the trade languages and local power structures. It was Julius Caesar who laid the plans for Carthage’s reemergence as Colonia Junonia in 44 bce. This strong colonial apparatus made North African Christians especially susceptible to persecution by the Roman authorities on the Italian Peninsula. Because the economic power of Carthage was an essential ingredient in the support of the citizens in the city of Rome, the Romans paid careful attention to the region. The earliest extant North African Christian text, the Passion of the Scillitan Martyrs (180 ce), reflects a particularly negative estimation of the Roman authorities. Saturninus, the Roman proconsul, made this appeal to the African Christians: “You can win the indulgence of our ruler the Emperor, if you return to a sensible mind.” The Holy Martyr Speratus responded by declaring: “The empire of this world I know not; but rather I serve that God, whom no one has seen, nor with these eyes can see. I have committed no theft; but if I have bought anything I pay the tax; because I know my Lord, the King of kings and Emperor of all nations.” This declaration was a manifestation of what the Roman authorities feared most about the Christians – their proclamation of a “rival” emperor, Jesus Christ, King of kings. The Holy Martyr Donata expressed that sentiment most clearly: “Honor to Caesar as Caesar: but fear to God.” Within the Roman imperial fold such declarations were not merely interpreted as “religious” expressions, but political challenges. As a result the Roman authorities executed the Scillitan Christians, the proto-martyrs of Africa. Other such persecutions formed the character and psyche of North African Christianity. It became and remained a “persecuted” church in mentality, even after the empire was converted to Christianity. |
| John Anthony McGuckin Assyrian Apostolic Church of the East JOHN A. MCGUCKIN The Assyrian Apostolic Church of the East belongs to the Oriental Orthodox family of churches in the Syrian tradition. The word “Assyrian” was applied to them by the English (Anglican) missionaries of the 19th century (1885–1915) who first established a western mission among them (Coakley 1992), and wished to avoid the pejorative term “Nestorian” that had often been applied to them, so as to signal their different theological stance from both the Non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Miaphysite Churches (pejoratively called the Monophysites) and the Eastern Orthodox Chalcedonians. After this importation of the term by the Anglicans, many among them started to use the word to designate themselves, although an earlier and more common designation had been the “Church of the East.” A. H. Layard, who first excavated the archeological remains of Niniveh, was the first to suggest that the local Syrian Christians were the descendants of the ancient Assyrians, and the idea gained currency among the Anglican missionaries (Wigram 2002). Later, the title “Assyrian” was imported and used among the Syrian Orthodox diaspora, especially in America, as a way to distance themselves as Syriacspeaking Christians from the Islamic State of Syria. The church regards itself not as “Nestorian,” but Christian, while holding Mar Nestorius in honor as a continuator of the teachings of the Syrian saints Mar Theodore of Mopsuestia and Mar Diodore of Tarsus, whose theological teachings are regarded as authoritative expositions. It thus departs from the colloquium of the ecumenical councils, regarding Nicea I (325) as the only authoritative standard. The Council of Ephesus (431) was the occasion of the ancient rupture. But the Council of Chalcedon and Constantinople II deepened the fracture; the latter anathematizing Theodore and Diodore posthumously. After the great christological arguments following on the heels of the Council of Ephesus (431) it was obvious to the imperial court at Constantinople that the task of reconciling the differing approaches to the christological problem would not be as easy as simply declaring and promulgating the “Ephesine” solution. |
| Archive Metropolitan Hilarion: The Russian Orthodox Church originated in Kiev, not in Moscow, not in St. Petersburg 14 January 2019 year 13:04 Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, gave an interview to the TV channel RT. – What can the Moscow Patriarchate do to support the Ukrainian Orthodox Church? – First of all, we are praying for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, for Ukraine and for the Ukrainian people. At every Liturgy we offer special petitions and prayers to God that He helps our Ukrainian brothers and sisters survive at this difficult time of persecution by the Ukrainian political authorities. I deliberately call it persecution because what is happening in Ukraine is evidently an intervention of the state in the internal affairs of the Churches. It was the state which initiated the process of granting autocephaly to two schismatic groups, unified with the view of receiving this document from the Patriarchate of Constantinople. It is the Ukrainian authorities which now insist that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church should change its name. However, according to the international norms, a Church itself should choose its name; it is not for the state to grant the Church a particular name. Yet, this is what is happening in Ukraine. We also note that many representatives of the Ukrainian authorities are considering measures aimed at transferring the property from the canonical Church to the newly created church organization. It concerns, in particular, the two great monasteries – the Kiev Caves Lavra and the Pochaev Lavra. Each of these monasteries has several hundred monks. Besides, the Kiev Theological Academy is located in the Kiev Caves Lavra. So, it is impossible to imagine what will happen to these monks and to the students of the Theological Academy, if these properties will be transferred to the newly created church organization which has not many, but just a few monks. It is not clear at all who will be living in these monasteries and what fate awaits the monks once they are expelled from their abodes. We hope very much that it will not happen, that, as Mr. Poroshenko said many times, each person will be able to choose to which church to go and that there will be no violent seizures of monasteries, churches or other properties. |
| On Sunday 6th December 2015 His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa conducted the ordination of His Grace Athanasios Bishop of Kisumu and West Kenya, at the Holy Patriarchal Church of St Nicholas in Cairo. On the evening before, he officiated at Great Vespers at the celebrating Patriarchal Church of St Nicholas and then the Great Messages of the recently elected Bishops of Mozambique Chrysostomos, Nieri and Mount Kenya Neofytos and Kisumu and West Kenya Athanasios. At the Eucharistic gathering on the feast day, as well as at the ordination of His Grace, His Eminence Elder Metropolitan Gabriel of Leontopolis, Patriarchal Vicar General, His Eminence Makarios Metropolitan of Nairobi, His Eminence Alexandros Metropolitan of Nigeria, His Eminence Nicholas of Ermopolis, His Eminence Nikodimos of Memphis, Patriarchal Vicar of Cairo, His Eminence Niphon Metropolitan of Pilousion, Abbot of the Holy Patriarchal Monastery of St. George in Cairo, His Eminence Metropolitan Ioannis of Zambia, and their Graces Chrysostomos Bishop of Mozambique and Neofytos of Nieri also participated. Many faithful came to the church for the celebrations from both the Greek and Arabic communities of the Egyptian capital. In his address, with deep emotion, His Beatitude said: Your Grace, elected Bishop Athanasios of Kisumu and West Kenya and beloved brother in the Lord, “My you be strengthened with all power giving thanks to the father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:11-12). The hour of Missions in the vast and great country of Kenya “has indeed come.” The fullness of time has arrived, the time of sowing has come as has the time of reaping. At this sacred moment of your ordination as bishop, I wish to stand paternally opposite you and in a spirit of love and advice, to weave into your thoughts my expectations and visions for you, my beloved son Fr. Athanasios. Firstly I want to say to you that the theology of our Church is not only produced through the university desks and the amphitheatres of the theological faculties. The theology of our Church is not a double-headed theology. It is not academic. It does not begin and end in libraries and university laboratories. The theology of our Church begins at the Holy Altar! That is the greatest theological Table which produces the one theology – the theology of the Immaculate Lamb. On the Holy Altar is the sacrificial lamb. It is the broken, divided and never expended Christ. He is the centre “of the entire Church.” He is the lighting strength, the source of sanctity, from which all of creation, strengthened both in logic and intellect sends up the eternal doxology. |
| John Anthony McGuckin Bulgaria, Patriarchal Orthodox Church of STAMENKA E. ANTONOVA The Bulgarian state was established in 681 CE by Khan Asparuch (681–700) on the territory of the Roman imperial provinces of Thrace and Illyria to the south of the Danube river. Khan Asparuch was the leader of the Bulgars, who were Turanian nomads originating from Central Asia, who first led his people across the Danube into territory of the Roman Empire, and then established a long line of successors. In addition to the Bulgars, who possessed warlike tendencies and initiated later expeditions and territorial expansions, there were also Slavs who had been gradually immigrating and settling in the same region from the beginning of the 6th century. In spite of the fact that the Slavs were more numerous than the Bulgars, the latter gained hegemony due to their more aggressive policies. In 681 the Byzantine Empire was compelled to negotiate a peace treaty with Khan Asparuch and to legitimize the claims to power and territory by the immigrant population. In spite of the fact that a peace treaty was made, however, the Bulgars continued to pose a challenge to Byzantine authority. In 811 Khan Krum (803–14) defeated and killed the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus I (802–11), after an unsuccessful attempt on the part of the emperor to vanquish the new state. In 813 Khan Krum defeated Emperor Michael I, in addition to sacking the city of Adrianople and advancing as far as the walls of the city of Constantinople. After the sudden death of Kahn Krum, his successors Khan Omurtag (814–31) and Khan Malamir (831–52) agreed terms with the Byzantine Empire, and stopped the expansion of the Bulgar state to the east, turning instead to Macedonia and territories westward. Although there were pockets of Christians in the new Bulgar state from its inception, they were not only marginal in number but were also suspected by the political leaders as having allegiance to the emperor at Constantinople. In addition to the local Christians (who were indeed under the influence of Byzantine Christian civilization at the time), the Bulgars and the Slavs followed ancestral religious practices and worshipped the sky-god Tengri. Most of the hostile attitude toward Christianity in this era was primarily due to the Bulgars’ fear of Byzantine imperialism and the possibility of strengthening Byzantine influence among the more numerous Slavs. As a result, when Khan Omurtag’s son Enravotas converted to Christianity, he was executed publicly along with others in 833. In order to protect the political and religious integrity of the Bulgar state, Khan Omurtag also formed an alliance with the Frankish Kingdom against Byzantium. |
| Скачать epub pdf On the threshold of the third millennium it is legitimate to reflect on the past of Orthodoxy in North America and to think about the future. Taking a systematic survey of the past is certainly outside the scope of our article. Several studies have been made on this subject but since there is an historical continuity, it would be impossible to speak of the future without alluding to the events which have actually led to the present situation. Some very significant data have to be taken into consideration! Originally, the Orthodox Faith was implanted in America among the indigenous population of Alaska by missionaries coming from Russia and in 1840 a diocese was established, its first bishop, now canonized was St. Innocent. The next stage began when this diocese extended its pastoral care to the immigrants of various nationalities settled in California. An event which can be considered as a decisive landmark in the development of Orthodoxy in America was the return to their ancestral Faith of a large segment of Uniates in the last decade of the nineteenth century. In 1890 the name of the diocese was changed and became the «Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and North America.» The ruling bishop and the clergy had to care for the increasing number of immigrants coming from Eastern Europe and the Middle East. In that context, Archimandrite Raphael Hawaweeny, an Arab by birth, was elevated to the Episcopal rank by the Ruling Synod of St. Petersburg and put in charge as auxiliary bishop in order to care for the Arab speaking communities of the diocese (1904). We can notice that at that time both the ecclesiological requirements of territorial unity and the need of taking into account the linguistic and cultural diversity were harmoniously conciliated. Then Archbishop Tikhon, later Patriarch of Moscow, envisioned for the near future the establishment of a status of autocephaly for the Church of America encompassing of course all the Orthodox of the country. Soon after, however, a series of partly connected events modified profoundly the ecclesiastical situation. As a consequence of the Bolshevik Revolution the relations between the Church in Russia and America were perturbed and the material support from Russia was terminated. During the decades following the end of the first World War, the immigration of Orthodox continued under the influence of political and economic factors. Among those new immigrants, there was a majority of Greeks. Although now in regression, this afflux of Orthodox Greeks has thenceforth never ceased and they constitute the largest and the most socially prominent component among Orthodox Christians in the United States. |
| 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 Volokolamsk begins a working visit to the Antiochian Orthodox Church DECR Communication service, 20.01.2023. On the 20 th of January, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, arrived in Lebanon. Metropolitan Anthony was accompanied by Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, Adviser to His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, Deputy Chairman Department for External Church Relations, and Priest Alexander Ershov, Assistant to the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations. On arrival in Beirut, Metropolitan Anthony and his entourage went to the Metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church, where they were warmly welcomed by its rector, Archimandrite Philip (Vasiltsev), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. The delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church then visited the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Jal El Dib, which is being reconstructed with the assistance of DECR with funding fr om the Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage. Since 2020, with the blessing of the ruling bishop of the local diocese of the Patriarchate of Antioch, Metropolitan Silouan of Mount Lebanon, services have been held in this church for the Russian Orthodox community of Lebanon. Metropolitan Silouan of Mount Lebanon and Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, accompanied by local clergy and Archimandrite Philip (Vasiltsev), performed a thanksgiving service. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Lebanon, A.N. Rudakov, Executive Director of the Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage, E.I. Skopenko, manager of the reconstruction of the church, architect D. Naamen, and numerous parishioners of the Russian Orthodox community were present at the service. |
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