Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Church of England to push ahead with plan for women bishops

February 8, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

The (liberal) Anglicans won’t quit until their Church becomes completely unrecognizable.

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Undoing Henry VIII?

Women bishops could be in place by 2012

The Church of England is to go ahead with the plan to create women bishops without giving in to demands from traditionalists for a separate structure of bishops and archbishops untainted by the hands of a woman.

Traditionalists oppose women bishops because they argue that Jesus had no women disciples and that the apostolic succession of bishops, passed down by the laying of hands at ordination, should therefore be male.

Traditionalists warned last night that the decision, to be announced at the General Synod today, will trigger an exodus from the Church of England of many thousands of priests and lay people.

The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Rev Nigel McCulloch, will tell the synod at Church House, Westminster, London, that the revision process he is leading is not finished yet, and as a result the debate that was hoped for this month is delayed until July, when the synod meets in York.

Pope Shenouda calls for freedom of worship

February 7, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

H/T: St. Andrew House Discussion Forum

“And they cried with a loud voice, saying,
How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Rev. 6:10
“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Rev. 7:17

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Christ the Teacher (Coptic icon)


St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church of Cleveland, Ohio, USA calls on all Coptic Orthodox Churches, sister churches, ecumenical friends and people of goodwill to designate Sunday, February 14, 2010 as a Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Coptic Martyrs of Nag Hammadi. This is the closest Sunday to the traditional 40 day memorial following the brutal and tragic murders of the six young men who were killed leaving their church on Christmas Eve.

Addressing his flock at his weekly meeting at the Grand Cathedral of St. Mark in Cairo this week, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark told the people of Nag Hammadi and the world that the news of these shootings made him feel as if each bullet was shooting him, that the pain and mourning of the families was his pain and mourning. His Holiness described the young victims as true martyrs who having participated in the Holy Eucharist were killed for no other reason than being Christians. He said their blood sanctified the ground they fell to, and that Nag Hammadi has entered history as a city of martyrdom. He called the freedoms of life and worship basic and fundamental human rights. His Holiness emotionally referred to the killing of the righteous Abel and quoted Genesis 4:10: “And He said, “What have you done? The Voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.”

Read more

A Thought Experiment

February 5, 2010 by Fr. Gregory Jensen ·

Let me offer you a thought experiment.

Yesterday on the Orthodox Church in America’s website there was an interesting press release recounting a “discussion between members of the Holy Synod of Bishops [of the OCA] and a number of congressmen during a late-January 2010 meeting in the US capital” (OCA Holy Synod members share human rights concerns with US congressmen).

The meeting addressed, again in the words of the press release, a

variety of issues affecting traditionally Orthodox Christian lands — among them, the situation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey in light of His All Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew’s widely acclaimed December 2009 interview on “60 Minutes”; the plight of Orthodox Christians in Kosovo and Coptic Christians in Egypt; human trafficking; and other human rights issues.

Let me first say, I think it is a good thing for the bishops to speak with representatives of the US government; it is a very patristic thing actually.  It also speaks well of the Holy Synod that instead of bring their own, relative narrow concerns to Congress, they went not as advocates for Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christians and for human rights more broadly.  Generally and except for pro-life issues, Orthodox social witness has typically focused on matters of immediate interest to the Orthodox community.  The Holy Synod speaking on behalf of human rights generally, and doing so in a face to face meeting with members of the US Congress, is in my view something we should welcome.  Not only that, by our words and prayers we should encourage the bishops to build on this latest meeting.

For such a witness to be fruitful will mean that we must learn how to speak to a broader audience then those sympathetic to the Tradition of the Orthodox Church.  Though not without there own challenges, speaking to traditional Anglicans or Evangelical Christians investigating Orthodoxy is not the same as making a case for human right before the US Congress.  As I have argued here before, and as I will continue to argue, we cannot limit our witness merely to inviting Christians from other traditions to join the Orthodox Church.  We must learn to speak more broadly.  As part of this we must learn how to established collaborative working relationships with those who share our concerns but WHO ARE NOT INTERESTED in becoming Orthodox.

And now, the thought experiment.

Let me suggest that learning to work collaborative with those who are not interested in becoming Orthodox will, on balance, be a good thing for the internal life of the Church.  The more skilled we become in establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with those outside the Church, the more skilled we will become in establishing and maintaining similar relationships among ourselves.

It is to our benefit as a Church to learn how to make our case without having to depend on a shared tradition.  While a good thing, at least in an American pastoral context our shared tradition has resulted in Orthodox Christians–where ever they are in the ecclesiastical hierarchy–making arguments from authority .  To our determinate we are many of more inclined to coerce then persuade.

Absent a way of enforcing my authority such arguments are little better than the posturing of school yard bully.  While my authority might secure your compliance in the short term, it comes at the cost of the long trust between us.  The harm however does not end here.

Consistently arguing from authority–or what is just as bad, preaching to the choir–increasingly restricts my vision of the tradition.  Whether we are talking about a person or a community, with restricted vision comes rigidity, fear, distrust and anger. All of these compromise not only our witness but our shared life.

To be effective, persuasion requires not simply that I constantly meditate on the tradition but that I also make the effort to know you evermore fully.  Yes, I might be tempted to sophistry–but this is hardly an argument for coercion and besides  arguing from authority is equally prone to sophistry.

Are there risks involved in the Church broadening her witness beyond the immediate concerns of Orthodox Christians?  Will we be tempted to compromise the Gospel for political gain?  Yes.

Riskier still, however, is to refuse to work together with others of good will–Christian or not–”in behalf of all and for all.”

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory
UN:F [1.8.1_1037]

Bare Ruined Choirs

February 5, 2010 by Fr. Gregory Jensen ·

Soon after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the roof of St. Andronikos church in Kythrea caved in and fell into its sanctuary. No one came by to clear the rubble, so there’s a heap of ruins on the ground covered with tangled greenery. From where I stand, on top of that heap, I can see that the walls, once known for their frescoes, have been stripped white and are now marked with black and neon graffiti. In some places there remain a few painted figures, including ones of Saints Peter and Paul, but their faces are chiseled out and their bodies have been pockmarked by bullets. Cars roll by every so often, but the one persistent sound is the hum of bees coming from a smashed clerestory window.

I came across this church off a road near the Agios Dimitrios crossing point on the Green Line, the boundary running through the island of Cyprus and keeping it cloven in two radically disparate parts: the free, government-controlled area of Cyprus, and the upper third of the sovereign territory of the Republic that Turkey seized in 1974. Turkey has since held that part under illegal military occupation, and turned it into a rogue breakaway “state” called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), recognized by Turkey only.

Dilapidated churches like St. Andronikos are a common sight here. As the journalist Michael Jansen observes, the north, full of 12,000 years of history at a key crossroads in the Mediterranean, now looks like a “cultural wasteland.”

Read the rest here Bare Ruined Choirs

Russian church leaders defend marriage, speak out on family crisis

February 5, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

Russian Orthodox Church leaders called on Christians on Thursday to be firm in defending traditional marriage and lamented the family crisis in the country.

Pat. Kirill

Pat. Kirill


According to some estimates, over half of the marriages in Russia end in divorce. Women in the 140-million-strong country undergo some 1.5 million abortions annually.

“We, Christians of different denominations, should profess the inviolability of the evangelic norms on the holy matrimony between man and woman,” Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said in a welcome message to participants of an inter-Christian forum for former Soviet republics held in Moscow.

Christians, he said, should “openly testify that deviation from the God-given fundamentals of marriage cannot contribute to forming a healthy individual.”

Another top church official, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk who heads the Russian Orthodox Church’s external relations department, criticized today’s morality.

“Today the scale of priorities for many people looks totally different than what is in line with Christian tradition. Freedom, permissiveness, acquisitiveness, lust for success and career aspirations are in first place rather than traditional spiritual and moral values, family, marital fidelity or giving birth to children and raising them,” he said.

“Abandoned children, a huge number of divorces… a high number of suicides and abortions indicate a deep crisis for the family and social relations,” Hilarion said.

Pat. Kirill on Chambesy

February 3, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

Patriarch Kirill: Every manifestation of Orthodox unity is our common glory, common joy, while a want of unity and every tension, every conflict in the global Orthodox family is a common pain and common defeat

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church pointed to the support of fraternal relations within the family of Local Orthodox Churches as one of the most important tasks of his Patriarchal ministry. ‘We should remember: the Holy Orthodox Church is one as the Lord is one. All the Orthodox nations comprise it’, he said in his address to the Bishops’ Conference on 2 February 2010 at the Church of Christ the Saviour, ‘The administrative borders of Local Churches are necessary of course for ensuring a proper canonical order but they cannot divide into parts the one body of the Church of Christ’.
Read more

Orphangate reopened?

February 3, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

Orthodox Beacon

H/T: Orthodox Beacon

The Orthodox Beacon quotes the National Herald:

BOSTON  — The Executive Committee of the Archdiocesan Council of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, in a letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew dated January 15, demanded that the Patriarch reprimand Metropolitan Theoleptos of Iconium for his letter castigating Archbishop Demetrios for his refusal to help the Sporidis brothers, the 10-year-old twin orphans from Congo. The story was broken by The National Herald based on Archbishop Demetrios’ letter dated December 21, 2009.

Read the full article (requires paid subscription): www.thenationalherald.com/article/42978

We’ll post the full story once it becomes available. Notice how they demand an apology from Met. Theoleptos, a call first made on the AOI blog. Will Constantinople respond? They just might have to given that the demand comes from the Archdiocesan Council of the GOA. Constantinople shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds it, especially when a rogue Metropolitan does the biting.

Here’s the letter:

Read more

Father Arseny: Fact or Fiction?

February 3, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

Sweeter than Honey
Some of you may be aware that there is a discussion occurring asking whether Fr. Arseny actually existed as a real person or is he a literary creation. Dr. Peter Bouteneff in his podcast “Sweeter than Honey” examines this question in light of recent Soviet history, particularly how history was often erased in the Soviet period; personal testimonies of people still alive; the nature of literary narratives, and so forth. It’s worth a listen.

Listen here:

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Patriarch Kirill: Russian Church, Pope agree on many contemporary issues

February 3, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

Interfax

Moscow, February 2, Interfax – When it comes to fighting today’s challenges, the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church stand side-by-side on a number of issues, said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

Pat. Kirill

Pat. Kirill


“We [together with the Roman Catholic Church] have similar positions on many problems facing Christians in the modern world. They include aggressive secularization, globalization, and the erosion of the traditional moral principles. It should be noted that on these issues Pope Benedict XVI has taken a stance close to the Orthodox one,” the Patriarch said at the Bishops’ Meeting in Moscow on Tuesday.

There are growing differences with Protestant denominations, he said. Over the recent years, “the Russian Church has seen less protestant communities cooperating in the cause of preserving the Christian legacy” due to “the relentless liberalization of the Protestant world,” the Patriarch said.

“Alas, not only have they failed to conduct a real propagation of the Christian values among the secular society, many Protestant communities prefer to adjust to its standards,” said Patriarch Kirill, recalling, in particular, the recent election of female bishop Margot Kassmann as head of the Evangelical Church in Germany.

In a dialog with Protestants, the Orthodox Church should search for the very possibility of overcoming fundamental differences, and if that proves impossible, “there remains many other important issues, not directly related with achieving unity in faith and the ecumenical structure, but important in terms of cooperating for the sake of peace, justice, preserving the Divine Creation and in solving other problems that require joint efforts from the people who believe in the Holy Trinity,” the Patriarch said.

Church has right to bring Gospel values to public debate, pope says

February 3, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholic teaching and the truths of the Gospel have a right to be heard in public debate, especially in a country where so many people claim to be Christian, Pope Benedict XVI told the bishops of England and Wales.

However, the church must recognize dissent within its own ranks and not accept it as being part of a balanced discussion, he said Feb. 1 in an address to bishops who were making their “ad limina” visits.

The meeting with the bishops, who were at the Vatican to report on the status of their dioceses, took place as Pope Benedict prepares to visit Great Britain in September.

Referring to the Equality Bill under debate in Britain’s Parliament, the pope said some legislation designed to guarantee equal opportunity for all people actually would impose “unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs.”

Catholic bishops have said the bill means churches could be sued by anyone who was turned away as a candidate for the priesthood on grounds of gender or sexual lifestyle.

[...]

Read the entire article on the Catholic News Service website.

The Tireless Preacher

February 3, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

RussiaProfile.org

The Patriarch’s First Year in Office Has Laid The Ground Work For Further Reform

Pat. Kirill

Pat. Kirill

Prior to Kirill's enthronement in winter of 2009, many church members were wary of his pro-Western sympathies, reformer’s zeal and forceful character that, the fear was, could have led to a schism in the Russian Church. Now that the first year of his patriarchate has elapsed, these fears can be said to have been ungrounded.

When Patriarch Kirill celebrates Divine Liturgy, sound amplifiers make every word he utters audible in every corner of the church – including the Eucharistic prayers that priests usually speak quietly at the altar during the main part of the service.

For a long time, Eucharistic prayers said aloud have been a mark of liberalism in the Russian Orthodox Church. In Russia, few priests had the bishops’ authorization to do so, and conservatives regarded the practice as inadmissible. But Patriarch Kirill resorted to high technologies to resolve the controversy – no one can accuse him of articulating those prayers loudly. At the same time, everyone can hear them. Thus the service becomes more intelligible and parishioners feel more closely involved in it.

Read more

Coptic march Melbourne – What you didn’t see

February 2, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

H/T Free Copts

Gates of Vienna also asks “Where is Freedom of Religion?”

Abp. Hilarion elevated to Metropolitan

February 2, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

Met. Hilarion

Met. Hilarion


Archbishop Hilarion, an emerging and clear voice in world Orthodoxy was elevated to Metropolitan in Russia recently. See pictures here.

Mesmerizing talent

February 1, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

This video shows the winner of 2009’s ” Ukraine ’s Got Talent”, Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch. The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about $75,000.

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Metropolitan Jonah to address 2010 Ancient Christianity Conference May 14-16

February 1, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

ANNISTON, AL [OCA] — His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Ancient Christianity Conference at Saint Luke Mission here May 14-16, 2010.

Moses the Black

Moses the Black


The conference, the theme of which is “Jesus Christ, the Great Physician,” will be sponsored by the Brotherhood of Saint Moses the Black, a pan-Orthodox, non-profit ministry devoted to sharing the richness of the Orthodox Christian tradition and its African roots with Americans who have had little exposure to the faith.

Other speakers include Abbot Gerasim; Fathers Moses Berry, Jerome Sanderson, and Paisius Altschul; Deacon Nathaniel Johnson; and Mother Katherine.

The conference fee, which does not include housing, is $40.00. Special hotel rates are available through April 13 by calling the Victoria Inn at 256-235-0503.

To register and/or obtain additional information on the Brotherhood and the conference, log on to www.mosestheblack.org.

Archbishop of Canterbury receives honorary doctorate at St. Vladimir’s Seminary

January 30, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Contact: Deborah Belonick, Advancement Information Officer
St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary
914-961-8313 ext 363 / 914-961-4507 FAX deborah@svots.edu http://www.svots.edu/

[SVS Communications / Yonkers, NY] — Dr. Rowan Williams began his New York City tour this past week with duties related to his role as Archbishop of Canterbury, but ended it by demonstrating his academic acumen and continued interest in the Orthodox Christian faith. On Saturday, January 30, 2010, the Anglican archbishop delivered the 27th annual Father Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture – this year titled “Theology and Contemplative Calling: The Image of Humanity in the Philokalia” – and received an honorary doctoral degree on the campus of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary.

During his visit, Dr. Williams also attended Divine Liturgy and had a lively and frank discussion with the theological faculty of St. Vladimir’s at a private brunch. After the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Jonah, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), and the Anglican archbishop both publically expressed their desire for a deeper personal friendship and their hope for deeper understanding and cooperation between their respective communions. Four hundred people attended the lecture and ceremony, distinguished by an episcopal presence from both the Orthodox and Anglican faiths.
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Forty years of feminism now bearing fruit

January 30, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

Maybe the essay below will help St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS) understand why the conferral of a doctorate on Dr. Rowan Williams has been met with criticism from those outside the academy. For most, the issue is not whether Dr. Williams merits the honor as an academic, but that his refusal to act against the moral deconstruction of Anglicanism shows that he does not comprehend the destruction that the licentiousness championed by liberal Anglicans causes in the larger culture. The author rightly condemns feminist ideology as a source of moral confusion in the culture, and clearly the capitulation to feminists is a major reason for the Anglican collapse.

I am the father of a fourteen year old girl. I’ve worked with teens for twenty-five years. What the author below reports is happening in the teen culture in America is true. Don’t flinch at the brutally frank tone of the essay. Not all teens fall victim to the prevailing culture of course, but all face it.

I could tell you many stories of teens who fell off the cliff. Filled with regret and shame they come for healing. Fortunately we have confession and they get a chance to start over. A few weeks ago I heard a story of a fourteen year old girl who gave oral sex to a boy hoping to win his approval. It devastated her. Other girls found out and she went around asking for forgiveness afraid she was going to lose her friends. She is too young to be dealing with these emotional demands. But she lives in a sexualized culture where there are too few adult voices to guide her and so she becomes prey to the exploiters who dominate her world.

It’s concerns like this that inform the criticism and leads to this question: Why is an Orthodox seminary giving an award to a leader who did little to stop the legitimization of licentiousness in an institution that was charged with the defense of the Christian moral tradition?

Is it fair to reduce all of Dr. Rowan’s ministry to this failure of leadership? No, of course not. But the issue here is not Dr. Rowan. It’s the conferral of the degree. To the critics, the conferral implies an approval beyond Dr. Rowan’s academic achievements. This is because the seminary possesses an imprimatur that reaches far beyond its walls. The seminary must exercise its authority with greater discretion especially when it touches problems that people outside the academy deal with concretely. The distance between poor leadership and destructive consequences is not that great.

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The American Thinker Pam Geller

A new documentary, Oral Sex Is the New Goodnight Kiss, chronicles America’s moral decay. Sharlene Azam, a Canadian filmmaker, says, "If you talk to teens [about oral sex], they’ll tell you it’s not a big deal. In fact, they don’t consider it sex. They don’t consider a lot of things sex." In the documentary, teenage girls talk casually about their sexual experiences and even their forays into prostitution.

One girl sums up the new attitudes: "Five minutes and I got $100. If I’m going to sleep with them anyway because they’re good-looking, might as well get paid for it, right?"

Azam said that this was going on in good homes right under parents’ noses: "The prettiest girls from the most successful families [are the most at risk]. We’re not talking about marginalized girls. [Parents] don’t want to know because they really don’t know what to do. I mean, you might be prepared to learn that, at age 12, your daughter has had sex, but what are you supposed to do when your daughter has traded her virginity for $1,000 or a new bag?"

Read more

Russian Orthodox Church Sets Out To Be ‘First Among Equals’

January 30, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty H/T: St. Andrew House Discussion Forum

Is the Russian Orthodox Church set to launch a "new crusade" — at home and abroad?

Pat. Kirill

Pat. Kirill

Father Daniel Sysoyev, a prominent Russian missionary, recently urged the opening of an Orthodox "base" in Kyrgyzstan from which to launch a proselytizing "offensive" across mostly Muslim Central Asia. Speaking at a forum in Moscow on February 17, Sysoyev said the church should open theological faculties in Bishkek universities and "use Kyrgyzstan as a base for all of Central Asia, Afghanistan, Tibet, and China."

Central Asia, he said, could prove fertile ground. After all, since 1992, a half-million Central Asians have become Protestant converts. And Catholic missionaries, the priest added, successfully set up a Kyrgyz diocese in just a few years.

Bakyt Murzubraimov, chairman of the theology department at Osh State University in Kyrgyzstan, dismisses Sysoyev’s ideas as "nonsense" that would never work in Central Asia. But the priest’s remarks, and others by senior Russian clergy, reinforce a sense that Kirill, who took over as patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church on February 1, intends to intensify his church’s politically fraught mission at home and in Russia’s "near abroad" — with the apparent full blessing of the Kremlin.

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Catholic Herald: In Russia, the path to unity is defrosting

January 29, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

Roman Catholic reporting about union between Rome and Orthodoxy tends to be over optimistic. The Catholics seem to want union much more than the Orthodox do. A clearer assessment might be that Moscow sees cooperation with Rome as necessary to re-Christianize Europe, to help Europe rediscover its moral and religious moorings. Nevertheless, a significant thaw is occurring.

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Neville Kyrke-Smith has visited Eastern Europe for the past 25 years. Now, he believes the end of the schism with the Orthodox is in sight

“The Lefebvrists, the Anglicans… will it be the Orthodox next?” asked one slightly bewildered Catholic priest recently. Pope Benedict XVI is turning out to be ecumenically audacious. For this he has faced criticism, misunderstanding and accusations of insensitivity. But Pope Benedict and Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church seem now to be making progress in preparing the ground to overcome the Great Schism of 1054.

Pope Benedict meets Met. Kyrill in 2007 before he became Patriarch of Moscow

Pope Benedict meets Met. Kyrill in 2007 before +Kyrill became Patriarch of Moscow


When I was in Russia late last year the Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, commented on the imperative aim of both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI to build “a dialogue of truth and charity” with the Orthodox. He emphasised how vital this was and thanked Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) for its work in supporting Catholic, Orthodox and ecumenical projects in Russia:

“We have to encourage the Catholic community to show solidarity to the Orthodox. The initiative of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI is so important. Thank you for all that the charity does for the Church and for building relations with the Orthodox, in line with the will of the Holy Father… and Our Lord!”

Read more

Archbishop Hilarion: The Church has been granted the Primate required by our troubled time

January 29, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

Compare the vision expressed below with recurring missteps like Orphangate, the uncritical embrace of global warming activism, assertions of ethnic supremacy (Hellenism uber alles?), the flattering of politicians, and the like and ask yourself: –Who really gets it? –Who has the better grasp of the crisis in Western culture? –Who really comprehends that any resolution to that crisis is moral and religious?

“The Church has been granted the Primate required by our troubled time.” An interview of Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk to “Interfax-Religion”

– What changes in the Russian Orthodox Church since 1 February 2010 have been most obvious and impressive?

– The election and enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill have, undoubtedly, been the most important events in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church last year. By the will of the Holy Spirit and through the election by the Local Council, the Church has been granted the Primate required by our troubled time, a time of impetuous changes and everyday challenges.

Today our Church is facing an unprecedented task to teach an active faith in Christ to people who have heard of Him but failed to listen to Him, to bring nominal Christians to the wholesome life in Christ. This task demands that the whole Church should exert maximum efforts, interpret creatively and sometimes even critically of what has been done or undone, and reflect fruitfully on what is to be done in future. A particular responsibility in this context is placed on those people who are entrusted with governing the Church. Therefore, a cost of a mistake, of an erroneous assessment of the situation, a wrong or irrational straining of efforts could be catastrophically high.

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Orphangate resolved?

January 28, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

The two boys who need a home

The two boys who need a home


Well, the New York-Constantinople brouhaha seems resolved — sort of (see: Abp. Demetrios on the way out?). You still wonder though why a hierarch wrote of Abp. Demetrios in terms we could charitably call disparaging over what should have been an easily resolvable dispute. It’s all a misunderstanding Constantinople assures us, even though it took a synodal meeting to reach this conclusion.

Metropolitan Theoliptos, the hierarch who wrote the screed, allegedly went rogue. If so, then shouldn’t his disparagement of Abp. Demetrios (“conscienceless shepherd”) require a public apology? After all, if you besmirch a man in public, you owe him an apology in public.

What we see instead is reassurance that the Ecumenical Patriarch supports Abp. Demetrios alongside the statement that the majority of the synod did not want to send out the letter of support. Yet even the EP’s support is qualified. He says that American Archons (lay members who support the Ecumencial Patriarchate) made him do it. So, no apology, the statement that Abp. Demetrios does not have the support of the synod, and the admission that the EP was “pressured” by some Archons to offer the support that he did. Tepid reassurance all around.

What does it indicate? Relations between New York and Constantinople are rockier than anyone is letting on.

Oh yes, the release mentioned that Archimandrite Elpidophoros Lampryniadis, the Constantinopolitan legate who delivered the untimely speech at Holy Cross Seminary last year, was also in attendance. Why this was reported is anyone’s guess.

Read more

Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk: “The work of the Church is always mission-oriented because mission is a vocation of the Church”

January 28, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·


The more I read what is coming out of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), the clearer it becomes that they understand the culture within the Church and outside of it. The ROC will emerge as the world leader of Orthodoxy because it comprehends that the crisis in Western culture, including Russia, is primarily moral and speak to it with clarity. Note this paragraph:

Archbishop Hilarion added that there were nominal Orthodox believers in the world who consider themselves Christians by birth or by belonging to a certain ethnic group, but they do not completely fulfill that what their religion prescribes. The archpastor expressed his regret, saying: “It is a common problem of all the religions: people identify themselves with a certain confession, but they do not shape their lives in accordance with its teaching.” He added: “This means there is such a phenomenon as a lack of serious and thoughtful consideration of the fact that they belong to the Christian Church. They even agree to perform certain religious rites, but as far as real life is concerned, they are not ready to observe the commandments of Christ.”

Compare that with the Constantinopolitan policy of building the Church on ethnic identity instead of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This policy dims moral awareness and leads to a confusion between moral and political authority. That’s why we see errors such as granting religious imprimatur to secular apocalyptic movements like global warming. If the policy continues, Constantinople will not be able to muster the interior strength and depth that is necessary to meet the challenges facing Western civilization.

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James J. Jatras on the Manhattan Declaration

January 27, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

James J. Jatras, advisor to AOI, explains why he signed the Manhattan Declaration. For more video go to Peter and Helen Evans website.

Pan-Orthodox Sanctity of Life Sunday Presentation

January 27, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

ancient-faith-presents
Ancient Faith Radio presents Frederica Mathewes-Green speaking at the second annual Pan-Orthodox Sanctity of Life Sunday Presentation. The presentation was sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Clergy Association of Greater Chicago and took place at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Cicero, Illinois.

Listen here:

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Look at what a single parish can accomplish…

January 25, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse ·

The Climacus Conference of Thoughtful Ascent: A Contemplation of Noble Ideas

Classical Education • Orthodoxy and Postmodernism • Poetry •
Patristic Thought • Logic and Rhetoric • Motherhood • Health and Medicine •
St. John Climacus • The Great Books • Theology and Spirituality

Friday and Saturday:
February 5-6, 2010
Saint Michael Orthodox Church, Louisville, Kentucky

More information here.

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The American Orthodox Institute is a research and educational organization that engages the cultural issues of the day within the Orthodox Christian moral tradition. Read Fr. Hans Jacobse's Orthodox Leadership in a Brave New World, the cover article from the Fall 2007 issue of AGAIN Magazine.

AOI Orthodoxy-Hellenism discussion quick-links

  • EP: American ‘Diaspora’ must submit to Mother Church
  • Archbishop Demetrios compares Obama to Alexander the Great
  • OCL Responds to EP talk at Holy Cross Seminary
  • Met. Jonah to Old World bishops: Hands off the American Church!
  • Transcription of Met. Jonah's speech on Orthodox unity in America
  • Greeks losing interest in Hellenism
  • Met. Jonah apologizes for ‘uncharitable’ remarks directed at EP
  • Met. Gerasimos blasts Met. Jonah for “persecuting” the Church of Constantinople
  • AOI Newsletter
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  • FOCUS North America


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