Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)
Monday, August 4th, 2008“During all the years until 1961, not only was I convinced that I should never see a single line of mine in print in my lifetime, but, also, I scarcely dared allow any of my close acquaintances to read anything I had written because I feared that this would become known. Finally, at the age [...]
Orthodox Christian Patriarchs Celebrate Baptism of Russia
Monday, July 28th, 2008Orthodox Churches have long been involved in ecumenical projects, such as the World Council of Churches, and affirm the Lord’s mandate “that they all may be one” (John 17:21). Yet, I can’t help thinking at times that the Orthodox Churches might work a little harder at unity in their own house.
For that reason, it [...]
ACLU Wants to Sink Navy Prayers
Friday, July 25th, 2008The American Civil Liberties Union is threatening legal action against the U.S. Naval Academy unless it discontinues a tradition — believed to date back to the college’s founding in 1845 — of mealtime prayer, the Baltimore Sun reports.
“The government should not be in the business of compelling religious observance, particularly in military academies, where students [...]
‘Requiem for the Romanovs’
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008Robert Moynihan, writing for Inside the Vatican, has a moving report on the world premiere of a “Requiem Concert” in Russia’s largest church, Christ the Savior, in a commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the execution of Czar Nicholas II and his family on the night of July 17, 1918.
The historical texts and music were [...]
New Leader for Korean Orthodox
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008Metropolitan Ambrosios Aristotelis Zographos was enthroned on July 20 at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Seoul as the Church’s second metropolitan, reports the Union of Catholic Asian News. Around 450 clergy and laypeople of the Orthodox Church from South Korea and abroad attended.
The Orthodox Metropolis of Korea, which is under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, has about [...]
Clergy-Laity: ‘a changing of mentality and attitude’
Friday, July 18th, 2008Just back from Washington where I attended the 39th Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. This was my first Clergy-Laity and I am glad I went. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America, in his keynote address, went beyond the theoretical to actual application when he developed the theme of the Congress: [...]
Egypt’s Copts the ‘New Martyrs’?
Monday, July 7th, 2008Perilous times for Egypt’s Christian community. In “Egypt’s Coptic Christians Are Choosing Isolation,” the Washington Post reports that “the most populous Christian community in the Middle East is seeking safety by turning inward, cutting day-to-day social ties that have bound Muslim to Christian in Egypt for centuries.”
The story notes a dramatic decline in of the [...]
Freedom-Loving Orthodoxy
Friday, July 4th, 2008In the May 2008 issue of The Word,* published by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, Gregory Cook looks at the ways Orthodox Christianity may “transfigure” America. “Orthodoxy has always been open to building on what is true and extant in any nation or culture,” Cook writes. “America should be no different.”
*Also [...]
Bp. Hilarion: Russian Orthodox Must Stay in WCC
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008Moscow, June 30, Interfax - Withdrawal of the Russian Orthodox Church from the World Council of Churches should weaken positions of Moscow Patriarchate in the inter-Orthodox dialogue, the representative of Russian Church in European international organizations believes.
“This withdrawal may only weaken our positions today in defending the Church teaching which we consider traditional, which [...]
Rebuilding at Ground Zero
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008The New York Times has a detailed story about the long-delayed rebuilding of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, crushed when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed after the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001. The Times reports that the rebuilding effort is “a microcosm of the seven-year, $16 billion, problem-plagued effort to [...]
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