orthodox ecclesiology - AOI Observer

Moscow: Limited jurisdiction for Constantinople

September 28, 2009 11:10 AM

From the Moscow Patriarchate's report on the recent meeting between Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk and Pope Benedict XVI: Archbishop Hilarion stressed the importance of the Orthodox and Catholic common witness to traditional Christian values in face of the secular world. He pointed to the identity of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches’ views on such themes as family, motherhood, population crisis, euthanasia and many other ethical issues. The DECR chairman pointed to essential differences existing on these issues between the Orthodox and Catholics, on one hand, and various Protestant communities, on the other. In this situation the Orthodox-Catholic cooperation in elaborating a common stand on these issues acquired a special importance, he said. Archbishop Hilarion also pointed to the need to enhance the positive potential of the bilateral relations including cooperation in the field of culture. The DECR chairman and the head of the Roman Catholic Church discussed … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, ecumenical patriarchate, Moscow Patriarchate, News, Orthodox Church, orthodox ecclesiology, Politics, Pope Benedict XVI

Servants of Each Other

May 14, 2009 9:06 AM

orrologion says it's time to open the windows of our Orthodox house and let in some fresh air: I for one am glad that these sorts of conversations are being had. They reveal us. Our creation myths can be challenged. Our skewed views of ourselves can be corrected. Greeks can hear how they are perceived; Russians and Americans and Arabs likewise. We're all used to the smell of our own stink; we forgive our own pet sins, but not others'. We can see how our actions (and lack of actions) hurt others, and we can change (hopefully). We can compare and contrast our strengths and weaknesses, our love, our piety, our good works, patience, kindness. We can learn from each other and grow. We can live rather than simply preserve and grasp. We can see how Orthodoxy is not only what I grew up with, what 'my' spiritual father told, what Prof./Fr../Geronda/Vladyka said it was - we can see Orthodoxy is bigger than my family, my clan, my tribe, my culture, my opinions, my theological clique. Our … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: Ecumenical, ecumenical patriarchate, orrologion, Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America, orthodox ecclesiology, phyletism, Theology

The American Orthodox Church at a Crossroads

May 8, 2009 9:39 AM

George Michalopulos, frequent contributor to the AOI blog and author of several articles on the AOI website, is this week's guest on The Illumined Heart, a program on Ancient Faith Radio. In June 2009 leaders of all autocephalous Orthodox Churches - excluding the OCA or any representatives from North America - meet in Cyprus or Geneva (undetermined at the date of this posting), at a meeting convened by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholemew I. This meeting is being called to discuss "the so-called Orthodox Diaspora, with a view to overcoming every possible influence that is foreign to Orthodox ecclesiology." The American Orthodox situation and its disunity is at the top of the agenda. In this edition of The Illumined Heart, host Kevin Allen and author George C. Michalopulos discuss this meeting, the history and state of Orthodoxy in North America and possible outcomes of this potentially pivotal convocation. Listen to Part 1 Listen to Part 2 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: american orthodox church, American Orthodoxy, ancient faith radio, Audio, autocephalous, diaspora, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, George C. Michalopulos, Orthodox Church, orthodox ecclesiology, Orthodox Media, Orthodox Unity, Podcast

Bishop Hilarion: Ecumenical Patriarchate seeks to impose Roman Catholic model of primacy

April 11, 2009 4:53 PM

From Interfax: Moscow Patriarchate disagrees with Constantinople desire to play special role in Orthodoxy MOSCOW (April 10) -- Bishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate's external church relations department, has criticized the Constantinople Patriarchate's intention to control all church communities within the Orthodox diaspora. "I see the situation in the inter-Orthodox relations surrounding the Constantinople Patriarchate's claim to have some special role in the Orthodox Church as one of the key challenges today," Bishop Hilarion said at a press conference at the Interfax main office in Moscow on Friday. "What is happening is in fact an attempt to impose a model existing in the Catholic Church on the Orthodox Church to have as centralized church power as possible, with one bishop leading it as the head of the Ecumenical Church," he said. "There has never been such a model in the Orthodox tradition," Bishop Hilarion said. He … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: Cyprus, diaspora, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, ecumenical patriarchate, Fr. Alexander Schmemann, Hilarion Alfaeyev, interfax, Moscow Patriarchate, News, Orthodox Church, orthodox ecclesiology, Patriarchate of Constantinople, primacy, Roman Catholic, Theology

Fr. Alexander Schmemann on Primacy in the Orthodox Church

April 11, 2009 5:49 AM

Many of the current jurisdictional controversies within the Orthodox Church involving the Ecumenical Patriarch, relations between Constantinople and Moscow, the status of the "autocephalies" -- even the future of the American Orthodox Church -- hinge on the question of primacy. While Orthodox Christians have rejected the Roman model of primacy as "supreme power" over the Bishop and local Church, the question of primacy within the Orthodox Church is a complete muddle. In "The Idea of Primacy in Orthodox Ecclesiology," an essay written in 1960 and now available on the AOI main site, Fr. Alexander Schmemann examines various aspects of the primacy question, an issue he describes as "on the agenda for our time." As he reminds us, the ecclesiological interpretation of primacy -- regional, autocephalous, and "universal" -- is "virtually absent" from from Orthodox theology. "We badly need a clarification of the nature and functions of all these primacies and, first of all, of the very concept … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Observer Tagged With: American Orthodox, autocephalous, Byzantine, canon law, Church and State, ecumenical patriarchate, Fr. Alexander Schmemann, Hellenism and Orthodoxy, History, Orthodox Christian unity, Orthodox Church, orthodox ecclesiology, Papal primacy, symphonia, Theology