Ecumenical News International

A report in Georgian Daily by Paul A. Goble details a number of new appointments and transfers put in motion by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Goble says that “Russian commentators agree” that the patriarch intends to use his position to promote a more public and more active approach at home and abroad. But, citing a report by Aleksandr Soldatov on the Russian language Portal-Credo site, Goble says there are also signs of preparations for a major council.

At the direction of Kirill, the Holy Synod created a “still mysterious” commission for the preparation of materials in anticipation of an as yet undefined and unscheduled church council or “sobor” and named Archmonk Saava, who is particularly close to the new patriarch as its secretary.

This group, which Kirill apparently will chair could prove to be only a place holder for housekeeping functions or it could – and Soldatov suggests that Kirill’s own personality makes this more likely – a staging area for the convention of a Church Council like the one that met at the time of the Russian revolutions of 1917-1918.

Such a session would likely not only seek to redefine the relationship between the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church could also serve to “guarantee” Kirill’s place “in the annals of the Church,” an outcome that the in no-way-retiring patriarch almost certainly would like.

Ecumenical News International reports that the Russian Holy Synod appointed Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, an Oxford-educated cleric who served as the Moscow Patriarchate’s representative to European organizations in Brussels, to lead the Russian Orthodox Church’s Department of External Church Relations. Continue reading →

Ecumenical News Service interviewed Metropolitan Jonah, who called for better administration and more accountability in Church governance in light of the recent financial scandals in the Orthodox Church in America. The interview was republished by UK church news service Ekklesia.

… Jonah said, “There is a lot of ‘internal reformation’ that has to take place in the church.” He noted that the church needs to put into place systems of administration and accountability that will put it on par with “a 21st century, U.S. non-profit” organization.

Other goals include making the OCA a far more visible presence within the United States, though more vigorous missionary work. Jonah notes that already 60 percent of some one million OCA laity, 70 percent of its clergy and 90 percent of its bishops are, like Jonah, converts from other denominational traditions.

Jonah also wants to promote Orthodoxy unity within the United States and for U.S. Orthodox churches to explore the creation of single synod and patriarch as a long-term goal.

The Metropolitan’s call for more transparency on church administration was backed by George Matsoukas, executive director of Orthodox Christian Laity, and Mark Stokoe of Orthodox Christians for Accountability. Stokoe said that, ” … 2000 years of tradition can be dead-weight hindering solutions to real problems, if a desire to calm things is mistaken for achieving stability. Trying to recreate past glories will not address our current problems.”

Amen.