Law

’We cannot breathe, the Patriarchate is dying,’ says patriarch
ASLI AYDINTAŞBAŞ
ISTANBUL – Milliyet
Thursday, December 24, 2009

Following criticism of his controversial statement to a U.S. television network describing his community’s problems, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew says his comments were emphasized, but the serious problem of opening Halki seminary needs to be addressed.

Criticized for telling U.S. network CBS that he felt “crucified in Turkey,” in an interview he told daily Milliyet, “We are without oxygen, the Patriarchate is dying.”

He said the interview with CBS was not planned and that the media had emphasized the crucifixion quote. He said this was a metaphor for detailing Greeks’ problems in Turkey, highlighted by the issue of the Halki seminary located on Heybeliada, one of Istanbul’s Princes’ Islands in Marmara Sea.

“What will we do, if we cannot raise men of the cloth? Our metropolitan bishops in Europe are over 70 years old. The ones here are 75 years old. Now, who will I nominate to this post,” said the patriarch, who will turn 70 this February. “Why should we nominate people to this post who were not raised in Turkey and educated on Heybeliada?” he asked.

“The seminary was open during Ottoman rule; [Mustafa Kemal] Atatürk [founder of Turkish Republic] did not close it down. But it was wrongly closed down in 1971, since it did not have university status but was a vocational school for higher education,” he said. Continue reading →

Source: Voice of America

Peter Fedynsky | Moscow 23 December 2009

The second murder of a Russian priest in as many months has prompted a call by the Orthodox Church for Russians to think about their country’s spiritual and moral condition. The killings follow more violence this year directed against Muslim clerics in Russia’s troubled Caucasus region.

Tuesday’s shooting death of 39-year-old priest Alexander Filippov is alleged to be the act of two intoxicated men in the village of Satino-Russkoye near Moscow. His widow is quoted as saying Filippov had reproached the suspects for relieving themselves at the entrance of their apartment building. Continue reading →

From Today’s Zaman (Dec. 24). No statement yet on the Patriarchate’s site.

The patriarchate’s statement said: “There are similar idioms in all languages, and they are not evaluated in their narrow meanings but in their broad sense in that language. While answering questions in that regard, the patriarch obviously did not intend to imply any pressure from our government.” The statement also said that there was a need to make a public announcement about the issue because the patriarch’s words were interpreted in a way that goes beyond their meaning.

Turkish government officials continue to denounce the patriarch for his crucifixion remark:

In İzmir, speaking at a conference organized by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç called the patriarch’s criticism “unacceptable,” while reiterating that Turkey doesn’t consider the patriarchate to be ecumenical in line with the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, which governs the status of the Greek Orthodox Church in Turkey. Continue reading →

Given the vitriol, smug arrogance, and sectarian sentiment with which some Orthodox Christians have greeted Orthodox Christian participation in the Manhattan Declaration, let us review the 2006 letter below which was signed by Archbishop Demetrios and Metropolitan Herman. In fact — and this may be upsetting to some readers so brace yourself — Archbishop Demetrios was bookended on this list by Chuck Colson and James Dobson.

Let us also revisit SCOBA’s 2003 “Statement on Moral Crisis in Our Nation” which defended traditional marriage. “The Orthodox Christian teaching on marriage and sexuality, firmly grounded in Holy Scripture, 2000 years of church tradition, and canon law, holds that marriage consists in the conjugal union of a man and a woman, and that authentic marriage is blessed by God as a sacrament of the Church,” SCOBA said. This statement, in many quarters today, would likely be described as hate speech.

Note that the following statement calls for a constitutional amendment “to establish a uniform national definition of marriage as the exclusive union of one man and one woman.” It’s all so … religious right, isn’t it?

Sign the Manhattan Declaration here.

A Letter from America’s Religious Leaders in Defense of Marriage
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Apr 25, 2006

Throughout America, the institution of marriage is suffering. As leaders in our nation’s religious communities, we cannot sit idly by. It is our duty to speak. And so across the lines of theological division, we have united to affirm, in one voice, the following:

For millennia our societies have recognized the union of a man and a woman in the bond of marriage. Cross-culturally virtually every known human society understands marriage as a union of male and female. As such marriage is a universal, natural, covenantal union of a man and a woman intended for personal love, support and fulfillment, and the bearing and rearing of children. Sanctioned by and ordained of God, marriage both precedes and sustains civil society. Continue reading →

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MbEL-C7ypU[/youtube]

The head of the Greek Orthodox Church has warned the country’s new socialist government that it faces a major battle over removing religious symbols from schools. The European Court in Strasbourg has ordered Italy to take down crucifixes from its classrooms, and Greece’s Justice Minister has acknowledged that it may have to follow suit. From Lamia in Central Greece, Malcolm Brabant reports. “This is a major battle of faith, which is just beginning,” he says.

From Moscow, December 21 (RIA Novosti):

Europe’s future unthinkable without Christianity – Patriarch Kirill

The future of the European continent is impossible without taking into account its Christian heritage, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said Monday.

“People who attached great significance to European cultural and religious identity as an important element of pan-European wellbeing were among the EU originators,” Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said in a message to the European Union’s first President Herman Van Rompuy, who will take office from January.

“I hope… you will be able to pay attention to European international structures’ dialogue with Europe’s traditional religious communities, among which is the Russian Orthodox Church,” the message said.

“I believe it will lead us to the understanding that without being guided by Christian heritage, the future of the European continent is unthinkable,” it said.

In November the European Court of Human Rights ruled that crucifixes in Italian schools insult the feelings of children belonging to other faiths and atheists, and said the authorities should remove the Christian symbols. Italy’s government said it will appeal the ruling.