Month: December 2009

Source: Yahoo! Groups

[From the December 2009 Orthodox Christian Laity newsletter, vol. 5, Number 2]

The following letter translated from the Russian dated November 13, 2009 was received at the OCL Office via fax November 16. It is addressed to former OCL President Peter Petkas. It is from the Moscow Patriarchate, Russian Orthodox Church Holy Synod, Department for External Church Relations, Danilov Monastery. The letter relates to the recently published “Orthodox Christianity at the Crossroad A Great Council of the Church – When and Why”

Dear Mr. Petkas,

On behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, I would like to thank you for the series of essay[s] devoted to the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church.

The Russian Orthodox Church, since the 1961 Rhodes Meeting has been a permanent participant in the Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conferences. The latest, 4th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conference was devoted to the diaspora, and the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Commission to meet in December 2009 will consider the problems of autonomy and autocephaly.

The vision of the future of Orthodoxy in America you have presented is consonant in many ways with the position of the Moscow Patriarchate on this matter. We in the Russian Orthodox Church are well aware of the specifics of Orthodox presence in America conditioned by the cultural, political and ethnic peculiarities of the region. As far back as the early 20th century, St. Tikhon, a future Patriarch of Moscow who for ten years headed the first Orthodox diocese in North America which took pastoral care of various ethnic groups, saw sufficient reasons for granting it an autonomous status. In 1970, the Russian Orthodox Church deemed it timely to grant the (autocephalous) status to its metropolia in North America. In this way, it continued the cause of St. Tikhon for building an independent church structure in the North American continent to be based on local rather than ethnic principle[s].

I would like to wish you good health and spiritual and physical strength in your service of the unity of Orthodoxy in America.

Archpriest Nikolay Balashov
Vice-Chairman
Department for External Church Relations
Moscow Patriarchate

A friend sent me this translation of an original article in Arabic here.

During her visit to Tanta University Scobey praises Freedom of the Press and Human Rights in Egypt

Monday 14th of December 2009

Gharbia: Hend Adel

Margaret Scobey, the United States of America’s Ambassador to Egypt affirmed that there is no differentiation between minorities in Egypt and described it as the country of civil coexistence, where there are some cases that reach the level of slight conflict, that Egypt aims to solve before they develop, in light of it enjoying full freedom of the press and Human Rights organizations work there in complete freedom. Continue reading →

Interviewed on Al Jazeera:

And a statement (Source: ANA-MPA):

ISTANBUL — Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew called for a legally binding international agreement to avert the overheating of the planet, in a letter addressed to the leaders of the international community in view of the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen.

Reaching a beneficial agreement within the framework of the international negotiations in Copenhagen is not only morally imperative for the protection of the universe but a path to social and economic survival as well, he underlined.

“The action against the climate change should not be regarded as an economic burden but as a major opportunity for a healthier planet for the benefit of humanity as a whole, the underdeveloped countries in particular,” the Ecumenical Patriarch stressed.

“Profit, especially, short-term profit, should not motivate our actions more so when it downgrades our shared and God-given natural heritage,” he said.

Bartholomew underlined that “the climate change, as a threat to humanity and the planet, and the progress observed in science and technology clearly show that the only way to a low carbon economy (LCE) is the development of the renewable energy sources (RES), energy saving and no more deforestation.”

The letter of the Ecumenical Patriarch was addressed to the leaders of the United States, China, Russia, India, Pakistan, the European states and the UN Secretary General.

In a letter addressed to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, the Ecumenical Patriarch called for bold commitments in the Copenhagen negotiations that will lead Greece as soon as possible to a low-carbon energy policy.

The patriarch’s Sept. 29 statement on Copenhagen available here.

How will Papandreou, the Socialist PM, react to this patriarchal prodding? Well, he has his own environmental and fiscal problems. Big government, anyone? From Kathimerini: Continue reading →

12. December 2009 – 9:00 (Source: Serbian Orthodox Church)

The Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Commission, responsible for preparation of agenda of an upcoming Holy and Great Assembly of the Orthodox Church, began working 10th December at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, near Geneve. The Commission will discuss the three topics from pre-prepared catalogue: the question of a way of declaring autonomy and autocephaly, as well as the question of diptych, which is order and rank of the Churches. It is planned that the Commission’s work lasts until December 17, and its proposed texts will be submitted for a discussion and an adoption by the next in the row, the Fifth Pan-Orthodox Conference (previously four conferences were held in 1976, 1982, 1986, 2009).

The Commission’s work is led by Metropolitan John of Pergamon, Patriarchate of Constantinople, as a representative of the first Church in order. By the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops, our Church represents Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral and Locum tenens of Patriarchate’ throne, as a member of the Commission, accompanied by Metropolitan Jovan of Skopke and Archbishop of Ohrid, an advisor.