International

Dobre Dobrev 1st death anniversary: Bulgarian priest remembers Sofia’s saintly beggar

Marking Dobre Dobrev’s 1st death anniversary, Fr Kiril Sinev, a Bulgarian priest who serves in Ruse, told the Basilica News Agency how people remember the saintly grandfather who devoted himself to raising money for Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church. Father Kiril Sinev said that even the Elder’s name Dobre (which derives from the Bulgarian word dobar, good)…

Feb 19, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Ecumenical Patriarchate establishes Synaxis of All Military Saints

During its working session on February 14, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate established a new feast dedicated to all the Orthodox Saints who were soldiers and who died as martyrs for Christ. The Synaxis of All Military Saints will be celebrated every year on July 8 by the Church of Constantinople. The proposal…

Feb 18, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Bulgarian Orthodox Church deletes opinion on National Strategy for the Child from website

A controversial opinion purported to be from the Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s Holy Synod urging a ban on terminations of pregnancy, for religion to be a compulsory subject in schools, no sex education, and opposing the full ban on corporal punishment in schools, has been deleted from the church’s official website, Sofia Globe reports. The opinion, posted…

Feb 14, 2019Iulian Dumitraşcu

Church of Greece declares 2020 the Commemorative Year of St Nectarios of Aegina

During its working session on Feb. 7, the Permanent Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church declared 2020 as Commemorative Year of Saint Nectarios of Aegina, marking the 100th anniversary of his blessed repose in the Lord. The hierarchs announced that the annual Diptycha volume of the Church of Greece for 2020, containing details regarding…

Feb 12, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Bulgarian Orthodox Church calls for abortion ban, compulsory religion in schools, no sex education

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s governing body, the Holy Synod, has called for a complete rewrite of the government’s National Strategy for the Child 2019-2030, urging a ban on terminations of pregnancy, for religion to be a compulsory subject in schools, no sex education, The Sofia Globe reports. The strategy, which succeeds the 2008/2018 version, was…

Feb 10, 2019Iulian Dumitraşcu

Patriarch Bartholomew, Greek PM in joint call for reopening of Halki seminary

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday expressed their shared hope that the Halki Orthodox seminary, which was shut down by Turkish authorities in 1971, will soon reopen. Tsipras thanked Ecumenical Vartholomeos for the tour of the school (high school and seminary) where he went from the island of Imvros at…

Feb 10, 2019Iulian Dumitraşcu

Cyprus: Holy Synod discusses ecclesiastical issue of Ukraine

The ecclesiastical issue of Ukraine was on the agenda of the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus, Romfea News reports. At today’s meeting of the Holy Synod, under the supervision of the Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus, there was an exchange of views on the ecclesiastical issue of Ukraine. It was decided to continue the…

Feb 7, 2019Gheorghe Anghel

Metropolitan Nifon attends festivities dedicated to Patriarch Kirill’s 10th enthronement anniversary

His Eminence Hon Metropolitan Nifon, Archbishop of Targoviste and patriarchal exarch, attended the festivities held in Moscow to mark Patriarch Kirill’s 10th enthronement anniversary, on Jan. 30 – Feb. 2, 2019. Taking part in the event were delegations of the local Orthodox Churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Poland and the Czech…

Feb 5, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

US Orthodox Bishops deeply concerned that the taking of innocent life through abortion has become an acceptable cultural norm

‘While recognizing that there are rare but serious medical instances where mother and child may require extraordinary actions, the Assembly of Bishops is deeply concerned that the taking of innocent life through abortion has become an acceptable cultural norm.’ The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America has released a statement…

Feb 4, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom translated into Urdu, language of Pakistan

For the first time ever, the text of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom has been translated into Urdu, the official language of Pakistan, and one of 22 official languages in India, Orthochristian reports. The Liturgy was translated from Church Slavonic and English texts by Fr. Paul and Matushka Elizabeth Sushil who serve in the Moscow…

Feb 2, 2019Gheorghe Anghel

Stolen fresco fragments welcomed home

Archbishop Chrysostomos said on Friday that the Cyprus Church would spare no expense or effort to make sure stolen icons from Cypriot churches would be returned to where they belong, after receiving from Transport Minister, Vassiliki Anastasiadou, four fragments of religious frescoes removed from churches in the north following the 1974 invasion. The frescoes were recently handed…

Jan 29, 2019Gheorghe Anghel