International

Original 1590 Synodal Tomos of Foundation of Moscow Patriarchate

A photograph of the May 8, 1590 tomos of the Council of Constantinople on the foundation of the Russian Orthodox Church as a patriarchate has been published online by the channel “Athonite Herald” on Telegram, a cloud-based instant messaging service, reports OrthoChristian. The historical document is written in ink on parchment in the Greek language.…

Mar 22, 2018Aurelian Iftimiu

Work starts to clear mines from traditional site of Jesus’s baptism

Israeli and international experts have started clearing thousands of wartime landmines and explosive devices from one of Christianity’s holiest sites, in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli defense ministry said Tuesday. It said work began this week to clear about 3,000 pieces of ordnance believed to be scattered around the Qasr Al-Yahud Greek Orthodox monastery,…

Mar 21, 2018Iulian Dumitraşcu

Metropolitan Sawa invites believers at first liturgy in new Warsaw Cathedral

His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland has invited the clergy and faithful of the Polish Orthodox Church to attend the first Divine Liturgy in the capital’s new Agia Sophia Cathedral on Saturday May 19, 2018. According to the press release from the metropolitan’s chancellery, this will be the second important moment in…

Mar 20, 2018Aurelian Iftimiu

Pat. Irinej supports Serbian Church’s proposed name change

His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia has voiced his approval of the proposal to amend the name of the Serbian Orthodox Church to emphasize its inextricable ties to much-suffering Kosovo, reports B92. The Serbian Church is set to vote on a new Church constitution in May, which includes the addition of “the Patriarchate of Peć” to the title…

Mar 14, 2018Gheorghe Anghel

Finnish Orthodox Church condemns initiative to legalize euthanasia

The Council of Bishops of the Finnish Orthodox Church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate recently expressed its official opinion on the civil initiative to legalize euthanasia, at the request of the Parliamentary Committee on Social and Health Issues, reports the site of the Finnish Church. Reflecting Orthodox Tradition, the Finnish Church stated its disapproval of the practice…

Mar 14, 2018Gheorghe Anghel

Patriarch Kirill celebrates 42nd Anniversary of Ordination to Episcopate

His Beatitude Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrates Wednesday, 14 March 2018, the 42nd Anniversary of his Ordination to the Episcopate. His Beatitude Kirill (secular name Vladimir M. Gundyaev) was born on 20 November 1946, in Leningrad. After graduation from school, he entered the Leningrad Seminary and later the Leningrad Theological Academy, from…

Mar 14, 2018Iulian Dumitraşcu

20th anniversary of the uncovering of the relics of St Matrona. Patriarch Kirill: ‘Let us transform sorrow into spiritual power and inner joy’

Twenty years have passed since the uncovering of the relics of Saint Matrona of Moscow, one of the most popular contemporary Russian Saints whose feast day was recently added to the calendar of the Romanian Orthodox Church. To mark this important event for Moscow’s Intercession (Pokrovsky) Monastery where the holy relics of St Matrona are…

Mar 12, 2018Aurelian Iftimiu

Patriarch Theophilos III celebrates his name day

His Beatitude Theophilos III, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine, celebrates Friday his name day: Martyr Theophilus of the Holy 40 Martyrs of Sebaste. The Patriarchate of Jerusalem keeps the Unrevised Julian calendar (by old style). Therefore, 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebaste will be celebrated on Thursday, March 22, 2018. His Beatitude…

Mar 9, 2018Iulian Dumitraşcu

Russian Orthodox Church adds nine Romanian Saints to its calendar

During this year’s first working session held Wednesday at St Daniel Monastery in Moscow, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church approved the proposal of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, to add to the Russian Church calendar several saints glorified by the Romanian Orthodox Church…

Mar 8, 2018Aurelian Iftimiu

Holy Synod of Ukrainian Church to consider canonizing five new saints

Materials relating to the lives of several people venerated throughout Ukraine have been sent to the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to be considered for official glorification among the saints, reports the site of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. A meeting of the Commission for the Canonization of Saints of the Holy Synod of the…

Mar 1, 2018Gheorghe Anghel

The Sunday of Orthodoxy at the Jerusalem Patriarchate

On Sunday February 12/25, 2018, the Jerusalem Patriarchate celebrated the victory and triumph of the Church through the restoration of the holy icons, after the harassment caused by iconoclasm, during the reign of the reverend Empress Theodora Augusta and her son Emperor Michail III, in 842. The restoration of the icons in the holy Churches…

Mar 1, 2018Gheorghe Anghel