News

Details

Last Updated: 26 July 2013

CWN - The Russian Orthodox Church’s chief ecumenical official said that “secularization in disguise of democratization” is leading Western nations toward totalitarianism, according to a report from the Russian news agency Interfax.

“This powerful energy today strives to finally break with Christianity, which controlled its totalitarian impulses during 17 centuries,” said Metropolitan Hilarion. “Eventually, it unconsciously strives to set up an absolute dictatorship that demands total control over each member of society. Don't we move to it when ‘for the sake of security’ we agree to obligatory electronic passports, dactyloscopy [fingerprint identification] for everyone, and photo cameras occurring everywhere?”

In legalizing same-sex marriage, France “consciously and demonstratively ignored demands of people and used tear gas to disperse them,” Metropolitan Hilarion said as he criticized efforts to make “immorality normal.”

Details

Last Updated: 23 July 2013

CWN - The heads of the nine of the world’s 15 autocephalous Orthodox churches are traveling to Kiev, Ukraine’s largest city, to commemorate the 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Kievan Rus’, the medieval Slavic state that helped give birth to modern Russia and Ukraine.

Interfax, a Russian news agency, reported that the other six Orthodox churches are sending official delegations as well.

“The past 1025 years have seen both glorious and tragic events,” Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church said in a message for the occasion. “Faith in Christ was inculcated in our forefathers and brought forth abundant fruit, yet it happened in the most difficult of circumstances. Many have tried to deflect the peoples of Rus away from Orthodoxy. This was the goal of those who wanted to enslave us, coming from the West and the East. This was the wish of those wanting to build the 'ideal' society without God, going against his eternal law.”

As the anniversary celebrations began, thousands of believers in Moscow queued up to venerate the Cross of St. Andrew, which is on exhibit at the city's Orthodox cathedral. The cross-- which had previously been venerated in St. Petersburg, and will later be shown in Kiev and Minsk-- is on loan from the Greek city of Patras, where the apostle St. Andrew was martyred.

“The hearts and souls of many of our compatriots have been sanctified by Christ’s truth,” the message continued. “It is our duty and spiritual imperative to preserve this truth and build our private and public lives upon its foundations.”

Blessed John Paul II referred to the baptism of Kievan Rus’ several times during his pontificate, perhaps at greatest length in a letter to Cardinal Joseph Slipyj. The baptism “took place when the Church in the West and the East was preserving its unity, although it drew abundantly from the two different traditions and belonged to two different human cultures: from this flowed the remarkable richness of the universal Church,” the Pontiff noted. “It was only in the eleventh century that the division came which brought great sorrow and anguish both to the Christians of that time and to the followers of Christ in the succeeding centuries even down to our own day.”

Details

Last Updated: 22 July 2013

On Thursday 18 July 2013 the head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Patriarch Gregorios III  Laham, resident in Damascus, visited the monastery of St. Florian in Austria. Laham came to collect financial assistance from the Saint Lazarus Order for building a hospital in Syria. "Armament and military force cannot bring peace. They only leave losers on both sides in their wake, "warned the patriarch in his sermon. Together with the Linz Diocesan Bishop Ludwig Schwarz and Provost John Holzinger, Gregorios concelebrated a special service in the monastery.

The Patriarch referred mainly to the situation of Christians in Syria and called for solidarity. In the Middle East today there was at times very intense persecution of Christians, he lamented. But conflicts can only be resolved in mutual dialogue and discussion, Gregorios emphasized, in the presence of numerous spiritual representatives of the monastic community and the Diocese of Linz. At the same time, the Patriarch, during his visit to Upper Austria, urged the faithful, especially now "during this difficult time," to pray for peace in Syria and throughout the Middle East.

Source: Vatican Radio (German edition) Translation V.C.

Details

Last Updated: 22 July 2013

risu.org.ua - On Sunday, 14 July 2013, on the eve of the feast of the holy equal to the apostles Great Prince Volodymyr (new calendar), the Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma held an all-eparchial pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Holy Cross at the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Youngstown, Ohio, USA, Department of Information of the UGCC informs.

The pilgrimage took place on the occasion of the Year of Faith and the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine under the leadership of Bishop John Bura, Apostolic Administrator of the Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma. Bishop George Murry, SJ of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown also partook in the pilgrimage as well as many clergy and numerous lay people.

The pilgrimage commenced with Moleben to the holy equal to the apostles Great Prince Volodymyr, which was followed by a Lesser Sanctification of Water and a Renewal of baptismal promises. Afterwards Bishop John addressed the pilgrims with his paternal word. In his homily, the bishop stressed the importance of being grateful to God and St. Volodymyr for the gift of the Ukrainian Church. Bishop John equally encouraged all the faithful to be active and responsible members of the Church, so as to be able to pass this gift unto the ages of ages. At the end, the hierarch thanked the Administrator of the parish and the shrine, Fr. Lubomyr Zhybak and his parishioners for having organized the pilgrimage as well as directed his words of gratitude to Bishop George, the clergy and all the faithful for their participation in the pilgrimage.

Details

Last Updated: 22 July 2013

CWN - The head of the Coptic Orthodox Church has suspended his weekly audiences amid fears of attacks by supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.

Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria “avoids appearing in public, not so much because he fears for his life, but because he does not want people to gather for fear that some fool could throw a few bombs,” said Coptic Catholic Bishop Kamal Fahim Awad (Boutros) Hanna of Minya. “At the moment there are those who accuse Christians of being responsible of the popular uprising of 30 June.”

Details

Last Updated: 22 July 2013

CWN - Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has confirmed his support for a new Russian law against “gay propaganda,” and said that “we must do everything to ensure that in the area of Holy Rus this sin is never justified by the law.”

The Russian prelate lamented that in many countries, defenders of Christian morality are now being repressed, the AsiaNews service reports. He warned against the belief that “the only real value is free will, and that no one has the right to violate this value, even when a person chooses evil or a socially dangerous behavior.”