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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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WEST ROXBURY (Boston Pilot) -- A New Jersey native was installed as the first American born eparchial bishop in the United States for the Greek Melkite Catholic Church on Aug. 23.
Bishop Nicholas J. Samra, 67, was installed as the Eparch of Newton during an elaborate service, called an Enthronement Liturgy, at the Melkite Cathedral of the Annunciation in West Roxbury.
Bishop Samra was first ordained as an auxiliary bishop of Newton in 1989 and went into retirement in 2005, until his appointment as eparch this June.
After an entrance procession that included many bishops, priests, and deacons, Exarch Joseph Haggar read a letter from Pope Benedict XVI, called the Papal Bull of Designation, which declared the appointment of Bishop Samra.
Link to full story at the Boston Pilot. Other Links and Discussion.
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CWNews.com - Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of the Ukrainian Greek Cathoiic Church met on August 23 with the leader of the Russian-backed Ukrainian Orthodox Church, for a friendly conversation that contrasted with past bitter exchanges between the Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox hierarchies.
Metropolitan Volodymyr of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow patriarchate) welcomed the Catholic leader to his residence, and Major Archbishop Shevchuk congratulated his Orthodox counterpart on the 45th anniversary of his episcopal ordination, before the two settled in to a more substantive discussion of relations between their churches.
The Ukrainian Catholic Church—the largest of the Eastern churches in communion with the Holy See—has frequently been the focus of complaints from Orthodox leaders, especially in Moscow. After years of Communist repression, the Ukrainian Catholic Church burst vigorously into public life after the fall of the Soviet regime. The Russian Orthodox Church has complained about this Catholic activity in a land that the Moscow patriarchate regards as its own “canonical territory.” Ukrainian Catholic leaders, in turn, demanded the return of Catholic parish churches that had been confiscated during the Stalinist persecution and handed over to local Orthodox communities. During their meeting, Metropolitan Volodymyr and Major Archbishop Shevchuk agreed that future conflicts should be handled through friendly dialogue.
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And Feast of the Transfiguration
5-6 August, 2011
On 5 August, the eve of the Feast of the Transfiguration, a tercentennial celebration was held under the auspices of the President of the Lebanese Republic, Michel Sleiman, when H. B. Patriarch Gregorios III commemorated the founding of the Holy Saviour Monastery, Lebanon. There attended some fifteen bishops, representing different Christian Churches, the Superior General of the Basilian Salvatorian Order, Jean Faraj, several shayks, representing Druze, Sunni and Shi’ite Muslim communities, a number of ministerial representatives and parliamentary deputies and about fifteen hundred citizens of all religious communities.
After the celebration, a cedar tree was planted in the alley at the entrance to the monastery, with a commemorative plaque to mark the event.
The following day, 6 August, Feast of the Transfiguration, H. B. Patriarch Gregorios III celebrated the Divine Liturgy, and after a homily pronounced by Archim. Jean Faraj, His Beatitude also preached a sermon.
A large crowd of people from different towns and villages of Lebanon and Syria attended the festal service.
V.C.
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The mortal remains of Mgr George Kwaiter were displayed at the chapel of the Providence Home (of which Archbishop George had been director and co-founder with H.B. Patriarch Gregorios III) in Salhieh on Friday 29 July 2011 from 10a.m. onwards for the faithful to pay their last respects and offer their prayers: many people from the region and abroad came to pray beside the coffin.
At 2p.m. Patriarch Gregorios III arrived at the social centre to pray and to receive condolences.
At 2:30p.m. the body was brought to Saida, to the central Place de l’Etoile, whence it was carried on people’s shoulders to St. Nicholas’ Cathedral. Christians and Muslims were together as mourners.
At 3:45p.m. Patriarch Gregorios III arrived at the cathedral, where he was welcomed by bishops and made his entry.
The funeral began at 4p.m. with some sixteen bishops present, including nine members of the Holy Synod, together with others from Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches. Several shaykhs were present from different Muslim communities. Also present were representatives of the President of the Lebanese Republic, Michel Sleiman, parliamentary deputies and ministerial representatives, together with members of religious orders, relatives of the deceased and other people from the local eparchy and from further abroad.
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Newton - His Grace, Bishop Nicholas J. Samra, will be enthroned as the fifth Eparchial Bishop of the Diocese of Newton and the sixth Bishop of the Melkite Catholics in the USA on Tuesday 23 August in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Annunciation in West Roxbury, MA. Archbishop Cyril S. Bustros, Metropolitan of Beirut, will be the enthroning bishop.
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Orientale Lumen conference tussles over the role of the papacy. Greek Orthodox bishop suggests a Ratzingerian solution
by CHARLOTTE HAYS | ncregister.com
WASHINGTON — “Many Orthodox view all bishops as successors to Peter,” Metropolitan Kallistos Ware of the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate said recently, “but most would concede that the bishop of Rome is a successor of Peter in a special way.”
What exactly is that special way? Like others at the Orientale Lumen conference in Washington at which he spoke, Metropolitan Kallistos acknowledged that the papacy is entitled to primacy in some form, but he stopped far short in his willingness to grant it the kind of jurisdictional role the papacy enjoys in the Catholic Church.
Of course, that’s nothing new. The Catholic and Orthodox Churches split in 1054, and attempts to heal the fracture have so far fallen short of the goal. The papacy is central to ongoing dialogue.
Although the Orientale Lumen gathering has no official status in dialogue between Eastern and Western Christianity, it is considered a good gauge of opinion among Eastern Christians in the United States.