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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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“The Holy Spirit acts the same today as He did two thousand years ago”
Kyiv - On May 23, 2010, on the feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit, His Beatitude Lubomyr, the head of the UGCC, took part in the festive Divine Liturgy that was celebrated in the Annunciation of the Holy Mother of God Church of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. That day six children, members of the parochial community, received their First Holy Communion.
“It is not easy to be Christian. Everyone who wants to be a true Christian has to be ready to face challenges. People laugh at us, wish us harm, there are even situations where we are afraid to admit that we are Christians, meaning when we are afraid to act as Jesus Christ taught us,” the head of the UGCC said in his sermon.
Thus His Beatitude Lubomyr called to be conscious that the Holy Spirit acts today as He did then, that “when we are sometimes scared, troubled, uncomfortable to admit that we are Christians, we must ask the Holy Spirit to give us strength, to take away from us this fear so we may declare that we are Christians and live and behave as Jesus Christ taught,” said His Beatitude Lubomyr. At the end, the hierarch called to thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit and to renew faith in the Holy Spirit “which today, the same as in the past, is with us and remains with us forever.”
Information Department of the UGCC
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CWNews.com - Vatican-watcher Sandro Magister of L'Espresso sees a strong convergence of opinion between the Vatican and the Moscow patriarchate on the need for a "new evangelization" in Europe. More generally, Magister notes a remarkable warming of relations between Moscow and Rome, and says, "The positive relationship that has been established between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Church of Rome is one of the most stunning achievements of Benedict XVI's pontificate."
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CWNews.com - Patriarch Bartolomew I of Constantinople has told a Turkish government commission on minority rights that the country's Christian minority should receive compensation for the efforts by Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk to crush the influence of the Greek Orthodox Church in the 1920s. He specifically asked for the return of churches that were confiscated and given to a government-approved "Turkish Orthodox" patriarch, and the reopening of schools for the Christian minority on the tiny islands of Imvros and Tenedos.
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Sophia Kishkovsky
Moscow (ENI). A visit by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I of Constantinople to Moscow is expected to underscore a thawing in relations after decades of tension during the Soviet era and post-Soviet geopolitical turmoil.
Bartholomeos arrives in Russia on 22 May and will take part in a service the following day - Pentecost Sunday - with Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church at the centuries-old Holy Trinity St Sergius Lavra church near Moscow. They will concelebrate again on 24 May at Christ the Saviour Cathedral opposite the Kremlin in the Russian capital, and then hold talks the next day at Kirill's residence outside Moscow.
The Russian Orthodox Church is the world's largest Orthodox church. The Ecumenical Patriarchate is regarded as being the most important symbolically, but Moscow has chafed when the Istanbul-based Patriarch of Constantinople is described as an Orthodox equivalent of a Roman Catholic pope.
Andrei Zubov, a historian and director of a centre for the study of the church and international relations at MGIMO, the Russian foreign ministry's university, told ENInews that Patriarch Kirill is working to overcome the legacy of the Soviet past inherited by the Russian church.
"Patriarch Kirill came to his throne, to his position, with the idea of sharply improving relations both with Constantinople and with Rome, and he is very active in these two directions," said Zubov in a 21 May interview.
Kirill, who was enthroned as Patriarch in February 2009, visited Bartholomeos and the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul in July. There the two patriarchs spoke of the need to cast differences aside and present a united Orthodox front against secular evils.
The visit by Bartholomeos to Moscow comes after a mission to the Vatican by Metropolitan Hilarion, Kirill's successor as chairperson of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department of External Church Relations. Hilarion is also a composer and his visit included a 20 May performance of a symphony by him called "A Song of Ascent", attended by Pope Benedict XVI.
While in Rome, Hilarion said that it is his goal for Patriarch Kirill and Pope Benedict to meet.
Attempts to organize a meeting between Pope John Paul II and Kirill's predecessor, Patriarch Alexei II, failed. Relations between the two churches in the 1990s were marred by disputes over Ukraine and about Russian charges that Catholics were proselytising - seeking converts - in Russia, something denied by the Catholic Church.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, intra-Orthodox conflicts over jurisdictional allegiance have flared in Estonia and Ukraine as some Orthodox groups sought to break free of Moscow as their countries gained independence. Similar issues have arisen in other European countries in recent years, with an influx of Russians leading to divided parishes and property disputes. Some of those disenchanted have turned to the Ecumenical Patriarchate as a refuge against the Moscow Patriarchate's growing strength.
Moscow and Constantinople also have a longstanding dispute over Moscow's authority to grant autocephaly, or self-governing status, to the Orthodox Church in America in 1970.
"Bad relations with Constantinople and bad relations with Rome were a mandatory condition of Soviet church ideology," said Zubov, the Moscow historian and analyst. "The Moscow Patriarchate was restored in its day by Stalin in 1943 with the goal of counteracting the Vatican and Constantinople as centres of Christianity not controlled by the Soviet regime."
The Russian church was influenced for decades by this way of thinking, he said.
"Two generations of Russian bishops and Russian theologians were raised with this psychological heritage," Zubov stated. "So what is happening now is namely the overcoming of the Soviet, KGB heritage, the Soviet control of the church … This is the restoration of normal, natural relations between the churches after the unnatural relations of the Soviet period."
© 1994 - 2010 Ecumenical News International. www.eni.ch
Bishops of the UGCC Take Part in 48th General Assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Brazil
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This event will be held from May 4 to 13, 2010, in the capital of Brazil, Brasilia. Hierarchies will discuss the topic “Disciples and Servants of the Divine Word: A Mission of the Church in the World.” The assembly coincides with the National Eucharist Congress, which will take place from May 13 to 16, also in the Brazilian capital.
Among the almost 270 church administrative units of Brazil operates the Eparchy of St. John the Baptist for Ukrainian Greek Catholics, and accordingly among the over 400 Brazilian bishops there are 4 UGCC bishops.
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Programme of His Beatitude, Patriarch Gregorios III
Münich, Germany
Arriving in Bavaria from Lebanon on 11 May, 2010, Patriarch Gregorios assembled his own personal programme from the selection of around 3,000 events on offer in Münich, during this Second Ecumenical Kirchentag scheduled for 12-16 May. This was an opportunity to attend discussions, gather information, exchange viewpoints and meet other people as well as to contribute to reflection, prayers, meditation or discussion.
Thursday 13 May
8.30-10.30 Pontifical Mass for Ascension Day-Catholic celebration of the Eucharist
With the host Archbishop in his cathedral, with a closing procession to the central Ecumenical Celebration at Odeonsplatz
Sermon: Archbishop Dr. Reinhard Marx, Münich
Music: Cathedral choir, youth choral group and cathedral brass band, Münich
In Dom zu unserer lieben Frau (Cathedral of Our Lady), Frauenplatz 12
Language: German
Friday 14 May
14.00-16.00 Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom- Service according to the Byzantine rite
Chief Celebrant: Gregorios III, Patriarch, Damascus, Syria
Concelebrant: Prof. Dr. Michael Schneider SJ, Frankfurt-am-Main
Sermon: Gregorios III, Patriarch, Damascus, Syria
Responses: Romanos Choir, St. George's Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology, Frankfurt-am-Main
At St. Martin's Church (Moosach), Leipzigerstrasse, 11
Language: German
Saturday 15 May
09.30 - 10.30 Bible Study: a discussion with (Evangelical) Bishop Dr. Johannes Friedrich, Münich
At the Gasteig, Carl-Off-Saal, Rosenheimer Strasse 5
14.00-15.30 Vespers- Service according to the Byzantine rite •
Chief Celebrant: Gregorios III, Patriarch, Damascus, Syria
Concelebrant: Prof. Dr. Michael Schneider SJ, Frankfurt-am-Main
Responses: Romanos Choir, St. George's Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology, Frankfurt-am-Main
At St. Martin's Church (Moosach), Leipzigerstrasse, 11
Languages: various
Sunday 16 May
To the airport
V.C.