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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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Moscow - Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) Department for External Church Relations on November 5, 2008, in an interview for a Russian TV channel stated the ROC is not against a meeting between its head, Patriarch Kirill, and Pope Benedict XVI but expects the Vatican to “take concrete steps” to show that there is a desire to be cooperative, reports RISU.
"We expect the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), to take concrete steps to show that there is a desire to be cooperative and heal all the wounds that were inflicted in the extremely harrowing period of the early 90s," the archbishop said. In that period, more than 500 Orthodox churches in Ukraine "were forcibly seized by Greek Catholics and the Orthodox believers were ousted from them.” “We are suggesting concrete solutions to the problems that exist," he said.
His Beatitude Lubomyr commented about this situation in an interview for “Dzerkalo tyzhnya”: “If there is a genuine desire for rapprochement, communication, then no conditions will be set to meet and communicate. And if you begin to set conditions ‘you should do this and that, then we will love you,’ this is an absence of genuine desire to communicate, an absence of the real love. The difference between the policy of former and present patriarchs of Moscow is only in its form – lots of talk, but nothing substantially new occurs,” said the head of the UGCC.
As RISU has already reported, Archbishop Hilarion, during an official visit to the Vatican, at a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI (on September 18) and with the cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of Congregation, for the Eastern Churches (on September 17), noted the necessity of concrete practical steps for the “cardinal improvement of situation in the Western Ukraine.”
The relations between Orthodox and Greek Catholics in Ukraine the Archbishop Hilarion remain an obstacle for the dialog between the ROC and RCC. The archbishop did not pass up the opportunity, as has become traditional for ROC, to use the accusation against the Greek Catholics that they partook in the “destruction of three Orthodox eparchies – Lviv, Ternopil’ and Ivano-Frankivs’k.”
In an interview with the Ukrainian BBC service, the head of the UGCC His Beatitude Lubomyr commented on the accusations against Greek Catholics expressed by Archbishop Hilarion: “These accusations are expressed continuously but I never heard them proved. I do not know a single example of seizure by us of any Orthodox church building, built by the faithful of the ROC. In 1946, the Russian Orthodox Church received over 500 churches in western Ukraine from the state. One cannot say they were churches of the ROC,” explained the head of the UGCC. According to the hierarch, as the Church was emerging from the underground, unfortunate incidents occurred when communities were divided, which caused great misunderstandings. But it has been long in the past and today there is no such conflict. “I am still awaiting objective proof that Greek Catholics seized any church buildings by force or obstructed the construction of new churches,” said His Beatitude Lubomyr.
Information Department of the UGCC
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JOHNSTOWN, PA -- The Diocesan Apostolate for Christian Education is pleased to announce the release of the first in a series of audio Advent reflections by the Very Rev. Protopresbyter Frank P. Miloro. These reflections may be listened to on-line or downloaded for use on ipods or mp3 players. New reflections will be posted weekly during the season of Advent on the Christ the Saviour Cathedral website.
Listen On-Line here.
Download Reflection here
Source: www.acrod.org
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Published: December 6, 2009
If you wanted to describe the late Father Walter J. Ciszek, S.J. to someone who did not know about him and his extraordinary life, there are four words that should be used: Kindness. Joy. Faith. Prayer.
Of course, those words are just the tip of the iceberg on who Ciszek was. Tuesday marks the 25th anniversary of his death, and a quarter of a century after his passing, Ciszek's life and his words still resonate with people around the world as he continues to point to the need to abandon oneself to the will of God - no matter what the circumstances.
The cause for the canonization of Father Ciszek is ongoing. All files and documents have been sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican and await their review.
The date of his death, Dec. 8, 1984, at the age of 80 has some significance to those who see him as model of living the Christian life. In the Catholic Church, Dec. 8 is celebrated as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, a Marian feast day, and Ciszek had a profound devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, identified in the Eastern Christian tradition as the "Theotokos" ("God-bearer"). His death on such a major Marian holy day is looked at by some as a sign from heaven.
A native of Shenandoah, Walter Joseph Ciszek was born Nov. 4, 1904, to Polish immigrants Martin and Caroline Ciszek, who came to the United States in the 1890s. He was baptized in St. Casimir Roman Catholic Church in Shenandoah. While growing up, he has been described as a "tough," and was known to get into trouble. At one point, his father took him to the borough police station to let them deal with him. It was after this that he shocked everyone by expressing his desire to become a priest.
Click here to read the entire article at Hazleton's Republican Herald's website.
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04.12.2009, [14:20] // Inter-Christian relations // RISU.ORG.UA
KYIV — Patriarch Filaret, the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), gave his response to the conditions set out in the Address to Faithful Children recently published by the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). In his address to the clergy and faithful of the UOC-MP, Patriarch Filaret noted that he views the dialogue between the two churches as the best way to overcome the divide of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. However, according to Patriarch Filaret, the UOC-MP sets known unacceptable conditions for the dialogue, which indicate that church’s inadequate evaluation of the power of the Kyivan Patriarchate and dependence on the Moscow center. Patriarch Filaret also made known to UOC-MP that in view of such a state of affairs, the UOC-KP “reserves the possibility to consider all constructive proposals of the Constantinople Mother-Church, which would lead to the unification of Ukrainian Orthodoxy” and reminded that the Moscow patriarchate “has no monopoly for ‘canonicity.’”
In his address, Patriarch Filaret called the representatives of the UOC-MP to adequately view his church. “The Kyivan Patriarchate is neither a product of politicians or a whim of a few individuals. No matter if it is recognized or not, the Kyivan Patriarchate is a national church. We firmly keep the Orthodox faith, profess its dogmas, live by the Orthodox canons,” says the document.
The address also stresses that the so-called “schism” has no “canonical reasons.” “We are convinced that the canons of the church and someone’s self-will in their interpretation are not one and the same thing… it was not us who broke that Eucharistic communion, and it was not for doctrinal reasons that it was broken,” stressed Patriarch Filaret. He also noted that the bias of some representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate in the dialogue with the UOC-KP is not understandable at least in view of the fact that the Moscow Patriarchate is currently conducting a dialogue with Old Believers, who were anathematized by it in the 17th century. “…as opposed to the Russian Orthodox Church and Old Believers, we [UOC-MP and UOC-KP: editor] do not differ either in creed or public worship,” added the hierarch.
The hierarch stated that one can conclude from the decisions of the last synod of the UOC-MP that “despite the declared ‘independent self-government,’ it is very difficult for the UOC-MP to pass any fundamental decision if that decision is not sanctioned by Moscow both formally and actually.” “And we can see well that even though the Moscow Patriarchate does not dispute the dialogue of the UOC-MP with the Kyivan Patriarchate, it [Moscow Patriarchate] does not exhort the Ukrainian senior clergy who are against the dialogue to subordinate to their head and synod,” reads the address. “Now we can again see attempts to undermine the authority of the head of the UOC-MP, again to curtail the rights ‘of independent self-government’ actually, even if not formally,” further reads the address.
• http://www.cerkva.info/2009/12/03/zvernennja_z_privodu_dalogu.html
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Moscow, Russia - St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, New York, published an English version of the book “Christ the Conqueror of Hell. The Descent into Hades from an Orthodox Perspective” by Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for external church relations.
Christ’s descent into Hades is a most mysterious event in the New Testament history. The book includes texts from the New Testament, apocrypha, and early Christian poetry dealing with the theme, a review of the relevant works by the Holy Fathers and a short discourse into the Western theological tradition. Hymns by St. Ephraem the Syrian and St. Romanus the Melodist that have formed the basis of other liturgical texts and are still used in the Orthodox Church are reviewed, as well as the liturgical texts from the Octoechos, the Lenten Triodion, and the Festal Triodion telling about Christ’s descent into Hell and His victory over death. The author’s studies into the dogmatic contents of the texts are very important to the comprehension of the Orthodox faith, as the dogmas become an object of contemplation in prayer for Christians rather than abstract speculative truths.
There are many Greek, Syrian, and Latin texts never translated into Russian in the book. Some of them have not been used by the authors working on the theme of Christ’s descent into Hell.
The book was first published in Russian in 2001and reprinted in 2005. It has been translated into Italian and Romanian.
Source: www.mospat.ru Press Release
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VATICAN CITY, 4 DEC 2009 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office released the following communique yesterday evening:
"This afternoon, 3 December 2009, His Holiness Benedict XVI received in audience Dimitri Medvedev, president of the Russian Federation. The president had previously met with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. who was accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.
"During the cordial discussions pleasure was expressed on both sides at the cordial relations that currently exist between them, and it was agreed to establish full diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Russian Federation.
"Following an exchange of opinions on the international economic and political situation - also in the light of the Encyclical "Caritas in veritate" of which the Holy Father presented the president with a copy in Russian - attention turned to the challenges currently facing security and peace. The talks then turned to cultural and social questions of mutual interest, such as the value of the family and the contribution believers make to life in Russia".
OP/AUDIENCE/PRESIDENT RUSSIA VIS 091204 (190)