News

Details

Last Updated: 19 February 2013

NEW YORK – His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America will hold a memorial service on Friday, September 11, at 2:30 p.m. at Ground Zero on the site of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, the only religious edifice destroyed in the 9/11 attacks.

The location where the service will be held is near Gate 7, corner of Greenwich and Liberty Streets at Ground Zero.

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
8-10 East 79th St. New York, NY 10075-0106
Tel: (212) 570-3530 Fax: (212) 774-0237
Web: http://www.goarch.org  - Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Contact: PRESS OFFICE
Stavros Papagermanos
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Details

Last Updated: 19 February 2013

03.09.2009, [17:07] // UGCC // risu.org.ua

LVIV - In an interview with RISU, Bishop Hlib (Lonchyna), apostolic administrator of the Ukrainian Catholic Exarchate in Great Britain, explained the role of the UGCC and its patriarchal mode. RISU’s Ukrainian-language webpage posted this story on August 28, 2009.

When asked about the patriarchate of the UGCC, Bishop Hlib said that, “we would certainly like for it to be acknowledged as soon as possible. However, we need to build up our patriarchate, live with it, and support it. The acknowledgment will come eventually. Patriarch Joseph said that if one Pope does not acknowledge it, another one will. We have to work on this, to assert ourselves and to embody the teachings of the eastern Catholic Church.”

Bishop Hlib sees the mission of the UGCC as one of reconciliation and unity for the Ukrainian community. He believes we must strive for mutual respect and dissuade animosity between the confessions. According to the hierarch, there is also a need to heal the wounded human spirit. The communist system destroyed humans. Now there exists the need to cure, to build up a sense of dignity, which according to Bishop Hlib is one of the highest priorities of the church.

Details

Last Updated: 19 February 2013

CWNews.com - The 11th Inter-Christian Symposium, an initiative of the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical University Antonianum and the Aristotle Orthodox Theological Faculty of Thessalonica, is meeting in Rome from September 3-5 to examine St. Augustine and his influence. In a message to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Pope Benedict noted that “the Saint of Hippo, a great Father of the Latin Church, is, in fact, of fundamental importance for theology and for the West’s very culture, whereas the reception of his thought in Orthodox theology has revealed itself to be rather problematic … I express cordial wishes that your Symposium be fruitful in that it discovers doctrinal and spiritual convergences that are useful to build together the City of God, where his children can live in peace and in fraternal charity, based on the truth of the common faith.”

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Messaggio Del Santo Padre Al Presidente Del Pontificio Consiglio Per La Promozione Dell’Unità Dei Cristiani In Occasione Dell’XI Simposio Intercristiano (Holy See)
• Pope's Message to Inter-Christian Symposium (Zenit)
• Symposium program (Antonianum)

Details

Last Updated: 19 February 2013

VATICAN CITY, 4 SEP 2009 (VIS) - Made public yesterday afternoon was a Message from Benedict XVI to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and participants in an inter-Christian symposium on St. Augustine being held in Rome from 3 to 5 September.

The symposium has been promoted by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality at Rome's Antonianum Pontifical Athenaeum, and by the Orthodox Theological Faculty of the University of Aristotle in Salonika, Greece.

In his Message the Pope notes how the theme chosen for the meeting - "St. Augustine in Western and Eastern Tradition" which is being examined in co-operation with the Augustinianum Patristic Institute in Rome - is of "great interest" and may "promote more profound study of Christian theology and spirituality in East and West".

"The saint of Hippo, a great Father of the Latin Church, is of fundamental importance for the theology and for the very culture of the West", writes the Holy Father, noting how "the reception of his ideas in Orthodox theology has proved to be somewhat problematic. Hence, it is indispensable to understand - with historical objectivity and fraternal cordiality - the doctrinal and spiritual wealth that form the heritage of the Christian East and West, not only to evaluate them better, but also to promote greater mutual appreciation among all Christians".

Benedict XVI concludes his Message by expressing the hope that the symposium may prove fruitful in "discovering common doctrinal and spiritual ground which may help to build the City of God where His children can live in peace and fraternal charity".

MESS/INTER-CHRISTIAN SYMPOSIUM/KASPER               VIS 090904 (280)

Details

Last Updated: 19 February 2013

Protocol 63/09

September 1, 2009
Beginning of the Ecclesiastical New Year
Day for the Protection of our Natural Environment

To the Most Reverend Hierarchs, the Reverend Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, the Presidents and Members of the Parish Councils of the Greek Orthodox Communities, the Distinguished Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Day, Afternoon, and Church Schools, the Philoptochos Sisterhoods, the Youth, the Hellenic Organizations, and the entire Greek Orthodox Family in America.

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We give thanks to God for the beginning of this Ecclesiastical New Year and for His abundant blessings, which fill our hearts with gratitude, deepen our faith, and strengthen our souls.  The date of September 1 on our calendars marks the beginning of many things in our lives.  For some, it presents the beginning of another academic year filled with worthy goals and challenges.  For others, it is the return from summer vacation with refreshed bodies and minds, and renewed commitment to vocation and responsibilities.  For those who work in agriculture, this date marks the beginning of the agrarian year and the tasks of planting, nurturing, and harvesting.

For Orthodox Christians, September 1 begins a new liturgical year in which we participate in the life of the Holy Church through Her divine services.  September 1 is also the date that has been designated by our Holy Ecumenical Patriarchate as the Day for the Protection of our Natural Environment.  For more than one reason, the joining of our observance of this Day with the beginning of the Ecclesiastical New Year, is significant, as it guides us in understanding the important relationship between our world created by God and our Orthodox Christian faith.

First, as human beings, it is within our world that we experience communion with God through our worship in the divine services of the Church.  Our natural environment calls us to be in communion with God and with others.  God brought the natural world into existence out of nothingness and He then created humankind within the natural environment for a harmonious coexistence and fellowship.  While this harmony was interrupted through the sin and disobedience of man, our God, out of His great love for us, entered into His creation as flesh and blood in order to redeem us and all that is under the bondage of sin and death, restoring the harmonious fellowhip.

Second, through the liturgical life of the Church we are not only strenghthened in our journey of life but we also become aware of the great spiritual significance of our natural environment.  This happens through the usage of purely material elements, as the bread and the wine, in the most holy Mystery of the Divine Eucharist which as the Body and Blood of Christ unites us with God Himself.  Here, the spiritual and physical relationship is significant.  We are both physical and spiritual beings, created for life, and blessed with the ability, unique only to human beings, to worship our Creator within a natural environment that not only provides for our basic physical needs, but also enables us to exprerience perfect communion with God.

Finally, our liturgical life and our life in the world cannot be considered as separate spheres of existence, but as one realm of living and relationship.  In the services of the Church, we are called to liturgy, to a collective work as a people that will be our vocation for eternity.  Within the Church, we strive for deeper communion with God, and we nurture our relationships of faith and love with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Our natural environment is also dependent upon our faith inspired work as a people, specifically as stewards of what God has created.  We have been called to oversee and protect the natural environment.  This requires cooperation with others in a spirit of love and fellowhsip.  It also requires that we appreciate the impact of our actions and inactions, and that we cherish the beauty, function, and purpose of all that God has created, consistent with the manner by which we invoke His holy name in our worship of Him.

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It is on this day of the inauguration of this Ecclesiastical New Year, it is at this time, that all of us are called to think seriously about what St. Paul said to the Corinthians: behold, now is the happily acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Let us then, hear this apostolic saying as a call to an enhanced participation in the liturgical life of our Church, to a renewed relationship to our natural environment, and to a deeper understanding of the preciousness of the time given to us by our God and Creator.

With paternal love in Christ,

+ D E M E T R I O S
Archbishop of America

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
8-10 East 79th St. New York, NY 10075-0106
Tel: (212) 570-3530 Fax: (212) 774-0237
Web: http://www.goarch.org  - Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Contact: PRESS OFFICE
Stavros Papagermanos
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Details

Last Updated: 19 February 2013

01.09.2009, [21:46] // UAOC // risu.org.ua

CONSTANTINOPLE — The letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew from the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) will be reviewed at the session of the Holy Synod in Constantinople on September 28, 2009. UNIAN-Religion reported that General Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Archimandrite Elpidophoros Lambriniadis informed the publication “Kommersant-Ukraina” of this.

After the session of the Holy Synod, a delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate will come to Ukraine for further review. “No decision will be made fast or spontaneously. We are planning the visit of the Patriarchate’s delegation to Ukraine for the beginning of October. During the visit there will be a meeting between representatives of the Holy Synod and Metropolitan Mefodiy (head of the UAOC), where the given question will be discussed, after which we will make a definitive decision,” said the archimandrite.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) skeptically regards the perspective of the UAOC coming under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. “The UAOC has practically no chances – during Patriarch Bartholomew’s visit to Kyiv he clearly made it understood that he will only converse with a canonical Church, thus with us,” the press secretary of the head of t he UOC-MP proto-hierarch Heorhij Kovalenko is quoted by “Kommersant.”

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) responds the same way to the letter of Metropolitan Mefodiy. "We really doubt that Patriarch Bartholomew will accept the UAOC under his omophorion, the more so since it is a small Orthodox jurisdiction,” said the head of the informational-publication department of the UOC-KP Bishop Yevstratiy (Zorya). He believes that the UAOC’s appeal to Constantinople was influenced by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s visit to Ukraine. “After Kirill’s visit to Ukraine, the UAOC understood that Moscow will not support the creation of a national church in Ukraine, so they again focused their attention on Constantinople,” feels Bishop Yevstratij.

As RISU reported, on August 26, 2009, the Hierarchal Synod of the UAOC sent an appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with a request to accept the UAOC into the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with rights of autonomy.

• http://religions.unian.net/rus/detail/1592