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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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2008-01-14 (cwnews.com) - Six days after the January 7 celebration of Christmas on the Russian Orthodox calendar, the Interfax news service published a translation of the Christmas message by Metropolitan Kirill, the acting head of the Moscow patriarchate.
After emphasizing internal Church unity, the temporary head of the Russian Orthodox Church reflected on the tenure of his predecessor and addressed the current economic crisis. “With the demise of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy, a most important period of the history of our Church has come to a close, a time of great social change. Today we live in a completely different society, dissimilar to the society that emerged from the period of godlessness which was imposed upon us.”
“At the same time,” he continued, “today the peoples who are spiritually nourished by the Russian Church are encountering difficulties in the economic and social sphere that have befallen them externally. Many people have been deprived of work and are enduring material hardship. The Church embraces with compassion all those who are now finding it hard. May the Lord strengthen and bring wisdom to all-- those in power, entrepreneurs and simple workers-- so that we, through the common labor of accord, mutual aid and the search for proper solutions, are able to help each other to overcome the current difficulties and emerge from them, preserving ourselves and our beloved ones, and preserving peace and harmony in our communities.”
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December 2007/January 2008
Prot. 184
To the Reverend and Very Reverend Clergy, and Devout Faithful of this God-Beloved Diocese:
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
Christos Razdajetsja! Slavite Jeho!
I greet all of you with the words of the Archangel: "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11).
And I invite you to sing with the Angelic Choir: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14).
What a mighty announcement that was to the poor Shepherds! What a bright star that shone in the darkness to the Wise Men! What a heavenly, glorious gift was carried in the womb of a poor young Virgin, seated upon a donkey, accompanied by an old carpenter!
In Bethlehem, the richest, most majestic Gift of all time was hidden in obscurity. It was hidden in the familiarity of the poor, not exalted in the celebrity of the powerful. This Gift was not enthroned in a rich palace, but was camouflaged in a lowly manger, within a cave of the earth.
It was only in such a place, and with such a people, that God came to set His dwelling among men. It was here that the Infinite Beauty of Divinity came to establish peace on earth and the Good Will of the Gospel.
Why in a cave? Why with the poor? Because there was no room anywhere, or with anyone, else. There was no other place or people. Remember – “there was no room in the Inn.”
There is still no room for the Child Christ, the Prince of Peace. Just as the whole civilized world was too busy with the census, the wars and commerce at the Nativity of Christ, so the world today is too busy with the economy, wars and the business of the holidays. There are many seasonal lights and decorations, and there are many songs, many things to do, many people to see, appointments to keep. There is hustle and bustle and shopping galore. But there is no time and no place for the Infant Prince of Peace.
The business of the Inn--where there was no room--and the economy of the marketplace--where there is never time enough--will make you tired but never warm. It may leave you cold and sad, but not strong and glad. There is entertainment to be sure, and there are parties, concerts, recitals and travel, but there is not enough peace.
There is no room in the modern Christmas for peace, because there is no room for the Prince of Peace. There remains no room in the Inn.
And that is why God gave Jesus to the poor. The rich are too busy, too impressed with the big, shiny packages under the tree. They have grown too accustomed to the comforts of the world, to used to their own sufficiency and luxury to notice the small, obscure package of a Cave and a Manger, of an unknown King of an undiscovered Country, an ox and a donkey who knew enough to worship, a carpenter and the Queen of Heaven, and the Prince of Peace Who had come into a world that had forgotten what true Peace ever was.
What the rich leave unopened, the poor receive with humble thanks. God announced to the Shepherds and Wise Men the Nativity of His Son, the Incarnation of the Prince of Peace. And through them, He has announced this Heavenly Gift unto us.
It is up to us to receive this Gift of Divine Grace, and to make room for the Prince of Peace. There was not room in the Inn for Him, but there can be room in your heart for Christ the Lord. There can be room at your table, in your home and in your church. There can be, and there must be, room in this Diocese for the Prince of Peace.
In the Sacraments and in our prayers, the Holy Spirit brings us to Jesus Christ, Who conducts us to the Father. Christ is called the Prince of Peace because in His Body that we receive in the Eucharist, and in His Body that we become under His Headship, we are plunged into the Energetic fellowship of the Holy Trinity. This Fellowship is the Place of Wholeness in a shattered world, the Peace of Salvation from spiritual decay, the Peace of Beauty and Goodness in an age of pollution and contempt, the Peace of Love that is stronger than death in a world of war, and the Peace of the very Personhood of Christ.
This is the Peace you can find only in the Prince of Peace. And that is why He, the Second Person of the Trinity, has come: He has come to be the Word of God the Father, to announce, through the witness of the Holy Spirit, that the Church is now a New World of Paradise.
So let us receive this Gift of the Prince of Peace, and let us enjoy it together this Christmas Day, and let us rehearse its Mysteries forever. Let us be changed by this most majestic Gift, and let us be renewed and healed by the Peace of the Holy Trinity. Let us rejoice with the Theotokos and Joseph the Carpenter. Let us bow down in adoration with the poor Shepherds and the travel-weary Wise Men.
And best of all, let us sing with the Angels "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
Let us sing of Peace on earth, for that Peace is Christ Himself, Jesus our Lord, the Prince of Peace.
Granting you my festival Archpastoral blessings on this glad Nativity season, I remain
Most sincerely yours in the Grace of Christ,
+METROPOLITAN NICHOLAS
Website: www.acord.org
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19.12.2008, [10:23] // UGCC // RISU.ORG.UA
Rome - On December 9-13, Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar), Major Archbishop of Kyiv and Halych, was in Rome, where he took part in a plenary session of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Such meetings take place once every two or three years. The Head of the UGCC is a member of three Vatican institutions: the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Pontifical Council for Culture, and the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity has an administrative government: chairman and secretariat, and also councilors and consultants, who come from various parts of the world. All the listed groups take part in the plenary session. This year approximately 40 persons took part in the work of the council. From the UGCC Bishop Basil (Losten), Bishop emeritus of the Eparchy of Stamford, also took part in this meeting.
According to Patriarch Lubomyr, the main task of such meetings is to examine the general status and results of activity conducted for the achievement of unity among Christians. Thus, various aspects of this activity are analyzed. "The Catholic Church since the time of the Second Vatican Council has tried to do everything possible so that above all among Christians an understanding of each other would happen, then mutual understanding, rapprochement and, in the end, union," said the Head of the UGCC.
Regarding the course of discussions Patriarch Lubomyr said that the question of understanding the importance of ecumenical dialogue among the faithful was raised. "Much is said in the various areas about ecumenism, but people generally do not understand, finally, the reason for it. And Jesus Christ said distinctly that we must be united in the Lord. Consequently, it is His holy will. Therefore the ecumenical movement in the life of the Church is not something additional, but essential. The Church has to be united, it has to be one," the Head of the UGCC noted. To popularize this understanding, the participants of the session decided to conduct a number of events.
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Istanbul, Turkey
BARTHOLOMEW
By the Mercy of God
Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch
To the Plenitude of the Church
Grace, peace and mercy from the Savior Christ, born in Bethlehem
Beloved brethren and children in the Lord,
The great and sacred day of Christmas has dawned, the metropolis and mother of all feasts, inviting each of us to spiritual uplifting and encounter with the Ancient of Days, who became an infant for us.
As St. John of Damascus underlines: "By the grace of God the Father, the only begotten Son and divine Word of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the pre-eternal and perfect God, who is without beginning, condescends to us as His servants, becoming fully human and achieves that which is newer than new, the only new thing under the sun." (On the Orthodox Faith) This incarnation of the Son of God is not merely symbolical, like the other incarnations of the numerous gods in mythology; it is reality, a truly new reality, the only new thing under the sun, which occurred at a specific historical moment in the reign of the Emperor Octavian Augustus some 746 years (according to new astronomical data) since the establishment of Rome, in the midst of a specific people, from the house and line of David (Luke 2.4), in a specific place, namely Bethlehem of Judaea, with a very specific purpose: "He became human in order that we might become divine," in accordance with the succinct expression of Athanasius the Great. (On the Divine Incarnation 54)
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To the Most Reverend and Reverend Hierarchs,
Most Reverend and Reverend Fathers,
Honored Monks and Nuns,
Dearly beloved in Christ Lay Sisters and Brothers:
Peace and God’s blessing!
Dearly beloved in Christ, in a few days we will celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, an extraordinarily important event for each of us, for our families, communities, the nation, the Church and all humanity. This event is so important that we even divide the history of humanity into the years before the birth of Jesus Christ and after His birth. And we do this not occasionally or by chance, but on the basis of a deep awareness that the world before His coming on the earth was strongly different from the world which came after His arrival. It is similar with the life of each of us. When we become part of the body of Jesus Christ through the holy sacrament of baptism, we recognize Him and meet with Him; our life acquires another, new and better appearance. To recognize, to understand, to feel that closeness of God to us and the possibility of our closeness to the Lord, this is a thing which changes fully our image of human life, our feeling of ourselves, our own life, and the life of humanity in general.
I greet you on the holy feast which is on its way and cordially wish for each of you, as well as for myself, that on these holy days we may come closer to the Lord God, open our hearts to His love, receive Him, understand that He first loved us, and that the essence of our life is to respond to His love with our love, love for Him and all our neighbors.
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17.12.2008, [12:12] // UOC-KP // RISU.ORG.UA
Kyiv—According to a decision of the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyivan Patriarchate of 26 November, 2008, Archimandrite Petro Moskaliov was nominated new auxiliary bishop for Archbishop Ioasaf (Shybaiev) of Bilhorod and Oboiansk. He will bear the title of Bishop of Valuikiv. The nomination ceremony took place on 12 December, in Kyiv. The ordination was officiated by the head of the UOC-KP, Patriarch Filaret on 13 December in St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral in Kyiv.
Patriarch Filaret greeted the new bishop and wished him to be worthy of the high calling.
According to siver.com.ua, there are three eparchies of Kyivan Patriarchate in Russia. seogratis.org They function half-legally and are headed by Metropolitan Adrian (Staryna) of Dnipropetrovsk and Pavlohrad, Archbishop Ioasaf of Bilhorod and Oboiansk and Archbishop Varukh of Tobolsk and Yenisei. Most of the parishes of UOC-KP in the territory of Russia are not registered as the Russian law does not actually envisage such possibilities.