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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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Pilgrimage in Honor of the Transfiguration of Our Lord and the Dormition of the Mother of God
August 16-17, 2008
Schedule of Events
Saturday August 16, 2008
-7:00 pm Great Vespers, Litya, Blessing of Bread, Flowers,& Fruit
-Veneration of Tomb of the Mother of God With the Singing of Marian Hymns
-Confessions, Before and After Vespers
Sunday August 17, 2008
-9:50 am Procession of Metropolitan Into the Church led by Diocesan Youth
-10:00 am Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, Celebrant: His Eminence, Metropolitan Nicholas assisted by Diocesan Clergy, Choral responses sung by St. Nicholas Church Choir, Homestead,PA, under the direction of Reader Andrew Talarovich and Selected Plain Chant responses sung by Diocesan Youth, Prayers for departed diocesan Bishops, Priests, Monastics and Diocesan Faithful
-Enthronment of the Reliquary of Saints in the Camp Church
-Following Liturgy - Luncheon (Cost: Adult - $15.00 Children - Age 4-12 - $8.00; Children age 3 and Under are Free )
Reservations and Prepayment must be made by August 10
No Reservations will be taken without prepayment
Following Lunch
-Paraklis Service
-Annointing with St. Nectarios Oil
-Blessing of Religious Items and Automobiles
For details go to http://www.acrod.org/SummerPilgrimage2008schedule.html or contact Rev. Fr. Michael Ellis at (724) 662-4840 or
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24.06.2008, [16:10] // UGCC //RISU.ORG.UA
On June 18, 2008, at the initiative of Assistant Minister of Defense of Ukraine Volodymyr Antonovych Dibriva, on the premises of the Ministry of Defense a meeting of the military administration with the following representatives of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church was held: Bishop Mikhail (Koltun), head of the Department of the Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC for Pastoral Care in Power Structures of Ukraine; Fr. Lyubomyr Yavorskyi, assistant of the department; and Fr. Stepan Sus, head of the Center of Military Chaplaincy of the Lviv Archeparchy of the UGCC. During the meeting the parties discussed modern conditions in the area of military chaplaincy and outlined future prospects for the subsequent cooperation of the Church and the Administration of the Military Forces of Ukraine in this direction. During the meeting Bishop Mikhail underlined a positive point in that the awareness of the need to develop the military chaplaincy is not only an initiative of the Church hierarchy but the fact that the importance of the role of the priest in work with personnel of the Military Forces is supported by the authorities of the Ministry of Defense.
Father Stepan Sus during the meeting shared his own experience of ministry in the military environment and presented a general picture of the military chaplaincy in the Lviv Archeparchy.
The Assistant Minister of Defensive expressed his hope for subsequent close cooperation of the Church and the state. Considering this, he suggested conducting systematic meetings with representatives of all the traditional Churches of Ukraine with the purpose of creating a coordinating group the task of which would be to work out basic principles of military chaplaincy and developing a legal base for introducing chaplaincy in the Military Forces.
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Rome, Jun. 24, 2008 (CWNews.com) - A special year dedicated to St. Paul will be inaugurated on June 28, with a Vespers service at the Roman basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls, the Vatican has announced.
Pope Benedict XVI will preside at the evening service. The Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople will participate in the event to open the Pauline year.
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Minsk, Jun. 24, 2008 (CWNews.com) - President Aleksander Lukashenko of Belarus has invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit his country.
The invitation to the Pope was made during a visit to Minsk by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State. Although he did not respond on the Pope’s behalf, Cardinal Bertone did later make an encouraging comment when he compared his visit to Belarus with the mission of St. John the Baptist, saying that he was acting as the forerunner for the Pontiff. The cardinal’s statement could be interpreted generally, as an indication that he was doing the Pope’s work abroad; but it could also be interpreted as a hint that the Pope was already considering a trip to Belarus.
The invitation from Lukashenko is particularly noteworthy because Belarus is closely allied with Russia, and the authoritarian government headed by Luksahenko has strongly favored the local Orthodox church, an affiliate of the Moscow patriarchate. A papal visit to Belarus could be seen as a stepping-stone toward a policy goal that the late Pope John Paul II set for the Holy See: a visit to Moscow.
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Moscow, Jun. 24, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has cautioned against any political movement aimed at assigning responsibility for the persecutions of the Communist era.
“The Church keeps the prayerful memory of all the faithful who became victims of the godless government’s policy,” Patriarch Alexei II told a meeting of the Russian bishops’ synod. He acknowledged that Communist repression caused the deaths of millions of innocent people, under a regime that was anti-religious and anti-human.
However, the Patriarch continued, “The memory of the victims must not be cause of political speculations.” He discouraged the sort of efforts that have been undertaken in some formerly Communist countries, such as Poland, to make a full accounting of the people who cooperated in Communist repression.
The Russian Orthodox Church has been embarrassed in the past by revelations that some prelates were cooperating with the Communist regime.
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Jonathan Luxmoore
Warsaw (ENI). The Romanian Orthodox Church has condemned the formation of a trade union among its clergy, and has said that priests should follow church procedures in making demands and airing grievances.
"Certainly, some Orthodox priests have trouble making ends meet, especially those with families," said Constantin Stoica, a spokesperson for the Bucharest patriarchate, which governs the church, "but we have ways of solving their problems inside our church."
In May, 20 priests from Iasi, Neamt and Bacau applied to the Iasi court to register their Mother of God Protection union in northeastern Romania, while 35 other priests in Oltenia said they were considering strike action after registering a separate Good Shepherd union at Craiova on 22 May.
The Good Shepherd's vice-president, the Rev. Nicolae State, told Romania's Gandul daily newspaper on 28 May that the union would fight low clergy pay, and demand the right for priests to make parish decisions without diocesan approval.
"There is an abyss between the church hierarchy and the priests who serve in churches," State said. "We are put under pressure, and have already lost some of our members."
In a statement, the Bucharest patriarchate dismissed the moves. "The initiatives to set up clergy trade unions are taken by priests tempted by the spirit of rebellion and division, and moving away from church discipline and communion," the patriarchate said.
"A priest is not a lay employee of a commercial firm but invested by his hierarch with the responsibility of a holy mission designed to save and serve the community of the faithful," the statement added. "He cannot go on strike and not baptise children, wed spouses, hear confessions, bury the dead or administer Holy Communion because his wage is too small."
The patriarchate added that its priests were required to take their problems to church bodies, and not trade unions.
Under a 1999 law that currently faces amendment in the national parliament, the Romanian state pays part of the clergy's income. Local parish contributions make up the rest.
The church's spokesperson told Ecumenical News International that leaders of the Orthodox church hoped to obtain pay rises in current negotiations with the state, and especially for priests from poorer parishes in Transylvania and northern Moldavia. Video online Harem hentai for PC or Mobile.
"But there are also networks of solidarity within the church which enable financial burdens to be shared," Stoica added.
According to a 2001 census, 87 per cent of Romania's 23 million inhabitants belong to the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Source: www.eni.ch
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