The Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, His Beatitude John X, this week received Mr Sevag Avedissian, the chargé d’ affaires of the Republic of Cyprus in Syria. The meeting took place at the Patriarchate House in Damascus on Monday.

The Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation has handed over several early 18th-century icons to Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov, the abbot of the Pskov Caves Monastery. At the request of His Eminence, a search was undertaken for a number of unique icons that were taken to Germany from the Pskov Diocese during…

Concerns over the Orthodox Christian heritage in the Kosovo-Metohija province were rife this week, only a few days before elections there. The Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Visoki Decani this week issued a plea over social media for the protection of the Serbian spiritual legacy in the province, while also revealing the latest desecration…

The first online synaxis, or assembly, from Mount Athos with the Elder Archimandrite Ephraim, the Abbot of the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi, with members of the Society of Mount Athos Friends in the UK, was held on Tuesday evening. As with the previous such assemblies, this synaxis was hosted by the online platform…

A bipartisan majority of US senators on Tuesday urged the new Biden administration to press the increasingly authoritarian Erdogan regime in Turkey to do more to protect human rights in that country. Fifty-four out of the total of 100 senators signed a letter, which accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of marginalizing domestic opposition, silencing…

The Greek government on Wednesday announced a series of much stricter pandemic-related measures for the greater Athens and Thessaloniki areas. Among others, practically all retailers will be closed in the two biggest urban areas of Greece, along with schools. These measures will extend at least until Feb. 28, part of a bid to prevent the…

The Church today venerates the memory of the Hieromartyr Haralambos. This Saint was a priest of the Christians in Magnesia, the foremost city of Thessaly. He contested during the reign of Alexander Severus, in the third century.

The brotherhood of St. Job of Pochaev Monastery in Munich is in desperate need of a new home. Faced with overcrowding, mold, and problems with the rapidly growing community around them, the monks have begun looking elsewhere. Now, a fundraiser has been launched to help the monks acquire and renovate Seyfriedsberg Castle, located in the…

Nearly 16,000 people benefited from the philanthropic activities of the Archdiocese of Cluj of the Romanian Orthodox Church last year. According to the report presented at the Diocesan Assembly on Saturday, the Archdiocese spent nearly $4 million (nearly 15 million lei) to help the less fortunate, reports the Metropolia of Cluj. The meeting began with…