WASHINGTON, DC – In a U.S. Department of Defense news release, Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper announced on July 13 that Greek-American Michael J.K. Kratsios had been designated to serve as Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, effective July 10, 2020. “In seeking to fill this position we wanted someone…

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  The Church today venerates the memory of Aquila the Apostle among the 70, as well as Nicodemus the Righteous of Mount Athos. The life and works of these saints are detailed today on the pages of the diakonima.gr site.

  The Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, His Eminence Hilarion, this week expressed a view that the practice of surrogate motherhood should be prohibited in Russia. Hilarion, who is also chairman of the department of External Church Relations and a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow, called on Russian lawmakers to outlaw…

  The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem was again closed to worshippers, as part of renewed restrictions placed by the Israeli government to prevent exposure to the coronavirus. A spike in confirmed Covid-19 cases was reported in Israel and the Holy Land over the recent period. Restrictions were also placed on arrivals to…

European Union Foreign ministers on Monday categorically condemned a decision by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reconvert the iconic Hagia Sophia back to a mosque, with an announcement stating that this ominous development will “…inevitably fuel mistrust, promote renewed divisions between religious communities and undermine efforts at dialogue and cooperation.” The now unabashedly authoritarian…

Just one day after the feast of St. Sophrony of Essex was celebrated for the first time since his glorification among the saints last year, he was honored as the patron saint of a restored and reconsecrated church in a town in northwestern Romania. On Sunday, July 12, the old church in Sânmartin de Beiuș,…

On Monday, June 30/ July 13, 2020, the Patriarchate celebrated the feast of the Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles. Through this feast the Church gathers all faithful Christians in honour of the Holy Twelve Apostles who contributed greatly to the spreading of the preaching of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Who made…

  “We are dismayed by the recent decision of the Turkish government regarding the Church of Hagia Sofia. We strongly denounce and condemn any act that could counterfeit the historical identity of our homeland.” Damascus, July 13, 2020. His Beatitude John X, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East of the Orthodox Church denounced the…