Interview with the Archbishop of Albania, former President of the WCC by Marianne Ejdersten, WCC director of Communication Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania shares his perspective in this E-interview about the way churches are adapting, both in Albania and worldwide, to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we pray for the researchers trying to find…

A new joint ministerial decision announced by the Greek government extend a temporary suspension on the holding of religious services, regardless of the denomination or confession, to April 11, which is the Saturday of Lazarus in the predominately Orthodox Christian nation. As with the ongoing restrictions, only the broadcast of Divine Liturgies and other services…

“The pandemic is not a chance event, it is a sign of the times; it’s the product of divine indignation ,” Elder Archimandrite Ephraim, the Abbot of the Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi, warned early Saturday morning, after the conclusion of an all-night vigil at the Holy Monastery. All of Mount Athos’ monasteries held…

“On this day, the fourth Sunday of Great Lent, we commemorate the memory of our blessed Father John, author of the book “The Ladder”. St. John of the Ladder lived in the years 525- 60. From the age of 16 he dedicated his life to monasticism and asceticism. For 59 whole years he lived in…

“…… I learned from the internet that the journalist Angel Bonchev was preparing a book about the unknown for us Saint Nikephoros the Leper, at a critical moment when the world was covered by the coronavirus pandemic and thousands died, killed by this new plague. I called him on the phone and he briefly told…

On Saturday, March 15/28, 2020, the Patriarchate celebrated in transference the Name Day of H.H.B. the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos with the Feast of the Holy Forty Martyrs who martyred at the lake of Sebastia of Pontus during the reign of Licinius in 320 A.D., as the Holy Martyr Theophilos was one of them. In…

Regarding the latest recommendations of the Government of Serbia, in order to suppress the spread of the COVID-19 virus, “religious services in churches and in the open air are to be performed without the presence of the faithful”, with the clarification that the aim of these recommendations is a safe way of worship and the…

On March 28, 2020, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America held a Virtual Town Hall with the Metropolitans of the Eparchial Synod, the Bishops, and over 325 members of the National Clergy, organized by the Archdiocese Presbyters Council (APC), in order to discuss the magnitude of the Pandemic crisis and took questions from the clergy….

A (telephone) conversation with Metropolitan of Pergamon John Zizioulas (March 23, 2020)   We wish to hear your views on the current situation, since your theology plays a great role in the present circumstances. Metropolitan John: My theology, unfortunately, cannot be applied. In Greece they have already closed the churches, and the Divine Liturgy is not…