Greek parliamentarians participating in the Inter-parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy on Thursday were received by the President of the Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos. The parliamentarians briefed and thanked him for his support of the work conducted by the assembly. In exiting the presidential mansion in Athens afterwards, Greek deputy Maximos Harakopoulos praised the outgoing president of the…

Consecutive and controversial judicial rulings over the recent period have chipped away at the concepts “national” and “religious” consciousness in Greece, a predominately Orthodox nation of 11 million residents. The latest verdict, by the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court, upholds the constitutionality of removing the concept of “development of religious consciousness” from the…

On 10 February 2020, Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR), met with Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s chargé d’affaires ad interim, Mr. Amjad Al-Momani. Participating in the meeting were also Mr. Rateb Allaham, staff member of the embassy, and Mr. Yu. A. Tsyganok, DECR staff member. They discussed…

While Orthodox Christians everywhere love the Mother of God and turn to her in prayer in times of need, one Romania town is taking this relationship to a new level. Negrești Oaș is located in northwestern Romania, near the Ukrainian border. It is the capital of the Oaș Country ethnographic region, and as of Sunday,…

The head of the OCU discussed with the South African Ambassador to Ukraine the possibility of using the SAR’s experience for successful reintegration of the Donbas. On February 12, 2020, the head of the OCU Epiphany Dumenko met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of South Africa to Ukraine Andre Johannes Groenewald. This was reported on…

On February 9, 2020, the Sunday of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York led the patronal feast of the eponymous church in Brooklyn, NY. Concelebrating with His Eminence were: Archpriest Serge Lukianov (rector of Holy New Martyrs Church), Abbot Vladimir (Zgoba, Rector of…

The leaders of the world’s Orthodox Churches are planning to descend on Amman at the end of February to discuss the situation surrounding the creation of the new church of Ukraine (OCU), the Russian Orthodox Church said. “We hope such a meeting will take place this month, and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill is prepared to…

The chairman of the Department of External Church Relations expressed hope that this summit meeting will be helpful to find a solution to “the dispute in the Orthodox world” Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, will travel to Jordan for a summit meeting of all Orthodox Churches…

The following are Metropolitan Joseph’s opening remarks at the annual Clergy Seminar for the Diocese of Los Angeles, held in​ Alhambra, CA​ on February 3-6, 2020.    Beloved Brothers in Christ, Christ is in our midst! I pray that you, your families, and your parishes have been spiritually renewed by the holy feasts of Christmas and Theophany…