The Metropolitan of Bursa and the Exarch of Bithynia, His Eminence, Elpidophoros, this week expressed his optimism over the prospect of a re-opening of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Theological School on the island of Chalki. In statements carried by Greece’s national news agency, His Eminence referred to the significance of the seminary for the Ecumenical Patriarchate,…

In other news, the Metropolitan of Kissamos and Selino, His Eminence Amphilochios, paid a pilgrimage this week to the Holy and Great Monastery of  which is located in the semi-autonomous monastic community of Mt. Athos. His Eminence, Amphilochios, venerated the miraculous Holy Icons of the Monastery and also officiated at a divine liturgy at the…

An announcement today by the Church of Greece’s standing Holy Synod said decisions over changes, proposed by the current government to revise Church-state relations, as well as the issue of Autocephaly for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church will be referred to an extraordinary session between March 19 through March 21. High on the agenda of the…

Thirty churches in the Pskov Province will soon be renovated as part of the Russian Church’s volunteer project “Our Ancient Churches.” The necessary equipment will be purchased with funds from a presidential grant, said Alexander Shepelev, a representative of the Andrei Bogolyubsky Foundation, at a press conference last week, reports Pskov Newsfeed. According to Shepelev,…

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has called on the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to intervene over pressure exerted on the Church and its faithful in what it calls the occupied areas of Crimea and the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. In a statement, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian…

The Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, His Eminence Hilarion, this week reminded that Christians were major force over the previous decades, in both the United States and the former Soviet Union, who helped bridge differences during the Cold War and created the conditions for a normalization of ties between the two major nations. Hilarion  is the chairman of…

The Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Austria and Switzerland this week commemorated the 800-year anniversary of the Autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the 50-year anniversary of the Serbian Church’s presence in Austria and Switzerland, during an event at the Bern Town Hall.

A televised comment by the US ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt, on Tuesday, continued to generate reactions. According to Amb. Pyatt we’ve “seen Russian efforts in the Church, the efforts to undermine the role of the Ecumenical Patriarch.” Speaking at a event to highlight the risks of disinformation and a manipulation of information, he added that…

Today’s session of the Church of Greece’s standing Holy Synod is particularly important, given the proposals for changes in Church-state relations being promoted by the government. The session also comes in the wake of recent inflammatory statements by Greek education minister Kostas Gavroglu, who criticized the stance of the association representing Orthodox clerics in the…