“Make ready, O Bethlehem, let the manger be prepared, Let the Cave show its welcome. The truth is come the shadow is passed away; God hath appeared from a Virgin unto men, Formed as we are and deifying that which He hath assumed.” (Plagal of fourth Tone by Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem) During the joyful…

A deep wound has been inflicted on the canonical Orthodoxy in Ukraine and worldwide, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia wrote in the letters addressed to the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches. The messages were sent to His Beatitude Pope and Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria, His Beatitude Patriarch John X…

More than half the priests of the Diocese of Vinnitsa of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who followed their hierarch Simeon Shostasky, the former Metropolitan of Vinnitsa and Bar, into schism in the new Ukrainian nationalist church following Saturday’s “unification council” have already repented of their poor decision and returned to the canonical Ukrainian Church headed…

The creation of a new church in Ukraine by schismatics will lead the country to spiritual death, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said during a church service in St. Nicholas Ugresha Monastery in the Moscow Region on Wednesday. “Today we are concerned about everything happening in Ukraine. That’s a vivid example of how…

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania on Monday attended the Te Deum service officiated at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest on the feast day of His Beatitude’s Patron Saint, the Holy and Glorious Prophet Daniel. The Te Deum service was officiated by His Grace Timotei of Prahova, assistant bishop to the Bucharest Archdiocese, and was…

Speaker of Ukraine’s Verkhovnaya Rada Andrey Parubiy has renewed his invitation to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to come to Kiev and speak before the parliament. “I want to confirm that I have invited His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew to come to Ukraine and speak before the Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine,” Parubiy wrote on Twitter on Monday, December…

On December 17, 2018, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church met for an extraordinary session. It was chaired by His Beatitude Onufriy, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine. The Synod considered the challenges facing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church now. In particular, a judgement was made on the gathering which took place on December…

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has denied media reports that its Synod has excommunicated two metropolitans who attended the unification assembly on December 15. “They have not been excommunicated. They have only been banned from conducting religious services,” Archpriest Nikolay Danilevich, the deputy head of Department for External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC),…

English and Greek-language versions of the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church have officially opened. Materials in English and Greek are available at http://www.patriarchia.ru/en/ and http://www.patriarchia.ru/gr/. The opening of these new versions is intended to expand the audience of the Moscow Patriarchate’s official site and to facilitate access to certain important materials from the…