Ode to Greatly Saddened, Part I . . .

We thought we’d open up this thread just for the news. Post links here.

As you all may know, an anonymous poster who goes by the moniker Greatly Saddened has provided us with a plethora of news over the past few years. It thus came to our attention that a sub-forum on this blog was necessary in order to do his research justice.

Thank you, GS and keep up the good work!

Comments

  1. Billy Jack Sunday says

    Excellent!

    Greatly Saddened’s information gathering efforts and relevant link distributions are extremely helpful

    • Greatly Saddened says

      GOA1
      Below please find an article from today in The National Herald.

      Greek Archbishop Accepts Church-State Separation for Clergy Wage Guarantee
      By TNH Staff 
      November 8, 2018

      https://www.thenationalherald.com/219293/greek-archbishop-accepts-church-state-separation-for-clergy-wage-guarantee/

      • Gaekas Tsampounis says

        As Paul made tents, clergy need day jobs not yayaland.

        • Tim R. Mortiss says

          We were in Cyprus last month after a week in Israel. We met a very fine, humble and cheerful priest at the Limossal Metropolitanate, who accompanied us one day. He is a working electrical engineer during the week.

        • And who will visit you in the hospital when you are sick, bury your mother when she dies, or give urgent counseling during the week when it is needed, when the priest is looking after the spiritual well being of a large parish? Every priest I’ve had has had to leave home day or night, or the church building during office hours to talk someone down from suicide, way more than once in their life as a priest. Hard to do that if you work full time. Hard to give last communion to the dying at 3 in the morning if you have to get up at 6 the next day for a work commute.

          Maybe a village priest who cares for a handful of families who live close by should have a day job, but either cut your expectations to Sunday liturgies only or get real and pay your priest to be available full time, or even more realistically, full time plus 24/7 on-call.

          • Tim R. Mortiss says

            Here we certainly pay our priest to be full time, and he gives much more than full time.

            There, I don’t know.

        • Monk James Silver says

          Gaekas Tsampounis (November 9, 2018 at 8:57 am) says:

          As Paul made tents, clergy need day jobs not yayaland.
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
          I’d like to think that none of us is suffering from the cynical delusion that a priest works for his parish only Sunday norings.

          Priests who are — for some reason — not responsible /for a parish will obviously have to support themselves apart from whatever compensation they might receive from the church.

          This is also true of priests serving missions too small to support a full-time pastor. The OCA (at least) has a church-wide program of mission-planting grants which assist new and fragile communities in having a full-time pastor to help them prosper and grow in the faith and in numbers. The correlation between a community’s having a full-time priest and the growth of that community has been well documented.

      • That is quite a strong trust to place in an atheist. Seems to me that the rug can now be pulled at any time that it seems politically expedient.

    • Restorer of “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church”

      http://orthochristian.com/117544.html

  2. Greatly Saddened says

    My brothers and sisters in Christ,

    Thank you so much for the kind words. I am truly not deserving and am deeply humbled. Please pray for me the sinner. God bless you and your families.

  3. Greatly Saddened says

    UA1
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    FINNISH CHURCH DENIES POROSHENKO’S CLAIM THAT IT SUPPORTS UKRAINIAN AUTOCEPHALY
    Helsinki, November 8, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117116.html

  4. Greatly Saddened says

    EP1
    Below please find another article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    PAT. BARTHOLOMEW AWARDS “KIEV PATRIARCHATE” PRIEST WHO CALLS FOR MURDER AND LEGALIZATION OF DRUGS, PROSTITUTION; CANONICALLY RECEIVED ANOTHER WHO ACTIVELY PROMOTES HITLER
    Constantinople, November 8, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117104.html

  5. Greatly Saddened says

    UA2
    Below please find yet another article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    RECTOR OF MOSCOW THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY BARRED FROM UKRAINE AS POROSHENKO DECLARES ALL UKRAINIAN CHURCH REPS SHOULD LEAVE UKRAINE

    “This incident, in the context of the growing tension in Ukraine, eloquently illustrates the consequences of the decisions made by Patriarch Bartholomew,” the Moscow Academy says.
    Kiev, November 8, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117101.html

  6. Greatly Saddened says

    UA3
    Below please find an article from today on the ekathimerini website.

    NEWS 08.11.2018 : 13:43
    Tentative deal with Church fuels unease
    APOSTOLOS LAKASAS, STAVROS PAPANTONIOU

    http://www.ekathimerini.com/234451/article/ekathimerini/news/tentative-deal-with-church-fuels-unease?fbclid=IwAR3d1D__FVjY7St-c6LVkEzCEzz5rBIO8IyjUHRUBWaPuRcFR9nE9yHF3JA

  7. Greatly Saddened says

    UA4
    Below please find an article from Sunday on the Sputnik News website.

    Canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church Says Not Taking Part in Autocephaly
    WORLD
    21:24 04.11.2018

    https://sputniknews.com/world/201811041069502069-ukranian-orthodox-church-autocephaly/

  8. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA2
    Below please find a news release from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Malta website, which was posted Wednesday on the OCL website.

    Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to visit Venice next week
    BY WEBMASTER ON NOVEMBER 7, 2018
    ORTHODOX NEWS, ORTHODOX NEWS TOP STORIES
    by Aurelian Iftimiu

    https://ocl.org/ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-to-visit-venice-next-week/

  9. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA3
    Below please find another article from today in The National Herald. Also take note of the comments below the article. Unfortunately, the article is locked and doesn’t appear in its entirety. I will continue to be on the lookout for the article in its entirely, and if found, I will post.

    Hundreds Attend Andover, MA Luncheon in Honor and Support of Fr. Nicholas Kastanas
    By Theodore Kalmoukos 
    November 8, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/219255/hundreds-attend-andover-ma-luncheon-in-honor-and-support-of-fr-nicholas-kastanas/

  10. Gail Sheppard says

    This has been a long time coming. I say hooray! I’m going to go back and put numbers on them so people cane reference comment GOA5, for example. GS if you could do this when you post them, it will be most helpful! That way we can point them to your exact link.

  11. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA4
    Below please find an article from today in The National Herald. Also, please note the comments below the article. Unfortunately, the article is locked and doesn’t appear in its entirety. I will continue to be on the lookout for the article in its entirely, and if found, I will post.

    The Quest for a United American Orthodox Church 
    By Dennis Menos 
    November 9, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/219469/the-quest-for-a-united-american-orthodox-church/

  12. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA5
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    GREEK HIERARCHS SPEAK OUT AGAINST PROPOSED SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE AGREEMENT
    Kalavryta and Piraeus, Greece,
    November 9, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117143.html

  13. Greatly Saddened says

    UA5
    Below please find an article from Monday on the National Catholic Register website.

    New Cold War by Proxy? Religious Conflict on Ukrainian Territory
    Posted by Victor Gaetan on Monday Nov 5th, 2018 at 9:57 AM

    NEWS ANALYSIS: Pope Francis cautions Catholics not to ‘meddle’ in ecclesiological conflict between the Orthodox Church of Constantinople and the Russian Orthodox Church.

    http://m.ncregister.com/58564/d

  14. Ronda Wintheiser says
    • Michael Bauman says

      So much for the EP’s action creating unity.

    • Beryl Wells Hamilton says

      Ronda, Thank you for linking to this article! I was able to find out what President Poroshenko actually said in his speech, and I learned a LOT.

      I cannot for the life of me figure out why articles like the one linked to by Ronda are accepted without the thoughtful readers bothering to find out if what they are reading is true or not. Color me baffled.

      As Judge Judy says, “If it doesn’t make sense, it isn’t true.” Even if Poroshenko were that diabolically evil, he would never show his hand like that. Ordering hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens to get out of Ukraine? What?

      Everything he said can be found on the president’s official web site; in fact, there is so much to read and ponder from that speech, I hardly know where to begin.

      President Petro Poroshenko stressed that the authorities in Ukraine clearly share the principle of non-interference of the state in church activities. The Head of State stressed that this especially applies to a foreign state, the interference of which has always been taking place in recent years.

      “The Russian Orthodox Church is an element of the Russian political system. Who said that? Putin said that Russia holds on two pillars – Russian Orthodox Church and nuclear weapon. We have to make conclusions from this, because is it okay when the Russian security council meets in the Kremlin under the chairmanship of Putin with one issue on the agenda – how to protect the ROC in Ukraine?” the President noted at the International Conference “The Hybrid War Decade: Lessons Learned to Move Forward Successfully”.

      You have nothing to do with it. Your church, your army, your weaponry have nothing to do with it. Go back home to Russia,” the Head of State said.

      The President also noted that under these conditions, Ukraine has become tight-knit, stable and confident, and “the attempts by Russia to steal our history, our church, our language or to destroy it already cause a slight smile today”. “Therefore, I will repeat once again that by helping Ukraine withstand today in this war, the West invests not only in ours, but also in its own security, not only in ours, but also in its own future,” he emphasized.

      The President called for supporting the development of the defense complex of Ukraine. “Time has proved that Russia soberly assesses the price of further aggression. We need a common platform to effectively counteract Russian misinformation in order to reliably protect critical infrastructure from cyber attacks, to prevent manipulative effects on society,” he said. At the same time, according to him, in the present pragmatic time, a state, which relies solely on external assistance and support, cannot be successful.

      President Petro Poroshenko says Russia will not stop influencing electoral processes around the world using cyberattacks tested in Ukraine. The Head of State said this at the International Conference “The Hybrid War Decade: Lessons Learned to Move Forward Successfully”.

      “The cyberattacks tested against Ukraine are now actively used against the rest of the world. And availing myself of this opportunity, I would like to thank our partners from the United States, the United Kingdom and other European Union countries for their successful efforts that clearly identified and publicly named the sources of these attacks. And this is already the voice of not only Ukraine,” Petro Poroshenko said.

      “The viruses that tried to attack the system of governance, the energy system of Ukraine, the nuclear safety system have a Moscow origin,” he said.

      “Information attacks, attempts to destabilize the situation inside the country, energy blackmail, complete embargo and closure of markets, aggressive imposition of its agenda through agents of influence, through agents in political, cultural and social spheres, incitement of social conflicts, a very important component of the hybrid war – influence through religious organizations is not a complete Moscow’s toolkit, which finally received the name of the hybrid,” the President named the means of Russian aggression.

      According to him, Russia, being obsessed with its geopolitical ideas, is grinding technologies today in the occupied Donbas and in the illegally annexed Crimea that go far beyond Ukraine and threaten not only Ukraine. “The occupied Crimea became the base for Russian cruise missiles. Where are they going next, will they only fly to Ukraine? Or to Syria? Or to the countries of the Mediterranean Sea in order to outline Russian influence zone, control zone there?” the President noted.

      “Don’t we know that modern Russian weapons are tested in Donbas? The methods of propaganda coverage of regular troops are being improved in Donbas. Tens of thousands of fighters of the so-called private armies were used in Donbas. Are they private? They are recruited through the system of Russian army, funded at the expense of the state budget and integrated with regular army fighters. The Ukrainian secret services detect numerous propagandists sponsored by Russia with their calls from within the country to overthrow the constitutional order,” the Head of State also noted.

      “We need to learn to counteract this,” he especially emphasized, adding: “Remember, the Sea of Azov has always been a symbol of peace, there were no grounds for any conflicts. And now, the Sea of Azov is full of warships, the system of blockade of Ukrainian seaports is being developed there. They are trying to stop the work of Mariupol, Berdiansk, stop the work of the steel industry of Ukraine, stop exports. What right do they have? I am convinced that not only this technology will be applied to Ukrainian ports”.

      • Beryl “If it doesn’t make sense, it isn’t true.” Even if Poroshenko were that diabolically evil, he would never show his hand like that”

        Well he said this: “Вашим церкві та армії тут нічого робити ”

        “Neither your church nor army has nothing to do here.”
        and few seconds later “Go home, to Russia”

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9sB7DhEjew
        (1:50-2:10)

        • Beryl Wells Hamilton says

          Martin, read everything he said, in context. Consider to whom he was speaking, and yes, I reckon that is pretty much what he is saying, not to hundreds of thousands, but to the enemies of Ukraine. “Nuclear weapons and the ROC are the two pillars of Russia,” said Putin. Poroshenko responds. “Go home to Russia, you haters of freedom for Ukraine. Bullies, get off my corner. You’re not the boss of me now, and you’re not so big.” (“Malcolm in the Middle.”)

          • Beryl, you are trying to defend indefensible and wiggle out from the facts you denied earlier.

            You wrote:

            “If it doesn’t make sense, it isn’t true.” Even if Poroshenko were that diabolically evil, he would never show his hand like that”

        • Beryl Wells Hamilton says

          I am not Poroshenko but I can quote him and yesterday he said, “In 2014, we set ambitious goals – to make a decentralization reform and break once and for all with the centralized Soviet system. To give power and resources to the community.”

  15. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA6
    Below please find a “Letter to the Editor” from today in The National Herald, by Theodore G. Karakostas of Boston, MA.

    Reader Disagrees with Kalmoukos on Autocephaly
    November 10, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/219500/reader-disagrees-with-kalmoukos-on-autocephaly/

  16. Could someone please explain to me this whole business of autocephaly.
    When, and how did it come about? Can any patriarch grant this? Or only the patriarch of Constantinople?

  17. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA7
    Below please find an article from today in The National Herald.

    Announcement of Tsipras-Ieronymos Intended Deal Fires up Greek Clergy
    By Theodore Kalmoukos
    November 10, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/219506/announcement-of-tsipras-ieronymos-intended-deal-fires-up-greek-clergy/

  18. Greatly Saddened says

    UA6
    Below please find an article from yesterday on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    PHILARET AND MAKARY WITHDRAW CANDIDACY TO LEAD NEW UKRAINIAN CHURCH, LIKELY TO BE HEADED BY ABP. JOB (GETCHA)—UAOC SOURCE
    Kiev, November 10, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117159.html

    • Beryl Wells Hamilton says

      Now that, (according to the article) “Philaret and Makary withdraw candidacy to lead new Ukrainian Church,” it seems like we can get on with it, put criticisms of these men behind us, and find out a bit more about Archbishop Job (Getcha), since he is the one being criticized in the article linked to above.

      It doesn’t seem worthwhile to believe everything one reads about a person. It seems smarter to me to read what the person himself said, if possible. Starting with that, I found the following excerpts from an article entitled, “Declaration of the St. Sergius Theological Institute.” I should also add that we have seen similar undertakings in the past by people who want bishops silenced. A bishop wants to see order restored in a situation, or knows more than his enemies want him to know, and for that, he is vilified, criticized and forced to leave. Having said that, and realizing that a person must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, here is what we can glean from Archbishop Job (Getcha)’s own words as quoted by his critics at St. Sergius Theological Institute.

      “From the end of 2013 to the end of the first semester of 2014, Mgr. Job of Telmessos intervened, unsuccessfully, with the services of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research to have the authorities of the republic establish rights which, with regard to the law and the statutes of the Institute, as he was reminded at the time, cannot belong to him – an act which, besides, would go against the regime of laicism.”

      I take this to mean that Metropolitan Job (Getcha) was seeking to take authority as the appointed head leader in a situation that had become a mess. He spoke of:

      “malfunctions, problems of ecclesial, administrative, and academic order,” “bad management, a bad level,” “a generalized incompetence,” “a lamentable, grotesque situation, a shame,” the cause of which was the “appropriation” of the Institute by a “laicizing tendency” which had supposedly unleashed “a coup d’État, the start of a war” against himself, whereas the Institute should have towards him “the relation of a child to its Mother,”

      He then ordered that the Institute be audited (see article).

      In his words (wherever possible):

      In his declaration, Mgr. Job nevertheless incriminated “the members of the Administrative Council of the Institute,” accusing them of “placing themselves outside the Church,” while insisting, in the name of a counter-truth, on “recalling that the canons forbid the bringing of ecclesiastical affairs before the civil authorities.”

      On May 26, 2015, to the delegation of the Institute, which had requested an audience with him in order to seek terms for a renewed collaboration, Mgr. Job of Telmessos declared that he demanded: a) that the Institute present its apologies to the “ad hoc Committee,” turn over to it the documents demanded, including financial statements and the university curricula of the teachers; b) that the Institute grant him all the following powers, concentrated ex officio in his person: presidency of the Administrative Council of the Institute; presidency of the Ameito; the right of veto over the person of the Dean elected by the Council; the right of invalidation of teachers on a periodic basis.

      I certainly see a very different man than the one who is being vilified online.

      Given Archbishop Job (Getcha)’s role as spokesperson for the Ecumenical Patriarchate concerning the granting of autocephaly to Ukraine; and considering his work for the Orthodox Church to this point; and remembering the fact that he speaks French, English, Russian, Ukrainian and Greek; and taking into consideration the fact that he said this in an interview from September 18, 2018 found here:

      I would like to immediately reassure everyone that no “intrusion into foreign canonical territory” had been intended nor had been made. And what’s more, it’s not about creating a split or its legitimization. On the contrary, as the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has repeatedly stated, the Church of Constantinople, as the Mother Church, seeks to find the most optimal canonical ways to cure and overcome the existing ecclesiastical schism in Ukraine. It was for this purpose that the representatives (exarchs) of the Ecumenical Council were appointed to start a dialogue and search for such possible ways. For the state of division that has existed in the Ukrainian Church for almost 30 years is not natural. Thousands of Orthodox parishes and millions of Orthodox believers in Ukraine through this schism all this time are outside the unity with the Universal Orthodox Church, deprived not only of the Eucharistic unity with their Orthodox brethren in faith, but also deprived of the most important thing – salvation in the bosom of the canonical Church. Of course, this cannot cause anything but pain and anxiety in the Mother Church.

      I’m not surprised that the article linked to by “Greatly Saddened” above would give us such a nasty picture of the man, all untrue, I’ll just betcha.

      • Beryl: “what we can glean from Archbishop Job (Getcha)’s own words”

        What we can “glean” is very bad for this “archbishop”. You need to read with some comprehensions, Beryl.

        • Beryl Wells Hamilton says

          Martin, why? What am I missing here about Archbishop Job (Getcha)? Also, if I were wriggling,” I would know it. What I was trying to get across about Poroshenko is that there is simply no way he is “ordering” hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians back to Russia.Which means that the article saying he is doing that is lying. If a person reads the actual speech, at least we can know what he SAID. Same thing with Archbishop Job (Getcha). So I get criticized and insulted for attempting to find out what people in authority are saying, instead of spouting off my opinions. Instead, I should just go along with the articles and opinions posted around here and shut up. The most aggravating thing about asking real questions on this forum is that I get no real answers. People pick out what they want to respond to and disregard the rest. What about Alexander (Drabinko), who serves directly under Metropolitan Onuphry? Any of the online pundits want to take him down a couple of notches? Does anyone in their right mind actually believe these patriarchs are not dialogueing behind the scenes?

          • Beryl Wells Hamilton says

            Media reports names of three UOC (MP) bishops who eventually met with Poroshenko

            According to Relihiyna Pravda, three bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) arrived in the evening of November 13 to meet with Petro Poroshenko: Metropolitan Oleksandr (Drabynko) of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky and Vyshneve, Metropolitan Simeon of Vinnytsia and Bary, and Archbishop Filaret of Nova Kakhovka and Henichesk…
            According to LB.ua, Metropolitan Simeon of Vinnytsia and Bary is the only one out of 83 participants of the Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), who did not sign the resolution of the Synod.

            Metropolitan Simeon did not put his signature under this resolution, despite the pressure that other hierarchs had exerted on him. Metropolitan himself explained his decision by the fact that he does not agree with the rupture of the Eucharistic communion with Constantinople.

            https://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/orthodox/uoc/73486/

  19. Ronda Wintheiser says

    I apologize if this might be here somewhere already, although I doubt it because of the date.

    I also apologize if it isn’t really germane. But I’m sure George will refrain from posting it if it isn’t. 🙂

    Fr. John Whiteford posted it.

    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/11/17/whose-money-stoked-religious-strife-ukraine-who-tried-steal-it.html?fbclid=IwAR32d-9hHc8l40qzavQWfBMQvkqTGHLaCziHyxWFTVDLEVP8D8Zv2UfsaJI

  20. A memorial service has been held at a Greek Orthodox Church for a fallen K-9 officer. Is it ok for the Ecumenical Patriarchate?
    —————-

    Memorial service for fallen K-9 Officer Axe

    The St. Clair Shores Police Department held the memorial service that will honor fallen K-9 Officer Axe.

    Axe was killed in the line of duty on Sunday night in St. Clair Shores during a situation where a 29-year-old Detroit man was also killed.

    The service happened on Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 1 p.m. at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church at 21800 Marter Rd. in St. Clair Shores.

    According to police, a 911 call around 6:30 p.m. on Sunday drew police to Lakeland Manor Banquet Hall on Harper Avenue near 10 mile — the initial report indicated the suspect had a gun.

    Several dozen people were inside the banquet hall celebrating a baby shower, per sources.

    Police arrived and found a suspect matching the description they’d been given over the phone. He ignored several demands before trying to run away from police, which is when K-9 Axe confronted the suspect.

    The department declined to speak on camera, but offered an explanation and timeline of events which describes the moment Axe chased the suspect and was shot as follows:

    “…Axe was deployed and upon confronting the male, shots were fired from a handgun by the male, striking the K-9. St. Clair Shores Police Department officers returned fire, striking the male.”

    As a result of the shooting, both the shooting suspect and K-9 officer Axe were killed.

    The St. Clair Shores Police Department K-9 Unit and Michigan War Dog Memorial have partnered to raise funds to erect a statue and monument to honor Axe.

    Source (a video is also available):

    • Tim R. Mortiss says

      So is it now not politically correct to call a “K-9 officer” a dog? And what would the EP have to do with the question?

      I believe the question is whether or not animals are to be memorialized in this way, call them what one may.

      Axe was assigned dogness at birth. But if we now call him an officer, is he one?

    • Ronda Wintheiser says

      Hey, Tamar, I’m not sure why you posted that story — a memorial service for a dog — under this original post…

      • Greatly Saddened says

        GOA9
        Below please find the article from last Friday which was referenced above in The National Herald.

        Assumption Church in Michigan Hosts Bereavement Service for a K-9 Dog Killed
        By Theodore Kalmoukos 
        November 16, 2018

        https://www.thenationalherald.com/220134/assumption-church-in-michigan-hosts-bereavement-service-for-a-k-9-dog-killed/

        • I love dogs, but come on says

          This dog memorial, or whatever you want to call it, in an Orthodox temple in front of a beautiful iconostasis and iconography, with clergy and faithful approval, is chilling.

          Not because it says anything about the dog. But because of what it says about we, the Orthodox population of America, who seem to think this type of thing is acceptable. I heard about this dog event a week or two ago and still have yet to read of any bishop disciplining his priest over holding this service in an Orthodox temple.

          I love dogs and have had them all of my life. But where there are Orthodox people who live with an Orthodox Christian ethos — an Orthodox Christian way of viewing the world — they would know that holding a “memorial” or whatever for a dog in a church building (regardless of how much we might love the dog) is grossly inappropriate and makes no sense from a Christian perspective, not to mention that it is insulting to both the dog and humans since it clearly disregards the ontological differences between man/woman and animal.

          The fact that a large percentage of alleged Orthodox Christians think that this dog memorial in a church building is perfectly fine shows how far we are in America from fully grasping, owning, and living our faith.

          A dog (or any animal for that matter) has no “nous.” Like many animals, dogs can be well trained to do many things, as this dog apparently was. This dog did what he was trained to do and did it very well. However the man/woman who does what he/she is trained to do and who risks his/her life in the police, as a fireman, in the military, as a parent, as whatever, is a different animal (pardon the pun). He/she is keenly aware of his mortality and of what a potential sacrifice he/she may be able to make (very different from the dog). This is an essential difference between man/woman and the animals — a difference that our Orthodox hierarchs and clergy should be keenly aware of and, frankly, should be able to articulate to explain to the local police or fire unit that, while a canine’s sacrifice is moving and demonstrates a dog’s love and loyalty for man, the dog has no “nous,” is not a human, is not aware of his potential sacrifice and what is at risk, and thus we cannot have memorial services in churches for animals.

          Only those of us who have been culturally inculcated to entirely anthropomorphize dogs and other pets (as modern American culture certainly does, pretending that pets are essentially babies or children — look and see how many cutsey pet shops many towns have), who have been trained to believe that anything “nice” or “cute” is synonymous with being Christian, and who don’t have a remote understanding of what an Orthodox Christian worldview/ethos is could think that holding a canine memorial in an Orthodox temple (regardless of how much we love our dogs and peets) is a good thing.

          The tragic part is that those of us who realize the inappropriateness of this event, who understand the ontological differences between man/woman and dog, but who yet love our dogs and other pets, are now put on the defensive to explain why we are “so mean” and “don’t want a nice memorial for this dog who made a sacrifice.” As Fr Seraphim Rose said, what’s normal is no longer normal, and what’s abnormal is now considered normal.

          Besides, even if the local Michigan clergy and bishop were not aware of any of the above philosophical and ontological points, it’s been well established throughout Christian history that dogs are not permitted in churches. Cats are permitted in churches, but only because they can catch mice. This distinction has always rattled me the wrong way, since I’m much more of a dog person than a cat person, but I live with it.

          May the GOA and the bishops/priests involved in this dog memorial realize their gross errors in judgment, though I’m not holding my breath. We did not get to the point of where these bishops and priests think it is OK to have dog memorials in churches overnight. The seeping decadence in Orthodox Christian America has been brewing for decades. We’re now seeing the results of it. I think many of us are well aware of what comes next.

          Happy Thanksgiving to all — as Fr Alexander Schmemann once called it, our “most Christian” of American cultural holidays.

          • Greatly Saddened says

            GOA11
            Below please find an article from last Thursday on the Byzantine, Texas website.

            Thursday, November 15, 2018
            Memorial Service for dog… inside a Greek Church

            http://byztex.blogspot.com/2018/11/memorial-service-for-dog-inside-greek.html?m=1

          • Among the personalities from St. Vladimir’s I wish I had a chance to meet was the late professor Verhovskoy. I was told a story about him from many years ago by one of his students. During an oral exam a student happened to drop the opinion that animals have no place in the age to come. Prof Verhovskoy was a real dog guy. He was on the student at once. Where did you come across that opinion, my dear? In the holy scriptures? In writings of the holy fathers? In the holy icons, the hymns of the Church, ecumenical councils? Where?? The poor guy was on the ropes, he didn’t have a source. Verhovskoy stopped the exam. He said the student could return in a few days and they would resume. The student did, having researched the topic (which was not, of course the original question) and finished the exam satisfactorily. I don’t know that the professor would have been too happy with a liturgical thing for a deceased dog. But the opinion that the faithful (pardon the expression) dog was a *good* dog and might well show up in the age to come would not be condemned. It isn’t in he Creed.

            • Interesting subject, animals.

              Without speaking to the propriety of animals in our temples, I have always found it fascinating that the Ark of Noah is an icon of the Church. Obviously, the animals were/are saved along with man. Moreover, the covenant God made after the flood was not with man alone, a fact that is often passed over with little notice.

              Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. Thus, I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

              And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.

            • M. Stankovich says

              Actually, Prof. SS Verhovskoy, of blessed memory & truly an inspiration to me, didn’t have dogs; numerous cats and a rabbit (which he occasionally walked on a leash), but no dogs over the many years I knew him.

              Prof. greatly respected anyone who took his exam(s) orally rather than written. Prof. never would have stopped an oral exam, rather if he believed you had studied and knew the concepts of dogmatic theology and ethics (and only an idiot would “drop an opinion” that Prof. had not taught during the exam), he would probably ask something like, “Is there anywhere in the Holy Scripture where we are told that God created man specifically to rule over the creation and every living thing created?” [Yes] “And where would we find this? [Gen. 1:28ff] And did God find it all “very good?” [Yes. Gen. 1:31] “So, what might we conclude about our dog?” Trust me, to say he “would not be happy” with a liturgical service for a dog is a spectacular understatement. He would have quietly risen and put an end to it before it ever began. He was the Ezekiel he called all of us to be.

            • Tim R. Mortiss says

              I am certainly doubtful about the “service” for the dog, just as I think it very strange (though nothing surprises anymore) that the “K9 officer” is repeatedly referred to as such, and folks seem to want to avoid saying it was a dog.

              As for the Kingdom of Heaven, it surely will not hold second candle to the glories of the created word, which, after all, contains creatures–hence their name as such.

  21. Greatly Saddened says

    UA7
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    UKRAINIAN UNION COUNCIL DELAYED AGAIN
    Kiev, November 19, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117340.html

  22. Greatly Saddened says

    EP2
    Below please find an article from Friday on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    CONSTANTINOPLE HIERARCH ARRIVES IN KIEV TO PREPARE FOR UNIFICATION COUNCIL
    Kiev, November 16, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117291.html

  23. Greatly Saddened says

    EP3
    Below please find an article from Wednesday on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    “THE CHURCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE IS THE INCARNATION OF THE FREE LOVE OF CHRIST”—PAT. BARTHOLOMEW

    The great responsibility of the Mother Church has no limits, the Patriarch writes.
    Constantinople, November 14, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117245.html

  24. Greatly Saddened says

    UA8
    Below please find an article from last Monday on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    CONSTANTINOPLE PAPISM
    Archpriest Vadim Leonov
    Translation by OrthoChristian.com
    11/12/2018

    A Vicar of the Kiev Metropolia, Archbishop Theodosy (Snigiryov) of Boyarka, during his Sunday homily, gave spiritual advice on the right attitude for the current situation in the Orthodox life of Ukraine, to theparishioners of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Kievon October 21, 2018.

    http://orthochristian.com/117117.html

  25. Greatly Saddened says

    UA9
    Below pleasec find an article from last Tuesday on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    RESOLUTIONS OF THE COUNCIL OF BISHOPS OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, NOVEMBER 13, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117232.html

    • Beryl Wells Hamilton says

      From

      UOC-MP Metropolitan’s residence rally participants in Dnipropetrovsk region: “We need our Church, not Putin’s

      Comment below the above article (translated from Ukrainian): “For some reason, the Russian Orthodox Church uses the issue of TOMOS to the local church of Ukraine as a means of splitting the world Orthodoxy and, on this fictitious basis, began, guided by its painful ambitions, an unfair war for leadership in world Orthodoxy. He accompanied the war with the Ecumenical Church for his own leadership, thus blackmailing, initiating and provoking a split, covering the war as allegedly fighting the position of the Ecumenical Patriarch regarding the provision of Tomas to Ukraine. This is fundamentally wrong and contradicts not only the chronology of events, the essence of the process, but also the elementary arithmetic logic! The ROC made a split! After the patriarch Filaret was excommunicated by the decision of the Russian Orthodox Church from the church, and now 50.4%believers of Ukraine, his followers (UOC-KP of Ukraine) turned out to be parishioners of the “non-canonical” church, that is, excommunicated from the canonical Ecumenical Orthodoxy. They were then excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church, but they have not yet been joined to world Orthodoxy because of the absence of a canonical local church in Ukraine! And 50.4% Orthodox believers of Ukraine were beyond the world of canonical Orthodoxy. And it was the ROC who withdrew them by their own decision! That is, she created a split of the Orthodox! Granting Tomos to Ukraine is not a split but, on the contrary, the process of reverse, the process of unification, the increase of the number of canonical churches and the number of believers, priests who have joined the world canonical Orthodoxy – increase its total power. And it is exactly YES to interpret the SLICOL in Orthodoxy and overcome it, and not to go in line with the hybrid propaganda of the Department of the AP Putin, which is the Russian Orthodox Church!”

      and

      Over half of Ukrainians support autocephaly of Orthodox Church – poll

  26. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA8
    Below please find an article from today in The National Herald. Unfortunately, the article is locked and doesn’t appear in its entirety. I will continue to be on the lookout for the article in its entirely, and if found, I will post.

    Archbishop Demetrios and Patriarch Bartholomew Met in Geneva
    By Theodore Kalmoukos 
    November 20, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/220603/archbishop-demetrios-met-and-patriarch-bartholomew-met-in-geneva/

    • Gail Sheppard says

      I wonder if the EP is again pressuring Archbishop Demetrios to step down. It’s concerning to read he wants to resolve the “the ecclesiastical problem of America,” arriving “at his own conclusions for America which he will make known at some time in future, while the element of surprise should not be ruled out”!!! In his mind, we’re part of the diaspora, i.e. outside canonically defined territories. In other words, we’re under him. His idea of resolving our “ecclesiastical problem” may be to unite us under the GOA. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn the money he purportedly received for granting autocephaly in Ukraine was the exact amount needed to ensure the solvency of the GOA. He’s coming for us.

      https://www.thenationalherald.com/216078/patriarch-bartholomew-undecided-on-fate-of-archbishop-demetrios/

      • Beryl Wells Hamilton says

        Gail, How do you know that what you state here is true? I’m asking because, according to you and others, I don’t have, or use, the skills to read articles, or to think things through, simply because I don’t arrive at the same conclusions you do. I’m wondering why you quote from the National Herald article, and, using the quote provided below, as if it is to be interpreted with many exclamation points following, think yourself through to the thoughts you present here, as if they are actually true, and that the EP is “coming for us.” I’m only wondering. Please don’t chide me.

        High ranking ecclesiastical officials of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and close associates of the Ecumenical Patriarch told TNH that from what they understand the Patriarch has arrived at his own conclusions for America which he will make known at some time in future, while the element of surprise should not be ruled out.

        • Gail Sheppard says

          Beryl, when one prefaces what they say with “I wonder,” it means they’re speculating. The exclamation points were my reaction to the EP having his own ideas on how to address the “ecclesiastical” irregularities, i.e. the jurisdictional issue, in our neck of the woods. When it says he intends to do something about it “at some point in the future” and that there may be an element of “surprise” to his involvement, it warrants a TON of exclamation points. We may be facing a major schism “right here in River City”!

          I don’t mean to chide you and I apologize if I made you feel that way. Please forgive me.

        • “according to you and others, I don’t have, or use, the skills to read articles, or to think things through, simply because I don’t arrive at the same conclusions you do”

          False! Not “simply because you don’t arrive at the same conclusions”

          It is simply because you try to defend indefensible (nationalist schismatics, papal claims of you know who, etc, etc ) and have to resort to tricks.

    • Greatly Saddened says

      Please take note, the above article which appeared in The National Herald is now unlocked and in its entirety.

      Archbishop Demetrios and Patriarch Bartholomew Met in Geneva (Adds)
      By Theodore Kalmoukos 
      November 24, 2018

      https://www.thenationalherald.com/221003/archbishop-demetrios-and-patriarch-bartholomew-met-in-geneva-adds/

  27. Greatly Saddened says

    UA10
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Synaxis website.

    Orthodox Synaxis
    that they all may be one

    5 Big Problems with the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s handling of the Filaret appeal
    BY PETRUS ANTIOCHENUS

    https://orthodoxsynaxis.org/2018/11/15/problems-filaret-appeal/

  28. Greatly Saddened says

    UA11
    Below please find an article from last Wednesday on the Religious Information Service of Ukraine website.

    Religious Information Service of Ukraine
    14-11-2018

    Patriarch Bartholomew appealed to Ukrainians on the 85th anniversary of the Holodomor

    https://risu.org.ua/article_print.php?id=73496&name=national_religious_question&_lang=en&

  29. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA10
    Below please find an article of Wednesday, October 10th, from ekathimerini, which has been posted on the OCL Facebook website.

    A crucial decision for Hellenism in the US
    COMMENT 10.10.2018
    Source: Ekathimerini.com
    BY ALEXIS PAPACHELAS
    BY WEBMASTER ON NOVEMBER 18, 2018
    GOVERNANCE & UNITY ESSAYS, 
    GOVERNANCE & UNITY NEWS

    http://ocl.org/a-crucial-decision-for-hellenism-in-the-us-2/?fbclid=IwAR1x4JsGgFGbT6GKRNZg5fSvOndIOYz1bp_RIICVuIcOdPSXItI4LjC8H0o#comment-110160

  30. Greatly Saddened says

    UA12
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    POROSHENKO IS “MODERN PERSECUTOR OF THE CHURCH”—MET. LUKE OF ZAPOROZHYE, BISHOPS BEING PRESSURED TO JOIN CONSTANTINOPLE’S CHURCH
    Zaporozhye, Ukraine, November 21, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117384.html

  31. Greatly Saddened says

    UA13
    Below please find an article from last Sunday on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    PATRIARCHS IN TIMES OF TROUBLE
    Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Pskov and Porkhov

    This speech was delivered at the conference on Slavic literature and culture, taking place in Moscow, on 16 May 1990, shortly before the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church elected a new patriarch on June 7, 1990.

    Translation by Maria Litzman
    Pravoslavie.ru
    11/18/2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117316.html

  32. Greatly Saddened says

    UA14
    Below please find another article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    RUSSIAN CHURCH SITE OPENS SECTION ON “HISTORICAL UNITY OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH”
    Moscow, November 21, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117385.html

  33. Greatly Saddened says

    UA15
    Below please find an article from last Sunday on the Union of Orthodox Journalists website.

    In Krivoy Rog “Tomos supporters” assault Metropolitan Efrem’s residence
    18 November 2018, 17:18  Editorial board UOJ

    https://spzh.news/en/news/57608-v-krivom-roge-storonniki-tomosa-shturmovali-rezidenciju-mitropolita-jefrema?fbclid=IwAR3aubEb7TStGNjrNzxraizbcLHq1CNUD5BZBzJhQYTM1y9PJTso3N0VEEk

  34. Greatly Saddened says

    Wishing my brothers and sisters in Christ, a most blessed and most thankful Happy Thanksgiving! God bless you all!

  35. Greatly Saddened says

    UA16
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    ABP. ANASTASIOS OF ALBANIA: CONSTANTINOPLE’S ACTIONS IN UKRAINE THREATEN TO RUPTURE ORTHODOX UNITY
    Tirana, Albania, November 22, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117414.html

  36. Greatly Saddened says

    UA17
    Below please find an article from yesterday on the Orthodoxie website.

    News Europe Headlines
    “Sanctions will be applied to the members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who participate in the ‘Unification Council’”
    By Emma Cazabonne
    21 November 2018

    https://orthodoxie.com/en/sanctions-will-be-applied-to-the-members-of-the-ukrainian-orthodox-church-who-participate-in-the-unification-council/

  37. Greatly Saddened says

    UA18
    Below please find an announcement from Monday by the Ecumenical Patriarchate on the Ukrainian Orthodox of the USA website.

    Announcement of the Ecumenical Patriarchate – Заява Вселенської Патріархії

    https://www.uocofusa.org/news_181119_1.html?fbclid=IwAR3M9RZyFfUIdTL03b0u-dk6SsQqfB0hIZMDDI_Jpu6vh-oT3JxDFEt966E

  38. Greatly Saddened says

    UA19
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    AFTER UKRAINE RECEIVES AUTOCEPHALY, UKRAINIAN CHURCH WILL BE BLOCKED FROM MILITARY CHAPLAINCY—STATE DEPUTY
    Kiev, November 23, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117423.html

  39. Greatly Saddened says

    UA20
    Below please find another article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    UKRAINE WILL LOSE INDEPENDENCE UNDER CONSTANTINOPLE’S AUTOCEPHALY—MET. LUKE OF ZAPOROZHYE

    Ukrainian authorities are imitating the “red terror” of communism, Met. Luke believes.
    Zaporozhye, Ukraine, November 23, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117427.html

  40. Greatly Saddened says

    MP1
    Below please find an article from Wednesday on the Moscow Patriarchate website.

    The Russian Orthodox Church
    Department of External Church Relations
    Inter-Christian relations, News, Patriarchal Ministry
    21.11.2018 22:30

    His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with members of the Council of Christian Church Leaders of Iraq

    https://mospat.ru/en/2018/11/21/news166916/

  41. Greatly Saddened says

    COG1
    Below please find an article from last Friday on the ekathimerini website.

    NEWS 16.11.2018
    Bishops push back against church-state deal
    Religion – Church

    http://www.ekathimerini.com/234756/article/ekathimerini/news/bishops-push-back-against-church-state-deal?fbclid=IwAR304alri7-5zEG2mRnLCyWa8_U4Y_1RCBwBipoG9u_Wj1YmTafpKK1UX3s

  42. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA12
    Below please find an article from today in The National Herald. Unfortunately, the article is locked and doesn’t appear in its entirety. I will continue to be on the lookout for the article in its entirely, and if found, I will post.

    The Resignation of Archbishop Demetrios is Said to Be Imminent
    By Theodore Kalmoukos 
    November 23, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/221040/the-resignation-of-archbishop-demetrios-is-said-to-be-imminent/

  43. Greatly Saddened says

    COG2
    Below please find an article from yesterday in The National Herald.

    Greek Bishops Squabble with Archbishop Over Religious Neutrality
    By TNH Staff November 23, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/220889/greek-bishops-squabble-with-archbishop-over-religious-neutrality/

  44. Greatly Saddened says

    UA21
    Below please find an article from last Saturday on The Independent UK website.

    News > World > Europe
    Russian-backed Orthodox Church faces pressure from Kiev and splits within

    President Petro Poroshenko says the Russian Orthodox Church has become a willing extension of Kremlin power
    Oliver Carroll – Kiev – @olliecarroll – 6 days ago

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukrainian-orthodox-church-russia-backed-pressure-kiev-split-a8637426.html

    • Beryl Wells Hamilton says

      Great article!

    • Beryl Wells Hamilton says

      For any who are interested, please take the time to read the below statements from Metropolitan Oleksander (Drabinko) of Perevaslav-Khmelnitskv.
      Russian-backed Orthodox Church faces pressure from Kiev and splits within

      The Metropolitan Oleksandr (Drabinko) of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky is perhaps the most outspoken cleric in the pro-autocephaly faction of the Moscow Patriarchate. Speaking with The Independent in his office at the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral, located just across from the racecourse in Kiev’s barren southwestern suburbs, he says independence is a logical, “patriotic” course. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church had barely concealed his political agenda, he said – and this was where the “real political pressure on the church” was.

      “How can I adhere to a man who calls my state a junta and openly applauds Putin after the Crimean annexation?” he asks rhetorically.

      Drabinko says there are “many more” inside the Moscow Patriarchate that share his views – perhaps, even, a majority. The church’s “army-like” discipline had prevented them from speaking out: “They don’t offer anyone a choice, it’s just bans and threats. And if you don’t agree, they try to break you.”

      Drabinko was one of a handful of priests of the Moscow Patriarchate to defy the leadership in attending a meeting with President Poroshenko in Kiev on Wednesday.

      Second, two letters written by His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania:

      Please allow me to note that the recent decision of the Church of Russia to discontinue the liturgical reference to the Ecumenical Patriarch and to interrupt the eucharistic communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which was announced on the 14th of September, has dangerously complicated the whole matter. Particularly because it touches the core of Orthodox Unity, the Holy Eucharist, during which we proclaim the unity of the Orthodox Church and we pray for its preservation.

  45. Greatly Saddened says

    AC1
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    ALBANIAN CHURCH PUBLISHES FULL TEXT OF LETTERS TO PAT. KIRILL, OPPOSES RUSSIAN CHURCH’S BREAK IN COMMUNION WITH CONSTANTINOPLE
    Tirana, Albania, November 24, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117439.html

  46. Beryl Wells Hamilton says

    Following are links to two letters written by His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania to Patriarch Kirill. The first letter was written on October 10, 2018; and the second letterwas written on November 7, 2018.

    Excerpt from the November 7, 2018 letter:

    At the same time, however, we ought to remark that the latest decision of the Church of Russia is also a source of great concern. It is unthinkable that the Divine Eucharist, the mystery par excellence of the infinite love and the utter humiliation of Christ, could be used as a weapon against another Church. Is it possible that the decision and order of the Hierarchy of the Church of Russia may cancel the energy of the Holy Spirit in the holy Orthodox churches that operate under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate? Is it possible that the Divine Eucharist performed in the churches of Asia Minor, Crete, the Holy Mountain, and elsewhere on earth, may now become unsubstantiated for the faithful Russian Orthodox? And if they come forth “with the fear of God, faith, and love” to partake of the Sacred Gifts, is it possible that they commit “a sin”, which they should confess?
    We proclaim that it is impossible for us to agree to such decisions. It is imperative that the Holy Eucharist, this mystery of unfathomable sacredness and unique importance, remains far removed from all ecclesiastical disagreements.
    However serious they may be, the accumulated questions of jurisdiction on no account may constitute a cause for a Schism of Orthodoxy, anywhere in the world. As we have repeatedly stressed, a possible SCHISM now, will tarnish the beauty of Orthodoxy, will weaken its international prestige, and will deeply hurt the faith of all Orthodox – especially of those in the Ukraine, who are of immediate concern – who suffer continuous pressures from multiform atheism and are poisoned by indifference, spread around like radioactive dust.
    It is, therefore, imperative to explore calmly a compromise, aiming at a deep and real pacification of the Orthodox faithful in Ukraine.

  47. Greatly Saddened says

    EP4
    Below please find a message by the Ecumenical Patriarch on the Ecumenical Patriarchate website.

    Message

    VIDEO MESSAGE By His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the Italian Bishops’ Conference (November 19-21, 2018)

    https://www.patriarchate.org/-/video-message-by-his-all-holiness-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-to-the-italian-bishops-conference-november-19-21-2018-

  48. Greatly Saddened says

    ROC1
    Below please find an article from today on the Basilica Romania website.

    » Romanian Patriarchate » 
    National Cathedral | HAH Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presides over the Divine Liturgy
    Published by Gheorghe Anghel 
    25.11.2018

    http://basilica.ro/en/national-cathedral-hah-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-presides-over-the-divine-liturgy/?fbclid=IwAR3mptYv23FGzxCImkUT1wKqaJxsgouRztvnCi3SkjLq7oglrNpRq0YWsh0

    • Beryl Wells Hamilton says

      Where is there any hint of schism?

      Welcome speech of His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of Romania, at the reception of foreign delegations at the “Holy Emperors Constantine and Helen“ Patriarchal Cathedral, Bucharest, 23 November 2018:

      Your Holiness Bartholomew,
      Archbishop of Constantinople – New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch,
      Your Eminence Chrysostomos, Metropolitan of Patra,

      On behalf of the members of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, of the Romanian Orthodox clergy and faithful, with deep respect and fraternal love in Christ, we warmly welcome you in Romania!

      Between 1993 and 2010, Your Holiness has made nine fraternal visits to our Church, this now being the tenth visit to Romania.

      In this way, the spiritual connection between the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Mother-Church, and the Romanian Orthodox Church, Daughter-Church, which has become evident through the Synodal and Patriarchal Tomos of recognition of the autocephaly of the Romanian Orthodox Church on 25 April 1885, a sister in Christ and joint servant in proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and in guiding believers on the path of salvation.

      The main reason for Your Holiness’s visit this year is the consecration of the Sanctuary of the new Patriarchal Cathedral, which, in the beginning, after the gaining of Romania’s independence (1877-1878), was named the Cathedral of the Nation’s Salvation and we also call it the National Cathedral.

      Therefore, this Cathedral is dedicated to the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, which, in the Romanian Orthodox Church, coincides with the Romanian Heroes Day of all time. This event of the consecration of the Sanctuary of the National Cathedral represents, at the same time, the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the unification of all Romanian provinces in 1918 in a single State – the Kingdom of Greater Romania.

      The first beneficial consequence of this union of 1918 was the elevation of the Romanian Orthodox Church to the rank of Patriarchate, recognized by Your Holiness’s predecessor Patriarch Basil III of blessed memory, through Tomos no. 1579 of 30 July 1925.

      This shows that the Ecumenical Patriarchate has promoted in history the administrative freedom and dignity of the Orthodox Churches of different peoples while preserving the dogmatic, liturgical and canonical unity among them.

      We also rejoice at the presence in Bucharest, at this unique event in the life of the Romanian Orthodox Church, of His Eminence Chrysostomos, Metropolitan of Patra, the delegate of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece, who brought on this occasion to Bucharest the Venerable Hand of the Holy Apostle Andrew, the First-called, Protector of Romania and of the National Cathedral.

      With these brotherly thoughts and deep esteem, we wish Your Holiness and Your Eminence to have, together with the members of the delegations that accompany you, a blessed visit to our Country and Church!

      † Daniel
      Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church

  49. Greatly Saddened says

    Below I wanted to share some comments I made today under the article in The National Herald.

    The Resignation of Archbishop Demetrios is Said to Be Imminent
    By Theodore Kalmoukos 
    November 23, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/221040/the-resignation-of-archbishop-demetrios-is-said-to-be-imminent/

    ************
    Greatly Saddened says:
    November 25, 2018 at 6:30 am

    What a disaster! This once glorious Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, was once a well respected and a glorious Church institution. It all began with the forced resignation of His Eminence of Blessed memory, Archbishop Iakovos, by his sister’s godchild, the present Patriarch. This once Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America is now a mere skeleton of what it once was!

    Congratulations Patriarch Bartholomew for being successful in the demise of this once glorious and well respected Archdiocese! You single handedly, are personally responsible for bringing down this once fine Church institutionl. In your 25 years in power, you have done the unthinkable! Thank goodness for your so called unabiding love for your American Eparchy. Yes, your largest and most financially supportive Eparchy!

    Unfortunately, your actions speak much louder that your empty and meaningless words. It seems for you, the bottom line is, divide and conquer. Rather than buildng by love and caring! You should be ashamed of yourself. Your record speaks for itself! Anaxios!

    ************
    Greatly Saddened says:
    November 25, 2018 at 6:57 am

    There is much truth to be said of the Greek saying … “The fish smells from the head down!” So far, under Patriarch Bartholomew, two Archbishops have been forced to resign, and with what we have been led to believe by most recent reports, an imminent third is to do so within the next few days! Perhaps, just perhaps, this Patriarch should consider doing the same for the benefit of this American Eparchy! Try leading by example!

    ************
    Greatly Saddened says:
    November 25, 2018 at 7:17 am

    Meanwhile, it seems the Archdiocesan Council and Leadership 100, has remained silent on the possible resignation of a third archbishop from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America! I guess silence is golden and how sad is that!

    I purposely did not include the illustrious Order of Saint Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, due to the fact they walk lockstep with whatever the Ecumenical Patriarch desires!

  50. Greatly Saddened says

    Part 2 (continued) …

    Greatly Saddened says:
    November 25, 2018 at 11:47 am

    The bottom line is, we here in the United States of Anerica, need a Church which is first and foremost “Christ Centered!” I respectively repeat once again … “Christ Centered!”

    One which is free from cultural, ethnic and foreign dominance and control. A single united Pan Orthodox Church, where its hierarchs are approved and elected from within and who truly care on the outcome and wellness of our Church here. Not from a group of hierarchs in a far off land, who have absolutely no idea with the everyday running of our Church!

    All I have been hearing for at least the last 20 years is how there are only 2,000 Orthodox Christians in all of Turkey. Meanwhike, here
    we have parishes that meet or exceed that number. For example: Saint Demetrios/Saints Catherine and George in Astoria, NY and Saint Nicholas in Flushing, NY!

    This Patriarch has shown time after time, his lack of care and concern for our Church here in the USA! In my humble opinion, he has been a total failure. When will this laity finally take a stand and say they have had enough with permitting these foreign hierarchs to dictate what happens here in the good ‘ol USA! How much more damage will it take from the Ecumenical Patriarch to say, “no more, we have had enough!” It seems time may be running out and only time will tell what will be left after this Patriarch is finished. This Patriarch will go down in history, but for all the wrong reasons. Just a friendly reminder … it is God’s Church, not his!

    ************
    Greatly Saddened says:
    November 25, 2018 at 12:09 pm

    Spartacus … I coudn’t agree with you more! Unfortunately, for the most part, we really do not have churches, but rather ethnic cultural centers with a cross slapped on top. How sad is that?

    In addition, these so called church groups seem to be nothing more than a place where elites gather and tell one another how great they are and have special prayers said for themselves. These groups seem to me to be far from “Christ Centered!”

    And, yes, I also feel these groups seem to be “Leaderless!” Because, if they truly were leading, they wouldn’t allow the demise of the Church here in the USA, by these foreign hierarchs, who seem to be totally clueless with the working of a parish, not alone an entire Archdiocese!
    God help us and have mercy on us!

    ************
    Greatly Saddened says:
    November 25, 2018 at 12:34 pm

    Correct … perhaps this is an indication of the poor preparation of the candidates for the priesthood, and even worse, for the office of hierarch.

    How is it that there seems to be a commonality with a certain type of personality that many of the hierarchs seem to possess? One of arrogance, despot, dictatorial and tyrannical. Could this possibly be just a coincidence? Unfortunately, I
    tend to doubt it. It seems to be part of the DNA of many of the hierarchs. It’s as if they are better than rest of us. Where is the true love of thy neighbor, especially for their fellow brother clergy?

    As for humility, I think it is near non existent with these hierarchs. It seems once enthroned, they forget and lose touch with their fellow brother clergy and the general laity. They seem to get the air of arrogance and begin to talk down to their
    fellow brother clergy, as well as to their sheep and flock! How fast they seem to forget where they once were and where they came from! Boy, how things all of a sudden seem to change!

  51. Greatly Saddened says

    UA22
    Below please find an article from Friday on the Union. Of Orthodox Journalists website.

    Ministry of Justice cancels the transfer of Pochaev Lavra to UOC
    23 November 2018, 23:59  Editorial board UOJ

    https://spzh.news/en/news/57759-minyust-otmenil-peredachu-pochajevskoj-lavry-upc?fbclid=IwAR3S1mlgy7hltcDPJKWUjTUwW_lB5vRTDHJUMKv44Z6CP6_JtAYFrhJrOh0

  52. Greatly Saddened says

    OCCLS1
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    ARCHBISHOP OF PRAGUE ARRIVES IN ODESSA TO EXPRESS PRAYERFUL SUPPORT FOR CANONICAL UKRAINIAN CHURCH
    Odessa, November 26, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117466.html

  53. Greatly Saddened says

    AP1
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    SYNOD OF PATRIARCHATE OF ALEXANDRIA TO DISCUSS UKRAINE AT SESSION BEGINNING TODAY
    Alexandria, November 26, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117464.html

  54. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA14
    Below please find an article by the Editor, from today in The National Herald. Unfortunately, the article is locked and doesn’t appear in its entirety. I will continue to be on the lookout for the article in its entirely, and if found, I will post.

    It’s Decision Time, Your All Holiness
    By Antonis H. Diamataris 
    November 26, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/221225/its-decision-time-your-all-holiness/

  55. Greatly Saddened says

    SOC1
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    SERBIAN HIERARCH: “FOR 300 YEARS THERE WAS ONE CHURCH, AND NOW SUDDENLY EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED”
    Odessa, November 26, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117473.html

  56. Greatly Saddened says

    MP2
    Below please find an article from last Thursday on the Moscow Patriarchate website.

    The Russian Orthodox Church
    Department of External Church Relations
    22.11.2018 17:02
    Inter-Orthodox relations, News

    In a letter sent to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill His Beatitude Patriarch John of Antioch thanked the Russian Orthodox Church for rendering aid to the civilian population of Syria

    https://mospat.ru/en/2018/11/22/news166948/

  57. Greatly Saddened says

    ROC2
    Below please find an article from Saturday on the Basilica Romania website.

    » News » 
    Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Patriarch Daniel meet with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis
    Published by Gheorghe Anghel 
    24.11.2018

    http://basilica.ro/en/ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-patriarch-daniel-meet-with-romanian-president-klaus-iohannis/?fbclid=IwAR3QpMvpzJJ7yWND48XMLGCx3tY8yaEqnaf8AIFl0yjMZt7ZZqv_SWNtXMo

  58. Greatly Saddened says

    UA23
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    “CAN’T YOU SEE THAT YOU’RE BEING DECEIVED!”
    The Ukrainian Church of Moscow Patriarchate has MORE freedoms than certain other Autocephalous Churches

    Archpriest Nicholai Danilevich
    Translation by Matfey Shaheen
    Union of Orthodox Journalists
    11/26/2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117468.html

  59. Greatly Saddened says

    EP5
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    SYNOD OF CONSTANTINOPLE MEETING TODAY, EXPECTED TO ANNOUNCE DATE OF “UNIFICATION COUNCIL”
    Constantinople, November 27, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117499.html

  60. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA15
    Below please find an article from yesterday in The National Herald. Unfortunately, the article is locked and doesn’t appear in its entirety. I will continue to be on the lookout for the article in its entirely, and if found, I will post.

    The Special Teleconference of the Executive Committee of the Archdiocese discussed St. Nicholas Nave and Shrine
    By Theodore Kalmoukos 
    November 26, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/221347/the-special-teleconference-of-the-executive-committee-of-the-archdiocese-discussed-st-nicholas-nave-and-shrine/

  61. Greatly Saddened says

    COM1
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    HEAD OF MOLDOVAN CHURCH WRITES TO POROSHENKO ABOUT PERSECUTIONS AGAINST POCHAEV LAVRA
    Chișinău, Moldova, November 27, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117497.html

  62. Greatly Saddened says

    UA24
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    NIKOLAEV DIOCESE EXPRESSES FULL SUPPORT FOR CANONICAL STATUS OF UKRAINIAN CHURCH AND MET. ONUPHRY
    Nikolaev, Ukraine, November 27, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117493.html

  63. Greatly Saddened says

    EP6
    Below please find an article from yesterday on the ekathimerini website.

    NEWS 26.11.2018 : 15:55
    Church, Religion
    Patriarch’s letter to PM had warned against changes to Article 3 of Greek Constitution

    http://www.ekathimerini.com/235070/article/ekathimerini/news/patriarchs-letter-to-pm-had-warned-against-changes-to-article-3-of-greek-constitution?fbclid=IwAR3cOszjoXWh_sldTMYE4h0WBtS3oWjbdLCmgu_8EYP-N9Qy-7zUPJXbqTM

  64. Greatly Saddened says

    COG3
    Below please find an article from Saturday on the ekathimerini website.

    NEWS 24.11.2018 : 09:51
    Religion, Politics
    Ieronymos insists clerics’ backing needed for change
    APOSTOLOS LAKASAS

    http://www.ekathimerini.com/235014/article/ekathimerini/news/ieronymos-insists-clerics-backing-needed-for-change?fbclid=IwAR1U8uYEOqSo7tuTKinNLYvkPvcQ8bW_10cafaEMB6gBJuwr5xdC6YV3AdU

  65. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA16
    Below please find an article from yesterday in The National Herald. Unfortunately, the article is locked and doesn’t appear in its entirety. I will continue to be on the lookout for the article in its entirely, and if found, I will post.

    Analysis: Patriarchal Humanity and Tolerance
    By Theodore Kalmoukos 
    November 26, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/221345/patriarchal-humanity-and-tolerance/

  66. Greatly Saddened says

    EP7
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    CONSTANTINOPLE REPORTEDLY DISSOLVES ARCHDIOCESE OF RUSSIAN CHURCHES IN WESTERN EUROPE
    Constantinople, November 27, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117511.html

  67. Greatly Saddened says

    EP7
    Below please find an article from today in The National Herald.

    Patriarch’s Letter to Tsipras Protested Undercutting Church’s Role
    By TNH Staff November 27, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/221360/patriarchs-letter-to-tsipras-protested-undercutting-churchs-role/

  68. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA16
    Below please find an article from today in The National Herald. Unfortunately, the article is locked and doesn’t appear in its entirety. I will continue to be on the lookout for the article in its entirely, and if found, I will post.

    Bartholomew Gives New Extension to Demetrios
    By Theodore Kalmoukos 
    November 27, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/221463/bartholomew-gives-new-extension-to-demetrios/

  69. Greatly Saddened says

    UA25
    Below please find an article from yesterday on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    THE PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE NEEDS TO ADMIT ITS REAL STATUS IN THE ORTHODOX WORLD
    Archpriest Andrei Tkachev
    Translation by Matfey Shaheen
    Pravoslavie.ru
    11/27/2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117490.html

  70. Greatly Saddened says

    EP9
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    ARCHDIOCESE OF RUSSIAN CHURCHES IN WESTERN EUROPE CONFIRMS ITS DISSOLUTION, SAYS DECISION CAME AS SURPRISE
    Paris, November 28, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117530.html

  71. Greatly Saddened says

    UA26
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    RESTORER OF “UKRAINIAN AUTOCEPHALOUS ORTHODOX CHURCH” JAILED FOR FRAUD AND FORGERY

    Many of the schismatic bishops received by Constantinople trace their “consecrations” to the former deacon who was previously jailed for molesting minors.
    Queensland, Australia, November 28, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117544.html

    • Gail Sheppard says

      I first became aware of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate in conjunction with the Christ of the Hills Monastery (COTH) scandal in Blanco, TX in 2005/2006. They briefly came under the omophorion of Archbishop Lazar Puhalo after he was received into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kiev Patriarchate in the mid-90s. He initially maintained they were NEVER under him, but later admitted he received them “conditionally,” with the exception of Greene and Hitt, because someone (might have been me) found the public announcement on the Internet. He then admitted it and said he tried to implement changes, like moving Greene into a trailer outside the monastery walls, and when THAT didn’t work, severed his connection with them. (Think about this for a minute. You are Greene, the monastery’s founder, and streams of kids, boys 15 and 16, wanting to see a fake weeping icon you specifically created for this purpose, are within a few feet of you. A bishop gives you permission to live right outside the walls, where you will be unnoticed if you offer one of them a beer in your double-wide, air-conditioned trailer where they can escape the scorching heat. Would that encourage YOU not to pursue your passion? What am I missing here???) Lazar did NOT notify the police of their activities when he left a short time later and they continued to abuse children for another decade. Greene admitted his guilt and subsequently killed himself. – COTH is not the only story I know of connecting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate with pedophilia. Stories like this seeming make the idiom, “birds of a feather . . . ,” true.

      * * *

      “. . . A one-time real estate pitchman, Greene set up the monastery in 1981. When investigators raided the enclave in 1999, Elsbury said, they found about 10 firearms and ‘a liquor cabinet to rival the governor’s’ in Greene’s trailer. ‘They claimed to live a monastic lifestyle, but a select group of six or eight lived like kings, while the rest were in dirty sandals and looked like they ate grasshoppers,’ he said. . .”

      http://articles.latimes.com/2006/sep/05/nation/na-monks5

      • Lazar Puhalo. Not surprising at all.

      • Constantinos says

        HI Gail,
        You remind me of the late Katherine Valone, a true Orthodox saint. May her memory be eternal!!

        • Costa,

          I knew Katherine (she preferred “Kay”) Valone personally. She was/is a no-nonsense lover of Christ and His Church both in word and in deed. I am pleased to hear that she is remembered. May her memory be eternal.

          • Constantinos says

            Dear Brian,
            How I envy you!!! You were most blessed to know this Apostle of Christ. Would you mind sharing everything you know about this remarkable woman of God? Unfortunately, no one has written a book about her. Would you agree with me that she should be canonized as a Saint? Any information about her would be greatly appreciated. How did you meet her? Please tell me everything you can. Thank you sincerely.

            • Costa,

              My first introduction to Kay was when she visited our (non-Greek) parish on behalf of Phosadelphia. I cannot honestly say that I found her to be particularly impressive at the time. Nor, as I recall, did I even introduce myself to her on that occasion. She was a simple, plain-spoken woman who seemed to be doing good work. As the work she was doing through Phosadelphia struck a chord with me, I took the address and began sending donations monthly.

              Kay was a person who put her money where her mouth was, and she obviously respected those did likewise. I suspect that is how our friendship came about – as a result of her noticing the consistency of my donations. I am not a wealthy man, so we’re not talking huge amounts. But they were consistent every month over a long period of time. In any case, she called me and asked if I would be willing to serve on the board. That’s how I got to know her.

              I would hate to disappoint you, but she was/is not what one would normally think of as a ‘Saint.’ If you have ever read the book Everyday Saints (a book I highly recommend), she was more like the saints in those stories. Faithful, serious, no-nonsense, yet very ‘human’ and even somewhat eccentric.

              I’m not in the Greek Church and have never even seen a copy of her View from the Pew, but I gathered from our conversations that the views she had expressed over the years had made her some enemies. She would shrug it off as political nonsense that had little to do with what the Church really is.

              While her entire life and work was primarily in the Greek Orthodox Church, she was not at all a Greek supremacist. She cared about the Orthodox Church, desired to serve her and obviously wanted to see ethnic divisions overcome. “It’s just stupid that we don’t work together.” The main project I worked with her on in her later years was finding a property to serve as an Orthodox youth camp. Phosadelphia (in reality mostly her own money) was to fund the property. She wanted the local churches involved, and I knew most of them in my area. We had priests and parishioners from the OCA, Antiochian, and Romanian (OCA) jurisdictions involved. The local Greeks weren’t interested, and she indicated that this didn’t surprise her.

              I spoke of her eccentricity. By this I mean that when I first visited her at her home, a modest but nice house in Oak Lawn, Illinois, I found that every room was piled high with…well…stuff. All kinds of stuff. There was barely room to sit. Clearly, she did not waste any time on niceties. She invited me in, apologized somewhat dismissively for the mess, invited me into the kitchen (the only place with an open chair), poured me a cup of coffee, and got right down to business.

              “The Church is losing her youth, and we need to do something about it because no one else is paying any attention to it.”

              “All everyone seems to care about is money and their own fiefdoms.”

              She wasn’t what I would call ‘condemning’ as many can be when they say such things. She was just stating reality as she saw it, directly, frankly, and fearlessly – not caring what anyone thought of her. People think of saints as being ‘warm,’ and some are. I wouldn’t describe her as being warm in that way, but neither was she cold. She was very kind to me. She was a person who seemed to know that she was given a task by God and was determined to fulfill it without any pretension whatsoever. Many, I’m sure, would have found her rather gruff. I found her to be refreshingly, authentically human – outspoken, yet humble.

              I am quite sure she has heard her Lord say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter the joy of thy Master.” May we all hear those words and rejoice with her forever.

      • COTH is not the only story I know of connecting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate with pedophilia.

        Like this guy?

        http://orthochristian.com/117544.html

        • Gail Sheppard says

          Yeah, but there was another guy who knew Lazar back in the day when he was Ron Haler. The two men kind of traveled the same path. This other guy was old and very ill at the time I communicated with him over a decade ago, now. I doubt he’s still with us. He lived in a monastery of one, i.e. by himself, and didn’t have the money to keep the heat on. I wrote to Lazar about the plight of his long-time friend. Don’t know if he helped him or not. The guy wasn’t shy about his past and said Lazar was instrumental in ferreting him out of Alaska when his molestations there were made known. They were with ROCOR at the time. Both ended up in schematic groups. The point is, these people connect and stay connected, traveling through life together. They rely on each other to look the other way. If you hear of one story, then another and then another, you can bet these activities have been normalized within the group. The fact that Lazar, under Kiev, could walk away from 8 pedophiles, KNOWING the extent of their activities, tells me that in HIS circle, i.e. Kiev at the time, pedophilia is A-OK. Nothing to notify the police about.

  72. Greatly Saddened says

    UA27
    Below please find an article from today on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA website.

    Commemoration of the 85th Anniversary of Holodomor
    11/28/18 | News – Recent Events

    https://www.uocofusa.org/news_181128_1.html?fbclid=IwAR2mn1Jxqm4WlVlCKCCwu8UQOc1SVCAgT3914104sMUwEEzzKjBHUR7ct4c

  73. Greatly Saddened says

    UA28
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    UKRAINE WILL USE MARTIAL LAW AGAINST OPPONENTS OF AUTOCEPHALY, PARLIAMENT DEPUTIES SAY
    Kiev, November 29, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117545.html

  74. Greatly Saddened says

    UA29
    Below please find an article from Tuesday on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    RIVNE DIOCESAN BUILDING VANDALIZED FOLLOWING UKRAINIAN-RUSSIAN NAVAL INCIDENT
    Rivne, Ukraine, November 27, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117504.html?fbclid=IwAR0_nzUvz1bNZkELgCUCbbZqDLVe_pi9VZcCOB9ulZHIuKcK7XbgJcJW0O4

  75. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA18
    Below please find an article from yesterday in The National Herald. Also, please take note of the comments below the article.

    Chicago’s Holy Trinity Church Receives Judgment of Foreclosure
    By TNH Staff November 28, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/221629/chicagos-holy-trinity-church-receives-judgment-of-foreclosure/

  76. Greatly Saddened says

    COG4
    Below please find an article from today in The National Herald.

    Metropolitan Daniel Speaks with TNH on Greece’s Church and State Crisis
    By Theodore Kalmoukos 
    November 29, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/221606/metropolitan-daniel-speaks-with-tnh-on-greeces-church-and-state-crisis/

  77. Greatly Saddened says

    EP10
    Below please find an article from today in The National Herald.

    Metropolitan Elpidophoros Elected Full Professor at University of Thessaloniki
    By Theodore Kalmoukos 
    November 29, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/221602/metropolitan-elpidophoros-elected-full-professor-at-university-of-thessaloniki/

  78. Greatly Saddened says

    UA30
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    WHAT RIGHTS DOES THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH REALLY HAVE?

    Translated by Jesse Dominick
    The Diocese of Gorlovka and Slavyansk
    11/29/2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117556.html

    • George Michalopulos says

      The GOA and the other exarchates of the Ecumenical Patriarchate would be so lucky to have such autonomy.

  79. Greatly Saddened says

    UA31
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    20+ Ukrainian Deputies call for investigation into pressure on Ukrainian Church
    “The authority that confuses its flags with God, and God with its own opinions, is doomed,” one Deputy said.
    Kiev, November 29, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117563.html

  80. Greatly Saddened says

    UA32
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    MINISTRY OF CULTURE BEGINS TAKING INVENTORY AT KIEV CAVES LAVRA
    Kiev, November 29, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117558.html

  81. Greatly Saddened says

    EP11
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    UKRAINIAN “UNIFICATION COUNCIL” REPORTEDLY TO BE HELD IN DECEMBER
    Constantinople, November 29, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117576.html

  82. Greatly Saddened says

    EP12
    Below please find a communiqué from today on the Ecumenical Patriarchate website.

    Communiqué (29/11/2018).
    The Holy and Sacred Synod convened under the chairmanship of His All-Holiness for its regular sessions from Tuesday, November 27, to Thursday, November 29, 2018.

    https://www.patriarchate.org/-/anakoinothen-29-11-2018-?fbclid=IwAR1MTLR4b7dohLqgqvOs7LifeUNqDlmEH-qMcnQpljBRcI0vrkV9h3GoTdc

    • Finally… in anticipation of the issuance of the Patriarchal and Synodal Tomos, the Holy and Sacred Synod drafted the Ukrainian Church’s Constitutional Charter.

      Now that’s autocephaly!

  83. Greatly Saddened says

    EP13
    Below please find an article from Monday on the Orthodox Synaxis website.

    Orthodox Synaxis
    that they all may be one

    November 26, 2018
    Patriarch Bartholomew: The Decentralization of Orthodoxy is its Advantage
    Original French text below the jump.
    Zurich, December 14, 1995

    https://orthodoxsynaxis.org/2018/11/26/patriarch-bartholomew-the-decentralization-of-orthodoxy-is-its-advantage/

  84. Greatly Saddened says

    UA33
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    UKRAINIAN HIERARCH OFFERS POROSHENKO SERVICE BOOK AFTER HE CLAIMS UOC PRAYS FOR PUTIN, RUSSIAN MILITARY
    Tulchyn, Ukraine, November 30, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117585.html

  85. Greatly Saddened says

    UA34
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    UKRAINIAN SECURITY SERVICE BEGINS INVESTIGATING ABBOT OF KIEV CAVES LAVRA FOR “INCITING SECTARIAN HATRED”
    Voronki, Ukraine, November 30, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117589.html

  86. Greatly Saddened says

    UA35
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES FEEDING PAT. BARTHOLOMEW FALSE INFORMATION, ORTHODOX ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT CONCLUDES AFTER MEETING WITH HIM
    Constantinople, November 30, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117595.html

  87. Greatly Saddened says

    UA36
    Below please find an article from yesterday on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    BERDYANSK DIOCESE EXPRESSES FULL SUPPORT FOR CANONICAL STATUS OF UKRAINIAN CHURCH AND MET. ONUPHRY
    Berdyansk, Ukraine, November 30, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117591.html

  88. Greatly Saddened says

    AC1
    Below please find an article from Thursday on the Mirror-Spectator website.

    INTERNATIONAL ARMENIAN CHURCH -CHRISTIANITY – ST. LAZARUS MONASTERY

    https://mirrorspectator.com/2018/11/29/patriarch-bartholomew-visits-st-lazarus-armenian-monastery/

  89. Greatly Saddened says

    UA36
    Below please find an article from yesterday on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website.

    UKRAINE

    Russian Orthodox Cleric In Kyiv Accused Of ‘Inciting Hatred’
    Last Updated: November 30, 2018 13:12 GMT

    https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-searches-home-of-russian-orthodox-cleric/29629920.html

  90. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA19
    Below please find an article from today in The National Herald.

    Archdiocese Takes ‘Significant Steps’ for the Resumption of Completion of St. Nicholas
    By TNH Staff December 2, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/222027/archdiocese-takes-significant-steps-for-the-resumption-of-completion-of-st-nicholas/

  91. Greatly Saddened says

    UA38
    Below please find an article from Wednesday on the Religious Information Service of Ukraine.
    28 November 2018, 15:38 | Temples, church property

    https://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/community/temples_church_property/73699/?fbclid=IwAR2C1FX7sfDRX5FF14zDdGsmy_1YY9VGOeae_xCZBuZVTk8jXL6HxKDCgpo

  92. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA20
    Below please find a news release from Friday on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website.

    NEWS OFFICIAL NEWS 2018
    Archdiocese Takes Significant Steps for the Resumption of Construction and Completion of St. Nicholas
    Stavros Papagermanos -pressoffice@goarch.org 
    (212) 570-3530
    November 30, 2018

    https://www.goarch.org/-/archdiocese-takes-significant-steps-for-the-resumption-of-construction-and-completion-of-st-nicholas

  93. Greatly Saddened says

    UA39
    Below please find an article from last Friday on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    UKRAINIAN CHURCH SENDS HUMANITARIAN AID TO SUFFERING EASTERN UKRAINIANS
    Gorlovka, Ukraine, November 30, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117575.html?fbclid=IwAR2pYJ5nC6LXJ3xxs2QQFgrRPQ3quce5tbKWDBJYnVEt4uu41fst5erlJJ4

  94. Greatly Saddened says

    UA40
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    INTERROGATION OF PRIESTS BEGINS IN UKRAINE: ACCUSED OF INCITING RELIGIOUS HATRED
    Rivne, Ukraine, December 5, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117688.html

  95. Greatly Saddened says

    UA41
    Below please find an article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    NEW UKRAINIAN CHURCH WILL BE AUTOCEPHALOUS IN NAME ONLY: GREEK MEDIA PUBLISHES FIRST PAGE OF STATUTES WRITTEN BY CONSTANTINOPLE
    Constantinople, December 5, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117682.html

  96. Greatly Saddened says

    UA42
    Below please find another article from today on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    UKRAINIAN METROPOLITAN ASKS PATRIARCH KIRILL TO HELP RELEASE UKRAINIAN SAILORS
    Odessa, December 5, 2018

    http://orthochristian.com/117673.html

  97. Greatly Saddened says

    UA43
    Below please find an article from Monday on the Orthodox Christianity website.

    IF WE LOSE THE PURITY OF FAITH, WE ARE WORTHLESS AS CHRISTIANS
    Metropolitan Onuphry (Berezovsky)

    http://orthochristian.com/117600.html

  98. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA21
    Below please find an article from Monday in The National Herald. Be sure to take note of the comments below the article. Unfortunately, the article is locked and doesn’t appear in its entirety. I will continue to be on the lookout for the article in its entirely, and if found, I will post.

    Analysis: The Parishes – Guard Them Like Your Eyes
    By Theodore Kalmoukos 
    December 3, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/222166/the-parishes-guard-them-like-your-eyes/

  99. Greatly Saddened says

    GOA22
    Below please find an article from today in The National Herald.

    Jim Logothetis’ Exclusive Statement to TNH about Holy Trinity’s Chicago Events
    By Theodore Kalmoukos 
    December 5, 2018

    https://www.thenationalherald.com/222192/jim-logothetis-exclusive-statement-to-tnh-about-holy-trinitys-chicago-events/