The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II held a memorial service for victims of a powerful explosion that took place in Didi Dighomi district of Tbilisi on January 16. The civil funeral of the victims is being held at Kashveti Church. Family members, relatives and ordinary citizens are gathered in the…

The number of Christians suffering high to extremely high persecution is 14 percent more in 2019, Open Doors reported, counting 245 million individuals globally. Persecution driven by Islamic extremism and Communist authoritarianism in the world’s two most populous countries, India and China, marked the increase, Open Doors said today (Jan. 16) in releasing its 2019…

Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II commemorated victims of a powerful explosion that took place in Didi Dighomi district of Tbilisi on January 16 during a festive liturgy. The festive liturgy is being held at Sameba (Holy Trinity) Cathedral in Tbilisi on the occasion of Epiphany. The powerful explosion in Didi…

The 57th baptism ceremony was held at Sameba (Holy Trinity) Cathedral on Sunday, January 20, 2019. A total of 630 infants have become the Patriarch’s godchildren. The Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II already has more than 37 thousand godchildren. They are the 3rd born children and up of the married…

The festive Theophany services were disrupted at the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Sumy today when unknown perpetrators threw explosives at the narthex of the church. Fortunately, no one in the crowded church was injured, reports the Sumy Diocese website. The explosion occurred during the services. Field investigators and bomb…

Materials for the canonization of a new Saint have been sent for consideration to the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece. His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Fthiotida presented the documents on Archimandrite Bessarion (Korkoliakos), abbot of the Agothonos Monastery in central Greece, to the Synod on January 10, according to the metropolis’ website. The…

The Church of Antioch firmly rejects the division of the Orthodox Churches and supports the position of the canonical Ukrainian Church and the Russian Church in the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East said at a meeting with a Russian delegation on Thursday, reports RIA-Novosti. The delegation…

His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has sent a letter to His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel after Romania took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on January 1, 2019. In his letter signed on January 12, 2019, at Constantinople, His Holiness expressed his wholehearted commendation ‘for this great honour and responsibility’ offered to…

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said Moscow continues provocations aimed against the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine: the enemy seeks to incite conflicts on religious grounds. “I would like to emphasize there have been provocations on the part of Moscow regarding the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church and, unfortunately, they are continuing now….