Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople ceremoniously signed the tomos of autocephaly for the new nationalist Ukrainian church on Saturday, January 5, which he gave to its primate “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko during the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, January 6. The Ukrainian delegation included, in addition to Epiphany Dumenko, former Metropolitans Simeon Shostatsky and Alexander Drabinko, who apostatized…

Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos II headed the celebrations to mark the day first with a liturgy at the Syros Metropolitan Church and then at the island’s port, where according to the custom the Archbishop threw a crucifix in the water, which was then retrieved by local young men. Greek President Prokopios Pavlopoulos travelled…

The special Christmas liturgy was held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi. Delivering the Christmas Epistle, Georgian Patriarch Ilia II has emphasized a number of issues, including upbringing of future generations, education, abortions, and drug addiction problems, freedom of speech or defamation. “Every epoch has its own Herod [King Herod I of Judaea. In…

Despite formally uniting into one group, the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” there are signs that the hierarchs of the “Kiev Patriarchate” (KP) and those of the “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church” (UAOC) continue to think of themselves and operate separately. The two groups were unable to cooperate before and during the “unification council,” forcing the…

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church officially established the feast of the Synaxis of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Spanish and Portuguese Lands, adding 80 saints to its liturgical calendar, at its latest session in Moscow on December 28, reports the official Church site. The Assembly of Orthodox Hierarchs in Spain…

December 15’s “unification council” did not solve the problem of schism in Ukraine but rather further complicated it, His Beatitude Metropolitan Sawa of Warsaw and All Poland wrote to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople in response to the message sent by Constantinople to the primates of all the Local Churches on December 24, reports the Ukrainian…

Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has wished believers on Christmas Eve to maintain inner peace in the face of political and social turmoil. This is the Christmas Message by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia:   Christmas Message by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to the Archpastors, Pastors,…

Hundreds of Orthodox believers prayerfully welcomed the New Year 2019 together with His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest having ‘the joy of the sanctification of time.’  His Beatitude offered prayers of thanksgiving for the past year and addressed petitions for the New Year. Addressing the faithful after the service, the…

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania presided over the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great on New Year’s Day at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest. Concelebrants for the Divine Liturgy included the Patriarch’s auxiliary bishop and secretary of the Holy Synod Varlaam of Ploiesti, and the Assistant Bishop to the Bucharest Archdiocese, Timotei of…