The leaders of Jerusalem’s churches have today (02/26/2018) announced the unprecedented decision to close the Church of the Holy Sepulcher until further notice, in protest at persistent moves to intimidate Christians and discriminate against churches in the Holy Land. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which dates back to the fourth century, is considered to contain the sites of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, making it the holiest site in the world for Christians.
Με λαμπρό πολυαρχιερατικό συλλείτουργο στο μεγαλοπρεπή Ιερό Ναό της του Θεού Σοφίας στη Λευκωσία εορτάστηκε η επίσκεψη του Σεβασμιωτάτου Αρχιεπισκόπου Αμερικής, σήμερα Κυριακή 11 Φεβρουαρίου 2018.
In response to continued food insecurity in Greece, the Jaharis Family Foundation, Inc., announced a new $1 million challenge gift to International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) to expand its programs, implemented in partnership with Apostoli, the humanitarian organization of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Athens, to offer sustainable access to safe and nutritious food for children, families, and the elderly, and providing relief to refugees.
Greetings from Guatemala!
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” ~Psalm 117:24
Nestled in the western highlands of Guatemala, I awake to the sounds of roosters announcing the coming day. I rise to join the seminarians and fellow long-term missionaries to offer our daily morning prayers with Matins. It is here in Aguacate that I draw on my seminary education and love of singing the hymns of the Church to mentor the parish choir located in the village, as well as to assist as God sees fit in the formation of the young men discerning their call to serve the Church.
The Greek Festival of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Church in Bayard, NE is one of the longest running in the Greek American community. The annual event that puts Hellenism and Orthodox on display in the American heartland celebrated in 91st anniversary this year.
When the Axis powers invaded Greece on October 28. 1940, its entire Jewish population became endangered. 6-year-old Yolanda Avram and her 2-year-old brother, Yannis heard their father tell his wife, “Pack the suitcases, Karola.” Like hundreds of Greek Jews, the Avram family was sent into the mountains to be protected hiding by strangers who risked their lives.
The fire that destroyed Montreal’s Koimisis Tis Theotokou (Dormition of the Virgin Mary) Church in April, 2015 devastated the community, but the rebuilt sanctuary is almost ready for its grand re-opening.
The town of Sabastiya, which is located 12 kilometers northwest of the city of Nablus, may seem just another modest town at first. However, this quickly starts to alter as we approach the ‘Historic Site’ of the town. Just as we draw nearer to the public square, which is located at the heart of the town, a huge ancient building welcomes us from the north. The building has the name of ‘The Mosque of Prophet Yahya’ (Yahya is Arabic for John), but the exterior of this building does not suggest it is a mosque, except for the minaret part, of course... In that Church lies the tomb of the greatest among the Prophets, St. John the Baptist.
The small domes flanking the narthex of the Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church in Lowell were always supposed to be blue, bot for more than 50 years they presented a grey unfinished cement coat. Finally, when it’s a cloudy day, the domes will welcome guests with a cheery sky blue.
The Pew Research Center reports that a large majority of people in Central and Eastern Europe hold traditional views of the role of women and the family. The study revealed that the percentages are higher in the 10 countries with Orthodox Christian majorities.
The electronic version of the widely popular Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Monasteries has been released by the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA and made available free of charge to everyone. The PDF file with the Atlas can be downloaded free of charge here. The hard copy of the Atlas can be purchased directly from the publisher, Holy Cross Orthodox Press.
The Church of the Annunciation of Missoula, MT is putting its faith to work, and getting a nice return. By participating in the Missoula Works staffing agency created by the Missoula Interfaith Collaborative, the parish helped create jobs for unemployed and underemployed citizens and gained a new pavement for the boulevard in front of its facilities just in time for its annual festival.
The beaches of Aegean Islands have been featured in Travel and Leisure magazine for decades, but a recent article and photo spread acknowledges that most people know Patmos as the place where St. John the Theologian wrote the Book of Revelation.
The first ever, national study on evangelization and outreach in Orthodox parishes in the United States has been released by the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA.
Father Ioan Irineu Craciun, who arrived in Ireland from Romania in 1981 as a postgraduate student, is preparing his parish to move into its new home on Western Way – a road that leads down to Broadstone in Phibsboro. After seven years of worshipping in a prefabricated industrial unit in Blanchardstown, Romanian Orthodox community is ready to blossom.
The 2018 Greek Orthodox Folk Dance & Choral Festival (FDF) will take place January 11-14 in San Francisco. FDF is usually held over President’s Day Weekend in February, but next year it will be celebrated over the Martin Luther King Jr. out of respect for weekend Great Lent, which begins February 19, 2018.
On June 27 Pope Francis welcomed a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Vatican. In his greetings, the Pope remarked Both churches must strive to return to their roots where they once “shared in the same eucharistic table, preserving together the same truths of faith while cultivating a variety of theological, spiritual and canonical traditions.”
On Monday, June 5, 2017, the Holy Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior in Gapyeong held the inauguration of a three-day Byzantine Icons exhibition. The exhibition presented the works of the students of the intensive program of Hagiography courses, which took place from May 1st to June 5th . The lessons were taught this year by the Professor of Byzantine iconography, Mr. Sozos Yiannoudis, who came from Greece exclusively for this purpose.
Reflecting upon the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: “'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”, the college age students of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA prayerfully responded to our Lord’s call and offered themselves to serve as Mission Team Members of the UOC of the USA to the Ukrainian Orphanages during 2-17 June, 2017.
The visit of His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos at the Ecumenical Patriarchate and later on to Cappadocia began on Friday, 3rd/ 16th June 2017.
His Beatitude was invited by the All-Holy Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos for this visit, as the latter has undertaken pilgrimage tours to Churches and Holy Monasteries of our nation which have been deserted since the exchange of populations in 1922.
The Baltimore Sun shines a spotlight on the effect converts are having on the Orthodox Church in the USA. The article notes their diverse backgrounds as that they include former Evangelicals in search of the historic Church, people described as analytical Christians who are looking for something they can grasp more firmly than what they were raised with, and others seeking a fuller, richer tradition.
On Saturday, 28th May/10th June 2017, His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos, made a pastoral visit to the Greek Orthodox Arab-speaking Community of the town Zdeinde in north Israel, at the district of Acre.
To the Most Reverend Hierarchs, the Reverend Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, the Presidents and Members of the Parish Councils of the Greek Orthodox Communities, the Distinguished Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Day, Afternoon, and Church Schools, the Philoptochos Sisterhoods, the Youth, the Hellenic Organizations, and the entire Greek Orthodox Family in America
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As so many of you know, today marks a very significant event in the history of the Greek people and the Omogeneia. The invasion of Cyprus by the Turkish army forty-five years ago, the displacement of its citizens who became refugees in their own country, and the forced division of the island remain a grievous injustice to this day. We cannot forget that the Church of Cyprus was founded by the Apostles Paul, Barnabas, and Mark the Evangelist, and that it is a Church, whose autocephaly was decided by an Ecumenical Council (Ephesus 431 AD). This island nation, with over ten thousand years of history, has suffered much at the hands of time, and yet it endures through all manner of trial and tribulation.
Not only as Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters, but as human beings, we must pray for just and speedy solutions for Cyprus. Violence only begets violence, and powers and states that lie beyond its waters must intercede, not interfere, with the lasting peace that only the Cypriot people themselves can achieve.
On this day, when we mourn the loss of life, the destruction of monuments, and the violence that is never a solution for the human family, let us offer more than our prayers, even as we hold dear the memory of those who now lie in eternal rest. Let us engage with those in our circles who are able to help, and encourage trusted partners to offer solutions. As Americans, there is much we can do through our representative government. Cyprus is a moral issue for every person, but how much more so for us who share its faith and even its blood.
May God grant swift and righteous answers for all the people of Cyprus, and grace them with hope, reason, and a national self-interest that leads to peace and prosperity for all.