Pittsburgh Bishop Hospitalized

Bishop Melchisedek (Pleska) of Pittsburgh, interim chancellor of the American Orthodox Church, has been hospitalized in New York due to abdominal pains caused by a hernia. Please remember him in your prayers! More here.

Update (16/8/2011): Bishop Melchisedek has undergone surgery for his hernia and will remain in New York until his doctors there permit him to return to Pittsburgh. More here.

OCA Metropolitan Seeks Removal of Interim Chancellor

Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen) of Washington has announced that he is removing Bishop Melchisedek (Pleska) of Pittsburgh as interim chancellor of the American Orthodox Church and resuming the duties of locum tenens of the Diocese of Dallas and Southeastern America, which the Holy Synod of the OCA had transferred to Bishop Nikon (Liolin) of Boston. As both the appointment of an interim chancellor and of Bishop Nikon as locum tenens of the Dallas cathedra were decisions of the Holy Synod it remains to be seen whether Metropolitan Jonah's decisions will be taken as binding or not. More here.

Update (3/5/2011): The Holy Synod has rejected Metropolitan Jonah's unilateral attempt to resume his former position as locum tenens of the Diocese of Dallas and confirmed Bishop Nikon (Liolin) of Boston as its locum tenens. More here.

Bulgarian Orthodox Church Receives OCA Bulgarian Orthodox Parish in Toronto

With the blessing of Patriarch Maxim (Rachev) of Sofia, Metropolitan Joseph (Bosakov) of New York of the patriarchal Bulgarian Orthodox Church in North America and Australia has received St. George's Church in Toronto, formerly a parish of the Bulgarian Orthodox Diocese of Toledo and North America of the American Orthodox Church, into his care.

There is no notice of the transfer on the website of the OCA and no indication of whether the transfer occurred with the blessing of Bishop Melchisedek (Pleska) of Pittsburgh, locum tenens of the OCA's Bulgarian Orthodox Diocese, or not. The transfer comes not long after the announcement of episcopal candidates for the OCA's diocese, neither of whom were of Bulgarian or Macedonian heritage and one of whom was actually Greek. More here.

Update (2:02pm): I've just heard back from the office of Bishop Melchisedek and am told that he said that St. George's Church "has not been released to any other jurisdiction."

American and Russian Orthodox Hierarchs Concelebrate in New York

This past Sunday Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen) of Washington of the American Orthodox Church (OCA) concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk and Archbishop Justinian (Ovchinnikov) of Narofominsk of the Russian Orthodox Church as well as Bishop Melchisedek (Pleska) of Pittsburgh of the OCA at St. Nicholas' Cathedral in New York, the representation of the Moscow Patriarchate to the OCA. In honor of Archbishop Justinian's 50th birthday Metropolitan Jonah presented him with an icon of St. John the Wonderworker of San Francisco. More here.

Vladyka Job's Memorial in Black Lick

Vladyka Job finally has a tombstone at his grave in Black Lick. Pictures from the one year memorial served at the Black Lick parish by Bishop Melchisedek (Pleska) of Pittsburgh and clergy of the Western Pennsylvanian and Midwestern American Dioceses of the American Orthodox Church can be found here.

Also pictured is St. John's, the parish in Black Lick. Vladyka Job is buried outside the altar to the east of the church.