Russian Orthodox Church to Promote Environmental Conservation

The Moscow Patriarchate, the All-Russian Society of Nature Protection, and the World Russian People's Council have signed an agreement to work together to promote the conservation and protection of the environment. Commenting on the agreement, Fr. Vsevolod Chaplin, a spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate, noted that over the last twenty years conservation efforts hadn't been a priority for the Russian Orthodox Church due to the assortment of political and economic challenges facing its members, but that the Church needed to encourage its clergy and laity to become more actively involved in protecting the environment.

The signatories have yet to agree to concrete steps on environmental issues that they can take together, but plan to discuss (among other possible plans of action) programs to encourage churches and monasteries to take an interest in the physical state of the areas around them to encourage a greater overall awareness of the state of environment being a community responsibility. More in Russian here.

Russian Orthodox Delegation Visits Romania

A delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate has visited the headquarters of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Bucharest. More here and in Romanian here.

Milan Synod First Hierarch Resigns Episcopacy

The first hierarch of the Old Calendrist Milan Synod, Metropolitan Evloghios of Milan, together with his auxiliary, Archbishop Abbondios of Como, have both resigned from the episcopacy and begun to serve as priests in preparation for reception into the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. The status of the other three hierarchs still belonging to the Milan Synod is unclear. More (in Italian) here.

Pochaev Privatization Proposal Provokes Protests

A bill in the Ukrainian Parliament proposing the privatization of the Pochaev Lavra, which is inhabited by monks belonging to the autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church, has, unsurprisingly, been met with protests from Ukrainian nationalists and members of the hierarchy of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Lavra, which has been a bastion of loyalty to the Moscow Patriarchate in western Ukraine, is seen by the Kiev Patriarchate and others as a Ukrainian national shrine that should remain under the oversight of the Ukrainian government. More here.

Nice Cathedral Remains Independent of Moscow Patriarchate

Controversy continues to surround the Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Nice, France, where the former parish association of the Russian Orthodox Exarchate of Western Europe continues to refuse to transfer de facto control over the cathedral to its legal owner, the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Diocese of Korsun, which has care of the cathedral, has already appointed new clergy to serve the Nice cathedral and ordered that the entrance fees previously charged on visitors to the cathedral be abolished. More here.

Kiev Patriarchate Appeals to Ukrainian Orthodox Church for Unity Dialogue

In an appeal to the hierarchy of the autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church the Holy Synod of the Kiev Patriarchate has accused the Moscow Patriarchate of remaining a tool of state interests in the former USSR and called for the beginning of a serious dialogue aimed at the establishment of a united, independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church centered in Kiev. (The Kiev Patriarchate has apparently forgotten that its own patriarch was himself closely associated with the Soviet regime and was raised to his rank with the collusion of the post-Soviet Ukrainian government.) More here and (in Ukrainian) here.

Moscow, Kiev Reject Crimean Cossack Calls for the Dissolution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kiev Metropolitanate have rejected calls by a Cossack organization in the Crimea for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's dissolution and direct union with the Russian Orthodox Church, reaffirming the autonomy of the Church of Ukraine and its jurisdiction over the whole of Ukraine. More here.

Russian Orthodox Church Opposed to Establishment as State Church

A representative of the Moscow Patriarchate has reiterated the opposition of the Russian Orthodox Church to its establishment as the state church of the Russian Federation, saying in part that, "We do not want the [Church] to become part of the state apparatus, the state machinery, [or] to assume secular functions." The statement comes after the release of a poll showing that 30% of Russians would support the establishment of the Church. More here.

Russian Orthodox Bishop Calls on "Cossack Autocephalous Church" Organizers to Repent

Bishop Kirill (Pokrovskiy) of Stavropol', chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's commission on relations with the Cossacks, has called on the organizers of a "Cossack Autocephalous Church," found this past June in the Russian city of Podolsk, to repent of their schism and embrace the unity of the Orthodox Church to prevent the further division of the Cossack movement in Russia. More (in Russian) here.

Russian Orthodox Church Considers Election of Future Patriarchs, Comprehensibility of Slavonic

In a press conference on the recent meetings of the committees of the 'Inter-Council Presence' of the Russian Orthodox Church representatives of the Church have spoken on the work of the committees in seeking to establish the guidelines for the election of future patriarchs of Moscow and take decisions on principles to guide the updating of the Slavonic-language service books of the Russian Orthodox Church to make the liturgical language more comprehensible for speakers of modern Russian. More (in Russian) here.

Russian Orthodox Spokesman Responds to Criticisms of Moscow Church Construction Plans

A spokesperson for the Moscow Patriarchate, Vladimir Legoyda, has responded to criticisms of a recent decision to build roughly 200 new parish churches in metropolitan Moscow by pointing out that church construction does not inhibit the development of much needed social infrastructure like kindergartens and noting a recent initiative to greatly increase the number of residential daycare centers in the Russian capital. Observing that it is not an 'either/or' situation, Legoyda also discussed a recent patriarchal decree that Moscow's new churches to built to include educational centers hosting spaces for Sunday schools, libraries, and youth clubs. More (in Russian) here.

Moscow Patriarchate Spokesman Calls for Patience in Considering Lenin's Burial

Fr. Vsevolod Chaplin, a spokesman of the Moscow Patriarchate, has called on the Russian government not to make any unconsidered decisions regarding the disposal of Vladimir Lenin's body, which despite efforts at preserving it incorrupt continues to rot in its Soviet-era mausoleum on Moscow's Red Square. Although the Russian Orthodox Church supports the removal of Lenin's body from Red Square, Fr. Vsevolod urged the government not to hastily make any decisions that would offend large segments of Russian society. More here.

Moscow Patriarchate Rejects Abkhazian Orthodox Attempt to Organize a Metropolia at New Athos

The Moscow Patriarchate has rejected an attempt by the Abkhazian Orthodox clergy and laity to establish a metropolitanate for the Church of Abkhazia, reaffirming the necessity of an existing hierarchy for the organization of an independent Orthodox Church. More here.

Kiev Patriarchate Accuses Moscow Patriarchate of Manipulating Kiev Metropolia

The Kiev Patriarchate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is claiming that the Moscow Patriarchate is planning to have Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk elected Metropolitan of Kharkov in the near future to enable his eventual election as first hierarch of the autonomous Church of Ukraine after the repose of ailing Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Kiev. More (in Ukrainian) here.

Update (11:37pm): A longer English-language summary of the Kiev Patriarchate's speculations can be found here. It's really extraordinary to think that the Moscow Patriarchate would even consider organizing the election of an ethnic Russian as Metropolitan of Kiev, but then again, Ukrainian politics have changed significantly since the election of Metropolitan Volodymyr...

Ukrainian Orthodoxy Trends Towards Moscow

As the idea of solidarity between the Belorussian, Russian, and Ukrainian peoples has grown more popular in 21st century Ukraine so too the popularity of the country's Ukrainian Orthodox Church. More here.

Metropolitan Hilarion Meets with Estonian Apostolic Church Leader

On Bright Saturday, the last day of his visit to Estonia, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk of the Russian Orthodox Church met with Metropolitan Stefanos (Charalambides) of Tallinn of the Estonian Apostolic Church under the Ecumenical Patriarchate. During their visit the two metropolitans discussed the ongoing schism within the Orthodox Church in Estonia between the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Estonian Apostolic Church and ways to overcome it. More (in Russian) here.

Ukrainian Catholic Primate on Relations with the Moscow Patriarchate

Archbishop Major Svyatoslav (Shevchuk) of the Ukrainian Catholic Church has said that he hopes to put "phantom pains of the past" behind the Church in its relations with the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, saying that he believes that the wounds between the two churches can be healed "when [they] heal [their] memory with mutual forgiveness." More here.

New Poll of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine

A recent poll has shown that of Ukrainian Orthodox Christians 46% self-identify as members of the autonomous Church of Ukraine under the Moscow Patriarchate and 22% self-identify as members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate. More (in Russian) here. Hat tip to Ad Orientem for linking to a reposting of this!

Moscow Patriarchate Responds to Suggested Change in Russian State Emblem

The Moscow Patriarchate has responded to a proposal to add a crescent to the Russian state emblem (the Romanovs' double-headed eagle) by stating that crescents should be included in the national emblems of the predominantly Muslim member republics of the Russian Federation, but not the Russian state emblem itself, which "has a history of many centuries and...has stood the test of time." More here.

The spokesman of the leader of Russia's Jews, on the other hand, thought that the proposed addition of the crescent was not enough, stating (tongue in cheek) that, "If you remember, the Soviet emblem featured a slogan "Workers of the World, Unite!" in the fifteen languages of [the] Soviet republics. We can put some other inspiring slogan in [the] one or two hundred languages of Russia's smaller nations and add the same number of heads to the eagle...then we are sure to have a strong and multi-headed eagle." More on his comments here.

Milan Synod in Spain Against Reconciliation with Moscow Patriarchate

The Spanish hierarchs of the Old Calendrist Milan Synod have protested its decision to dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Church and commemorate Patriarch Kirill (Gundyayev) of Moscow in the divine services. The decision is being protested "at the highest levels" of the Milan Synod in Spain, but as it consists of two or three churches and missions in the country it is doubtful that the protests will have much effect on the Synod's decision to seek reconciliation with mainstream Orthodoxy. More here.