Ethiopian Orthodox Factions Reportedly Meet in Dallas

It is being reported that a meeting is taking place today in Dallas, Texas, between representatives of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church (EOTC) and the Holy Synod in Exile of the EOTC, founded in the Ethiopian Diaspora by Patriarch Abune Mercurius (Fanta) of Addis Abeba following his removal by the post-Communist Ethiopian government. The two sides are said to be meeting to discuss the possibility of a reconciliation between the two branches of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. More details will be released if and when they become available.

Macedonian Orthodox Holy Synod Open to Dialogue with Serbian Orthodox Church

The Holy Synod of the independent Macedonian Orthodox Church has welcomed the statement of the President of Serbia calling for a resumption of dialogue between the Macedonian and Serbian Orthodox Churches concerning the canonical situation of the former, which unilaterally separated from the Church of Serbia in 1967 to restore the autocephaly of the ancient Archdiocese of Ohrid, which had been suppressed by the Ottoman government in 1767. More in Macedonian here.

Serbian Orthodox Holy Synod Threatens Schism with Romanian Orthodox Church, Glorifies New Martyrs

At its recent session earlier this week the full Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church (the Holy Assembly of Bishops) reiterated its repeated protests to the Bucharest Patriarchate over the schismatic intrusions of the Romanian Orthodox Church on the canonical territory of the Church of Serbia and stated that if the Romanian Orthodox Church does not stop uncanonically celebrating services in eastern Serbia without the permission of the local hierarchy that it would follow the example of the Church of Jerusalem and break communion with the Bucharest Patriarchate.

During its session the full Holy Synod also protested the ongoing persecution of the autonomous Macedonian Orthodox Church by the Macedonian government, glorified the Holy New Martyrs of Momisici of the Turkish Yoke, and discussed the division of the Archdiocese of Belgrade and Sremski Karlovci (currently the largest of the Serbian Orthodox Church) into several more manageable dioceses. More (in Serbian) here.

Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Motherland, Diaspora Resume Dialogue

At its recent session this past weekend the Holy Synod of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church blessed the resumption of dialogue between the Addis Abeba Patriarchate and the Synod in Exile of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Diasporas. More here.

The Synod in Exile is led by Patriarch Abune Merqoriyos, the former Archbishop of Gonder who was elected to the patriarchate under the Ethiopian Communist regime. When the latter was overthrown by a Tigrayan Marxist movement in the 1990s, Abune Merqoriyos was forced into retirement and replaced by an ethnic Tigrayan. Abune Merqoriyos now leads a large contingent of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church outside Ethiopia, with a hierarchy and parishes scattered across the globe.

Georgian Orthodox Patriarch Fears Possible Schism

Upon returning from his recent visit to Constantinople Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II (Ghudushauri-Shiolashvili) of the Georgian Orthodox Church expressed reservations about the convening of a general council of the Local Orthodox Churches, saying that he feared holding such a council in the near future could lead to a schism within world Orthodoxy due to the assorted issues between the Orthodox Churches that remain contentious and unresolved. Patriarch Ilia also expressed disagreement with the Ecumenical Patriarchate's recent reinterpretation of the 28th canon of the Council of Chalcedon that would give the Church of Constantinople jurisdiction over Orthodox Christians living outside the canonical territories of the existing Orthodox Churches. More (in Russian) here.

Malankara Orthodox Catholicoses Begin Hunger Strikes

The heads of both the independent Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the autonomous Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church have begun indefinite hunger strikes in protest over the ongoing dispute between their churches over the ownership of Sts. Peter and Paul's Church in Kolenchery, Kerala. More here and here.

Abkhaz Orthodox Faction Calls for Quick Autocephaly, Use of Abkhaz

Abkhazian Orthodox remain divided between two pro-autocephaly factions, one hoping for the help of the Moscow Patriarchate in negotiating autocephaly for the Church of Abkhazia from the Georgian Orthodox Church and the other pressing more strongly for immediate autocephaly and the wider use of the Abkhaz language in the divine services. 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.

Ukrainian Orthodox Local Synod Meets, Elects New Bishop of Obukhov

The Local Synod of the autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church met today under Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Kiev at the Kiev Caves Lavra to take decisions concerning the life of the Church of Ukraine. Among other things the Local Synod elected Archimandrite Iona (Cherepanov) as Bishop of Obukhov and auxiliary of the Metropolitanate of Kiev and called on Metropolitan Volodymyr to protest the schismatic activities of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Chisinau and Bessarabia on the canonical territory of Ukraine to Patriarch Daniel (Ciobotea) of Bucharest. More (in Ukrainian) here.

Montenegrin Metropolitan Rejects Government Commitment Dialogue as Farcical

The head of the Orthodox Church in Montenegro, Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radovic), has condemned the Montenegrin government's commitment to dialogue over the issue of church unity in Montenegro as a farce, noting that in the aftermath of the recent visit of the Russian Orthodox Church's Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) leaders in the Montenegrin government began denouncing the latter's statements on the canonicity of the Church of Montenegro as attacks on Montenegro's sovereignty. More (in Serbian) 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.

Metropolitan Hilarion Meets with Montenegrin Metropolitan, Officials

Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk has begun his visit to Montenegro, on his first day meeting with Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radovic) of Cetinje and Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic to reassure both the Orthodox Church in Montenegro and the Montenegrin government of the Russian Orthodox Church's recognition and support of the canonical Church of Montenegro against the claims of nationalist schismatics led by a defrocked clergyman of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Metropolitan Hilarion is expected to meet today with Montenegrin Prime Minister Igor Luksic upon the latter's return from Serbia. More here.

Patriarch Daniel, Metropolitan Hilarion Meet in Bucharest

As part of his recent visit to Romania Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk has met with Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church at the seat of the Bucharest Patriarchate in the Romanian capital. During their lengthy meeting the hierarchs discussed issues in relations between the Local Orthodox Churches as well as the existing problems in relations between the Russian and Romanian Orthodox Churches, in particularly the activities of the schismatic Metropolitanate of Chisinau and Bessarabia on the canonical territories of the Moldovan and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. More here and here.

Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Consecrates Church in Ukraine

The head of the schismatic Romanian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Bessarabia, Metropolitan Peter of Chisinau, has consecrated a Romanian Orthodox church in the town of Komyshivka (also known as Hagi-Curd) in Ukraine's Budjak district. More (in Romanian) here.

The Budjak district together with all of Ukraine and Moldova are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, which established the first diocese in the region of Bessarabia (to which both Moldova and Budjak belong) following its incorporation into the Russian Empire and later resumed jurisdiction over the region following its annexation to the Soviet Union. Rather than dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate over the status of the Orthodox Church in Moldova and Budjak the Bucharest Patriarchate instead unilaterally established its own ethnic metropolitanate and dioceses in the region following the collapse of the USSR.

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 Professor Expresses Support for Macedonian Autocephaly

A professor of the Moscow Theological Academy, Deacon Andrei Kuraev, has expressed his belief that the independent Macedonian Orthodox Church ought to be considered autocephalous by the world Orthodox Churches and that it is only political issues in Greece and Serbia that are keeping the Serbian and Greek Orthodox Churches from recognizing the independence of the Church of Macedonia. More (in Macedonian) here.

HOCNA in Canada Considers Union with Genuine Orthodox Church

Following the loss of its Metropolis of Portland to the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece the Old Calendrist 'Holy Orthodox Church of North America,' a grecophile schism from the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, is now apparently facing the possible loss of the parishes comprising its Metropolis of Toronto to the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece. There is no official confirmation from either the HOCNA or the Genuine Orthodox Church about such a transfer or whether the HOCNA's Metropolitan Makarios of Toronto is leading the move to the Genuine Orthodox Church in his diocese. More here.

ROCOR Parish in Toronto Joins Metropolitan Agathangel

Holy Resurrection Church in Toronto, Ontario, a parish of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), has entered the communion of the schismatic branch of the ROCOR led by Metropolitan Agathangel (Pashkovskiy) of Odessa. The rector of the parish led it into Metropolitan Agathangel's jurisdiction, but it appears that the parish's assistant priest remains part of the mainstream ROCOR. The parish was received by Archbishop Andronik of Ottawa. More here.

Serbian Orthodox Holy Assembly Elects New Bishops, Reorganizes Dioceses

The session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops in Belgrade has come to a close. The session, which included all the diocesan hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the autonomous Macedonian Orthodox Church, took a number of decisions regarding the life of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

To care for vacant dioceses the Holy Assembly elected an auxiliary to the Metropolitan of Cetinje, Bishop Jovan of Diocleia, as Bishop of Nish (the former cathedra of the current patriarch) and Hierodeacon David (Perovic) was elected bishop of the newly established diocese of Krusevac. It also elected Protosyngellus Jovan (Culibrk) and Archimandrite Andrej (Cilerdzic) as patriarchal auxiliaries as the Bishops of Lipljan and Remezijane respectively.

Vis-a-vis the dioceses it established during its recent session the Holy Assembly appointed Bishop Irinej of Bachka as administrator of the new Diocese of Vienna and southern Europe and Metropolitan Amfilohije of Cetinje as administrator of the new Diocese of Buenos Aires and Latin America. In North America the Holy Assembly suppressed the Metropolitanate of Libertyville, designating St. Sava's Monastery in Libertyville as a stavropeghial institution and merging the other parishes of the Metropolitanate with the Diocese of Nova Grachanitsa and Midwestern America.

The Holy Assembly had been expected to divide the Archdiocese of Belgrade (the current seat of the Pech Patriarchate) and Sremski Karlovci (the former seat of the first hierarchs of the Orthodox Church in Austria-Hungary) as well as the Diocese of Raska (a city in southern Serbia) and Prizren (the capital of Kosovo), but given current conditions it delayed a decision on the creation of new dioceses out of the existing diocesan structures.

Considering the issues existing between the Serbian Orthodox Church and state authorities in neighboring Macedonia and Montenegro the Holy Assembly expressed its regret that the Macedonian and Montenegrin governments continued to interfere in the internal life of the Orthodox Churches in their countries and violated the human rights and freedom of their citizens. It also noted with sadness the ongoing challenges facing the Serb nation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo and in particular the latter's failure to allow its Serb residents to return to their homes.

Regarding the uncanonical intrusions of the Romanian Orthodox Church into eastern Serbia the Holy Assembly agreed that appropriate canonical and legal measures would have to be taken if the Bucharest Patriarchate refused to stop violating the canonical order and sacred unity of the worldwide Orthodox Church.

Responding to the request of Metropolitan Nikolaj (Mrda) of Sarajevo and Bosnia for retirement the Holy Assembly decided to instead releave Metropolitan Nikolaj of his day-to-day duties and appoint Bishop Grigorije (Duric) of Mostar and Herzegovina as administrator of the Metropolitanate.

More (in Serbian) on the Holy Assembly's deliberations and decisions can be found here.

New Romanian Orthodox Parish Organized in Eastern Serbia

The Romanian Orthodox Church continues to actively violate the canonical territories of its sister Orthodox Churches, most recently by organizing a parish under its jurisdiction in the eastern Serbian city of Negotin. More (in Romanian) here.