St. John of Rila

Joyous feast! Today we commemorate one of the great lights of Bulgarian Orthodoxy, our Holy Father John of Rila. St. John was born in the late 800s in the vicinity of the current Bulgarian capital, Sofia, and at a young age was orphaned and became a cowherd. Even as a youth he worked miracles, once rescuing a calf from the Struma River by causing its waters to part by his prayers.

As a boy the Saint left his village, becoming a monk in an unknown monastery and pursuing a life of extreme asceticism on a hill and then in a cave alongside his nephew St. Luke. After twelve years of laboring in the cave St. John withdrew to the Rila wilderness, where he settled in the hollow of a tree to fast and pray, eating only grass when he needed food until God caused beans to grow nearby for the ascetic to eat.

The Saint was eventually discovered by nearby shepherds when their sheep led them to the monk's tree and soon they began to bring him the sick and possessed, who were healed through St. John's prayers. Fleeing the celebrity he attained through the healings St. John took refuge on a rock crag that was difficult to access, dwelling there for seven years under the open sky.

Despite his flight from the world the reports of St. John's holiness continued to spread, reaching even the Bulgarian imperial court and bringing a number of monks and novices to Rila, where the Saint eventually accepted them as his disciples and allowed them to build a monastery with a church in the cave where he had previously lived.

St. John shepherded the Rila Monastery until his repose on this day in 946 at the age of seventy. Before his death he wrote one of the most celebrated pieces of literature in the old Bulgarian language. Through both his holy life and his prayers St. John did much to strengthen the Orthodox Faith amongst the newly baptized Bulgarians.

St. John's relics remained at the Rila Monastery until their transfer to Sofia in the face of an invasion of Bulgaria by the East Roman Empire. At some point one of the Saint's hands was translated to Russia, to the city of Ryl'sk, which was named after the place of St. John's ascetic struggles, and he soon became as beloved amongst the Russians as he was amongst his native Bulgarians. The main part of the Saint's relics were later translated back to Rila from the new Bulgarian imperial capita, Turnovo, in 1469, where they remain to this day.

More on St. John's life can be found here. May his blessing and prayers be with us all!

"The Chariot of Israel and Its Horsemen"

Fr. Stephen Freeman has posted a beautiful reflection on the life and ministry of the newly reposed Archbishop Dmitri (Royster) of Dallas here.

Turkish PM Declares an End to Ethnic Discrimination

At an iftar or Ramadan fast-breaking dinner hosted by the Turkish government for representatives of Turkey's religious minorities (none of whom, if the author is not mistaken, actually fast during Ramadan) Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated in part that, "There have been times when people in our country were put under pressure for their beliefs, ethnic background, for the way they dress and their different lifestyles, but those days are over...nobody in this country is anymore privileged than anyone else in the eyes of the constitution or other laws."

Following the end of the iftar Patriarch Bartholomew (Arhondonis) of Constantinople, who participated in the event, welcomed the Turkish prime minister's statements as well as the recent decree of the Turkish government returning previously appropriated properties belonging to Turkey's religious minorities and expressed his hope that in the future Turkey would go further in its efforts to undo the injustices suffered by its minorities. More here.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church Signs Agreement with State Penitentiary

Representatives of the autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine have signed an agreement confirming and broadening the cooperative efforts of the two organizations to care for the spiritual needs of prisoners in Ukraine. More (in Ukrainian) here.

Brusa Metropolitan Elected Abbot of Halki Monastery

At today's meeting of the Holy Synod of the Constantinopolitan Orthodox Church Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Brusa was elected abbot of the Monastery of the Trinity on Halki. The decision was taken in the hope that the Halki Monastery will soon be able to reopen its theological seminary as the Turkish government has begun significantly easing the restrictions previously placed on Turkey's religious organizations. More (in Greek) here.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Begins Visit to Central, Eastern Siberia

Patriarch Kirill (Gundyayev) of Moscow has begun a pastoral visit to central and eastern Siberia. The visit, which will include stops in the eastern Magadan Region and the central Irkutsk Region and Republic of Tyva, began with the Republic of Khakassia in central Siberia, where the patriarch met with Archbishop Ionafan (Tsvetkov) of Abakan and other hierarchs of the Russian and Moldovan Orthodox Churches in the local diocesan Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Abakan before going on to tour the institutions of the Eparchy of Abakan in the Khakassian capital. More (in Russian) here.

68th Anniversary of Tsar Boris III's Repose Commemorated in Sofia

The 68th anniversary of the repose of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria was commemorated yesterday in the patriarchal Monastery of St. John in Rila, Bulgaria, with a memorial served by the Rila Monastery's abbot, Bishop Evlogiy of Adrianople. When the tsar died in 1943 he was initially buried in the Rila Monastery's catholicon before being disinterred by the Bulgarian Communist regime. The location of his remains are unknown, though his heart was discovered and returned for reburial at the Rila Monastery following the collapse of the Bulgarian Communist government in 1991. More (in Bulgarian) here.

Although responsible for allying Bulgaria with Germany during World War II, Tsar Boris worked first and foremost to unify the Bulgarian nation, making the alliance with Germany in the hopes of regaining historically Bulgarian territories lost to neighboring Yugoslavia and Greece and refusing to hand over Bulgaria's Jews to the Nazis or to send Bulgarian troops to fight the Soviet Union due to the close bonds formed with Russia during Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottoman Turks.

Palestinian President Meets with Visiting Russian Orthodox Metropolitan

As part of his ongoing visit to the Holy Land Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) has met with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the West Bank city of Ramallah. During their meeting the two discussed relations between Palestine and the Russian Orthodox Church and the ongoing political developments in the Middle East. Archimandrite Isidore (Minayev), head of the patriarchal Russian Orthodox Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, and the representative of the Russian Federation to the PNA also participated in the meeting. More here.

Turkey to Return Religious Properties

In a decision announced Saturday the Turkish government has committed to returning the numerous churches, synagogues, cemeteries, and formerly church-run hospital, orphanage, and school buildings confiscated from Turkey's native religious and ethnic minorities since the foundation of the modern Turkish state following World War I. Properties already sold to private owners by the Turkish government are to be substituted for financial compensation from the state. The move comes as part of Turkey's ongoing efforts to qualify for membership in the European Union, which has long been concerned by the country's treatment of its non-Turkish citizens. More here.

In Memoriam: Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas

Retired Archbishop Dmitri (Royster) of Dallas of the American Orthodox Church (OCA) has fallen asleep in the Lord. Archbishop Dmitri, who was eighty-seven at the time of his repose, was born into a Baptist family in Texas, later converting to Orthodox Christianity as a teenager along with his sister and joining a parish under the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America.

After serving in the US Armed Forces the future archbishop went on to undertake undergraduate and graduate studies before returning to Dallas in 1954, where he worked to translate the divine services of the Byzantine Rite into Spanish for a Mexican Orthodox mission in the city under Bishop Bohdan of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA. Later that year he received Bishop Bohdan's blessing to found what became St. Seraphim's Cathedral as an English-language mission, being ordained by Bishop Bohdan that same year to the holy priesthood to serve the new mission.

In 1958 Fr. Dmitri and St. Seraphim's were received into the Russian Orthodox Metropolia of North America (now the OCA). In 1969 Fr. Dmitri was elected Bishop of Berkley and auxiliary of the Metropolia's Diocese of San Francisco, becoming the second convert to be consecrated to the episcopacy in North America. A year later he was elected Bishop of Washington and assigned as auxiliary to the First Hierarch of the OCA, Metropolitan Irenaeus (Bekish) of New York.

After serving in New England and as the OCA's exarch for the Mexican Orthodox missions under its care Bishop Dmitri was elected to the newly created Diocese of Dallas, where he served faithfully until 2009, being elevated to the rank of archbishop in 1993. Under Archbishop Dmitri's care the young diocese grew from a handful of communities to a flourishing diocese of over seventy parishes, missions, and monastic communities.

More on Archbishop Dmitri's life as well as information about the upcoming funeral services, which will be served by Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen) of the OCA, can be found here. May his memory be eternal!

Dormition and Assumption of the Mother of God

Joyous feast! It may seem a little late to be celebrating the Dormition given that the Orthodox following the Armenian, Gregorian/'New Julian,' Coptic, and Ethiopian have all celebrated it already (on 13, 14, 22, and 21/22 August respectively), but greetings with this beautiful feast regardless!

Today is called the Pascha of the Mother of God by some and the services mirror this in several ways, most notably with a funeral procession of the Mother of God's funeral shroud (painted, like the Lord's, with an icon of the sleeping Mother of God) during the festal Vigil. We celebrate the Mother of God, who has been brought over from death to life by her Son, Who allowed her to fall asleep to greater glorify Himself by resurrecting her and bringing her to dwell with Him in the fullness of His Kingdom.

More details on today's feast, as well as the fast which precedes it, can be found here and here. May the Queen of Heaven's protection and intercessions be with us all!

Of the icons pictured the first is a Byzantine-style icon of today's feast, which in the Byzantine Rite combines the celebration of her Dormition and Assumption on a single day, whilst the second is a Coptic-style icon showing the Assumption, which is the primary focus of the Alexandrian Rite's observance and which in the Ethiopian Rite falls a day after the observance of the Dormition.

Serbian President Chooses Northern Kosovo Over Candidacy for EU Membership

Pro-European Union (EU) Serbian President Boris Tadic has rejected recent calls for his government to dismantle the administrative structures it has maintained in largely Serb northern Kosovo, saying that Serbia will accept delays in its acceptance as a candidate for EU membership as the price for maintaining its interests in Kosovo. More here.

Abkhazia Votes for New President

Abkhazians are voting today to elect their next president, who will be the third elected since Abkhazia gained independence from neighboring Georgia in the 1990s. No clear frontrunner emerged prior to today's elections, with three main candidates competing for votes. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the total votes, then a run-off election will be held between the two leading candidates. 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.

First Coptic Orthodox Church in Hungary Consecrated

Pope Shenouda III (al-Suriani) of Alexandria has consecrated the first Coptic Orthodox church in Hungary in the country's capital, Budapest. The consecration came a day after national celebrations of the founding of the Hungarian state which the Coptic Orthodox pope participated in at the invitation of the Hungarian government. More here.

Russian Orthodox Archbishop Visits Bratislava, Karlovy Vary

Archbishop Mark (Golovkov) of Yegorevsk, auxiliary of the Moscow Patriarchate for its institutions abroad, has visited the representations of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church in Bratislava, Slovakia, and Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, to discuss the life of the representation in Bratislava and plans to build a Russian cultural center in the Slovakian capital, whilst in Karlovy Vary Archbishop Mark led commemorations of the 300th anniversary of the visit of Tsar Peter I of Russia to the city. Metropolitan Krystof (Pulec) of Prague and Archbishop Juraj (Stransky) of Michalovce were both present for the services in Karlovy Vary. More (in Russian) here.

Religion Curriculum Issued in Moldova

The Moldovan Ministry of Education has issued a curriculum for the teaching of the Orthodox Faith in Moldovan schools. As religion can only be taught in Moldova's primary and secondary schools at the request of students' parents the Moldovan Orthodox Church has called on its faithful in the country to approach their local schools about the organization of religion classes. More (in Romanian) here.

Russian Orthodox Church Plans to Established More Metropolias, Dioceses

In his sermon during his recent visit to Moscow's New Savior Monastery Patriarch Kirill (Gundyayev) of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke at length on the work of the Russian Orthodox Church in creating new dioceses, noting that it is grounded in the decisions of the All-Russian Council of 1917 and 1918 and done to reestablish the diocesan church as a family known and truly cared for by its shepherd in fact and not only in theory. The patriarch also touched on the All-Russian Council's call for the establishment of regional metropolias to organize and oversee the life of the Russian Orthodox Church at an intermediate level. More (in Russian) here.

Serbian Muslim Leader Call for Autonomy for Sandzhak Region

As German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls on Serbia to abandon its claims on Kosovo, including predominantly Serb northern Kosovo, to strengthen its candidacy for membership in the European Union a leader of the country's large Serb Muslim minority in Sandzhak, Mufti Muamer Zukorlic, has renewed his calls for the Serbian government to establish Sandzhak as an autonomous region due to its Muslim majority. Sandzhak is one of Serbia's more backward regions, with resentment over its economic state be aggravated by the largely Orthodox Christian composition of its security forces. More here.

Russian, Romanian Orthodox Hierarchs Celebrate St. Stephen's Day in Budapest

On the new style celebration of the feast of St. Stephen of Hungary and the celebration of the founding of the Hungarian state Archbishop Mark (Golovkov) of Yegorevsk, auxiliary of the Moscow Patriarchate and administrator of the Eparchy of Budapest, and Bishop Siluan of Gyula of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of Hungary concelebrated the Divine Liturgy in Budapest's Cathedral of the Dormition, afterwards staying for a celebratory meal with the cathedral's parishioners. During the state celebrations of the holiday later that day the rector of Budapest's Church of St. Sergius, Archpriest John Kadar, was awarded the Knight's Cross by the President of Hungary. More (in Russian) here.

Estonian Orthodox Local Synod Meets

The Local Synod of the self-governing Church of Estonia under the Moscow Patriarchate has met under Metropolitan Cornelius (Jakobs) of Tallinn to discuss issues in the life of the Estonian Orthodox Church, among them the amendment of the Church's charter in the aftermath of the creation of its second diocese, the the Eparchy of Narva, and the ramifications of a newly enacted Estonian law on cemeteries. More (in Russian) here.

New Kiev Patriarchate Bishop Consecrated

Patriarch Philaret (Denysenko) of Kiev and six other hierarchs of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church have consecrated Abbot Afanasii (Yavorskyi) as Bishop of Konotop. The consecration took place this past weekend in Kiev's Cathedral of St. Volodymyr. Bishop Afanasii will serve as an auxiliary of the Kiev Patriarchate's Eparchy of Sumy. More (in Ukrainian) here.

Bulgarian Orthodox Representation Church to be Built Near Bucharest

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has acquired property near the Romanian capital in the city of Snagov for the construction of a church and cultural center for the members of the Bulgarian Diaspora in Bucharest. The process is underway to have the future church canonically established as a representation of the Sofia Patriarchate to the Romanian Orthodox Church. More (in Bulgarian) here.

Ukrainian Orthodox, Catholic First Hierarchs Meet at Kiev Caves Lavra

Ukrainian Catholic Major Archbishop Svyatoslav Shevchuk has met with the head of the Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Kiev, at the latter's residence at the Kiev Caves Lavra. During their meeting the two discussed ways to peacefully resolve disputes over church property ownership, which have been complicated by the transfer to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Ukrainian Catholic churches closed by the Soviets. More here.

Metropolitan Hilarion Visits the Holy Land

Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk has begun a visit to the Holy Land. As part of his stay in the Holy Land Metropolitan Hilarion met with Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem to discuss issues concerning relations between the Jerusalemite and Russian Orthodox Churches as well as the Local Orthodox Churches generally. After his stop at the Jerusalem Patriarchate Metropolitan Hilarion went on to visit the seat of the patriarchal Russian Orthodox Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem at the Holy City's Cathedral of the Trinity, where he met with Archbishop Aris (Shirvanian), who serves as director of ecumenical and foreign relations for the autonomous Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. More here, here, and here.