Trial of Canadian Orthodox Archbishop Begins

The trial of Archbishop Seraphim (Storheim) of Ottawa and Canada of the American Orthodox Church (OCA) began earlier this week in Winnipeg. More here. Please keep all involved in your prayers. An ecclesiastical court is due to convene once the civil courts have decided the case.

Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan Consecrated for Guatemala

It has been announced that this past Wednesday Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatios Zakka (Iwas) of Antioch consecrated a monk as Metropolitan Mor Yacoub (Edward) to serve the growing Syriac Orthodox Church in Guatemala. Axios! More information will be posted as it becomes available.

New Patriarch of Ethiopia Elected

A special council of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church has elected Archbishop Abune Matiyas (Asrat) of Jerusalem as the sixth Patriarch of Ethiopia. Born in Sebuha, Tigray, in 1940, as Teklemaryam Asrat, the future patriarch received a traditional clerical education, being ordained a deacon in 1954 prior to his entrance into Tigray's Chohay Monastery, where he was tonsured a monk in 1962.

Two years after his tonsure and ordination to the priesthood Fr. Teklemaryam was attached to Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Abeba, eventually becoming the personal secretary of Patriarch Tekle Haimanot of blessed memory. In 1978 Fr. Teklemaryam was consecrated to the episcopacy with the name Matiyas (Matthias), eventually being elected Archbishop of Jerusalem.

At today's electoral council Abune Matiyas received 500 of the 806 total votes cast. Abune Matiyas is the second ethnically Tigrayan patriarch of the Church of Ethiopia, the large majority of whose members are Amhara or Oromo. His enthronement as the sixth patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church will be celebrated this Sunday with the participation of delegations from sister Orthodox Churches. More here and here.

New Armenian Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Elected

A meeting of the Brotherhood of St. James of the Armenian Orthodox Church of Jerusalem has elected Archbishop Nourhan (Manoogian), patriarchal grand sacristan and a native of Aleppo, Syria, as the 97th Armenian Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. Axios! More here.

Cornerstone Laid for First Romanian Orthodox Church in Africa

In what seems to be an increasingly rare act of inter-Orthodox cooperation on its part, a bishop of the Bucharest Patriarchate has laid the cornerstone for a church to serve Romanian immigrants in metropolitan Johannesburg, South Africa, with the blessing of Pope Theodore II (Horeftakis) of Alexandria and All Africa. The cornerstone was laid this past Saturday in Midrand, a suburn of Joburg, by Metropolitan Damascene (Papandreou) of Johannesburg, the local ruling hierarch, and Bishop Petronius (Florea) of Zalau, a suffragan bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Cluj in Transylvania. A full account of the day with pictures of the service can be found here.

It is unclear whether the church will function as a representation of the Bucharest Patriarchate to the Church of Alexandria or as a Romanian-speaking parish of the Metropolis of Johannesburg.

Head of Russian Orthodox Exarchate in Western Europe Retires

Archbishop Gabriel (de Vylder) of Comana, head of the Russian Orthodox Exarchate of Western Europe under the Church of Constantinople, has announced his retirement as ruling hierarch of the exarchate due to ongoing health issues. The archbishop's retirement is effective 15 January, although he will be commemorated by the Exarchate until the Ecumenical Patriarchate appoints a locum tenens. More here. Archbishop Gabriel's announcement of his retirement can be found here.

ROCOR New York Diocese Establishes Glorification Committee for Metropolitan Philaret, Brother Jose

A meeting of the diocesan council of the Diocese of New York and Eastern America of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) has established a glorification committee to collect information about the lives and miracles of Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky), the third First Hierarch of the ROCOR, and Brother Jose Munoz-Cortes, the Chilean Orthodox caretaker of the myrrh-streaming Montreal Icon of the Mother of God who was brutally murdered in 1997. Both men are buried at the ROCOR's Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York. More here.