Musings from the Fourth Rome: A Source for Orthodox Christian News and Events
Showing posts with label Antioch Patriarchate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Antioch Patriarchate. Show all posts
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Syriac Orthodox Church to Consider Relocation of Patriarchate
At the upcoming fall session of its Holy Synod the Syriac Orthodox Church will reportedly consider the transfer of the Antioch Patriarchate from its current seat in Damascus, where it has been situated since the 1950s, to Beirut in neighboring Lebanon due to the ongoing attacks in Syria on Syriac Orthodox Christians and their churches. There may also be discussion of the possibility of transferring the Patriarchate out of the Middle East entirely due to the large Suryoyo Diaspora in Western Europe and North America. (With or without the autonomous Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church in India, most Syriac Orthodox Christians reside outside of the Middle East now.) If this transfer were to take place it would be the first time in its history that the Antioch Patriarchate would relocate outside of its canonical territory in greater Syria. More here.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Georgia, Abkhazia, and Autocephaly
I'm brushing up on my Abkhazian history as it's been a while since I read anything of that genre and I find it most fascinating that at one point 
the Local Orthodox Churches recognized the Catholicos-Patriarchs of both Mtskheta and All Georgia and Pitsunda and All Imereti, Abkhazia, Ossetia, and the North [Caucasus] as shepherding autocephalous churches. And this despite the fact that both were unilaterally granted their independence by the patriarchs of Antioch, not the ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople. In our times one of these churches has regained its recognition and the other is seeking it.
It's all very interesting as regardless of what happens in Abkhazia, Georgia sets a very clear precedent
for the granting of autocephaly by a mother church to its daughter. I'm sure there's another example of this somewhere, but it escapes my mind right now. Hm...well, I'm sure that if this happened again, His All-Holiness Bartholomew would be sure to recognize the action of a sister Orthodox Church in granting autocephaly to her daughter church. He is, after all, a great force for conciliarity and unity within the Church...
Pictured are St. Andrew the Apostle's Cathedral (upper right) in Pitsunda, Abkhazia, the former patriarchal see of the Imeretian/Abkhazian Orthodox Church, and St. Nicholas of Myra's Cathedral (lower left) in Washington, DC, the current primatial see of the American Orthodox Church (OCA).
the Local Orthodox Churches recognized the Catholicos-Patriarchs of both Mtskheta and All Georgia and Pitsunda and All Imereti, Abkhazia, Ossetia, and the North [Caucasus] as shepherding autocephalous churches. And this despite the fact that both were unilaterally granted their independence by the patriarchs of Antioch, not the ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople. In our times one of these churches has regained its recognition and the other is seeking it.It's all very interesting as regardless of what happens in Abkhazia, Georgia sets a very clear precedent
for the granting of autocephaly by a mother church to its daughter. I'm sure there's another example of this somewhere, but it escapes my mind right now. Hm...well, I'm sure that if this happened again, His All-Holiness Bartholomew would be sure to recognize the action of a sister Orthodox Church in granting autocephaly to her daughter church. He is, after all, a great force for conciliarity and unity within the Church...Pictured are St. Andrew the Apostle's Cathedral (upper right) in Pitsunda, Abkhazia, the former patriarchal see of the Imeretian/Abkhazian Orthodox Church, and St. Nicholas of Myra's Cathedral (lower left) in Washington, DC, the current primatial see of the American Orthodox Church (OCA).
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