Quote of the Day: St. Gregory the Great

"The Church of the elect will be fully day only when the darkness of sin is no longer mixed in with it. It will be fully day only when it shines with the perfect warmth of a light that comes from within. God shows that we are still going through this dawn when He says to Job, 'Have you ever sent the dawn to its posts?' Something that is being sent somewhere is being sent from one place or state to another. What is the destined place of the dawn if not the perfect brightness of the eternal vision?"

Quote of the Day: St. Gregory of Ebro

"No one who is acquainted with the remembrance of death will easily sin."

New First Hierarch of the 'Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece'

Also under the heading of old news, the Genuine Orthodox Church of Greece has a new first hierarch, Archbishop Callinicus of Athens. His enthronement was celebrated on 17 October in Athens' Church of St. Athanasius.

The Genuine Orthodox Church is a rigorist Old Calendrist schism and one of the larger Old Calendrist movements in Greece, deriving its hierarchy from the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR) and the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate in Western Europe. Although the first Greek Orthodox Old Calendrist bishop in North America, Bishop Peter (Astyfides) of Astoria of the ROCOR, eventually joined this synod prior to his death, its presence in North America is rather limited numerically.

Hierarchical Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile

I don't know how I missed this last month, but the remnants of the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile, formed out of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR) following retired Metropolitan Vitaly's departure from New York for Quebec, held a council of their remaining hierarchs in Kiev. Among other things they elected two new diocesan bishops for Western Europe and southern Russia and also decided to undertake a survey of the positions of the various Russian Orthodox schisms formed out of the ROCOR over the last couple of decades.

I had thought that the ROCIE completely fell apart following the death of Metropolitan Vitaly, so to find it not only alive, but with a functioning and apparently stable synod of bishops, is truly a surprise! God works in mysterious ways :-). Speaking of which, the ROCIE claims to have a myrrh-streaming icon at its parish in Montreal, Quebec - a copy of the Reigning Icon of the Mother of God. The icon's story can be found here. A full account of the hierarchical council can be found here. And lastly, the hierarchs' epistle to their flock can be found here.

New Western Rites Communities to be Received into the ROCOR

Glory to God for all things! The former exarchate of the Alexandrian Orthodox Church in North America, a Western Orthodox movement following the Roman Rite, is being received into the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad! Their hierarchs will be received as priests, but altogether the churches and missions of the movement will constitute the ROCOR's first Western Rites deanery in North America! (For the time being the Western Rites communities of the ROCOR are stavropeghial under the Metropolitan of New York.) Hat tip to Michael for the good news!

Upcoming Commemoration of the Holodomor

The hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of the USA (UOCUSA) and Canada (UOCC) of the Constantinopolitan Orthodox Church have issued a statement together with the Ukrainian Catholic hierarchs in North America concerning the commemoration of the seventy-seventh anniversary of the Holodomor, the artificial famine engineered by the Soviets that killed roughly four million people in the Ukraine and three million in southern Russia. Commemorative services and events for the Holodomor, which took place in 1932 and 1933, are usually held around the time of American Thanksgiving. The hierarchs' joint statement can be read here.

St. Eugene of Nizhniy Novgorod

Today is the commemoration of St. Eugene the New Martyr of Nizhniy Novgorod, who served as metropolitan of that city in the 1930s when it was called Gorkiy. I wish I had something about his life to post, but I've only had time to search English-language resources online - the Russian-language stuff will have to wait for later. Joyous feast! May his blessings and prayers be with us all!

Quote of the Day: St. Nerses the Gracious

"When you see the cross, know and believe that you are seeing Christ enthroned on it; when you pray before the cross, believe that you are doing so concerning Christ our God and not with inanimate matter. For it is Christ Who receives the veneration you offer before the cross; and it is He Who hears the supplications of your mouth and fulfills the desires of your heart, which you ask with faith. Whoever does not honor the cross, or insults it, insults Christ Himself."

Old Believers in Modern Kazakhstan

An interesting article on Kazakhstan's Old Believers, one reflective of Russian Orthodoxy in general in Kazakhstan if I'm not mistaken, can be found here.

New Stylite in Georgia

The BBC just did a piece on Georgia's modern day stylite.

Independent Belarus or Soviet Belorussia?

Although it's been nearly twenty years since the collapse of the USSR the Belorussian government continues to harass religious groups and discourage Orthodox Christians' veneration of the New Martyrs of the Soviet Yoke. Unlike Russia, where churches remembering the New Martyrs have been built on multiple sites, in Belarus plans to build a memorial church on the site of a mass grave from Stalin's era have yet to be carried out. The KGB, which has retained its original name in the country, has also attempted to have icons of the New Martyrs removed from churches in Belarus. More on this and the treatment of other religious minorities can be found here.

Church Vandals in Kyrgyzstan Arrested

Kirghiz police have arrested suspects in the recent church vandalism. More here.

Update on St. Gabriel's Monastery in Tur Abdin, Turkey

I misspoke in my last posting - the Syriac Orthodox Church in Turkey is still in the courts over the ownership of the lands of St. Gabriel's Monastery in Tur Abdin, with six cases having been brought against the monastery by either the Turkish government or local Kurdish villages. This appears to be in response to a recent increase in the number of ethnic Syrians returning to the area, which used to have a substantial Syriac Orthodox minority (as well as large Armenian and Antiochian Orthodox minorities) and was the seat of the Syriac Orthodox patriarch from 1160 till 1932. A recent press release on the situation can be found here.

Ecumenical Patriarchate Wins Landmark Case in Turkey

The Ecumenical Patriarchate just won a landmark case against the Turkish government, thanks to the support of the Court of Human Rights in the EU, over the ownership and administration of its former orphanage on the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara. Provided the Turkish government obeys its own court's ruling, the orphanage will be returned to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which plans on turning it into a center for the study of interreligious (quelle surprise) and environmental issues (of course). The news release can be found here.

The ruling could pave the way for the return of over twenty monasteries in Turkey successfully appropriated from the administration of the Ecumenical Patriarchate by the Turkish government. Similar actions against the Syriac Orthodox Church in recent times have also been rebuffed by the courts, giving hope to Turkey's religious and ethnic minorities that the twenty-first century might be a time of greater freedom for them than the last century has been.

Quote of the Day: St. Jacob of Serugh

"The Church in the world is like a scribe to men; and she teaches and makes them wise, and binds up the sores of all who come to her. And from her teaching the soul draws light, that she may overcome the darkness of death when it meets her. Come, enter, O foolish, that were stained with lusts, and adorn your lives with the doctrine of the daughter of lights."

"The Mystery of Sin and the Mystery of Salvation" by Fr. Thomas (Bitar)

Archimandrite Thomas (Bitar) of the Douma Monastery in Lebanon has a timely article on how the Lord can transform evil into good here.

St. Job of Pochaev

Joyous feast! An account of St. Job's life can be found here.

Quote of the Day: Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria

"He who is quick to condemn others demonstrates that he has never truly stood in the presence of the living God."

Metropolitan Theodosius on Palestinian Unity

Metropolitan Theodosius (Hanna) of Sebaste in Palestine, the only ethnically Arab hierarch of the Church of Jerusalem, has called for the unity of the Palestinian Arab resistance movements and for international invention in the State of Israel's ongoing ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. More here.

Serbs Attacked in Kosovo

Serb refugees returning to their parish cemetery in Kosovo to honor their dead this past weekend were shot at by local Albanians despite supposedly being under the protection of the EU occupying forces. More here.

Relics of St. John the Baptist in Sofia, EU

The newly discovered relics of St. John the Baptist from eastern Bulgaria are being translated to the patriarchal Cathedral of St. Alexander of the Neva in Sofia this week. They will remain in the cathedral for three days for the veneration of the faithful prior to the new style beginning of the Prophets' Fast. The full press release can be found here.

St. Procla

Today is the feast of St. Procla, the righteous wife of Pontius Pilate who warned him to have nothing to do with His trial and condemnation. Ancient Faith Radio's podcast on her life can be found here. Joyous feast!

New Mexican Orthodox Website

The Diocese of Mexico of the American Orthodox Church now has its own website! Enjoy!

Quote of the Day: St. Nectarius of Pentapolis

"God reveals Himself to the humble, who live in accordance with virtue. Those who take up the wings of the imgination attempt the flight of Icharus and have same end. Those who harbor fantasies do not pray; for he that prays lifts his mind and heart towrds God, whereas he that turns to fantasies diverts himself. Those who are addicted to the imagination have withdrawn from God's grace and from the realm of Divine revelation. They have abandoned the heart in which grace is revealed and have surrendered themselves to the imagination, which is devoid of all grace. It is only the heart that receives knowledge about things that are not apprehended by the senses, because God, Who dwells and moves within it, speaks within it and reveals to it the substance of things hoped for."

Metropolitan Mar Athanasius on Iraq

Metropolitan Mar Athanasius of London of the Syriac Orthodox Church in an interview today called on all Christians in Iraq, regardless of faith, to immigrate because of the failure of the US government to ensure their physical safety and protect their human rights since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. See here for more.