Orthodox News

Orthodox News and Events

updated 08/20/2008

"Remember not O Lord, the sins of my youth" (Psalms 25:7)

City’s Georgians Pray For Conflict’s End

Updated 08/18/2008 09:07 AM

As Russia pledges to remove troops from Georgia Monday, the city’s small Georgian population is hoping and praying for a quick resolution to the conflict.

About 300 of the city’s 5,000 Georgians attended masses Sunday at St. Nino’s Georgian Orthodox Church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, one of the few of its kind in the country..

Parishioners prayed in their native Georgian language and expressed concern for their friends and relatives stuck in the war-torn region.

"It’s sleepless nights and staying up and trying to see what’s going on,” said parishioner Mike Mangoshvili. "And at least before they're notified, we would have most recent, up-to-date information, and that way we can communicate to them and kind of tell them what to do in case there’s any danger approaching."

"I call them a few times a day, and once I heard that my family, my cousins who live in Senaki, that Russian soldiers were there I was besides myself," said parishioner Malina Ochigava. "So I called them and they were very scared. They couldn't go out."

"It’s very stressful, and every day it’s like calling home 2,000 times every day and trying to find out what's going on," said parishioner Levan Koguashvili.

Not all Georgians believe that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will keep his promise to remove troops from the small Eurasian country Monday.

"They said several times that they are going to stop the fire, but fire continues," said Father Alexander Tandilashvili of St. Nino's. "Now they are stop the fire but concerns to the withdrawal of the troops. I would love to see that they keep their word, but they already broke their word several times so it's very difficult to believe what they say."

Donations for Georgian relief can be sent to:

Saint Nino’s Georgian Orthodox Church
P.O. Box 351160
Brooklyn, NY 11235

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has pledged not to give up the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

President George Bush's administration says it is re-evaluating its relationship with Russia. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Russia's decisions will affect its reputation as a "potential partner in the international system."

NY1.COM

OCN Launches New Show Reaching Out to Gen X and Y

The Orthodox Christian Network (OCN) is pleased to announce its newest weekly show, "Journeys to Orthodoxy," produced by Icon New Media Network and now available at www.myocn.net.

Journeys to Orthodoxy tells the personal stories of individuals who have searched for spiritual truth — often in remarkable ways — and ultimately found what they are looking for in the Orthodox Christian Church.

Jacob Lee, host of the new show, believes Journeys to Orthodoxy will help "members of Gen X and Y find out information about Orthodoxy, but in a non-threatening way."

"I think that through listening people will see how the Holy Spirit has moved in many lives and be inspired to share the Orthodox faith with their friends and neighbors," Lee said.

Fr. Christopher Metropulos, the Executive Director of OCN, believes this new series will be a powerful addition to OCN's current line-up of eight regular shows, all of which are available for free download on OCN's Web site and streamed in real time on its network of 27 online Orthodox radio stations.

"We are indeed honored to have Icon New Media as a partner in our sacred mission, blessed by the Bishops of America, to transmit Orthodox Christianity to the modern world," Fr. Metropulos said. "And we look forward to having many more individuals and organizations join this effort in the near future".

Lee, who started an online media group called Icon New Media Network last year, is also enthusiastic about the partnership.

"I hope that by OCN and Icon New Media working together, we will ultimately see Orthodox Christianity as the future of American spirituality," Lee said. "In the more immediate future, I look forward to reaching more people with quality Orthodox content."

Internet-based shows like Journeys to Orthodoxy — also called "podcasts" — are reaching a growing number of listeners.

According to the 2008 edition of an annual report entitled "Infinite Dial: Radio's Digital Platforms," 23 million Americans download at least one podcast each month, which they then listen to on portable media players like iPods or on their computers.

Podcasts are an especially effective means to reach younger listeners. This trend has led the Orthodox Christian Network and Icon New Media to start producing Orthodox podcasts that are accessible to young adults.

"There's a lot of theological content out there. I wanted to show people that Orthodoxy was more than knowing about the faith — that it transforms your whole life," Lee said.

With that in mind, Lee decided to focus his new podcast for OCN on personal stories of conversion and transformation.

"This show is for anyone interested in converting to Orthodoxy or anyone who wants to hear how people have come to the Holy Church."

To listen to Journeys to Orthodoxy, or any of OCN's other podcasts, visit www.myocn.net.

Orthodox Christian Network
Contact Fr. Christopher Metropulos at 954-522-5567
frchris@receive.org.

goarch.org

Russia mourns its last tsar

Published: July 17, 2008, 00:05

Russian: Orthodox faithful gathered in their hundreds on Wednesday for ornate ceremonies marking the 90th anniversary of the slaying of last tsar Nicholas II and his family.

Hundreds of believers led by Archbishop Vikenty of Yekaterinburg paraded through the city in the Ural Mountains before a night-time vigil of repentance for the killings, which sealed the fall of an ancient dynasty and its replacement by the Soviet Union.

The ceremonies came as prosecutors said they had positively identified the remains of the last two unaccounted-for Romanovs: Nicholas' heir Alexei and daughter Maria.

"Again and again as we recall the tragic events of 1918 we see that this was a destructive rupture of the fundamental traditions of our state," the archbishop said, quoted by his office. "The time has come to revive what was destroyed."

Pilgrims travelled from across Russia to the Church on the Blood, a shrine on the site of the house where Nicholas and his family spent their last months before being shot in the basement early on July 17, 1918 by Bolshevik agents.

They filed past the basement room, preserved and draped in red cloth, kneeling to touch their foreheads to the stone floor and kissing icons of the Romanovs in saintly robes.

Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their five children, doctor and three servants were all shot on the site, before their bodies were taken to a disused mineshaft and dumped.

"We've come for one thing: forgiveness," said Alla Solodovnikova, after a two-day journey from the western Russian outpost of Kaliningrad.

In Soviet times "the state machine wanted to destroy our brains. Lenin said religion was the opium of the masses.... I'm asking the saints to seek forgiveness for us," said the 67-year-old.

Hundreds of the faithful also retraced the last steps of the royal family from their arrival at a local train station, singing and carrying on their shoulders large icons of the Romanovs draped in garlands and crosses.

"Russia will never have democracy. That's a dead end. We want a tsar. There should be a master in such a country, not temporary leaders," said a uniformed member of a local Cossack cultural organisation, Vladimir Sumin.

Attitudes to the murdered Romanov family have changed dramatically since the Soviet Union's 1991 collapse.

The Church is now supported at the highest level of state and has embraced the memory of the Romanovs, canonising them as saints.

But in a sign of mixed feelings about the last century an ongoing survey by the television channel Rossiya asking viewers to name the greatest Russian in history shows Nicholas vying for top spot with notorious Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

President Dmitry Medvedev's press office declined to comment on the anniversary, in line with the cautious approach to Russia's royal heritage of his predecessor and mentor Vladimir Putin.

The fate of the Romanovs' bodies continues to cause controversy as the Orthodox Church has refused to recognise any of the remains that have been recovered since the Soviet collapse, despite DNA testing that the state says is conclusive.

The Church refused to take part in a ceremony in 1998 at which the remains of Nicholas, Alexandra, three of the children and the doctor and three servants were reburied in Saint Petersburg.

DNA match

Yesterday, the prosecutor's office said there was no doubt that remains found last summer were those of the two unaccounted-for children.

"Full results of DNA studies, using three genetic testing systems, confirm the hypothesis that the second grave contained the remains of Grand Duchess Maria and Tsarevich Alexei," the office said in a statement.

Last year bone fragments and teeth belonging to two young people were found about 70 metres away from the site where Russia's imperial rulers had been buried. Forensic scientists said molar teeth and amalgam fillings found with the new remains matched those found among the remains of the other members of the royal family.

Scull fragments showed injuries consistent with bullet wounds. Genetic tests showed the remains of both groups belonged to one family group.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Kremlin and many Russians have sought to reconnect with their pre-revolutionary past.

President Dmitry Medvedev has said he admires Nicholas II, whom many historians blame for being too weak and setting Russia on a path to civil war and dictatorship.

"His life ended in tragedy but then it began again. That's what we're celebrating today," Nadia Basharova, 50, said as she listened to a priest sing.

The Russian Orthodox church has canonised the Tsar and his family as martyrs. By mid-morning around 300 people had gathered at the Yekaterinburg church, which is just a 20-minute walk away from a statue of Vladimir Lenin, the architect of the Soviet Union who is blamed by many for the murder of the Tsar and his family.

gulfnews.com

OCA, other autocephalous Churches, represented at celebration of 1020th Anniversary of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus'

Posted 08/05

SYOSSET, NY [OCA Communications] -- His Eminence, Archbishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada and chairman of the Orthodox Church in America's Office of External Affairs and Interchurch Relations, headed the delegation that represented the OCA at the celebration of the 1020th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' in Kyiv, Ukraine during the last weekend of July 2008.

The delegation was sent in response to an invitation to the Primates of the autocephalous Churches to send representatives to the celebration.

The highlight of the anniversary was the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at the monument to the Holy Prince Vladimir which overlooks the Dnieper River, on July 27. It was in the Dnieper that the inhabitants of Kyiv and the surrounding regions were baptized in the year 988 after Saint Vladimir embraced Orthodox Christianity.

Concelebrating the Divine Liturgy were His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople; His Holiness, Patriarch Aleksy II of Moscow and All Rus'; His Beatitude, Archbishop Hieronimos II of Athens and All Greece; His Beatitude, Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania; and His Beatitude, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kyiv and All Ukraine; as well as numerous hierarchs from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, and the autocephalous churches. Ukrainian President Victor Yuschenko also was present at the service.

After the Divine Liturgy, Archbishop Seraphim offered greetings on behalf of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman.

This monument was erected in 1853. The magnificent figure of the holy prince, holding a cross in his right hand and a prince's cap in his left, is a Kyiv landmark, measuring 20.5 meters in height.

Thousands of faithful from Kyiv, other regions in Ukraine, and abroad gathered for the Divine Liturgy, which was broadcast on large screens placed in various parts of the adjacent park. The Divine Liturgy was also broadcast live by several TV channels.

Other members of the OCA delegation included Archimandrite Zacchaeus, OCA Representative to the Moscow Patriarchate, and Archpriests Vladimir Alexeiev and Oleg Kirillov.

Source: OCA

MOSCOW: June 26, 2008
Metropolitan Hilarion Delivers a Speech at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church

Your Holiness, Your Eminences, Your Graces!

The Act of Canonical Communion of the Russian Orthodox Church, signed only a year ago, finally, by the mercy of God, lay down the foundation for a new and proper relationship between the Russian Church in Russia and abroad. And now, we bishops from abroad, greet our brothers in the historic homeland of our Church. We are participating in the Council of Bishops in Moscow for the first time. We hope that our participation is fruitful. We have come here with the hope that joint work will strengthen our unity on ecclesio-canonical, and also on personal levels.

Much here will be new, and maybe even strange, for us. The family of the episcopate of the Church Abroad is small today, but not so many years ago we also had no more than 20 bishops. Naturally, in such a close circle one could discuss various matters in church life with greater substance and depth than is possible amid a host of some 200 bishops. Yet we will try to become accustomed to the situation we face here and participate constructively, recognizing our responsibility before God and His Church.

Throughout the years of the existence of the Church Abroad, our forefathers, and then we ourselves, paid close attention to the life of the Church in the homeland. Our view of various aspects of church life differed from attitudes here, and at times this difference was sharp, but one can state confidently that it always stemmed from fervent love and empathy with the faithful people of Russia. Naturally, in our small episcopal family, we were influenced by the people around us. Bishops who served in America, Australia and Europe viewed events in Russia, and sensed their proximity to her, differently. Still, with all this, there always existed the understanding in the Church Abroad that we are part of the one great Russian Church.

Despite all the differences of our paths and our experience, now, after the unification of the two parts of the Russian Church, we can share our experiences of all these decades. I will recall a few areas of church life in which our experiences abroad might be usefully applied in Russia and the “near abroad.”

Over the 90 years of the separate existence of our Church, we could not but coexist and deal with the most wide-ranging forms of government structures. In the 1920’s, the Synod Abroad, for instance, had to separate the German Diocese from the Western European Diocese, because the Church saw the danger of ruling a diocese located on the territories of two constantly hostile and warring governments, Germany and France. In some countries, the Church Abroad enjoyed complete freedom under democracies, while at the same time in other countries it had to minister to its flock under one form of dictatorship or another. In the Far East, we have even had to face a heathen government which demanded worship of the Sun.

A similar variety of conditions, we think, can be seen in the various regions of the former Russian Empire. In countries where the Church plays a role in a society which is oriented on the Western European norms of democracy, but whose customs it has not adopted, the experience of the Church Abroad, accumulated over the past century under such law-based governments may be useful. The main principle of the ministry of the Church in democratic societies is achieving or preserving maximum freedom from interference by the state in its life.

The function of government is based on establishing or preserving necessary conditions for the free existence of the Church. Every century has seen a particular temptation for the state: to attempt to influence the Church in its interests, which are not always good. Having survived various totalitarian systems, our Church recognizes the need to defend her Divinely-granted freedom under any regime, the need to rise above fickle political circumstances. Unfortunately, Church figures at various times fell victim to temptation—to use the government to “protect” or “strengthen,” or as it is sometimes unfortunately put, to “save” the Church.

Today many speak of the “symphony” or the Church and state, forgetting that this concept, introduced and theoretically developed by pious Byzantine emperors, firstly involved an understanding of symphony (that is, resonance, accord), of an Orthodox sovereignty (and not any form of government) and an Orthodox patriarch, and secondly, that it remained unmanifested as an ideal in reality. The history of Byzantium and the history of Russia attest to the fact that the desired symphony often resulted in a fatal cacophony. We cannot forget that the state and the Church of Christ are not at all “equal partners,” since the temporal and the eternal, the earthly and heavenly, are not equals. The spheres of duty and challenges of the Church and the state are different. The Church is called upon to lead her flock to salvation, to the heavenly fatherland, while the State must to the best of its abilities care for the well-being, peace, good order and floourishing of its citizens.

Yet this does not mean that the Church must always distance herself from all social phenomena or movements. The Church must speak clearly on matters that directly concern her flock. In the “Basic Social Concept” adopted by the Council of Bishops of 2000, we see a worthy example of the expression by the Church of its positions on the matters of, for instance, civil obedience, euthanasia, abortion, organ transplantation, etc. But in these matters, the Church must always be on guard, for laws and legislation change, so in discussing these topics in social forums, the full voice of the Church must always be heard.

In many countries, our Church has the status as a legal entity. This allows her to lead its internal life independently and at the same time gives her a voice in social problems. Without a doubt, the Church must achieve this status both in Russia and in the countries of the “near and far abroad.”

In almost all the Western governments, clergymen are not subject to military service. In many countries this extends down the ecclesiastical levels to the rank of subdeacon. In our opinion, in this area the Russian Church does not enjoy enough rights in contemporary, post-Soviet society.

Our Church has her own priests in the military on par with ministers of other faiths. Our priests in most of the Western world can freely visit those in prison, they minister to Orthodox believers in hospitals, universities and schools, even teach of the Law of God as a subject accepted by the state. It is not shameful to take advantage of these and similar fruits of democracy in the interests of the Church and to the glory of God.

The Fund for Assistance to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia is prepared to review projects aimed at strengthening Russian Orthodox spiritual values and to work together with ecclesiastical and cultural-educational organizations in Russia for the development of pilgrimages, artistic, spiritual and practical gatherings, to develop ties with the Russian emigration on the basis of representing Russian regions abroad; to receive local delegations of bishops and clergymen, government and municipal representatives, and cultural, business and social representatives.

Let us touch upon a matter painful for many of us: the matter of the continuing participation of the Russian Church in the ecumenical movement.

Of course, we view the problem of the relationship between Orthodox and the heterodox or those of other religions differently than it is viewed in Russia. We face these problems every day in our life to a degree possible in only a few dioceses of Russia. On the other hand, many members of our flock come from mixed families, and so feel a special responsibility before their spouses, parents or children of different faiths. But even here, we feel, much which seemed normal and natural in the 19th century cannot be transferred automatically into the 20th or 21st centuries.

Our brethren in Russia, doubtless, know that some clergymen, parishes and monasteries have left the Church Abroad into various schismatic groups before and during the signing of the Act of Canonical Communion of the unity of the Russian Church last year. This is a bleeding wound on the body of the Church. We understand that this wound occurred as a result of ignorance. But people have reason to fear that the call of the IV All-Diaspora Council to the clergymen of the Church in Russia—that they reconsider their participation in the World Council of Churches—would remain unheeded. Moreover, one may get the impression that this involvement not only did not abate, but in fact increased after the signing of the Act. In our now-unified Church, to this day, a great deal is occurring which demands explanation to those who cannot by their convictions or due to the lack of information understand what is happening.

Each one of us must take care not to cause temptation to the “little of the flock,” remembering the Lord’s words of warning to those who cause temptation in this world. In many cases, certainly, one must rethink one’s positions and actions within the framework of ecumenical activities (if for some reason they cannot be abandoned completely), so that the guiding principles in this area outlined, for example, in the Basic Social Concept, would not simply be words on paper, but words brought to life.
Even if we have relations with those of other religions solely for the aim of persuading them of the rightness of Orthodoxy, but thereby we lead our own faithful into temptation and watch as they depart into schism, it is our duty to reevaluate our positions, because first of all we are connected to our flock with fatherly and brotherly bonds of love. Our experiences abroad shows that one can defend one’s faith and preserve one’s traditions while living in peace and civilized interaction with the local population of other confessions or religions. As an example one of the local ministries of culture in Germany, consulting with our local diocese, even included a list of Orthodox holidays as legal holidays for Orthodox Christians. In America, some published lay calendars include Orthodox Pascha and indicate that January 7 is Christmas according to the Julian calendar.

We have in recent times been troubled and pained by the situation of the Church in Ukraine. One cannot but be horrified by the fragmentation of the Orthodox Church in this most ancient of territories of Orthodoxy in the Fatherland. We ourselves have lived in division for decades, and only a year ago we reestablished Eucharistic and canonical unity within the fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church. Still, living separately, we always viewed this as an ailment needing healing, and never abandoned the ideal of salvific unity.

If there are people today who rush to premature autocephaly (even with the consequence of Unia with the Catholics), or hurry to separate from the Russian Church in some other way, we can only pray that the Lord restore them to the correct path. Church unity cannot be played as a political card. Let us set aside problems of national identity and statehood to politicians. Let us ponder something else: is ecclesiastical autocephaly needed for the people of the Church? Can we not live together and be saved within one church bosom—Little Russians, Belarussians, Great Russians and the multitude of other nationalities which were for centuries in one Russian Church, which was founded on the territory of today’s Ukraine? No one denies the distinctiveness of the three Eastern Slavic peoples. But from the moment of our baptism, they were bound by love and mutual respect within one Church. The rending of her seamless garment will do no one any good.

In the diaspora, we cannot break our dioceses down by Little Russians, Belarussians and Great Russians, Moldovans, for instance, who have found work abroad, attend our churches (as do, by the way, Greeks, Serbs, Georgians and other Orthodox Christians). Why cause new divisions, which abroad are even more fatal than in the homeland? We pray to God and we hope that we do not fall to such temptation and that our brethren always gratefully and carefully preserve the great gift of the unity of the Church, the unity of the people of God, among whom there is neither Hellene, nor Jew, nor anything else to separate us.

Having now entered the membership of one Russian Church, we, the bishops of the Church Abroad, earnestly wish to participate in church life in Russia and the “near abroad,” and hope for such participation by our Russian brethren in our lives. May the Lord help us and may the One, Undivided Sovereign Most-Holy and Life-Giving Trinity strengthen our newly-restored unity. Amen.

Official website of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

Belarusian president invites the Pope to visit
By YURAS KARMANAU – Jun 20, 2008

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Belarus' authoritarian president invited Pope Benedict XVI to the mostly Orthodox former Soviet republic, the presidential press service said in a statement Friday.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the offer the same day he met with Vatican's No. 2 official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who is in the country to preside at the weekend consecration of the first Catholic church to be built in the capital city, Minsk, since 1910.

The Orthodox church, which includes about 80 percent of the population, wields significant clout in Belarus through a 2003 agreement it signed with the government.

But the Vatican under Benedict has been pursuing a goal of outreach to the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians. A trip to Belarus by Benedict could move the Vatican and Russian Orthodox Church one step closer to a meeting — and the ultimate goal of healing the nearly 1,000-year schism between the two main branches of Christianity.

Lukashenko is also desperate to boost his reputation ahead of September's parliamentary elections — including hiring a British public relations firm in March to package his policies in for Western consumption.

Lukashenko met Friday with Bertone, the Holy See's secretary of state, when the president indicated approval of an agreement between Belarus and the Holy See that would give the Catholic Church the legal right to work with government institutions in promoting its values.

"Our co-operation answers all the demands of our society, its values and orientations," Lukashenko said, according to Friday's statement from the presidential press service. It was unclear when the agreement would be signed.

Bertone said the Vatican would help Belarus "find its place in the world."

"The Catholic Church will try to ensure that Belarus has a significant place in the international arena," Bertone said Friday in comments shown on state TV.

Bertone is the Vatican's highest-ranked official ever to visit Belarus.

Minsk-based political analyst Yaroslav Romanchuk said Friday's developments were the upshot of successful bargaining.

"The Vatican is realizing a long-held strategy of expanding throughout Belarus and getting access to state structures," Romanchuk said.

Lukashenko, for his part, will use the Vatican to "lobby for his type of politics" using its sway within the European Union and the United States, he said. Furthermore, the Vatican will uphold the sovereignty of Belarus, which Lukashenko fears may eventually fall into Russia's hands, Romanchuk said.

Catholic-Orthodox relations in the former Soviet Union have been particularly thorny following the demise of the Soviet Union, with the Orthodox accusing the Vatican of trying to poach for converts. The Vatican insists it is just looking after the welfare of its tiny flock there.

The tensions have prevented a meeting between the Russian Patriarch Alexy II and the pope.

Property disputes have aggravated attempts to improve relations between Catholics and Orthodox in the former Soviet Union, and were one of the reasons John Paul II, a Slav, never realized his dream of making a papal pilgrimage to Russia.

Source: AP

Greek Orthodox archbishop to visit Moscow

Archbishop Demetrios of america will travel to Russia to meet Patriach Alexy II of Moscow. Together they will celebrate Slavic Letters Day on May 24 in commemoration of SS. Cyril and Methodios - Apostles to the Slavs.

According to a press release from the Greek Orthodox Church in the US, Archbishop Demetrios of America will travel to Russia on May 21, leading a delegation from the Archdiocese on an official visit to the Patriarchate of Moscow. This first official visit of an Archbishop of America to the Church of Russia comes after the invitation of Patriarch Alexy II, conveyed both in person by His Grace Bishop Mercurius of Zaraisk, the Administrator of the Parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in the United States, and in writing by His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, the Head of External Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Accompanying the Archbishop on the seven day visit will be two Members of the Holy Eparchial Synod, Metropolitan Methodios of Boston and Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta, as well as the Chancellor of the Archdiocese, Bishop Savas of Troas, Mr. Michael Jaharis, the Vice Chairman of the Archdiocesan Council, representatives of major Church organizations, and accompanying staff.

The visit comes at a time of important developments in the Russian Orthodox Church in America, especially the reunification of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). The visit also comes during an important and auspicious celebration in the Russian Federation, that of Slavic Letters Day; the only Holiday of both a national and religious character.

The celebration of Slavic Letters Day on May 24th (May 11th on the Old or Julian Calendar) commemorates Sts. Cyril and Methodios, the apostles to the Slavs who were blood brothers from Thessaloniki, sent by Patriarch Photios the Great of Constantinople to evangelize the Slavic lands in the ninth century. It is a day when the faith, linguistic, and ethnic heritage of the Russian people is commemorated by both the State and the Church. On that day, Archbishop Demetrios and the accompanying Hierarchs will serve Divine Liturgy with Patriarch Alexy II in the world renown Cathedral of the Dormition inside the walls of the Kremlin, and will participate in special commemorative festivities for the occasion. Commenting on this unique opportunity Archbishop Demetrios said:

"For me, a son of Thessaloniki - the city of Saints Cyril and Methodios, and as Exarch of the same Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople that sent them on their apostolic mission of evangelization to share the Good News of the Gospel - this is a distinct honor and a remarkable opportunity to express the unity of our Orthodox Faith, our historical roots and connections, and to amplify our continuing dialogue of fraternal love and mutual respect."

Some of the highlights of the schedule are described below, and there will be daily postings on the website of the Archdiocese (http://www.goarch.org) that will update the faithful on the activities and events as they occur.

Trans-substantiation and metstoicheiosis - difficult words to describe the difficult idea of Eucharist - to become what we eat. Thursday May 22 - Arrival and official welcome of the Archbishop and Hierarchs by Hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Friday May 23 - The Archbishop and the delegation will be hosted at the famous St. Sergios of Radonezh Monastery outside of Moscow. The Monastery, among its many Churches and facilities, houses the Moscow Spiritual Academy, the largest Graduate Theological School in all of Russia. Archbishop Demetrios will offer an address to the Faculty and Student Body.
Saturday May 24th - The Celebration of Slavic Letters Day; Divine Liturgy at the Dormition Cathedral in the Kremlin with Patriarch Alexy II; participation in the State and Church festivities and a reception hosted by the Patriarch.
Sunday May 25th - The Archbishop and his delegation will be hosted by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad.
Monday May 26th - Visits to various religious and philanthropic institutions in Moscow.
Tuesday, May 27 - The Archbishop will have a private audience with Patriarch Alexy II.

Throughout the week, official talks and dialogues will be scheduled for the Archbishop with differing representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Archbishop returns to the United States on Wednesday, May 28th.

Source: Spero News

NEW YORK: May 12, 2008 Source: ROCOR
Archbishop Hilarion Is Elected First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

On May 12, 2008, at 12:00 noon, at the Synodal Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign in New York, His Eminence Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand was elected Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and shall be elevated to the rank of Metropolitan. In accordance with the Act of Canonical Communion signed on May 17, 2007, the Council of Bishops will send the Act of Election, drawn up by the Counting Committee, to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, with a request from the elected First Hierarch for his blessing to assume the duties placed upon him by his brother archpastors, and for confirmation by the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate of his election.

The Enthronement of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, Primate-elect of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, will be held on Sunday, May 18, 2008.

The schedule of services relating to the Enthronement of the new First Hierarch is as follows:

May 17, all-night vigil at 6 pm. At the end of the evening service, the newly-elected Primate will emerge from the Royal Doors in a black klobuk [monastic headdress] and a simple episcopal mantle and will stand on the ambo facing the people. Two senior bishops will bring the light blue mantle and white klobuk to the Metropolitan, who will don them with the help of subdeacons. During the vesting of the mantle and klobuk, the senior bishop will intone "axios" ["he is worthy"], which will be repeated first by the bishops and clergymen, then by the choir. Afterwards, the Metropolitan will bless the clergy and people.

The light blue mantle and white klobuk will first be blessed with holy water by the senior archbishop during the reading of the first hour.

May 18, Divine Liturgy at 9:30 am. After the entry prayers are read and the customary blessing, two senior bishops will lead the new Metropolitan to the vesting platform and will declare "axios," which will be repeated first by the bishops and clergy, and then by the choir.

The newly-elected First Hierarch will then be vested in the middle of the church, while the other bishops are vested in the altar. Thereafter, two senior archimandrites or protopriests will bring out the mitre and will silently present it to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

After the moleben, the senior hierarch will bestow the staff to the First Hierarch—a gift from the Diocese of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, which was blessed upon the relics of St Tikhon, Patriarch and Confessor of All Russia—and will declare:

"May the Almighty and Life-giving Trinity, Boundless Sovereignty and Indivisible Kingdom, grant to you this great throne of episcopacy, to be Metropolitan and Primate of the Russian Church Abroad, through the election by your brethren, the bishops of the Russian Church Abroad. And now, lord and brother, accept this pastoral staff, and ascend the throne of the episcopal seniority, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and beseech His Most-Pure Mother for all Orthodox Christianity and for the Russian people in the diaspora entrusted to you and save them as a good pastor will, and may the Lord God grant you health, well-being and many years."

The Archdeacon will then intone Many Years to the new First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The choir will sing Many Years.

In accordance to the Rite of Enthronement, the newly-elected Primate will address his brother archpastors with the following words:

"May the Almighty and All-Sovereign Right Hand of the All-Highest preserve and strengthen us all. May He grant peace and calm to His Holy Church and save our Fatherland from enemies visible and invisible, and grant strength to Orthodoxy. And to you, brother archpastors of the Russian Church Abroad, and to all Russians in the diaspora, and all Orthodoxy Christians, may He grant health and many years."

The choir then sings Many Years (without an intonation by the Archdeacon).

A new stage of Russian exploration of the Arctic to be anticipated with the Divine Liturgy

Archbishop Ignaty of Petropavlovsk and Kamchatka, who was the first to conduct the Divine Liturgy at the North Pole, shared his impressions with Interfax-Religion correspondent Yelena Zhosul.

- The North Pole has at all times attracted people. Nansen tried to reach it, but failed. Robert Peary sacrificed 20 years of his life on this Arctic ice altar, and could not reach the Pole. So many people - scientists, researchers, military men - have been trying to get to the world's most northern spot by all means, overcoming thinkable and unthinkable challenges which were sometimes hazardous to life, and could even result in death for some venturers.

What kind of huge and powerful drive is rooted in the souls of these people, and what kind of mighty mechanism encourages them to face these perils? Certainly, there should be a lot of answers to this question. Some dream of becoming famous, others are driven by research interests; some aspire to self-knowledge and self-esteem, and others are encouraged by the inherent deep call of the North, "the white silence", according to Jack London. There may also be people who follow their mercantile interests... I can testify that no one in our team had any of the above motives. What were our motives? What commitment made us make this trip to the North Pole?

The main commitment of a priest is his commitment to God. The main service of the Orthodox Church is the Divine Liturgy. It is conducted in the Far East, in the city of apostles Peter and Paul (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - IF), and in the faraway West, and at the southernmost location of our planet, Antarctica, which houses a recently erected church and a community of monks "fighting a good fight". But this saving divine sacrament has never before been conducted at the North Pole. How does the Book of Psalms praise the Apostles' acts? "Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world." The Divine Liturgy should also reach the northernmost spot of our planet. And the word of God should many a time sound at this northern location. And many a time should the Holy Communion announce to the world the great Commandments of Christ, the great feat of Christ which he committed through crucifix and great sufferings for the sake of each and everyone of us, His Holy Resurrection, and the road to Eternal Life open to every individual. This is worth any effort and labour. All the more so, a priest should be a priest everywhere. It is a priest's oath he gives in ordainment, rather than just pompous words.

We believe that the Holy Spirit shall descend upon this floating continent. God's Grace shall descend here, upon this place where brave and courageous Russian people we met during our expedition work and serve, and devotedly guard the borders of our Motherland.

A new large-scale stage of Russian Arctic exploration is under way now, after a long break caused by the perestroika and the hardships of the reconstruction period. But let us remember the words of Christ: "For without me ye can do nothing". It means, that it is impossible to commence any effort without a prayer to God, otherwise, it will bring no good results. Such results may be important for our mortal life, but they will be lost to our spiritual life. Therefore, to commence a new research of the "white silence", Russian scientists needed to raise their prayer, the most effective prayer of Russian Orthodoxy - the Divine Liturgy.

I would like to draw special attention, that this expedition became possible through the support of the Russian Aviation Department of the Federal Security Service and personal involvement of its head, Nikolay Fedorovich Gavrilov, Hero of Russia, a wonderful man, a warrior, and a committed Christian. This is yet another evidence of favourable cooperation of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Army. There was a time when Russian Orthodoxy, Russian priests blessed warriors for the battle for faith, their people and Motherland. And now, Russian warriors help our priests to reach almost inaccessible locations to bring the word of God "to the end of the world".
Of cause, I had no chance before to serve the Divine Liturgy in such environment. We put up our church tent in cold strong wind, in the snow, and the shining sunlight. It was twenty five degrees below, and we had to serve in our full vestments, sing, and hold metal bowls. But deep in our hearts we believed that everything would work out well. It was very cold at first, our hands were frozen. But when it came to the cherubimic hymn, and we approached the main event of the liturgy - the transformation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, even the slightest feeling of cold disappeared. We felt that way to the end of the Divine Liturgy.

For the first time in history, we performed five sacraments of the Orthodox Church at the very top of our planet - baptism, unction, repentance, ordination, and Eucharist. What a blessing of God! What a great joy to break new ground. But we were not striving for this. We only fulfilled the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch.

Source: Interfax-Religion

Eating Well for Moscow’s Lenten Fast

Posted by Sonia Kishkovsky in Moscow, Something Different, Food and Drink

rthodox Christians celebrate Easter, called Pascha in the Orthodox Church, on April 27 this year — which means devout Russians are still deep into Great Lent, the period of repentance and fasting during which believers strive to relive Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness before Crucifixion.

Strict Russian Orthodox believers follow monastic rules, which means abstaining from meat and dairy products, most seafood and even oils. Some people eat only once a day and on the strictest days not at all. A bit of wine is allowed on Sundays and holidays. Vodka is not, but some people do seek out loopholes.

The clash, or maybe convergence, of tsarist, Soviet and capitalist traditions makes for some colorful post-Soviet Lenten meals and products. With a host of stores and restaurants offering special Lenten foods, it hardly feels like a period of suffering.

Among my favorite Lenten products: Bolshevik brand Lenten cookies (postnoye pechenye). Yes, the Bolshevik cookie factory produces a Lenten line. It has no animal products, of course, and a church is pictured on the wrapper, directly opposite the “Bolshevik” logo. The cookies are advertised as having the blessing of the russian Orthodox Church.

The church is a bit cagier though about other products advertised as Lenten. Tofu as meat replacement is seen as a bit of cop out, but in recent years tofu dishes have been marked as acceptable fare at Jagannath Express (Ulitsa Kuznetsky, dom 11, tel. 7-495-628-35-80, www.jagannath.ru), a vegetarian café with a hippy, Indian vibe. Lenten dishes there are labeled with a drawing of Jesus.

Churches are packed in Moscow as Pascha draws near. But so are reastaurants. The crowds of diners might be taking to heart the words of St. John Chrysostom, who warned that an obsession with abstaining from food should not be the main point of Lent: ”For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and devour our brothers?” he asked.

Indeed, just about every restaurant in Moscow now takes it as a point of pride to offer a Lenten menu. The more exotic, it often seems, the better. The Moscow edition of Time Out magazine even has a special Lenten section in its restaurant pages, with the latest offerings from the city’s chefs. For example, this week’s edition touts the Asian, Russian and Italian Lenten dishes by chef Yevgeny Dyomin at Café Muskat (Ulitsa Novoslobodkaya, dom 11, tel. 7-499-973-51-74). (Moscow restaurants also take it as a point of pride to offer all three cuisines at once.) Time Out recommends his carrot, orange and daikon salad with fragrant Asian spices for 380 rubles (about $16.20), and as a main dish vegetable pilaf (plov in these parts) with mushrooms for 420 rubles (about $17.90).

Somehow I find myself drawn more to Russian cuisine during Lent. Café Pushkin (Tverskoy bulvar, dom 26a, tel. 7-495-629-55-90 or 739-00-33), the legendary recreation of a 19th century aristocratic mansion near Pushkin Square (just opposite McDonald’s) has an extensive Lenten menu. The mushroom pelmeni, or dumplings, are very satisfying, as they should be at 420 rubles. In fact, I’ve always preferred them to the non-Lenten meat-filled variety — which means of course that they’re not quite in the Lenten spirit. Oh well…

There’s a selection of vegetables marinated in traditional Russian fashion (all readily available at street markets as well), but the Café Pushkin setting give them added charm. The marinated chopped cabbage (kapusta rublyonnaya, 175 rubles or about $7.40) was tasty. And in my book, if you order some traditional Russian cranberry juice, called mors, you won’t miss the wine or vodka at all (99 rubles or about $4.20 a glass).

I was charmed by Café Pushkin’s service on Pascha a few years ago. A friend and I decided to pop in after the Paschal service – at about 4 a.m (Café Pushkin is open 24 hours, of course). We were presented with dyed red hardboiled eggs, which we used, naturally, for an egg smashing competition, and our own personal mini kulich, the sweet russian Easter bread.

Orthodox churches and monasteries have started opening cafes and restaurants. When the nuns of the Novo-Tikhvinsky convent in Yekaterinburg decided to open a restaurant called Pravoslanaya Trapeza, or Orthodox repast (Yekaterinburg, Ulitsa Zelyonaya roshcha, dom 1, (343) 345-58-88, trapeza.sestry.ru/content/events/index) they went on a fact-finding mission to Moscow. Of the three restaurants they visited – all of the highest class – one was, naturally, Café Pushkin.

If you still need an Asian fix for Lenten, it’s available next door to Pushkin, in an even more luxurious setting, at Turandot (Tverskoy Boulevard, dom 26-5, 7-495 739-0011), an elaborate recreation of a Baroque palace in the chinoiserie style. I had Thai shrimp soup there recently. Who recommended it to me as a Lenten dish? A russian Orthodox priest.

But not everyone celebrates this way. Last weekend, the city’s main McDonald’s on Pushkin Square was teeming with Muscovites chowing down on Big Macs. Just plain old Big Macs. It doesn’t have a Lenten menu.

Source: International Herald Tribune

NEW YORK: April 17, 2008
A Joint Service By Clerics of the Russian Church Abroad and the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA Will Be Held on Bright Saturday at St Nicholas Cathedral

On Bright Saturday, May 3, 2008, a ceremonial Divine Liturgy will be celebrated jointly by clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA at St Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral at 15 East 97th Street, New York, NY. His Grace Bishop Gabriel of Manhattan, Secretary of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and His Grace Bishop Merkury, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, will officiate at the service, which will also include the participation of a host of clergymen of the Russian Church Abroad and of the Patriarchal Parishes in the United States. Before the service, the Miracle-working Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God will be ceremoniously brought to the Cathedral.

After Liturgy, a joint procession of the cross will be held with archpastors, clergymen and laypersons. A greeting from the Russian Ambassador to the United States will be read by SV Garmonin, Consul General of the Russian Federation in New York. Representatives of the City of Moscow and officials from the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations will pray at the services.

This service will be the first of its kind following the signing of the Act of Canonical Communion between the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in May 2007. Never before has St Nicholas Cathedral, the main church of the Moscow Patriarchate in the US, been the site of a joint Paschal service, and it is expected that over 60 clergymen and hundreds of laypersons will participate.

Clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad who wish to participate in this event can contact Protopriest Andrei Sommer at (212) 410-4258.

Source: ROCOR

Reminder of This Year's Church Events (you will leave this website by clicking on this link)

Russian Orthodox leader calls council for June

Moscow, Apr. 16, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow plans to convene all the bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church for a council in June, the KAI news agency reports.

The council-- to be held at the Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow, June 24- 29-- will focus primarily on Church unity. The Orthodox bishops will be asked to confirm an "act of canonical communion" bringing the Moscow patriarchate together with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Also on the agenda for the June meeting will be the canonization of new saints.

The canon law of the Russian Orthodox Church dictates that a council of bishops should be held at least once every 4 years. The last such council was in 2004.

source: Catholic World News

Source: Aid to the Church in Need

Pope addresses Russia on TV

Posted by Press release on 17/4/2008, 8:47 am
Message modified by board administrator 17/4/2008, 9:03 am

ACN News, Thursday 17th April 2008 - RUSSIA

Pope addresses Russia on TV
By John Newton and Eva-Maria Kolmann

FOR the first time in history a Pope yesterday (Wednesday 16th of April) addressed a message directly to all the Russian people, via a broadcast on state television.(See below for a translation of the Pope's address)

Benedict XVI’s message of greeting, which was addressed to the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexei II, and all those living in Russia, comes at the end of a documentary about the Pope’s life.

The Pontiff’s message was partly in Russian, and stressed the need for dialogue among Christians.

The documentary, which was sponsored by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, was broadcast by Russia’s state news channel Vesti on the Pope’s 81st birthday.

The broadcast comes at a time when observers have said that relationships between the two churches are beginning to “thaw” — a phrase used independently last October by both Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Metropolitan Kirill, the head of the External Relations Department of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Last year, Pope Benedict’s book 'An Introduction to Christianity', written when he was a university professor, was published in Russian, complete with a foreword by Metropolitan Kirrill.

Another sign of improving links between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church is that the documentary was introduced by Archpriest Igor Vyzhanov, the secretary for inter-Christian dialogue of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Patriarchate was also closely involved in the production of the documentary.

Describing the Pope’s personal involvement in the broadcast as “like a miracle”, ACN’s Russia expert, Peter Humeniuk, who oversaw the production of the film, highlighted the importance of the initiative.

He said that both in Rome and Moscow there was an awareness that the “film and the Papal message were a beautiful symbol of the process of rapprochement between the two Churches”.

He added that ACN saw itself as a “catalyst” in this process, as “although the charity is not a direct partner in the interreligious dialogue, it does promote many initiatives that serve this end”.

At a private audience in April 2007, Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to ACN’s work towards reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Mr Humeniuk added that the Pope’s personal address to the Russian people was “an occasion of great joy and a historic event”.

Among those interviewed were his elder brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, who rarely gives interviews, but made an exception for this film.

The documentary was produced in Saint Petersburg by the inter-denominational Christian media agency Blagovest Media in collaboration with the Catholic Radio and Television Network (CRTN).

PAPAL SPEECH TO RUSSIAN PEOPLE BROADCAST ON RUSSIAN STATE TELEVISION

Dear citizens of the Russian Federation,

I am grateful for the invitation offered me to extend to you my cordial greetings and I gladly take this opportunity to express the esteem, affection and high regard in which the successor of Peter and the Catholic Church have always held your people and the Russian Orthodox Church. Russia is truly great, in a variety of different ways -- in her sheer geographical scale, in her long history, in her magnificent spirituality, in her multiplicity of artistic expression. During the past century the horizon of your noble land, like that of other regions on the European continent, was obscured by shadows of suffering and violence, shadows that were however opposed and overcome by the splendid light of so many martyrs -- Orthodox, Catholics and other believers, who perished under the oppression of ferocious persecutions. The love of Christ even unto martyrdom, which unites them, reminds us of the urgent need to restore unity among Christians, a duty to which the Catholic Church feels herself to be irrevocably committed. Both the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church are moving in this direction. I remember well that a delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate was present at the Second Vatican Council, and I have followed the contacts with Russian Orthodoxy that have taken place since then. In recent years these contacts have been intensifying, especially among the faithful, the priests and the bishops. What are we to say then of the interreligious and intercultural dialogue which is another of the priority commitments of the Catholic Church and also, I believe, of the Russian Orthodox Church? Conscious of the spiritual gift of which they are the stewards and while firmly retaining their own proper identity, Christians are called to meet with the followers of other religions and to establish with them a fruitful dialogue in truth and charity. To this end I pray and hope that the millennial ecclesial experience of Russia may continue to enrich the Christian horizon in a spirit of sincere service to the Gospel and to the men of today. And now a greeting in the Russian language:

(Translation from Russian):
I am delighted to be able to address myself, in the Russian language, to the people and government of this great land of Russia, so dear to me. I extend my warmest greetings to our beloved Orthodox brothers and sisters, especially to his Holiness, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, and also to the Catholic bishops and their communities. To all of you I wish peace and well-being and a spirit of mutual love, and I invoke the blessing of God upon you all.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Sydney office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web:www.aidtochurch.org

Source: barentsobserver.com

Orthodox Church looks towards North Pole

2008-04-08

Russian Orthodoxy at North Pole

For the first time ever, the Russian Orthodox Church has held a church service on the North Pole.

The service was headed by Archbishop Ignatii of Petropavlovsk and Kamchatka. Two other priests assisted the bishop with service, which was held in a tent on the very North Pole point. Temperatures in the area were about minus 25 degrees centigrade.

Fifteen people attended the service, Rosbaltnord.ru reports.

-Today, after the long 1990s, Russia again turns towards the North, its strategic region, Archbishop Ignatii said after the event.

Photo Report: Moscow Patriarchate Clergy & ROCOR Clergy Serve Together at St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in NYC

Photo Report: March 23 Deanery Gathering for the Passion Service, Hosted by St. Nicholas Cathedral (NYC)

March 22, 2008, 5:43
Head of Russian Orthodox Church Abroad laid to rest

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Metropolitan Laurus, has been buried in New York. The ceremony was attended by a Russian delegation led by the Minister of Culture and Mass Communications and Metropolitan Juvenaly, sent by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.

The liturgy drew hundreds to the Holy Trinity Monastery, some waiting five hours to pay their respects. Laurus died on Monday at the age of 80. Born in Czechoslovakia, he moved to New York in the 1940s, where he spent most of his life. He will be remembered largely for his role in the 2007 reunification of the two branches of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In May 2007, Patriarch Alexy II and Metropolitan Laurus signed the Act of Canonical Communion declaring the formal merger of the two branches of the Russian Orthodox Church, which split after the October revolution of 1917.

Archbishop Hilarion, a student of the late Laurus and a likely candidate to replace him says, despite the great loss, the Metropolitan’s legacy will live on: "It's a very rich spiritual legacy he leaves behind. It’s a great loss for the Russian Church but he'll be remembered for his spiritual leadership," he said.

Source: Russia Today

NEW YORK: March 18, 2008
Protopriest Serafim Gan: "He Was a Father to Us All"

The Personal Secretary of His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus, Protopriest Serafim Gan, recounts the final days of Vladyka's life.

"We lost a remarkable person. This was a living saint with whom we could spend time with. On the other hand, we gained an intercessor in the other world," said Protopriest Serafim Gan, the Personal Secretary of the late Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus of Eastern America and New York, who died in Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, at the age of 80.

He is certain that the ceremonial farewell to Metropolitan Laurus, scheduled to be held this Friday in Jordanville, will be a genuine celebration. "We received news of his sudden death with sorrow, we are all in shock," admitted the priest. According to him, Vladyka caught a cold, felt weak during his last divine service, and began to cough; yet no one expected his death. "This man was a true man of prayer, and he lived the life of the Church. He came to church with all the brethren, at 4:30 am, he would light candles… He inspired us not only by word but by example, with humility and love," remembered the First Hierarch's Secretary, who spent a great deal of time with him, especially in the last few years.

"Metropolitan Laurus spent the first week of Great Lent in prayer and divine services, reading edifying writings of the Holy Fathers and Teachers of the Church to the brethren and pilgrims. Last Friday, his last, he read the teachings of St Ephraim of Syria on love. "We intend to publish it," said Fr Serafim.

He was most impressed by the faith and modesty of Metropolitan Laurus. "He fully entrusted himself to God and deferred to His will. Everything, good and bad, he accepted as a gift from God and as directions from God," clarified Fr Serafim. "Vladyka was very strict with himself, but understanding with others, with a mere glance he would punish and humble us," added Fr Serafim.

He stressed that the late bishop ordained a great many priests who now serve in the US, Europe and Australia. "Vladyka knew each of us very well—we all studied here at the Seminary, within the walls of this monastery, he knew whom to assign where… He was a father to us all," said the priest of the Church Abroad. In his words, Metropolitan Laurus was also "an exceptionally humble person, a monk through and through," and thanks to this carried enormous authority, and was revered and loved throughout the Russian emigration. "Without him, it would have been impossible to even think of holding conversations with the ROC on reestablishing church unity," noted Fr Serafim. "He was able to overcome divisions and conflict with love," he added.

"It is, of course, too early" to speak of canonizing Metropolitan Laurus. "But when we entered the church yesterday, I had the sense that we were not venerating simply a dead man, but the relics of a righteous man, who offered the example of love and humbleness," said Fr Serafim.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia died very peacefully, quietly, in his sleep, on the morning of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. One of the monks, standing beside the bier of Metropolitan Laurus, said Fr Serafim, spoke the following words: ""Before us lies the Triumph of Orthodoxy." "And this is true," added Fr Serafim.

The Head of the Press Service of the Moscow Patriarchate, Priest Vladimir Vigilyansky, answering questions for RIA Novosti on the possible glorification of the late Metropolitan Laurus as a saint, also noted that he does not dismiss this notion out of hand, but that "time must first pass." "People only confirm whom the Lord chooses as His servants. The memory of a person must withstand the passage of time, and prayers to him must be common among the people," stressed Fr Vladimir.

Source: Official website of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia