by Paul Gavrilyuk | ελληνικά | ру́сский The Holy and Great Council of Crete (2016) demonstrated that pan-Orthodox gatherings are possible in our time. The Council also made manifest global Orthodoxy’s enduring tensions and divisions. The delegation of the Patriarchate of Antioch did not attend the Council primarily because of its broken communion with the Patriarchate…
Continue readingIt’s Time for an Independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church
by Evagelos Sotiropoulos | ру́сский Ukraine achieved independence in 1991, and since then (and before, as well, dating back one hundred years) there have been efforts among the Orthodox faithful and their leaders—political and religious—to establish an independent (autocephalous) Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And since 1991, the Moscow Patriarchate has been unable or unwilling to settle the…
Continue readingThe Kremlin Hacks the Patriarchate: Is the Church Under Surveillance?
by Evangelos Razis The Kremlin has a long history of interfering in the life of the Orthodox Church. Tsars, General Secretaries, and Presidents have seen in the Church a partner, a source of legitimacy, and a threat to their authority. We learned last week that Vladimir Putin has brought this Russian tradition into the digital…
Continue readingRussia and Ukraine: The Empire’s New Old Clothes
by Fr. Bohdan Hladio The historical path of the Church in Ukraine is controverted and complex: both Moscow and Constantinople claim Ukraine as their canonical territory. As a result, one of the largest Orthodox Churches in the world has experienced schism for over twenty-five years. In April 2018 the Government of Ukraine officially requested a…
Continue readingThe Promise of Autocephaly in Ukraine: What’s at Stake?
by Rev. Dr. Nicholas Denysenko Last week, news circulated that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is expected to issue a Tomos of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. This news appeared on the heels of a meeting that took place between Patriarch Bartholomew, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his delegation after Pascha on April 9, 2018….
Continue readingA New Step Towards Pan-Orthodox Unity
THE INTERNATIONAL ORTHODOX THEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
Jerusalem was an appropriate location for an international group of scholars to meet after the feast of Christ’s Nativity to present their vision of how Orthodox scholarship could engage more effectively with the issues of our contemporary world. A fifteen-minute walk from our hotel through the chic, modern shopping arcades of downtown Jerusalem brought us…
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