After being arrested in Minsk and deported from Belarus as international terrorists Fr. Basil Kobakhidze and I suddenly noticed that both of us were singing Soviet and communist songs. Both of us were shocked that we were not...
When the faithful gathered at the St. Herman Monastery on the twenty-second anniversary of Fr. Seraphim's repose, among them was an American Orthodox convert, Celia Yentzen, who had recently experienced a miraculous healing through Fr. Seraphim's intercessions. Celia...
...Today, there is no shortage of information as to who supports which political party, who espouses what ideology, and so on and so forth. As far as religion is concerned, however, there is complete silence. The statistics that...
Four nuns were tonsured on March 10 by Hegumen Gregory in the church of St.Elizabeth in St.-Petersburg.Alevtina Nikinina was tonsured with the name Elizabeth after the Patron of the church. She was born in 1970; she graduated the...
In early February, the Milli-Shura (National Council) of the National Organization of Russian Muslims (NORM) took a decisive step to come out of the closet. It reached an association agreement with the Moscow community of converted Muslims, Pryamoi...
President Putin’s flirting with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is kept in strict confidence so that theAmericans would not find out about it, although the Moscow Patriarchate is aware of this flirting and actively participates in...
TWO EVENTS last week starkly illustrate the dilemmas of countries grappling with a terrible past. In Austria, Holocaust denier David Irving received a three-year jail sentence for his public assertions that the Nazis did not carry out a...
An official map of the Losiny Ostrov national park in Moscow shows a pagan temple - one of about one and a half dozen such temples active in the capital. In all, 17 (religious) pagan organizations are registered...
"I bring you good news of a great joy … for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:10-11).Last night we heard once more the Angel’s...
While most Russians will mark Orthodox Christmas on 7 January according to the old Julian calendar, Western Christmas is about to be celebrated on 25 December by Russia's 600,000-strong Roman Catholic community. As a result of continued efforts...
No government official was prepared to explain to Forum 18 News Service why Macedonia's religious minorities are in practice unable to build new places of worship or extend existing ones. "The only permission we can get is to...
The Executive Summary consists of three parts. Part I identifies many of the countries where religious freedom is restricted and classifies their actions and policies into five categories. Part II provides examples of nations whose governments have taken...
I am thinking back to the distant 1970’s, to those stagnant years during the time of Brezhnev. I was a lay person in the Moscow Patriarchate then. Some absolutely amazing documents started to make their way to us....
By Dan Murphy | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor CAIRO – Three almost simultaneous attacks Wednesday on hotels managed by American companies in Jordan's capital carried the classic markings of terrorist hits by Al Qaeda, or...
Belarus has yet to meet a 12 November deadline, set by a UN committee, for confirming the correction of a religious freedom violation against Hare Krishna devotees, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. In a decision with implications...
The book of Fr. George Edelstein, the rector of the Resurrection church in the village of Karabanovo, Kostroma diocese in the ROC MP, is a collection of articles from 1988 to 2000 devoted to the inner life and...
The Ninth congress of clergy and laity of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (ROAC) was held September 3 and 4 in Suzdal, as reported by the Suzdal Diocese Vedomosty.
An extraordinary meeting of the Synod of Bishops of a "branch" of ROCOR(V), which had been headed by Archbishop Lazar (Zhurbenko), took place in the town of Veliky Dal’nik, Odessa province (Ukraine). On July 7th, on the feast...
Portal-Credo.Ru: Could you comment about the four documents which recently appeared simultaneously on the official sites of the ROCOR(L) and the ROC MP and were worked out conjointly by their commissions on dialogue for unification and approved by...
THE ANGEL OF THE PHILADELPHIAN CHURCH Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and made no account of his labours. When they see it, they shall be...
Metropolitan Kirykos of Mesogea and Lavriotiki was forbidden at the Synod meeting of the "Matthewite" Synod of the TOC on June 17/30 after he refused to present at the discussin of his views. (...)
Prior to the publication in June of the documents adopted by the conciliatory commissions, the medium outside of Russia was dominated by several propaganda myths which have now become torn down at a blow. The myths are as...
Archbishop Lazar (Zhurbenko) of Odessa and Tambov, the First–Hierarch of the Russian True–Orthodox Church, reposed in the Lord on June 30, "Portal–Credo.Ru" reports. Archbishop Benjamin (Rusalenko) of Black Sea and Kuban has become the locum tenens of the...
In accordance with the reached agreement confirmed by the resolutions of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (on April 20, 2005) and the Hierarchical Synod Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (on May 23, 2005) below there are...
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Throughout her sojourn in this fallen world, the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ - Israel, Old and New -...
– Portal-Credo.Ru: What is your opinion about the published documents that were elaborated jointly by the Moscow Patriarchate commission for dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (the ROCOR) and the ROCOR (L) commission for negotiations...
Question: Are there peculiarities in the attitude of the clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate towards ROAC communities in the region and how bitter a fight is there, in your view with the MP administration such the special features...
Metropolitan Valentine of Suzdal and Vladimir is back in Russia after a three week pastoral trip to America, having visited the grave of Bishop Gregory (Grabbe) of blessed memory and celebrating the 80th birthday of Church News editor...
A new wave of persecutions on ROCOR (L) believers has begun in Belarus. On 17 May into the house of the priest Leonid Plyats of ROCOR (L) in the village of Zabolotye, Smolevichi region of the Minsk territory,...
Three priests of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church in the Bryansk province are dealing with slander and pressure. At the end of 2004, three priests-- Michael Dudarev, Victor Zemlyakov and Oleg Yevseyev--left the Bryansk diocese of the MP...
Christians should not get involved in politics. Christians, especially in our sad time in history, should stand far away from any such thing and from all political matters.
On the eve of Pascha, April 17/30 of 2005, in 6 PMMoscow time, Metropolitan Epiphany, First Hierarch of the True Orthodox Church of Cyprus (part of the "Matthewite Synod") reposed in the Lord, Vertograd reports.
To Our beloved Brother Archpastors, Reverend Priests and Monastics,and to the entire God-loving flock of the Russian Orthodox ChurchMy dearly beloved Archpastors, Pastors, Brothers and Sisters,Christ is Risen!"Let us celebrate the demise of death…""…the never-ending beginning of another...
On April 6, the Arbitration court for Stavropol decided to transfer the the St Olga Temple belonging to the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church to the jurisdiction of the Stavropol Diocese of the MP. This decision is a reversal...
