News

Primate of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem arrives in Moscow

On 23 May 2013, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos II of Jerusalem began his visit to the Russian Orthodox Church.

The delegation, accompanying the Primate of the Church of Jerusalem, consists of Metropolitan Kyriakos of Nazareth; Archbishop Aristarchos of Konstantina, secretary general of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem; Archbishop Theophylactos of Jordan, Patriarchal Commissioner to Bethlehem; archimandrite Stephanos (Dispirakis), representative of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and All Palestine to the Moscow Patriarchate; archimandrite Galaktionos, hegumen of the monastery in Ramallah; and hierodeacon Athanasios (Themistokleos).

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Divine Liturgy in Shanghai

On 15 May 2013, Wednesday of the second week after Pascha and commemoration day of the holy passion-bearers princes Boris and Gleb, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the building of the former cathedral of “The Helper of Sinners” icon of the Mother of God, which now houses a museum.

Children of the compatriots living in Shanghai gave a hospitable reception to His Holiness offering him bead and salt according to a Russian custom.
Celebrating with His Holiness were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR’ Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Secretariat; archpriest Nikolay Balashov, DECR deputy chairman; archpriest Dionisiy Pozdnyayev, rector of Ss Peter and Paul church in Hongkong; archpriest Alexiy Kiselevich, rector of St. Nicholas of Myra in Lycia church in Shanghai; and Rev. Michael Wang Quansheng and protodeacon Evangelos Lu Yaofu, the eldest retired clerics of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church living in Shanghai.

U.S. Secretary of State visits Phanar

On Sunday afternoon, April 21, 2013, during his trip to Turkey, the United States Secretary of State John Kerry arrived at the Ecumenical Patriarchate for an hour-long visit. Secretary Kerry was received at the entrance to the Patriarchal court by the Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod, the Very Rev. Archim. Bartholomew Samaras, who escorted him to the Patriarchal Offices, where Mr. Kerry met with His All-Holiness.

Cases of violence and discrimination against Christians in Libya

Statement of the Department for External Church Relations’ Communication Service

Some 100,000 Christians lived in Libya before 2011 when civil confrontation began. At present they number only a few thousands; cases of violence and discrimination against Christians are steadily on the rise.

150th anniversary of Constantine Cavafy's birth

On April 11, 2013, a four-day conference commemorating the 150th anniversary of Constantine Cavafy's birth commenced with a welcome and reading by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Rusian church in Nice

Russia has obtained definitive ownership rights to a church building in Nice under a ruling of France's highest court on Wednesday, said members of the Russian Orthodox community in the Western European country.

Built in the early 20th century, the cathedral is one of the most frequently visited historical monuments in The French Riviera. In 1987 it was put on the list of architectural monuments protected by the French state.