News

Primate of the Russian Church addresses faculty and students of the Russian Academy of State Service under the President

On 29 December 2009, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with the leadership, faculty, and students of the Russian Academy of State Service under the President of the Russian Federation. Present at the meeting were Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations; archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-State Relations; V. Legoida, chairman of the Synodal Department for Information; archpriest Andrei Milkin, acting chief of the Patriarch's protocol service; hieromonk Philipp (Ryabykh), deputy chairman of the DECR; Rev. Sergy Zvonarev, acting DECR secretary for far abroad countries; hierodeacon Antony (Sevryuk), chief of the Patriarch's personal secretariat; archpriest Georgy Studenov, rector of the Church of St. Michael in Troparevo; and DECR staff members K. Peregudin, M. Palasio, and V. Yefanova.

Agreement on cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Academy of State Service is signed

On 29 December 2009, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the Russian Academy of State Service under the President of the Russian Federation (RASS), where he, together with the rector V. Yegorov, signed an agreement on cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the RASS.

The agreement would serve to "the strengthening of spiritual and moral principles in Russian society..., and cooperation both in studies of the development of relations between the Church and the state and education."

Christmass Greeting of the Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church

The Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church congratulates the feast of the birth of the Divine God-Child to believers and prelates of the Christian churches which celebrate Christmas on December 25.

Turkey prepares to join EU in a building confiscated from the Orthodox

Unbelievable but true: the headquarters of the Secretariat for the entry of Turkey into the European Union is a building confiscated from the Orthodox Christian community in the 90s. The building is located in Istanbul, in the well-known area of Ortakoy, under the first bridge over the Bosphorus. Before the seizure, the building was used as a primary school for children of the minority Orthodox in Ortakoy. Here, once lived a thriving Orthodox community, now non-existent because of past purges against minorities, executed by the "secular" Turkish State.

Pope Greets Ecumenical Patriarch on Feast of Saint Andrew the First Called

His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew received warm, fraternal greetings from Pope Benedict XVI on November 30th, the Feastday of the Ecumenical Throne, of St. Andrew the First-Called Disciple.

The Pope's message was delivered to the Ecumenical Patriarch by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, during the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George. The Vatican delegation also included Bishop Brian Farrell, Fr. Vladimiro Caroli, Fr. Andrea Palmieri, and Archbishop Antonio Lucibello, the apostolic nuncio in Ankara.

Theological and catechetical courses for laity launched in Hamburg

Theological and catechetical courses for laity were inaugurated on Nov. 26 at the Church of St. John of Kronstadt in Hamburg. The lay courses have been organized with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia who instructed the faculty of St. Tikhon's Orthodox University to help the Hamburg community in implementing the project. Archpriest Vladimir Vorobyev, rector of St. Tikhon's University, officiated at the prayer service for the commencement of the courses. Present were clergy from fraternal Orthodox communities in Hamburg and other cities in Germany as well as representatives of other Christian confessions and various public organizations.