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Lenin’s body shouldn’t remain on Red Square, the Moscow Patriarchate believes

The Moscow Patriarchate believes that Lenin's body should be taken out of the mausoleum on Red Square.

"If Communists want to venerate Lenin's body, as he is their idol, their shrine, then they have the Lenin Museum in Ulyanovsk, they can place his body there," head of the Moscow Patriarchate press service Priest Vladimir Vigilyansky told Interfax-Religion on the 85th anniversary of the leader's death.

Russian theologian urges to actively solve the problem of discriminating Christians in the world

Lecturer of the Moscow Theological Academy Yury Maximov complains that interreligious dialogue doesn't pay much attention to the problem of Christians discrimination in various countries.

"We lack honest discussion of painful questions concerning the position of Christians in non-Christian countries, where they are apparently discriminated," he said in his interview to Interfax-Religion.

The Past and Future of Liturgical Theology: Celebrating the Legacy of Father Alexander Schmemann

Renowned liturgist The Rt. Rev. Archimandrite Robert F. Taft, S.J. will present the keynote address at an international academic symposium titled “The Past and Future of Liturgical Theology: Celebrating the Legacy of Father Alexander Schmemann,” to be held at St. Vladimir’s Seminary (SVS), from January 29–31, 2009.

SVS seminarian carries scholarship aid to "Pearl of Africa's Crown"

British statesman Winston Churchill once referred to Uganda as "the Pearl of Africa's Crown," with its equatorial snow-capped mountains, breathtaking waterfalls originating from the headwaters of the Nile at Lake Victoria, and over 3,400 species of birds and magnificent mountain gorillas. Today, Uganda secures Churchill's epithet by offering tourists white water rafting through turbulent rivers and exotic treks around shimmering lakes, creating an almost mythic lost kingdom for visitors.

But 3rd-year St. Vladimir's seminarian Troy Hamilton saw another, more circumspect view of the country when he visited the northern region around the small town of Gulu over his winter semester break, January 1-12, 2009. Snubbing the superlative camping spots and spectacular national parks, he saw people. People recovering from a civil war that had decimated villages and forced their resettlement in United Nations refugee camps where they lingered for decades. People without ambition. People reluctant to rebuild their hometowns after their kinfolk and children had been beaten, raped, maimed, forced to march to exhaustion, or sold into virtual slavery as concubines and soldiers by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

Orthodox treasures in Muslim republic

Although being at the first glance a purely Muslim republic with strong national traits and traditions, Tatarstan has many venerated shrines of the Russian Orthodox Church. The capital of Tatarstan itself observes the strict rule that regulates the number of churches and mosques within the city limits.

The region boasts unique Russian churches and monasteries that are stunningly picturesque, yet in the middle of nowhere, with the mighty Volga on one side and virgin wood covering steep slopes on the other.

Scotland's first Romanian Orthodox Church to open in Glasgow

A church in the east end of Glasgow is to be consecrated as the first place of worship for the Romanian Orthodox Church in Scotland. Shettleston Old Parish Church will host a special inauguration ceremony at 3pm this Sunday as it becomes the home for Romanian Orthodox followers in the city.