2012 Patriarchal Christmas Encyclical
26. December 2012 - 13:04
+ BARTHOLOMEW
By the Mercy of God Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome
And Ecumenical Patriarch
To the Plenitude of the Church
Grace, Mercy and Peace
From the Savior Christ Born in Bethlehem
* * *
“Christ is born, glorify Him; Christ is on earth, exalt Him.”
Let us rejoice in gladness for the ineffable condescension of God.The angels precede us singing: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will among all people.”
New Patriarch of Antioch elected
24. December 2012 - 10:12
The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Antioch has elected a new Patriarch of Great Antioch and All the East. The elections took place in the Balamand Monastery of the Most Holy Mother of God in Lebanon. Taking part in the voting were 18 hierarchs. Metropolitan Youhanna (Yaziji) of Western and Central Europe has been elected the 139th Primate of the Orthodox Church of Antioch.
His Beatitude Youhanna X, Patriarch of the Great City of God Antioch, Cilicia, Iberia, Mesopotamia and All the East, was born in 1966 in Latakia, Syria. In 1978 he graduated from the St. John of Damascus Orthodox Theological Institute at the Balamand Monastery. In 1983 he earned the degree of Doctor of Theology at the University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk meets with His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew
24. December 2012 - 10:16
On 15 December 2012, the 28th Week after Pentecost, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), visited the Church of St. Nicholas in Istanbul at the invitation of His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. He prayed together with His Holiness at Matins and at the Divine Liturgy celebrated by archimandrite Bessarion (Komzias), the great hierokiriks of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Patriarch Ignatius of Antioch and All East laid to rest in Damascus
12. December 2012 - 10:49
The memorial service for Patriarch Ignatius of Antioch served on Sunday, 9 December 2012, at Saint Nicholas Cathedral church in Beirut
Officiating at the funeral service in the Cathedral of St Nicholas the Wonderworker in Beirut were His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus, and His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Albania. Taking part in the funeral service were also delegations of the Local Orthodox Churches, led by Metropolitan Nicholas of Hermopolis (Patriarchate of Alexandria), Metropolitan Benedict of Philadelphia (Patriarchate of Jerusalem), Metropolitan Stephan of Tsageri and Lentekhi (Patriarchate of Georgia), Bishop Antonije of Moravicí (Serbian Patriarchate), Archbishop Casian of Lower Danube (Romanian Patriarchate), Metropolitan Ioannis of Langadas (Greek Orthodox Church), and Bishop Irénée of Quebec (Orthodox Church in America).
Metropolitan Hilarion offers up prayers for the repose of Patriarch Ignatius
11. December 2012 - 11:59
A delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church led by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), arrived in Beirut on 8 December 2012 with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to attend funeral ceremonies for His Beatitude Ignatius IV, Patriarch of the Great Antioch and All the East. The delegation includes archpriest Nikolai Balashov, DECR deputy chairman; hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), a DECR staff member; and Mr. Leonid Sevastianov, executive director of the St. Gregory the Theologian Charity Foundation.
