Orthodox Churches

The Memory of St. Vladimir the Great Celebrated in Sofia

On October 10, 2015 a conference dedicated to the memory of Equal-to-the-Apostles St. Vladimir the Great with the blessings of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and His Holiness Patriarch Neophytos of Bulgaria, reports the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations.

The conference, organized by the Russian representative church in Sofia, was attended by the Bulgarian Patriarch, as well as Bulgarian, Russian, and Ukrainian Church hierarchs, foreign diplomats and members of theological and scholarly circles.

The 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conference begins

On October 11, 2015, the 5^th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conference was opened at the Orthodox Center of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Chambesy near Geneva. It is chaired by Metropolitan John of Pergamon, Patriarchate of Constantinople.

His Grace Metropolitan Jeremiah of Switzerland officiated the Holy Liturgy in the church of Saint Paul the Apostle. He was concelebrated by representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches. The working session began on Monday, October 12th, 2015. By the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops, the Serbian Orthodox Church is represented at this conference by His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral, His Grace Bishop Irinej of Backa and protopresbyter Gajo Gajic.

Concert in Commemoration of victim of the World War II

  On October 8, 2015, a charity concert ‘Benjamin Britten. War Requiem’ to commemorate the victims of World War II’ took place at the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire Grand Hall in Moscow.

Among the numerous listeners were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, Mr. Vygaudas Usackas, head of the EU Delegation in Moscow, and representatives of the diplomatic corps.

Celebrations marking commemoration day of St Sergius of Radonezh begin in the Holy Trinity and St Sergius Laura

On 7 October 2015, the celebrations marking the blessed demise of St Sergius, Hegumen of Radonezh and Wonderworker of All Russia, began in the Laura of the Holy Trinity and St Sergius.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated Small Vespers and read the Akathist to St Sergius in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. Among those who were concelebrating with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church were Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna; Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, head of the Central Asia metropolitan area; Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Metropolitan Pavel of Minsk and Zaslavl, Patriarchal Exarch for all Belarus; Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate; Archbishop Yevgeny of Vereya, chairman of the Education Committee, rector of the Moscow theological schools; Archbishop Feognost of Sergiyev Posad, abbot of the Holy Trinity and St Sergius Laura, chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism; Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Administrative Secretariat; Bishop Savva of Voskresensk, abbot of the Novospassky Stavropegic Monastery; Archimandrite Alexy (Polikarpov), abbot of St Daniel’s Stavropegic Monastery; Archimandrite Porfiry (Shutov), abbot of the Holy Transfiguration Stavropegic Monastery in Solovki; and other clergymen.

Archaeologist Discovers Early Byzantine Basilica In "Frankish Quarter" of Medieval Bulgarian Capital Tarnovgrad

An Early Byzantine Christian basilica has been discovered during archaeological excavations the city of Veliko Tarnovo in Northern Bulgaria, southeast of the fortress wall of the Tsarevets Hill Fortress, in the so called Frenkhisar, or the “Frankish Quarter”, of Tarnovgrad, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396 AD).

The ruins of the previously unknown Christian temple from the early period of the Byzantine Empirehave been found by the team of Prof. Hitko Vachev from the Veliko Tarnovo Regional Museum of History.

Patriarchal Divine Liturgy in Germiston, South Africa

On Saturday 3rd October 2015, His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, to attend the start of the new Parliamentary Period of the plenary session of the Pan-African Parliament.