Orthodox Churches

Romanian Church rejects single-use spoons for Communion even in time of pandemic

The Romanian Orthodox faithful were blessed to begin attending open-air services on Friday, May 15, following a period of quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In preparation for the return, the Church issued guidelines “regarding the access of Orthodox believers to places of worship and cemeteries, and their participation in divine services.”

Priests process through Tbilisi on Family Purity Day

Every year on May 17, the Georgian Orthodox Church celebrates Family Purity Day, traditionally with a large procession through the streets of Tbilisi.

Sumela monastery is expected to reopen at the end of June

The Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, is optimistic that the historic Sumela Monastery will reopen, referring to the restoration and field work of the historic monastery, which has lasted almost five years. The monastery is about to reopen this year on August 15, the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God.

Nationwide Approach for Staged Reopening of Churches

“Feed My Lambs”

To the Orthodox Christian Faithful of the United States of America:

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

In this time of global pandemic, the majority of the Faithful of our Churches have been withheld from receiving Holy Communion and attending Divine Services in order to safeguard their health and the health of others. We, the Hierarchs of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA, are taking action to restore the possibility of Holy Eucharist to the “lambs” of Christ, in accordance with His word.

Metropolitan Hilarion comments on the situation with the arrest of Bishop Joanikije of Budimlye-Niksic and seven clergymen in Montenegro

In his comment to RIA Novosti news agency, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, expressed the position of the Russian Orthodox Church concerning the arrest in Montenegro of Bishop Joanikije of Budimlye-Niksic and seven clergymen from the cathedral in the city of Niksic. The archpastor noted:

The Russian Orthodox Church is deeply alarmed by the news of the arrest of Bishop Joanikije of Budimlye-Niksic and seven clergymen from the cathedral in Niksic by the Montenegrin police for up to three days, as well as by the incoming information about degrading treatment of Orthodox clergy.

His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia, the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Episcopal Council in Montenegro issued an appeal for the soonest release of the detainees. We express our full support for this appeal, as well as for an appeal for constructive dialogue between the authorities of Montenegro and the supreme authority of the Orthodox Church in this country. It is only such dialogue that can help re-establish civil peace and accord in society, undermined by a series of manifestations of unfriendly attitude towards the Serbian Orthodox Church. Suffice it to remind that in the end of last year the Parliament of Montenegro adopted an undoubtedly discriminatory law “On the Freedom of Religion or Beliefs and Legal Status of Religious Communities.”

A proper assessment of this document was immediately given by the Russian Orthodox Church in the Patriarchal and Synodal Message Concerning the Situation in Montenegro.

Source: mospat.ru

New church to be built by Metropolis of Zambia

On May 13, 2020, on the Feast of Mid-Pentecost, Metropolitan Ioannis of Zambia traveled to northern Zambia where he performed the blessing of waters on the banks of the Kafue River in Mufulira and laid the foundation stone and blessed the construction of the Church of St. Georgios.