Orthodox Churches

Enthronement of Metropolitan Tikhon of All America and Canada

On January 27, 2013, His Beatitude Tikhon, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, was enthroned as the 6th Primate of the Orthodox Church in America elected on November 13, 2012 at the 17th All-American Council in Parma, Ohio. The enthronement took place at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Washington.

Monks from Vatopedi Monastery visit Ecumenical Patriarch

On Saturday, January 26, 2013, His All-Holiness received Monks Evdokimos and Barnabas from the Sacred Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery of Vatopedi on Mt. Athos. The Monks submitted to the Ecumenical Patriarch a special volume (with essays and photographs) dedicated to 25th Anniversary since the establishment of the current Brotherhood at Vatopedi Monastery .

Source: Patriarchate.org

Patriarch-Catholicos Ilia II of All Georgia visits St. Sergius’ Laura of the Trinity and Moscow Theological Schools

His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II, Patriarch-Catholicos of All Georgia, and the delegation of the Georgian Orthodox Church visited St. Sergius Laura of the Trinity. They were accompanied by Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, head of the Office for Institutions Abroad, Archimandrite Vakhtang of the St. George’s Church in Moscow, and Rev. Mikhail Bogdanov, Department for External Church relations.

Primates of Russian and Georgian Orthodox Churches meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin

On 23 January 2013, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation, at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow, met with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and with His Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch Iliya II of All Georgia who had been awarded the IFUOCN prize “For Special Services in Strengthening Fraternal Ties between Orthodox Nations and Churches.”

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with Primate of Georgian Orthodox Church

On 21 January 2013, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos-Patriarch Iliya II of All Georgia and with the delegation of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The meeting took place at the Patriarchal residence in St. Daniel Monastery.

Meeting His Holiness and Beatitude Iliya II at the entrance to the residence were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR); Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Secretariat; archpriest Nikolai Balashov, DECR deputy chairman; and archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR secretary for inter-Orthodox relations.

Thessaloniki declares 2013 the Year of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Enlighteners of the Slavs

The year 2013 in Thessaloniki, Greece will be devoted to Saints Cyril and Methodius, Enlighteners of the Slavic nations, reports "Romfeya."  The decision to celebrate the memory of the enlighteners of the Slavs in their native city was made in connection with the 1150th anniversary of their chief missionary feat - making the first Slavic alphabet in 863.

A large international symposium is planned to be held in Thessaloniki  -- probably in the second quarter of 2013.  Paralleling the  Symposium Thessaloniki 's Municipality is planning to organize an exhibition about the missionary work of the Thessalonican brothers and their era. The exhibition is expected to last until 2014; not only residents of Greece, but also those of countries visited by the missionary brothers, Enlighteners of the Slavs,: Serbia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia will have a chance to become acquainted with the exhibit.