Statements

Western American Diocese: Press release regarding Father Daniel MacKay

Statement from the Western American Diocese Regarding the Arrest of Father Daniel MacKay

Alhambra, CA – The Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church has been informed that Father Daniel J. MacKay, age 42, was arrested on Wednesday, October 12, 2016, in Lane County, Oregon. Father Daniel was contacted by police and arrested on charges stemming from allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor and possession of a controlled substance. While the criminal proceedings are pending and until the conclusion of ecclesiastical proceedings, Father Daniel will be suspended from all pastoral duties to which he was assigned.

The Serbian Patriarch sends condolences concerning the devastating earthquake in Italy

President of the Republic of Italy
Mr. SERGIO MATTARELLA
Rome – Italy

Honorable Mr. President,

We are deeply shocked by the news on the devastating earthquake which struck Italy all of a sudden. The hearts of thousands of relatives bear indelible scars due to a huge number of the deceased, the injured and the missing ones.

On the behalf of the fullness of the Serbian Orthodox Church and on Our own behalf, please accept sincere condolences on the pain of the families of the tragically deceased and the heavily injured in this extraordinary tragedy.

To You personally and to all the people who have been entrusted to You, the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian people, with sorrow in the heart, send our sincere prayerful wishes and moral support for the fast recovery and spiritual consolation in these hard times of the disaster.

We pray to the God to grant  repose of the souls to all the tragically perished, fast recovery to the injured, and consolationto the relatives for their pain, and that the Italian people may overcome  the present diffuculties.

SERBIAN PATRIARCH

***

His Excellency
Mr. GIUSEPPE MANZO
Ambassador of the Republic of Italy
Belgrade

Your Excellency,

On behalf of the Serbian Orthodox people and on Our own behalf, please accept Our deep and sincere condolence on the occasion of the tragedy that struck the Republic of Italy – a devastating earthquake which took a huge number of human lives and caused material damages across your beautiful country.

Sincerely sharing the pain with the people of Italy, we pray to God the  Merciful One that the appaling sufferings come to an end, and that the missing persons be found safe so that they may return to the embrace of their closest ones.

We use this opportunity to request Your Excellency that Our letter of condolence, sent to the President of the Republic of Italy – Mr. Sergio Mattarella, be kindly forwarded to His Excellency the President.

Sincerely Yours,

SERBIAN PATRIARCH

Encyclical of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church

ENCYCLICAL OF THE HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Crete 2016

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

With a hymn of thanksgiving, we praise and worship God in Trinity, who has enabled us to gather together during the days of the feast of Pentecost here on the island of Crete, which has been sanctified by St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, and his disciple Titus, his “true son in the common faith” (Tit 1.4), and, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to conclude the sessions of this Holy and Great Council of our Orthodox Church – convened by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, by the common will of Their Beatitudes the Primates of the most holy Orthodox Churches – for the glory of His most holy Name and for the great blessing of His people and of the whole world, confessing with the divine Paul: “Let people then regard us thus: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor 4.1).

The Serbian Patriarch sends condolences concerning the tragic events in Istanbul

On the occasion of the tragic events in Istanbul, during which dozens of innocent victims suffered, His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch, sent sincere condolences to His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey.

Telegram of condolences to His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew:

Your All-Holiness,

On the occasion of the tragedy at the airport in Istanbul, that took many lives, please accept Our sincere condolences.

Serbian Patriarch Irinej

***

Communiqué

THE HOLY SYNOD OF BISHOPS OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Syn. No. 840

15th June 2016

C O M M U N I Q U E

In brotherly love, while with responsibility and hopes preparing for the participation in the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, which, God willing, is to be held at the Orthodox Academy at Crete around the Pentecost, from 17 until 26 June 2016, the Holy Synod of Bishops in its broader composition at its session held at the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade, on June 15, 2016, regarding the situation created after the ordinary  convocation of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church,  passes the following decision:

First of all, having in mind the importance and significance of the Council, our Church wants, in a spirit of ecclesial upbuilding, to contribute in the way that also this Holy and Great Council fulfills criteria and the measure of true Councils in the history of the Orthodox Church and justifies its title.

On the other hand, our Church requests that problems and matters not only of the Serbian Orthodox Church, but also of the other most Holy Churches that cancelled their participation in the Council, be considered at that Council.

With this aim in mind, the Holy and Great Council should last as long as these questions have not been considered, and it cannot be a hostage of in advance layed out and accepted rules. Exclusively with the full consensus the Council can be considered as Holy and Great Council.

At last, our Church insists that the gathering on the island of Crete be a beginning of a Conciliar process, that the matters in question should be solved during its working process, but in the spirit of synodic tradition of the Church of Christ.

In case that the Churches present at the Council, with the Ecumenical Patriarchate at head, persist in the position that the absent Churches without a real reason boycott the work of the Council, and in case that the already present Churches reject to take into consideration all the matters in question, problems and disagreements, the representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church at the Council will be, regretfully, forced to leave the sessions of that Council and in that way join the Churches that are already absent.

This is by no means a threat or ransom, but a consequent implementation of the position and decisions of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church held in May 2016.

In the spirit of our ecclesial and pastoral responsibility, we present these positions hoping in the illuminating action of the All-Holy Spirit.

Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade - Karlovci
and Serbian Patriarch
President of the Holy Assembly of Bishops
sign.   I R I N E J

Communique of the Holy Assembly of Bishops

Communique of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church held in Belgrade May 14-25, 2016

The regular meeting of the Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church began at the Patriarchate of Pec monastery with the joint serving of the holy hierarchical Divine Liturgy and the invocation of the Holy Spirit and continued in Prizren with the rite of consecration of the renovated Prizren Seminary. Afterward, all regular meetings, under the presidency of His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irinej, were held in Belgrade. Participating in the Assembly were all diocesan hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church with the exception of Bishop Lavrentije of Sabac who, out of justifiable reasons, was not able to attend.

The most important theme of this year’s Assembly was preparation of the Serbian Orthodox Church to take part in the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, to meet this June in Crete. Regarding this forthcoming pan Orthodox Council, the Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, adopted a document expressing their principle position on all major issues to be discussed and decided upon at the Great Council.