December 1, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Byzantine Christianity, Byzantine Church, Christianity, church, church unity, conversion, diaspora, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, emigration, ethnic religion, faith, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Greek Christianity, Greek Orthodox Christianity, Greek Orthodoxy, history of Christianity, immigrant churches, immigrant ministry, immigration, migration, mission, missions, most segregated hour in America, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox mission, Orthodox Unity, orthodoxy, proselytism, religion, sociology of religion, U.S. church history
Weighty possibilities I haven’t come across before for the phenomenon — reportedly not rare — of Orthodox clergy who seem reluctant to receive a convert, especially in the Western world, are presented by a Greek priest in Australia. (NB: I’ve never heard of a language requirement before.)
His piece reminds us that most Orthodox didn’t come to [...]
November 14, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: archbishops, bishops, Buffalo (NY), Christianity, Christmas, church, church history, culture, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church, Eastern church history, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Greek Orthodoxy, history, legends, movies, mythos, myths, Nativity, Nicholas of Myra, Orthodox Catholic Church, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox church history, orthodoxy, popular culture, publicity, religion, Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, western New York
November 14, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: orthodoxy, Orthodox Christianity, Eastern Christianity, Christianity, religion, Eastern Orthodoxy, Orthodox Church, church, spirituality, Eastern Church, Christian spirituality, eastern religion, Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox Eastern Church, classes, online classes, Orthodoxy 101, introductory classes, 101 classes, introduction to Orthodoxy, introduction to Orthodox Christianity, introduction to Christianity, classes in Christianity, religion classes, Eastern spirituality, Moodle classes, Connecticut, Stratford, Bridgeport, Milford, Fairfield, Trumbull, Westport, Orange, Norwalk, New Haven, fairfield county, Carpatho-Russian Orthodoxy
…begins this Monday, November 16, at 7pm Eastern Time (U.S.), from a Connecticut parish of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese (Patriarchate of Constantinople). It’s free, but Moodle, so you have to sign-up in advance to access it; you also need an email address to confirm your registration. It’ll webcast live for 7 Monday nights in [...]
October 27, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: bishops, Christianity, church denominations, church history, church jurisdictions, church patriarchates, church patriarchs, church provinces, churches, denominations, dioceses, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church, Eastern ecclesiology, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, ecclesiastical provinces, ecclesiology, ecumenical councils, ecumenical synods, eparchies, great and holy council, history of Christianity, holy great council, Holy Spirit, jurisdiction, omophorion, Orthodox bishops, Orthodox Catholic Church, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox dioceses, Orthodox Eastern Church, Orthodox ecclesiology, Orthodox jurisdictions, orthodoxy, patriarchs, religion, theology of church
As commonly used in reference to Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholicism – broadly considered (I can’t speak about other Churches) — in the Western world, the informal noun jurisdiction seems to indicate a particular ethnic, national, and/or patriarchate’s Church in a given country, region, or continent(s) … considered a part of The One Single Orthodox Church [or "The [...]
July 24, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: archbishops, autocephalous churches, autocephaly, autonomous churches, bishops, bishops' conferences, Catholicism, chief bishops, church dialogue, church history, church organization, church polity, church primates, conference of catholic bishops, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, ecumenical dialogue, ecumenism, episcopacy, episcopate, first among equals, hierarchs, hierarchy, Latin Patriarchs, metropolitan archbishops, metropolitans, national churches, Orthodox bishops, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox church history, Orthodox Church polity, Orthodox Eastern Church, Orthodox patriarchates, Orthodox patriarchs, orthodoxy, papal claims, Patriarch of the West, patriarchal structures, patriarchates, patriarchs, Pentarchy, pope, Pope of the Universal Church, popes, presiding bishops, primacy, primates, primatial sees, protos, provinces, regional church, Roman Catholicism, Rome, titular patriarchs, universal bishop, universal jurisdiction
(Take One is here, where I ran off at the mouth for a while!)
Patriarch is one possible title for the presiding bishop or primate of a region of The Orthodox Church comprising a number of bishoprics, and/or even a number of smaller such regions. Currently the other two possible titles are Metropolitan or Archbishop, although [...]
July 16, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: orthodoxy, Orthodox Christianity, Eastern Christianity, Russian Orthodoxy, church history, Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Orthodox Church, Eastern Church, Australia, ROCOR, ROCA, Russian Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, indigenous peoples, Irish Orthodox, Orthodox missions, Aboriginal missions, Indigenous Orthodoxy, Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, St John Maximovitch, Aboriginal peoples, Aborigines, Aboriginal Australians, Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, St Declan, County Waterford, Irish Christianity, Metropolitan Hilarion Kapral
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) has recently launched an Aboriginal Australian mission in Gunning, New South Wales, near an Aboriginal community north of Canberra, the capital of that Commonwealth. The parish has been named for one of the Saints who has shined forth here in North America (and around the world, really!), [...]
March 2, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christianity, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Greek Orthodox, Greek Orthodoxy, Jewish Orthodoxy, Jewish saints, Judaism, King David, King Solomon, non-Christian saints, Old Testament saints, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox Jewish, orthodoxy, pre-Christian saints, religion, Russian Orthodox, Russian Orthodoxy
January 28, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: bishops, Bolshevik Revolution, canon law, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Christianity, church, Church canons, church history, church polity, College of Cardinals, Communism, early Christianity, early church, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church, Eastern church history, Eastern church polity, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Great Patriotic War, history of Christianity, Latin Church, Latin Rite, locum tenens, locum tenentes, martyrdom, martyrs, Moscow Patriarchate, Orthodox bishops, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox church history, Orthodox Church polity, Orthodox patriarchates, Orthodox patriarchs, orthodoxy, papacy, Patriarch of Moscow, Patriarch of Russia, Patriarchate of Moscow, Pope of Rome, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Russian church, Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodoxy, Russian patriarchate, sede vacante, Soviet Union, spiritual guidance, spirituality, St. Peter of Krutitsy, St. Tikhon of Moscow, theology, USSR, Vatican, World War 2, World War II, World War Two
It’s being noted in news coverage that Moscow Patriarch-elect KYRILL was “Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne” since shortly after the repose of Patriarch ALEXEI. This concept is not unknown in Western Christianity … in fact, locum tenens is the traditional Latin-language term whose Greek or Slavonic counterpart I do not know, but seems commonly [...]
December 21, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christianity, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, icons, icons of saints, medieval saints, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox icons, orthodoxy, religion, religious icons, religious images, saints, Western Orthodox saints, Western Orthodoxy, Western saints
I just learned of the demise last year of the Milan Synod’s St. Hilarion Monastery in Texas, and of their website, odox.net. This group was not in communion with the Orthodox Church, but the Wayback Machine seems to have stored at least their images of Western Saints icons, which I have always found edifying.
May 15, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christianity, customs, Easter, Easter eggs, Eastern Chritianity, Eastern Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Mary Magdalene, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, Pascha, religion, tradition
Ta Criost aiseirithe!
Red ones are! (Link will break eventually.) Here’s why.
March 10, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: church history, church union, Constantinople, East-West Schism, Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholicism, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, ecumenism, Great Schism, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, papacy, pope, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Rome, schism, tradition, Uniates, Uniatism, Uniats
(Opinion Alert: Just a few ruminations.)
Was it an accident that Rome and Constantinople’s break in communion of 1054 became permanent? Like I’ve said, there were previous ones. Doctrinal divergence? Even this hadn’t prevented patching-up differences previously. And between 1054 and 1453 there were several attempts to do so again. The last one actually resulted in [...]
