Eastern Orthodox Christianity 2.0

Ta Criost aiseirithe!  Aiseirithe go fior!
This links to discussion of their 2007 pilgrimage, but FWIU they’re planning one for 2008 also.  Wish I had the moola, because it sounds well-grounded, much better than other “Celtic spirituality pilgrimages” there!  (What else to expect from Orthodoxy?!!)  $1300.00 US plus airfare - Ouch!
In any case, it seems you [...]

Because Gregory raised the issue that was certainly in the back (or front!) of many other people’s minds about there now being two jurisdictions working in The Philippines, I’m pleased to offer more details that have become available from a priest in Australia (third-hand … or fourth? … from another web forum):
What is happening in [...]

For Lenten almsgiving, consider the following:
Metropolitan Archbishop PAUL of the Antiochian Archdiocese of Australia and New Zealand, in announcing the reception of the 6,000 in the Philippines on their website, requested donations to help with things there. He listed a bank account number for wire transfers, but in case those are costly for you internationally, I [...]

The Antiochian Archdiocese in Australia has recently announced it expects to receive into its ranks members and prospective clergy from two denominations in The Philippines, who a Wiki author reports to number approximately 6,000 in 35 congregations / missions (link probably won’t last forever).  They’ve already got an interesting English-language website for mission in that [...]

…has been key to the growth of the Faith in Indonesia, as illustrated by one of the newer converts and priests there in this interview with Orthodox.cn, the Chinese Orthodox website.

“Martin Luther once remarked that he believed the pure Faith of primitive Christianity is to be found in the Orthodox Church,” according to this very informative UK site on Orthodoxy.  I’ve also read that some early Lutheran leaders in Germany corresponded with a Patriarch of Constantinople over a number of years.  But in the end, [...]

The main meaning of the Greek verb baptizo, from which the English word baptism is ultimately derived (as Mr. Portokalos advised us!), is to dip, as in water.
Christianity as such didn’t invent the practice of dipping converts in water.  The Old Testament Church sometimes baptized proselytes, and so did some other Near Eastern religions.  But dipping [...]

Archimandrite Sebastian (Dabovich) (1863-1940) was the first person ordained to the Orthodox priesthood who had been born in what was, at the time of his birth, United States territory, to wit, San Francisco, California, the son of Serbian immigrants.*  He was one of the pioneers in the service of the Moscow Patriarchate to Orthodox immigrants of many ethnic backgrounds in [...]

has a website!  They’re an Orthodox, largely-African-American fellowship with a mission:
“The Brotherhood of St Moses the Black is a pan-Orthodox nonprofit organization. Its mission is to minister to Americans the gift of Orthodoxy. In an effort to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God (I Peter 4:10), the organization presents an annual conference that targets those [...]

A knowledgeable, intelligent working-class layperson I know in the Latin Church, even a product of parochial schools, even arguably in the Latin Church’s most conservative jurisdiction, who hasn’t been to Mass much since it was translated into English, was shocked to learn that her Church teaches that God’s Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son, [...]

According to their parish webpage at oca.org (scroll to bottom section), he appeared in a dream to several leaders.  How cool is that!  More details are on their own website.  (I guess they can’t work this into the movie!!)
Looks like they need help renovating, too, I imagine because the wet southern-Alaska coast weather is murder on [...]

Some personal reflections by that same blogger, a (non-Orthodox) Christian living in the Mideast, sound interesting.
Regarding charity, I know International Orthodox Christian Charities is active in Kosovo, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon (among other places), helping folks without regard for religion.  And even much of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center’s work, for instance in [...]

The interview, conducted by email by a magazine, is mostly reproduced by another blogger here, though he re-posted it in installments, so start with Number One at the bottom of the page and work your way back up.
I might offer for clarification, first, that there have been several more-or-less intensive missionary periods in Orthodox Church history:

the first [...]

(Polished and expanded a little on 18 January 2008.)
How can Orthodoxy possibly dovetail with liberal Roman Catholicism?

Collegiality and conciliarity; no Papal Infallibility. While the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has some very supportive supporters, he’s really not supposed to be a worldwide ecclesiastical autocrat, merely “first among equals” among the bishops of the Orthodox Church, permanent [...]

A book of Orthodox feast-day traditions characterizes today, the 50th day after Holy Pascha, as follows (emphasis added):
On the day corresponding to this day of salvation, the day of Pentecost, the Savior’s Apostles, who were suddenly instructed by the coming of the Holy Spirit, became possessors of the greatest wisdom and spoke clearly about heavenly [...]