What’s a Patriarch, Take Two

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 [...]

What’s a Patriarch?

January 27, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: bishops, Byzantine theology, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Christianity, church councils, church elections, church governance, church jurisdiction, church organization, church patriarchs, church polity, church primates, church unity, collaborative ministry, collegiality, conciliarism, conciliarity, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern patriarchs, eastern religion, Eastern theology, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, episcopacy, episcopal churches, first among equals, Greek Church, Greek Orthodox, greek orthodox church, Greek Orthodoxy, High Church, High Churches, holy tradition, honorary seniority, icons, ikons, Metropolitan Kyrill, miracles, miraculous icons, modern church councils, Moscow Patriarchate, myrrh, myrrh-streaming icons, national churches, Orthodox bishops, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox church councils, Orthodox Church polity, Orthodox Churches, Orthodox theology, Orthodox Tradition, orthodoxy, papacy, papal claims, Patriarch of Alexandria, Patriarch of the West, patriarchal election, patriarchal structures, Patriarchate of Alexandria, Patriarchate of Moscow, Patriarchate of Russia, patriarchs, Petrine ministry, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope of Alexandria, primacy, primates, religion, religious icons, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Rome, Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodoxy, Russian patriarchate, sobornost, synodal church government, synodality, theology

if you’ll permit me, I’ll start off by saying that an Orthodox Patriarch is not normally a “little Pope” whose word is law among those whose Patriarch he is.

Orthodoxy on CBS-TV tonight (Mon., early AM Tues.)

September 30, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christianity, Constantinople, Craig Ferguson, CSI, Eastern Orthodoxy, Greek Orthodoxy, media, Melina Kanakaredes, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, pope, religion, Rome, TV

If the CBS Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson hasn’t aired in your market yet, or if you have access to the West Coast feed, Melina Kanakaredes (there to plug CSI) spends her whole 7 minutes explaining to Craig about Orthodoxy and how she was part of the delegation that met with the Pope of [...]

Dating Easter III: The joke’s on me!

May 13, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: astrology, astronomy, Byzantine, Byzantium, calendars, canonization, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Christianity, computer analogies, computer programs, computers, computus, Divine Liturgy, Easter, Eastern Catholic Church, Eastern Catholicism, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Eucharist, fasts, feast days, glorification, Gregorian Calendar, High Church, Holidays, holydays, Hours, Julian Calendar, Latin Christianity, Latin Church, liturgical reform, liturgy, Liturgy of the Hours, medieval, Middle Ages, name-day, New Calendar, nonviolence, nonviolent resistance, Old Calendar, order of worship, Ordinarius, ordo, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, Pascha, paschalion, religion, Revised Julian Calendar, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Rome, saints, science, seasons, Second Vatican Council, slava, snow, software, Southern Hemisphere, tradition, Tridentine Mass, Typicon, Typikon, Unia, Uniates, Uniatism, Uniats, Vatican II, weather, Western Christianity, worship

Christ is Risen!  Indeed He is Risen!
Yes, on the Third Monday of Pascha yesterday morning – May 12 (NS)! - some snow stuck to the ground in higher elevations of southwestern Pennsylvania (link may break), the Commonwealth where I and alot of other Orthodox live!
This discussion goes back to my recent post occasioned by the (Western) Good [...]

Orthodox Iconography in Italy

March 15, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: art, basilicas, Blessed Mother, cathedrals, Catholicism, Christianity, deification, Divine Light, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, glorification, iconoclasm, iconography, icons, images, Italy, Mary, miracles, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, painting, religion, Roman Catholicism, Rome, saints, salvation, theology, Theosis, Theotokos, Uncreated Light, Western Orthodoxy

Italy’s former Orthodoxy is attested by the ancient icons and Greek icon-style murals and mosaics to be found in many old Latin churches there to this day.  Rome itself has at least one icon said to have been painted by St. Luke the Evangelist (like a few in Orthodox hands, or rather, graced to Orthodox [...]

New sins?

March 11, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: orthodoxy, Eastern Christianity, Catholicism, Christianity, religion, salvation, Eastern Orthodoxy, sin, repentance, Rome, Theosis, Divinization, Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church, glorification, perfection, Vatican, confession, sacraments, forgiveness, deification, scrupulosity, scrupulous conscience, OCPD, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, spiritual guidance, media, news, journalism, conscience, social sin, structural evil

OK, OK, now that we’ve all had a laugh over a Vatican bureaucrat-archbishop’s politically-correct-sounding interview, first things first: what he was really about (Latin perspective).  For further background, from other sources on the WWW, I gather that what he was doing in the first place was providing advice to priest-confessors / spiritual directors in the [...]

The Accidental Schism?

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 [...]

January 12: St. Tatiana of Rome, Deaconess and Martyr

January 1, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Italy, Rome, Western Orthodoxy

Yes, Rome, not Russia. I don’t know why her name is exclusively associated with the latter today!

Doctrine and the Church, including but not limited to the Papacy of Rome

September 24, 2007 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Catholic Church, Catholicism, catholicity, Christianity, church history, church polity, conciliarism, conciliarity, doctrine, Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, ecclesiology, local church, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, papacy, Philip Sherrard, pope, prelest, Protestantism, Quakerism, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Rome, Russia, sobornost, spirituality, theology, Uniates, Uniatism, Uniats, Western Christianity

The blogger from the previous post, Mr. Brooks Lampe in the Washington, DC, area, here tackles some heavy stuff, without it coming across too heavy! He’s reporting and reflecting mostly on a book by Philip Sherrard, whose writing can be extremely dense – well-planned, well-packed, making for downright oppressive reading, like much philosophy can be [...]

"You are Peter…."

July 1, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: apostolic succession, Bible, Catholicism, Christendom, Christianity, church history, churches, conciliarism, conciliarity, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, first among equals, glorification, Great Schism, Holy Spirit, infallibility, John 16:13, Matthew 18:18, Matthew 6:13-19, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, orthodoxy, papacy, patriarchates, pope, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Rome, salvation, Scripture, sobornost, spirituality, St. Peter, theology, Theosis, Western Christendom, Western Christianity, Western Church

Yesterday was the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Apostles. The Gospel reading for Divine Liturgy was Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi, Matthew 16:13-19 (here, from the NAB).
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When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
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They replied, “Some say [...]