As we announced two weeks ago, Orthodoxy in Dialogue is set for a near total (but temporary) suspension of publication at midnight tomorrow, January 31. We hope to be up and running again at full steam no later than late spring or early summer. Among a number of spiritual and practical factors behind this decision is my need to move my doctoral program to the next stage without further delay. I’m “this close” to being ABD. Pray for me!

During our hiatus I will continue to read and respond to emails sent to our editorial address. (I’m the only one with access to the account.) We may publish the occasional article if a topic seems too urgent to defer. Lydia Bringerud has graciously accepted to manage our Facebook group in my absence. Check out the massive list of titles in our Archives by Author, and share your favourite ones widely with your social media contacts.

I’ll probably continue to pop up at the Kyiv Post from time to time.

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If you identify somewhere along the LGBTQ spectrum, don’t let the Church’s shriekers and screamers—including certain priests (you know who you are, Fathers)—get you down. Our tenderhearted Lord, His Most-Pure Mother and ours, and all the saints and angels of heaven love you infinitely more than we can imagine.

And I love you, too. Never hesitate to drop me a line if I can offer you or a loved one a little spiritual support in my inadequacy. I’ll always make time for you. I keep you close to my heart in prayer. Read More

In Ukrainian Autocephaly: An Awkward Spot for the OCA Giacomo Sanfilippo writes:

We would be hard pressed not to see the OCA [Orthodox Church in America] as the handmaiden of the Moscow Patriarchate.

In Ukrainian Autocephaly: What Says the OCA? we wondered how much longer it would take the OCA to respond officially to the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), granted January 5-6, 2019 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate but anticipated well in advance.

Today the OCA has come down firmly on the side of the Kremlin and its Patriarchate.

In the following  Archpastoral Letter—which reads as if it were written by Moscow’s Department for External Church Relations—this stands out most conspicuously:

…the creation by the Patriarchate of Constantinople of an ecclesial body consisting of two schismatic groups, the convening of a ‘Unification Council‘ which recognized these groups as a new and unique body and which also elected for it a Metropolitan for Kyiv, and, most recently, the proclamation of a form of autocephaly for this new body by the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

This suggests that the OCA not only rejects the autocephaly of the OCU, but also communion with the OCU.

We note the tragic irony that, while almost none of the Orthodox Church recognizes the autocephaly of the OCA almost a half-century after its unilateral grant by the Soviet Patriarchate, not one autocephalous Church has broken communion with the OCA. Yet the OCA declines to offer the same compassion to the OCU.

This Archpastoral Letter is rife with so much that is problematic and downright false. Further commentary may follow in the days ahead.

Archpastoral Letter of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America
Concerning the Situation of the Church in Ukraine
January 28, 2019
01/013

January 28, 2019
01/013

To the Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of the Orthodox Church in America,

The Holy Synod of Bishops addresses this archpastoral letter to our flock to provide guidance with respect to current events in world Orthodoxy that may be occasioning questions, confusion, or even scandal within our communities in North America.  The immediate cause of these questions, confusion, and scandal are found in the recent developments that have taken place in Ukraine. A broader cause of confusion and misunderstanding may also be found in the underlying disagreements about ecclesiology, territorial jurisdiction, and canonical principles, which continue to erupt not only with reference to Ukraine but also to other geographic areas. Read More

Orthodoxy in Dialogue is sharing this article with our readers to provide a clear sense of the national security concerns which underlay Ukraine’s relentless quest for the independence of its Church from the Moscow Patriarchate—an ecclesiastical apparatus which has consistently flaunted its relationship of “Byzantine symphonia” with the Kremlin and its imperialist geopolitical aims.

Russia’s war against Ukraine is about to enter its sixth year, but many remain in denial over the true nature of the conflict. There is still widespread international reluctance to acknowledge the global significance of Vladimir Putin’s invasion, leading to a preference for the kind of euphemistic language that blurs the lines between victim and aggressor. This ostrich-like approach to the realities of the new Russian imperialism was on display during German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas’s recent visit to Kyiv, where he called on “all sides to contribute to de-escalation.”

Maas was apparently untroubled by the absurdity of urging Ukraine to de-escalate its own invasion and dismemberment. Indeed, it says much about the current climate that one of Europe’s top diplomats felt comfortable coming to the capital of a country fighting for its life and delivering a lecture on the need for moderation. Read More

Bishop Amvrosios (Lenis) of Kalavryta and Aegialea

Addendum 8/18/19: See Greek Orthodox Bishop Convicted of Hate Speech Resigns.

A Greek Orthodox bishop has been sentenced on appeal to seven months in prison for inciting violence against homosexuals and abuse of his office, Greek media reported Monday.

Bishop Amvrosios, whose [secular] name is Athanasios Lenis, labelled gay people the “dregs of society” and called on his followers to “spit on” and “blacken” them in a written address in 2015.

The 79-year-old cleric had been charged with public incitement to violence and abuse of ecclesiastical duties, but was found not guilty and released by a court in the Peloponnesian town of Aigio in March last year. Read More