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To All Patriarchs, Metropolitans, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Orthodox Church

Our Masters, Archpastors, and Shepherds in Christ

As Bright Week draws to a close, I greet each and every one of you with the joyous proclamation of the triumphant resurrection of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ from the dead:

Christ is risen! Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! Хрїстосъ воскресе! Христос воскрес! Hristos a înviat!

!المسيح قام ქრისტე აღსდგა!

May your hearts be filled with the Uncreated Light shining forth from the grave, for Christ is risen, and death has lost its sting! Christ is risen, and Hell is no more victorious! Christ is risen, and Hell is overthrown! Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen! Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life reigns! Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave! For Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen. Read More

Archpriest George Kovalenko

Ukrainian peace activist and hero

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One morning a few weeks ago, I was awoken at 4:00 a.m. with an urgent message from a priest in Russia: their anti-war activities had put them on the radar of “Center E,” a secret police inside Russia which investigates religious extremism and terrorism. Arrest and imprisonment was a real possibility, a frightening prospect given the many accusations of torture inside Russia’s prisons.

This priest is a friend of mine, and a good man who wished harm on no one. However, in Russia it is illegal to oppose the war, with fines of up to $45,000 and prison sentences of up to fifteen years. Russia had outlawed the seventh beatitude, which blessed the peacemakers. Read More

A senior priest of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) informs Orthodoxy in Dialogue that the Holy Synod is preparing to release a document which states, in part:

We believe the human being is created as a psychosomatic unity. The body therefore is not a mere accessory to the soul, but definitive of the person together with the soul. We consequently reject utterly its mutilation in the service of a perceived mismatch of gender; neither, sadly, can we in conscience admit to the holy Chalice any who, unrepentant, are or have been engaged this process. Read More

For context see A Declaration on the “Russian World” (Russkii Mir) Teaching.

Archimandrite Dr. Cyril Hovorun receives Statement of Solidarity

University Church, Oxford University

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Last week, the Oxford conference “Christian Identity in National, Transnational, and Local Space” recreated the spirit of the ecumenical Oxford Life and Work conference of 1937. At that time, ecumenical voices sought to articulate Christian responses to the rise of Nazism and Soviet totalitarianism. The conference was one of the most important moments in the history of the World Council of Churches, and within Oxford, it inspired eminent scholars to continue conversations about Christianity, state, and society — also known as “The Moot” (1938-1944), under the leadership of J.H. Oldham. 

This past week, the Protestant Political Thought project (University of Oxford) convened scholars from across and beyond Christian traditions — including Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic — to discuss the danger associated with the political ideologization of the russkii mir (“Russian world”): the idea that there is a transnational and holy unity of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarussian peoples. The ideology of the russkii mir declares a particular civilisation holy and identifies it with “the good” — and it casts its ideological and political others to be the evil forces, even in the language of the apocalypse. This ideology has its critics within the international Orthodox community, some of whom raised their voice in the Barmenesque declaration on the russkii mir teaching.  Read More