The following letter was sent out by the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. We reprint it here to urge Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s readers around the world to sign it. Click the three links to add your name, read the Declaration, and check daily on the updated list of signatures.

The Volos Academy in Greece co-sponsored this project with OCSC.

Dear Friends,
 
In the wake of Vladimir Putin’s unconscionable and horrendously destructive invasion of Ukraine, Orthodox Christians across the globe must face a difficult question: how can a nation whose majority embraces Orthodox Christianity possibly justify attacking and killing the people of a sibling nation, who almost all share the same faith?

How, at the beginning of Great Lent, when our tradition calls us to forgiveness, fasting, and prayer, can Orthodox Christians unleash violence and bloodshed against their brothers and sisters in Christ?
 
The painful truth, but one that we need to confront in this time of repentance, is that our own leadership, and specifically, the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, has developed and promoted a false teaching known as “Russkii Mir” or “Russian World,” providing Mr. Putin with the religious “blank cheque” that underwrites his heinous invasion and annexation of Russia’s peaceful, democratic neighbors: Ukraine. Read More

From the Orthodox Church in America’s Pastoral Changes of January 2022

It seems hardly surprising that the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, whose locum tenens has gone on public record in favour of the slaughter of the Ukrainian people—including women giving birth—and the destruction of their cities, should provide a welcoming home to the OCA priest who gained instant global notoriety for his presence at the deadly January 6, 2021 pro-Trump riot. Read More

Recent vandalism to the exterior of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Due to how the situation has developed over the last few days, the parish council of the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas in Amsterdam made an announcement to the parish. For those of you who do not know, this is the parish Jim Forest belonged to, who was cofounder of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship. The  announcement by the parish council is followed by a letter by the clergy that explains the details. At the same time it gives interesting historical information about the parish.

Also the clergy made a list of answers to possible questions that may arise. These answers again give many interesting details. The letter of the clergy also reveals some more shocking details of what took place during the last few days, some of which were unknown to me until now. I have been so shocked and worried over all this over the last few days, and feel relieved that it has come to this decision. This decision will cause pain, people will leave because of it. And it causes pain to everyone. I am deeply saddened by the fact that the letter is not signed by one of our deacons whom I consider to be a good friend. At the same time, I am proud to be a member of this parish, where I can continue to feel spiritually safe. One of the most poignant phrases in the letter by the clergy for me: There is no longer a persecuted Church, but a persecuting Church. Read More

The present interview by Dmitry Zlodorev was published under News on the official website of the Montreal and Canadian Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia on March 1, 2022. Most appalling is the equivalence Archbishop Gabriel draws between the vandalization of the exterior of a single Russian church in all of Canada and the wholesale slaughter of Ukrainians and their cities—including babies, the disabled, the terminally ill, preteens, teenagers, young adults, mothers and fathers and their children, grandmothers and grandfathers under the Moscow Patriarchate .

Archbishop Gabriel serves as ROCOR’s locum tenens during the illness of Metropolitan Hilarion. Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s readers will recall +Gabriel’s bizarre interview with anti-Semite Nathanael Kapner, who was condemned by ROCOR’s Synod of Bishops at a time when +Gabriel was already a bishop and member of the Synod.

You may share your thoughts on this interview with Archbishop Gabriel at bp_gabriel@yahoo.com. 

ADDENDUM 3/14/22: An attentive reader has brought to our attention that this interview vanished mysteriously from the diocesan website within days of Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s broadcasting it around the world. Someone might want to inform His Eminence that it can still be found on the Wayback Machine.

Archbishop Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Montreal and Canada (ROCOR)

In Canada, where, as is known, there is a very large Ukrainian diaspora, against the backdrop of new events in Ukraine, one temple of the Russian Church Abroad was subjected to an act of vandalism, and a protest action was held next to another during the liturgy. But, according to Archbishop Gabriel (Chemodakov) of Montreal and Canada, the Church must unite people in the name of Christ and call for overcoming divisions.

—Vladyka, how does the Russian Church in Canada feel about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine?

– I think it is common knowledge that there are many Ukrainians living in Canada, many of whom came here before the 1917 revolution. There is, I would say, an influential Ukrainian lobby in parliament, and this is why we need to be extremely careful in our assessments of what is happening now. Read More