In his The Ordination of Archdeaconess Angelic-Phoebe Molen of May 25, 2024,  editor Giacomo Sanfilippo writes,

[The Patriarchate of] Alexandria has restored or renewed nothing.  […] The creation of a new diaconal order, as I call it, unprecedented in Orthodox history or Tradition, seems to me an unfortunate unilateral move without extensive consultation among all the Patriarchates. […] [The Patriarchate of] Alexandria’s decision to ordain Sister Angelic casts into stark relief what is perhaps the most divisive question in contemporary Orthodoxy, to whit, the intersection of Holy Tradition and historical precedent.

A member hierarch of the Holy Synod of Alexandria sent us the following important correction this morning.

Metropolitan Seraphim (Kykotis) of Zimbabwe

I read your article on the issue of the deaconess and agree with it on many points. I merely wish to point out that the ordination, together with its canonical issues, was not a decision of the Alexandrian Patriarchate, its Primate, or its Synod, but rather a unilateral one by Metropolitan Seraphim. It caught us all by surprise. Read More

My beloved LGBTQ Orthodox brothers, sisters, and siblings in Christ,

On this, the last day of Pride Month, I greet each of you with the joyful proclamation:

God is with us! If God is for us, who is against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? For we are sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord! 

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St. Phoebe the Deaconess

The ordination of Sister Angelic Molen to the diaconate by Metropolitan Serafim (Kykotis) of Zimbabwe raises questions on a number of levels. These range from the comparative nature and function of the male and female diaconate historically to Sister Angelic’s ordination specifically.

I offer my thoughts in a charitable spirit of critical thinking. Some of our reverend blogging theologues need to be reminded that “critical” thinking does not mean criticizing, condemning, mocking, ad hominem attacks, unilaterally declaring new heresies—never complete without the embarrassing puerility of scare quotes. How joyless and exhausting must it be for a parish priest who sets himself up as the sole arbiter of true Orthodoxy in a terrifying vortex of schismatics and heretics. Read More

Editorial note: Patriarch Kirill of Moscow continues shamelessly to make an obscene, blasphemous mockery of the Holy Orthodox Church, her holy Faith, and the Gospel of Our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, on behalf of WCC member churches, said that the WCC cannot reconcile the Decree of the XXV World Russian People’s Council describing the conflict in Ukraine as a “Holy War.”

On 27 March 2024, under the chairmanship of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, the Decree of the XXV World Russian People’s Council “The Present and Future of the Russian World” (Moscow, November 27-28, 2023) was approved. The decree, which is addressed to the legislative and executive authorities of Russia, has raised grave concerns among members of the World Council of Churches.

The World Russian People’s Council is the largest Russian public forum, and according to its Statutes, the head of the Council is the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, under whose presidency the annual Council meetings are held.

Among other concerns arising from the recent Decree, the World Council of Churches cannot reconcile the statement that “the special military operation [in Ukraine] is a Holy War” with what we have heard directly from Patriarch Kirill himself, nor with relevant WCC governing body policy pronouncements, nor indeed with the biblical calling for Christians to be peacemakers in the midst of conflict. Read More