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

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Masters, Fathers, Mothers, brothers, sisters, and siblings in Christ!

I ask the forgiveness of each and every one of you whom I have hurt or offended in any way, knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or unwillingly.

May God forgive us and bless us with the fruits of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and repentance as we walk together the path to the empty tomb.

Giacomo

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