On July 3, 2019 we published A Special Kind of Orthodox Clergy Directory, and on July 15, an Update. 

To date, our directory includes about a dozen canonical hierarchs and priests ministering on three continents. Our commitment to protect the identities of our participating pastors is so absolute that even they don’t know who else is on the list.

By the grace of God, we have made several successful referrals of LGBTQ Orthodox Christians, catechumens, inquirers, and seekers to the pastors in our directory. One transgender person is soon to be received into the Orthodox Church through Holy Chrismation. 

If you’re a bishop or priest of a canonical Orthodox juridiction anywhere in the world, and you minister—or you feel spiritually and emotionally equipped to begin ministering—to LGBTQ persons and their families, please read the two articles linked above and contact me by email. Read More

Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine

Some 600 parishes in Ukraine belonging to the Orthodox Church aligned with the Moscow Patriarchate have in one year switched over to the newly formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the latter Church’s leader says.

The new Church’s first Primate, Metropolitan Epiphanius, told RFE/RL in an interview over the weekend that he foresaw another “wave” in the future of “such massive transfers.”

However, “we want them to continue to be peaceful, calm, and voluntary…we do not need confrontation,” he said. Read More

Screenshot from comments at When a Bishop Does Right, The American Conservative

With thanks to Twitter user and Orthodoxy in Dialogue follower @RationalSheep for bringing Rod Dreher’s studied assessment of editor @GiacoSanfilippo to our attention.

Addendum 1/10/20: See Editorial: Rod Dreher’s Limited (and Theologically Meaningless) Vocabulary.

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Father Drago Pešikan (Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro) facing police chief in Herceg Novi

In January 2019, when the Ecumenical Patriarch granted autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church, it was clear that this would create a domino effect in other regions of the world experiencing ecclesiastical divisions and ongoing aspirations for church recognition. This is especially the case in the Balkans, where the political elites in Montenegro and North Macedonia—inspired by Petro Poroshenko’s success in Ukraine—decided to step up, develop their own strategies, and push hard for autocephaly. This prompted open conflict with the Serbian Orthodox Church, whose canonical jurisdiction stretches to both countries. Read More