Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s partial hiatus until late spring or early summer has proven already to be rather less a “hiatus” than originally planned. Yet certain events demand a response.

This article started off with the title “The Moral Bankruptcy of the OCA on Full Display.” I added  “Synod of Bishops” to underscore the fact that the clergy and laity of the Orthodox Church in America have no say in the abject servility, spinelessness, and cowardice of their bishops collectively toward the Kremlin Orthodox Church and its Patriarch.

In fact, as we reported in The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) Ignores Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, Bows to the Will of Moscow, Rejects the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), on January 28 the OCA Synod directed “the Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of the Orthodox Church in America” to comply obediently with its servility, spinelessness, and cowardice. I know of at least one OCA clergyman threatened with suspension if he voices his disagreement with this directive publicly. Read More

What has Istanbul to do with Constantinople?

Ever since Arab armies conquered vast swaths of the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean, replacing an Eastern Christian imperium with an Islamic one, Orthodox Christians have struggled to maintain their communal identity in Muslim majority societies. As minority populations, Orthodox Christians in majority Muslim societies have often been victims of the kinds of injustices that beset minority communities in every part of the world, ranging from social stigmatization to mass violence.

At the same time, Muslim minorities in Orthodox societies have often been met with the same kinds of difficulties. And due to their geographic proximity to one another, Muslim and Orthodox empires and nation-states have often competed over the same territory and resources. The history of relations between these two faiths has even included genocide and ethnic cleansing.

And yet, as is frequently the case in the history of multi-ethnic empires such as the Ottoman and Russian empires, communal relationships between these two faiths more frequently exhibit patterns of coexistence, shared lifeways, and parallel cultural development at both the elite and provincial social levels. Because of this complex history, a nuanced understanding of Islam and Islamic history may be particularly beneficial for Orthodox Christians, whether in the secular academy or the seminary. Read More

The present article calls into question recent reports suggesting that the Holy Mountain had repudiated the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s grant of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Central Administration of Mount Athos. Karyes.

“We remain on the side of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and we will not tolerate its humiliation,” the members of the Holy Community of Mount Athos said on Monday on the occasion of the recent developments in Ukraine and the granting of Autocephaly to the local Church.

At the meeting held behind closed doors and without any publicity [on Monday, February 11, 2019], much was said about the issue that has sparked controversy among the leaders of the Orthodox Churches.

The Athonites emphasized that this particular issue should make them feel proud. “It has been clear in this case too,” they noted, “that Hellenism and the Ecumenical Patriarchate have the Primacy in Orthodoxy,” while they agreed that everyone should stand by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Read More

Despite Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s partial hiatus, we are pleased to serve the Orthodox Church of Ukraine by disseminating this petition as has been requested of us. The link where you can add your signature is provided below. 

St. Sophia (Holy Wisdom) Cathedral. Kyiv, Ukraine.

On the eve of the enthronement of Metropolitan Epiphanius (February 3, 2019), an initiative group of priests and laity from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine published a document with proposals for an agenda for the newly created autocephalous Church, which would help it to perform its vocation better in the present circumstances.

First published at Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU), they include appeals for the following: true conciliarity and a renewal of parish life; greater involvement of the faithful in the affairs of the Church; the production of a high-quality translation of liturgical texts; the undertaking of a “new evangelization;” the rejection of old paradigms of church-state relations; the enhancement of transparency and accountability in church life;  the expansion of the Church’s social ministry; the development of a reform in church education; and a call for dialogue and openness. Read More