Clockwise from top left: President Bashar al-Assad, Antiochian Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X, Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Youssef

This is the third article in our Dialogical Series. On April 15 Orthodoxy in Dialogue published “A Statement Issued by the Patriarchates of Antioch and All the East,” which had been released the day before. The Statement and our decision to publish it provoked criticism in some quarters because of what appears to be the Patriarchs’ implicit support of the Assad regime. Yet other Orthodox in the West feel obligated to follow Russia’s lead in backing Assad. Here Dr. Dorroll underscores the extreme complexity of the Syrian dilemma for Christians who live there, while Ms. Edwards examines the pro-Assad stance of some North American Orthodox Christians.

~ Phil Dorroll ~

The Arab World in the 20^th century

Most modern Arab states are recent in origin, only having gained independence from Western colonial dominance in the middle of the 20^th century. The most persistent challenge to political development in these young, postcolonial societies has been the persistence of authoritarianism.

The persistence of authoritarian governments in the Arab world has been explained by a variety of factors, including: Read More

English text follows.

Возлюбленому Духовенству, Монашеству та Вірним Української Православної Церкви в Діаспорі:

 ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕС! ВОІСТИНУ ВОСКРЕС!

Ми звертаємось до Вас усіх беручи до уваги останні події в Україні, як стосуються життя Української Православної Церкви. Якщо Ви ще не чули або не читали про ці події, що заповнили соціальні мережі та засоби масової інформації в Україні та за її межами, цим листом ми інформуємо Вас про те, що Президент України з одноденним візитом відбув до Стамбула і зустрівся з Його Всесвятістю, Вселенським Патріархом Константинопольським Варфоломієм I, у Світлий Понеділок – 9 квітня 2018 р. Результатом цієї зустрічі став початок довгоочікуваного розгляду надання Автокефалії Українській Православній Церкві в Україні.

Після повернення в Україну, Президент Порошенко відразу розпочав процес спілкування з ієрархами Українських Православних юрисдикцій в Україні та з Верховною Радою України. Всі ієрархи двох із трьох юрисдикцій та переважна більшість Верховної Ради відреагували на емоційний заклик Президента підтримати процес звернення із проханням до Його Всесвятості Патріарха Варфоломія та Священного Синоду Константинополя щодо просування вперед процесу надання Томосу Автокефалії для Церкви в Україні, яка протягом 1030 років була канонічною територією Константинопольського Патріархату, з 988 року, коли наша нація була охрещена та прийняла Святу Православну Віру. Read More

This is an abbreviated version of an essay submitted in April 2014 in fulfilment of the requirements for the graduate seminar at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, University College, University of Toronto. Written for a non-Orthodox audience immersed in the canon of academic queer literature, it attempts to convey something of Orthodox anthropology and spirituality in a key comprehensible to them. 

Addendum 6/26/19: The unabridged version of this essay—not for the easily offended—has been uploaded to academia.edu.

Queer theory and Orthodox theological anthropology share a surprising number of insights into the human condition in general and the ambiguities of human sexuality in particular. This is not to deny the vast epistemic differences between them—their paradigms of knowledge production and their determinants of what even counts as “knowledge”—or the gulf that often separates the conclusions reached by each in its respective domain. Yet they struggle to make sense of the same existential dilemma, mount similar critiques of the world-as-it-is, and ground their motifs in a vision of transfigured futurity for the human person and the human collective.    

With this essay I begin to explore some of the terrains of possible thematic convergence between queer theory and Orthodox theology. Along the way, I attempt to develop a common lexicon by means of which theorists operating from two widely disparate epistemological bases might engage fruitfully in a dialogue of mutual charity, to the reciprocal benefit of each. Queer theory, in its way, has as much to offer Orthodox theology as vice versa. The present essay embodies a call, as it were, to contemplate a metaphysical basis for the future direction of queer theory, one that both transcends the exigencies of immanent political expediency and recovers the legitimacy of modes of knowing informed by a long lineage of communitarian spiritual intuition. Read More

President Petro Poroshenko and Patriarch Bartholomew I (March 10, 2016)

Last week, news circulated that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is expected to issue a Tomos of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. This news appeared on the heels of a meeting that took place between Patriarch Bartholomew, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his delegation after Pascha on April 9, 2018. The discussions between the presidential delegation and President Poroshenko were reportedly lengthy, and Poroshenko formally requested the issuing of a Tomos that would be presented publicly on the occasion of the 1030^th anniversary of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus’ in late July. The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s Parliament, voted to voice its support for the appeal for the Tomos, and the synods of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) issued letters voicing their support for the Tomos. The press office of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) claims that the actions of the President and parliament violate Ukrainian law, since offices of the state are interfering in Church affairs, and the UOC-MP is also arguing that all of the Orthodox Churches must agree to autocephaly, and that autocephaly is no longer only a prerogative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The mechanism for granting autocephaly is a canonical issue that was on the agenda of the Holy and Great Council in Crete of 2016, but which was not taken up by the Churches that participated in the Council. Furthermore, there is no clarity on the recipients of the Tomos: to whom will the Ecumenical Patriarch grant the Tomos, where would the inaugural Liturgy celebrating the Tomos be celebrated, which bishops would concelebrate with the Ecumenical Patriarch, and whose names and sees would be entered into the diptychs of global Orthodoxy? Read More