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Throughout the history of the Church, several Popes have been deposed for a variety of reasons. Pope Liberius was deposed and exiled by the Arian emperor, Constantius II in the mid-4th century. Six hundred years later, Pope Gregory VII was deposed by anti-Pope Clement III, the creature of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV. During the reign of Justinian, Pope Saint Silverius, who I have written about previously on this blog, was not only deposed—he was martyred by the political forces who coveted his ecclesiastical power as head of the Church. In my previous post, I included an excerpt from...

AMMAN, Jordan (RNS) — Yasmine Faraa, a Jordanian of Palestinian heritage, was angered when an Israeli missile hit a building belonging to St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza, killing 18 and injuring 20. Faraa, a Muslim, came up with the idea to hold a vigil outside the Orthodox Christian Church, in the Jordanian capital’s Sweifieh neighborhood, to show solidarity. The numbers that turned out for the vigil on Sunday (Oct. 22) surprised even the Jordanian police, who had initially decided that they didn’t need to block the roads leading to the church. The crowd was largely composed of middle-...

Between now and the time the preacher stands at the pulpit this Sunday and delivers his message, around 17,000 babies in the United States alone will have been murdered in the womb. That’s nearly 2,400 every day. Ninety-eight babies every hour. About one baby every twelve seconds. Innocent human beings are dismembered, poisoned, crushed, harvested for organs, put in trash cans, and disposed of in the name of “women’s rights” and “the right to choose.” This happens day after day, week after week, and the church largely remains silent. The most forgotten, marginalized human beings today are the preborn. Their...

The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expresses its strongest condemnation of the Israeli airstrike that have struck its church compound in the city of Gaza. The Patriarchate emphasizes that targeting churches and their institutions, along with the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially children and women who have lost their homes due to Israeli airstrikes on residential areas over the past thirteen days, constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored. Despite the evident targeting of the facilities and shelters of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and other churches – including the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem Hospital, other schools,...

A Greek Orthodox church compound in the Gaza Strip sheltering hundreds of Palestinians of multiple faiths was reportedly damaged by a fatal Israeli airstrike on Thursday. The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem announced that a building on the compound of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrios, the oldest church in Gaza, was damaged in the overnight Israeli airstrike. "The Patriarchate emphasizes that targeting churches and their institutions, along with the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially children and women who have lost their homes due to Israeli airstrikes on residential areas over the past thirteen days, constitutes a...

The Pope believes that the prerogatives of the Bishop of Rome should not necessarily be fully extended to the Orthodox communities.After the liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, where the delegates of the Church of Constantinople prayed together with the Catholic hierarchy, Pope Francis held a separate meeting with the bishops of the Phanar, at which he explained how he sees the status of the See of Rome in a church united with the Orthodox. The meeting report was published by the Vatican News resource. The Pope expressed his joy at the outcome of the work of the Plenary...

President proposed cancelling a day off on 7 January, as well as moving the dates of Statehood Day and Defenders Day, which coincide with Orthodox holidays, by 13 days.On 28 June 2023, Volodymyr Zelensky registered Bill 9431, which envisages cancelling the celebration of Christmas on 7 January in Ukraine, as well as postponing the dates of Statehood Day and Defenders’ Day, which coincide with the Orthodox holidays of the Baptism of Rus' and the Intercession of the Virgin Mary. The explanatory note says that "the purpose of the bill is to reject the Russian legacy of imposing Christmas on 7...

The Zaporozhye City Council is set to vote today on the possibility of depriving the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of all its church buildings throughout the city. In light of the coming vote, His Eminence Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhye published an address to his clergy yesterday to prepare them for this possibility. Above all, the hierarch calls his clergy and flock to remain faithful to the Lord and to follow His example. “I ask you not to succumb to provocations and other diabolical temptations, but to follow the canons of our Mother Church… I urge all of you not to...

Professing Christian model Hailey Baldwin Bieber has joined hundreds of celebrities in endorsing a public letter from GLAAD that calls for social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and Twitter to censor so-called anti-LGBTQ hate speech, including deadnaming, misgendering, and spreading ‘misinformation’ about ‘gender-affirming healthcare’ for trans teens. The letter, which is from “celebrities, influencers, and prominent public figures with significant followings on social media” includes such names as Patrick Stewart, Demi Lovato, Zooey Deschanel, Lena Dunham, Judd Apatow, Sam Smith, Jazz Jennings, Dylan Mulvaney, and Elliot Page. It argues that “dangerous posts (both content and ads) created and circulated...

The president promised new steps to sever "spiritual ties with the terrorist state."On June 22, 2023, Volodymyr Zelensky announced new steps towards the "spiritual independence" of Ukraine. He announced this in an evening video message posted on social networks. “Held a meeting on the spiritual independence of Ukraine. We continue the relevant work, and there will be new steps," Zelensky promised. “Obviously, there can be no spiritual ties with a terrorist state and those who justify the killing of Ukrainians and cover up evil.” The President said, "We will reach the point where all kinds of dependence on Russia, which...

Three suspects have been charged with vandalism of multiple houses of worship in southeast Maryland, including one historic Black church that suffered approximately $100,000 in damages. On Wednesday, Anne Arundel County Police Department officers arrested Jarren Alexander, 22, on charges of vandalism against two area churches. His alleged crimes included extensive damage to Fowler United Methodist Church (UMC), a historic Black church in Annapolis, on June 9. Alexander also is being charged in connection with two additional incidents of vandalism at nearby St. Philip’s Episcopal Church on subsequent nights. Fowler UMC Reverend Jerome Jones briefly recounted the vandalism he saw...

SHABANIYA, Lebanon — On the feast of Mor Ephrem the Syriac, Syriac Catholic Patriarch Younan presided over a Divine Liturgy and reopened the historic Mor Ephrem Monastery in Shabaniya in Mount Lebanon after more than 160 years of abandonment. The Divine Liturgy and reopening ceremony was attended by members of clergy and believers. In his sermon, after reading from the Holy Bible, the Patriarch read two verses of Mor Ephrem’s poetry, stressing the importance of reopening the monastery due to its importance to townspeople. Father Hanna Yako delivered a speech in which he thanked the Patriarch who sought to restore...

CWN Editor's Note: In a June 18 address to the Conference of European Churches, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople strongly criticized a “’new ecumenism” that champions “traditionalistic values.” “Some American evangelical Christians, who had previously considered Catholic and Orthodox Christians as pagans worshipping idols, now appear willing to work with certain Catholic and Orthodox Christians in order to support these values,” he said. This ‘new ecumenism’ has even gone so far as to anoint President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation as its political champion, and Patriarch Kirill of the Orthodox Church of Russia as its spiritual leader.” “We see...

Patriarch Bartholomew believes that actions against the Koran are an attack on the religious sphere as a whole.On June 18, 2023, during a sermon at a liturgy in the Tallinn Church of Sts Simeon and Anna, Patriarch Bartholomew spoke about the importance of an ecumenical dialogue, reports fosfanariou. He recalled that "for more than a century, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has advocated ecumenical relations with other Christian communities and confessions." According to Patriarch Bartholomew, the ecumenical dialogue “is not really limited to the inter-Christian sphere, but goes beyond it, to the inter-confessional level”, where Phanar became a pioneer in communication “with...

On Saturday, June 10, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated in one village church in the Russian Far East for the first time in 100 years. The Holy Trinity Church, built in 1823, now sits in the uninhabited village of Byankino, Zabaikal Krai, accessible only by boat on the Shilka River. It is recognized as a monument of architecture urban planning. Last weekend, Archpriest Alexander Tylkevich and Fr. Roman Pichuev, two priests from the local Nerchinsk Diocese, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the abandoned church, the diocese reports.

According to Archbishop Elpidophoros, worshiping in a church with an LGBT flag is "a symbolic act".On 12 June 2023, the head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in the US, Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, stated that those who condemn Orthodox worship in a church with LGBT flags have no kindness. During the Great Vespers St Bartholomew’s Church, which has an LGBTQ+ flag hanging over its entrance, Archbishop Elpidophoros said that the head of the Phanar "has deep concern and care for all of creation". Explaining the reason why representatives of the Greek Archdiocese of America gathered in the Episcopal Church temple...

A joint commission of Orthodox and Catholic theologians met in Alexandria, Egypt, for a week earlier this month, resulting in the adoption of the document, “Synodality and Primacy in the Second Millennium and Today.”Representing the Orthodox Church were Their Eminences Job, Metropolitan of Pisidia, Co-President of the Joint Theological Commission, Maximos Metropolitan of Silivria and Fr. Alexis Torrance (Ecumenical Patriarchate), Gennadios, Metropolitan of Botswana, Petros Metropolitan of Accra and Professor Gregory Liantas (Patriarchate of Alexandria), Archbishop Nektarios Anthidonos and Professor Theodoros Giagkou (Patriarchate of Jerusalem), Metropolitan Joseph of Western and Southern Europe and Fr. Patriciu Vlaicu (Patriarchate of Romania), Metropolitan...

Patriarch Bartholomew sent a warm letter to Pope Francis.On June 8, 2023, Patriarch Bartholomew sent a letter of support to Pope Francis, who had undergone an intestinal surgery the day before, Romfea reports. The head of the Phanar assured the pope of his ardent prayers and noted that modern Christians should not seek worldly success, but demonstrate fidelity to the Gospel. Patriarch Bartholomew is sure that Catholics and Orthodox should move towards complete unity. “I am sure that as they walk this path together, Catholics and Orthodox will gain a deeper understanding of the ties that already bind them in...

While the cause of the blaze has yet to be confirmed, St. Mary’s Romanian Orthodox Church in Alberta is one of over 100 churches to have burned down or been vandalized in Canada in recent years.BOIAN, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) –– A historic 118-year-old Romanian Orthodox Church was reduced to a pile of rubble after being consumed by a fire earlier this week, in an incident that police have yet to confirm the cause. St. Mary’s Romanian Orthodox Church, located in northwest Alberta near the Romanian settlement of Boian, was consecrated in 1905. It was declared a provincial historic resource in 1976....

On a recent sunny day in May, Russian Orthodox priest Timothy Kolb unlocked a padlock securing the door to Anchorage’s oldest standing building and stepped inside. The small, rough-hewn building looks like a log cabin and is easy to overlook next to the taller, brighter, onion-domed new St. Nicholas Church. The old St. Nicholas Church has been in disrepair for years, and a $350,000 federal grant, awarded in 2022 under the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund, is intended to tackle many of the big issues, including a dangerously leaning bell tower and the construction of a new foundation. Inside...