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The new anti-evangelism law carries fines up to $780 for an individual and $15,500 for an organization. Foreign visitors who violate the law face deportation. MOSCOW — Despite protests from religious leaders and human rights groups, Russian president Vladimir Putin last week approved a new set of laws that would restrict evangelization and missionary activity to officially registered Church buildings and worship areas. The laws fall under the umbrella of new anti-terrorism legislation, and prohibit sharing faith in private homes, online, or anywhere but recognized church buildings. A missionary Catholic priest serving in Russia, who asked to be kept anonymous...

Moscow, July 15, Interfax - The Council which took place in Crete on June 20-25 cannot be regarded as pan-Orthodox, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church said in Moscow on Friday. "The Holy Synod determined that the Council, which took place in Crete, cannot be regarded as pan-Orthodox, and the documents it approved as expressing a pan-Orthodox consensus," said the head of the Synodal Department for Church, Society and Media Relations Vladimir Legoyda, commenting on the results of a Synod meeting. The meeting attendees acknowledged that the Council, which was attended by abbots and hierarchs from ten out...

An "Open Letter" from Athonite Fathers to the Holy Community of the Holy Mountain of Athos is calling for an immediate convocation of the governing body of Mt. Athos in order to condemn the "false council" of Crete and cease the comemoration of the Patriarch of Constantinople on Mt. Athos. OVER 60 Hieromonk and monks, with a disciple of Saint Paisios, Elder Gabriel of the Kelli of St. Christodoulos (Holy Monastery of Koutloumosiou) at their head, have written an open letter to the Holy Community of Mt. Athos calling upon the Abbots to reject the Council in Crete and stating...

Considered one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world still in operation, the Monastery of Saint Catherine in Sinai is home to more than two centuries of history — and more than that of legend. Tradition claims, for example, that the main altar of the monastery is built on the spot where the Burning Bush first addressed Moses. But the monastery, declared a world heritage site by UNESCO, also holds other seats of honor. For example, it accommodates the oldest continuously operating active library in the world.From the day it was founded in the sixth century (between 548 and...

The first Russian Orthodox monastery could be opened in the US capital of Washington D.C. or in its vicinity, Metropolitan Jonah, a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) told. “In the area, not necessarily in D.C… It will be Russian tradition, of course, you know, the services will also be in English, as well as in [Church] Slavonic....[The monastery] has a very specific outreach [program] to educate people about Orthodoxy and Russian culture and Russian spiritual culture,” Metropolitan Jonah said, answering a question about his plans to establish a monastery in Washington D.C. The monastery would be...

Minya (Agenzia Fides) - An appeal to ask the police to enforce the law protecting citizens from any sectarian discrimination was launched yesterday by Anba Makarius, Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of Minya, after the series of incidents which in recent weeks have again recorded a sharp rise in cases of violence suffered particularly by Egyptian Christians. Now – highlighted Coptic Orthodox Archbishop - such violent attacks from the assault on homes to targeted kidnappings for ransom, are continuing at an average of one every ten days. In recent times the assault on homes of Christian families perpetrated in the village of...

The akathist in honor of St. Ambrose of Optina served before his holy relics.

Despite the fact that four of the fourteen independent Eastern Orthodox churches of the world opted not to show up, an expert on Orthodoxy insists that the "Holy and Great Council" in Crete in late June was significant, arguing that meeting together to hash out issues is part of the DNA of Orthodoxy.From June 19-26, leaders of ten of the fourteen “autocephalous,” or independent, Eastern Orthodox churches of the world met together on the island of Crete, marking the first time such a representative summit of Orthodox churches had assembled in a millennium. Originally the idea was for the “Holy...

Restorers, after clearing away centuries of dirt, discovered the Church of the Nativity had a seventh mosaicAn Italian team has completed restoration of Crusader-era mosaics in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The mosaics will only be unveiled publicly after work on lighting, electricity and a fire alarm system. The work involved removing the layers of centuries-worth of soot and dirt – a result of the smoke of candles lit by pilgrims coming to venerate the site traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus – from about 1.55 million tiny mosaic pieces that were reviewed and restored. “I...

The Russians are returning to their tradition of Symphonia, inherited from Byzantium and instituted by Constantine the Great, where church and state complement each other.The Ministry of Health in Russia has signed an agreement with the Russian Orthodox Church that includes prevention of abortion and provision of palliative care. The agreement signed by Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Churchwas published on the website of the Synodal Department for ROC [Russian Orthodox Church] Church Charity and Social Service. Article 9 of the 21 article agreement establishes cooperation “on the protection of maternal and...

+MEMORY ETERNAL+Cairo- Egypt: Today, Mother Athanasia received the Crown of Martyrdom. She was gunned down by extremists of Muslims and gave her pure soul in Hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. She was a nun in the Monastery of Great St. George in Old Cairo.Our Lord Said to us in the Gospel ” And don’t fear those kill the body but can not kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell “(Matthew 10 :28).She was a pure nun.May her prayers be with us. Amen

A muezzin’s call to prayer reverberated inside the sixth-century Istanbul landmark Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years on July 1. The building in the city’s historic Sultanahmet district broadcast the azan from its minarets following July 1’s Laylat al-Qadr, or night of power, marking the first revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad. The broadcast of the morning call to prayer from within Hagia Sophia is likely to reignite controversy over the use of the building, which was designated a museum in 1935 under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic. Although the...

     Metropolitan Amvrosios of Kalavryta has expressed his joy that the UK is leaving the European Union, reports the Аgionoros.ru portal. In his view, this event will shake the foundations of the European Union which in fact is “a German protectorate”: “Today Greece and the EU at large are under German occupation! They have enslaved us not by means of weapons, as it was in the Second World War, but through this abominable economic war”. Metropolitan Amvrosios has stressed that the external forces, “allied with mendacious Greek politicians who obey them, have put Greece on the verge of disaster”....

Moscow, July 1, Interfax - Yekaterinburg architects created a concept of the highest church in the world: they suggested combining in one project a cult building and the notorious unfinished construction, Yekaterinburg TV reports. "According to the concept, they are going to combine the unfinished construction and the cult building in one cosmic-shaped construction, though it is far from architecture of Orthodox churches," the TV channel reports. According to the authors of the idea, they wanted to suggest an alternative to "the church on water," which was voiced among others projects of Yekaterinburg church. Besides the church, the authors of...

The recent Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church did not achieve its original goal of unifying the discipline of the Sacrament of Marriage among the 14 Orthodox churches, according to a L’Osservatore Romano report. On June 23 and 24, participants discussed the council’s fifth document, “The Sacrament of Marriage and its Impediments”-- a topic first placed on the conciliar agenda in 1961. After discussing the Sacrament of Marriage, the final document stated that “a civil marriage between a man and a woman registered in accordance with the law lacks sacramental character since it is a simple legalized cohabitation...

Our Father among the Saints John (Maximovitch), Archbishop of Shanghai and San Francisco (1896-1966), was a diocesan bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) who served widely from China to France to the United States.Saint John departed this life on June 19 (O.S.) / July 2 (N.S.), 1966, and was officially glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad on July 2, 1994. His glorification was later recognized for universal veneration by the Patriarchate of Moscow on July 2, 2008.LifeThe future Saint John was born on June 4, 1896, in the village of Adamovka in Kharkiv province to...

Anthiochian Orthodox Patriarchate – June-July 2016At the end of the seventh extraordinary session which begun on May 25th 2016, the Holy Synod of Antioch convened on June 27, 2016 in Balamand. The Synod was presided by His Beatitude Patriarch John X, with the participation of the Bishops of the Holy See of Antioch,The fathers congratulated their children on the occasion of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the holy, glorious and all-praised leaders of the Apostles, and the founders of the Holy See of Antioch. This See is where the disciples were called Christians first, and where its children...

Antakia (Agenzia Fides) - This year in Antakya, Turkey, Catholics and Orthodox will celebrate together the feast of Saints Peter and Paul at the "Cave Church of Peter", the ancient cave church on Mt. Silpius, reopened to visitors in 2015, after a restoration that lasted many years. On the morning of June 29, in the presence of Bishop Paul Bizzeti SJ, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, and envoy of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, the Christians of the local community will animate a joint celebration with songs, prayers and readings from the New Testament. Archbishop Paul Fitzpatrick Russell, Apostolic Nuncio...

Moscow, June 27, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church reminds the Constantinople Patriarchate about incomparability of democracy traditions with taking decisions at the Council. The discussion started with the words of the Constantinople archbishop who made it clear that all decisions taken by the inter-Orthodox Council on Crete would be compulsory for all Orthodox Churches, including those who did not participate in it. "You come from a democracy. Everyone can vote. Now some people choose not to vote. Does that mean you don't live in a democracy?" Archbishop Job of Telmessos said resuming the results of the session on Friday...

Official Documents of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church Back Encyclical of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church ΕλληνικάEnglishрусскийfrançais ENCYCLICAL OF THE HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH Crete 2016 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit With a hymn of thanksgiving, we praise and worship God in Trinity, who has enabled us to gather together during the days of the feast of Pentecost here on the island of Crete, which has been sanctified by St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, and his...