Free Republic

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embraces Pope Francis at a celebration of the Divine Liturgy in Istanbul - REUTERS (Vatican Radio)  In an address upon conclusion of the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I at the Orthodox Church of St. George in Istanbul, Pope Francis said “the one thing that the Catholic Church desires and that I seek as Bishop of Rome…is communion with the Orthodox Churches.” Below, please find the complete text of the Holy Father’s address:             When I was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, I often took part in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy of...

Professor Lennart Bengtsson - the leading scientist who three weeks ago signalled his defection to the climate sceptic camp by joining the board of the Global Warming Policy Foundation - has now dramatically been forced to resign from his position. His views on the weakness of the "consensus" haven't changed. But as he admits in his resignation letter, he has been so badly bullied by his alarmist former colleagues that he is worried his health and career will suffer. Bengtsson's recruitment by the GWPF (the London-based think tank set up by former Chancellor Lord Lawson) represented a huge coup for...

The Ottoman Empire’s loss of Crimea to the Russian Empire in 1783 was a turning point in both civilizations’ histories. For the Ottomans, it was the first permanent loss of a major Muslim territory to a Christian power, in this case Catherine the Great’s Russia, which, like President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, had intervened in a Crimean civil war and eventually annexed the peninsula. For the Russians, it was the beginning of their country’s transformation into a global power; through the Black Sea, Russia could sail on the West. From 1783 onward, Moscow used its sea presence to bedevil the Ottomans,...

BELGRADE -- Metropolitan of Montenegro Amfilohije has strongly criticized Montengerin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović for the decision to impose sanctions against Russia. Amfilohije (Tanjug) This dignitary of the Serb Orthodox Church spoke during the promotion in Belgrade on Tuesday of Leonid Reshetnikov's book, "To Return to Russia". Amfilohije recalled the words of Montenegro's 18th and 19th century ruler and military and religious leader Petar I Petrović Njegoš (Saint Peter of Cetinje), and advised Đukanović to "read them carefully." "'May he who is not not loyal to the same-language, same-blood Russia, have the living flesh fall off him, may he be...

Srebrenica Genocide of the Christian Serbs: “these matters are not up for discussion” by SHEIKYERMAMI on NOVEMBER 29, 2013 The Truth Behind the Genocide in Srebrenica: What the West Doesn’t Want You to Know Hillary_Clinton_portraitShillary (“Huma made me do it”): “these matters are not up for discussion….” Slick Willie bombed the Christian Serbs out of their ancestral homeland. Albanian and Bosnian Muslims are now living in the houses of the Serbs. There is a golden statue of BJ Clinton right in the middle of Srebrenica…… Posted by sharia unveiled on November 28, 2013 Srebrenica 4From Serbia to Syria: A Generation...

ST. PETERSBURG, November 4 (RIA Novosti) – About 54,000 people joined a religious procession in the heart of Russia’s second largest city St. Petersburg on Monday, a city police spokesman said. “No violations of public order took place during the event,” the spokesman said. The procession began half an hour later than scheduled due to large number of believers willing to take part. It ended near the city’s biggest Orthodox church, Saint Isaac's Cathedral, where a service was held to commemorate Russia’s National Unity Day. Those who were unable to enter watched the service on two huge TV screens flanking...

Believers in Unbelieving Churches What Should Be Done by Christian People Who are in a Modernist Church? What is the duty of Christian congregations or Christian individuals who find themselves in a church that is dominated by unbelief? Shall they remain in such a church, or shall they withdraw from it and become members of a consistently Christian Church? That is certainly the question of the hour for the orthodox part of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Various attempts are being made to answer the question. Various considerations are being urged on one side or the other. If we...

At 82, retired and enjoying life, Bishop John Shelby Spong doesn’t have to be the liberal enfant terrible whose pronouncements for gay rights and against traditional dogmas once scandalized Christendom. Indeed, many of the views that once turned the Charlotte native and former Episcopal bishop of Newark into a lightning rod are now regarded as so matter-of-fact that they barely occasion much notice: Ordaining gay clergy and blessing same-sex marriages, for example, or having a female presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman elected to lead a national church in the Anglican Communion. On a range of issues, Spong...

In 1991, 75% of Adjarians in Georgia were Muslims. Today, they have become 75% Orthodox Christians. How can these conversions be explained, which is apparently unique in the world? “What time do services begin at Saint Nicholas in Batumi on Sunday morning?” The question embarrasses the employee of the President Plaza, one of the largest institutions in the city, a seat of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara and the Iranian consulate. It is true that in the province of Georgia, washed by the Black Sea, the population speaks little English. All signs, such as signs in the streets, are in...

Transfiguration icon by Theophanes the Greek (15th c.). August 6th commemorates Christ’s transfiguration in glory on Mount Tabor. The Transfiguration is one of twelve major feasts on the Eastern Christian liturgical calendar. A major feast is the equivalent of a solemnity on the Roman calendar. A glimpse of this feast through the hymns and traditions of the East gives a fresh perspective on God’s plan of salvation for us. “My favorite part of this feast is singing the troparion,” says Robin Roxas of Morning Star Family Farm in Hartland, Wisconsin. Robin and his family of ten traveled an hour from...

MOSCOW, July 8 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian satellite TV channel devoted to Orthodox Christianity plans to go national to promote its conservative agenda, as part of a Kremlin push to counter the liberal opposition and bolster Russia’s traditional institutions, a Russian daily reported Monday. Launched in 2005, Spas (Savior) TV has been endorsed by the increasingly powerful Russian Orthodox Church and claims to have an audience of about 10 million households in Russia. But the channel has widely been criticized for its unexciting programming and recycling of old shows. Funded from donations from Orthodox businessmen, it features talk shows...

May 21, 2013 Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH Recruitment of military chaplains is stepping up a gear, as Vladimir Putin’s government builds on traditional Orthodox values to bolster patriotic feelings in society. On a snowy field in the Ryazan region, 100 miles southeast of Moscow, five burly, bearded Russian Orthodox priests fall to the ground, arms held skywards. They’re not praying, however – but preparing for their next parachute jump. Soon, the chaplains will take to the skies with regular military cadets in an Air Force plane, jump and pull the cord – hoping that God is watching over them, and their...

Today's young evangelical Christians, or "millennial" evangelicals, are too influenced by the culture and do not practice deep thinking, or a "life of the mind," several young evangelical leaders argued at a Monday panel hosted by The Institute on Religion & Democracy. Millennial evangelicals are too influenced by "Oprah-doxy" rather than orthodoxy, Eric Teetsel, director of The Manhattan Declaration, complained. "Orthodoxy," Teetsel said, "requires the cultivation of what my professors at Wheaton called the 'life of the mind.' When considering an issue, orthodoxy lays out first principles and are non-negotiable truths, with the Bible as a touchstone, creating a framework...

Hegumen Philip Ryabykh, the Russian Orthodox Church’s representative to the Council of Europe, said on Tuesday Russia would do what it can to help British Christians banned from openly wearing crosses at work defend their right to do so. “I hope very much that the [Strasbourg] court will make a just ruling and protect the right of Christians in Britain and across Europe to openly profess their faith,” Hegumen Philip said. The issue of wearing crosses at work recently came to the foreground again, when British newspapers The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Mail a week ago reported that the...

The Russian Orthodox Church says it fully supports Vladimir Putin’s initiatives on military reform and also rejects the allegations that the church is an intrinsically pacifist organization. Vsevolod Chaplin, a high-placed cleric in the Russian Orthodox Church, told the press that the church was very happy that Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin intended to solve the problems of the Russian military, as stated in Putin’s recent article in the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily. “I fully agree with the statement that the military force must again acquire the traditional role of the most important social elevator,” the Interfax news agency...

To be or not to be the science of theology at Russian institutes and universities? At a meeting with a group of spiritual leaders, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed to introduce this subject to their curriculums. However, the possibility of the doctrine of God appearing in the curriculums of higher educational establishments has already stirred controversy in Russian society. The introduction of theology in curriculums in secular institutes and universities is necessary, says the rector of Orthodox University, Hegumenos Pyotr Eremeev in an interview with the Voice of Russia. “This will help students to get acquainted with the treasures of...

Understanding the conflicting claims of Catholicism versus Eastern OrthodoxyAmong the lapsed from the Catholic Church in the turbulent post-conciliar period are those Catholics who became so disenchanted with the liturgical disarray and doctrinal unrest evident in Western Catholicism that they became converts to Eastern Orthodoxy. They found themselves influenced by the Eastern Orthodox claim to preserve the doctrinal, sacramental, and liturgical heritage of the ancient Church, and in fact, to be the historical continuation of the true Church of Jesus Christ. Those defecting from the Catholic Church found comforting Eastern OrthodoxyÂ’s professing the doctrine of the first seven ecumenical Councils,...

We ask all who read these words to keep the parish family of St. Andrew, Los Angeles, CA in their prayers during these difficult days. In the early morning hours of 15 August, an intruder broke into the parish Church and desecrated the Holy Altar, Tabernacle, Iconography and the entire altar and sacristy area. The most devastating aspect of this horrendous crime was the scattering of the Reserve Sacrament on the floor among and beneath the various altar crosses, candles and vestments strewn throughout the church. The Holy Altar itself was pulled from its foundation and dragged through the Royal...

Krasnogorsk, August 25, Interfax - Optional classes on elementary Orthodoxy will be introduced in children's day care centers of the Moscow region, the Minister of Education Lidiya Antonova said at a Moscow regional teachers' forum. "In 2011-2012, we introduce a new course on Orthodox Culture in young children's care system. New resource and reference materials will be released by September 1," Lidiya Antonova said. The course is now introduced in 430 centers with 27,000 young children enrolled. The optional course called "Benign World of Orthodox Culture for Young Children" will be introduced in 650 daycare centers of the Moscow region....

Nearly 20 years after the collapse of the atheistic Soviet Union, a recent poll found that 82 percent of Russians classify themselves as religious believers. But far fewer subscribe to organized religion. By Fred Weir, Correspondent / May 6, 2011 Moscow Two decades after the collapse of the USSR, history's most atheistic state, the vast majority of Russians attest to a belief in God – more than in any other European country – according to a new opinion poll. The survey, carried out in April by the independent Public Opinion Fund (FOM), found that 82 percent of Russians say they...