Ξένες γλώσσες

   June 26, 2016 The Holy and Great Council held its concluding session on the 25th of June 2016, at the Orthodox Academy of Crete.  The work of the Council had commenced with the Patriarchal Concelebration on the Sunday of Pentecost, the 19th of June 2016, when the Divine Liturgy was presided over by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch, in Concelebration with the Primates of the Local Orthodox Autocephalous Churches, who were present, in the Cathedral of St. Minas in Heraklion, Crete. During the sessions of the Holy and Great Council, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew expressed his joy, for the willing and positive response of the Local Autocephalous Orthodox Churches in attendance.  At the same time, he underlined the immense efforts, over ...

Not seven days have passed since we celebrated the holy feast of Pentecost and again we’re overtaken by a chorus of martyrs, or better, serried ranks of martyrs, which are in no way lesser than the ranks of the angels seen by the Patriarch Jacob but equal to and of the same worth as them. Because martyrs and angels differ only as regards the name, whereas in their works they’re united. Angels reside in the heavens, but so, too, do the martyrs. The former are eternal and immortal; the martyrs will become so. But have the latter assumed a bodiless form? What does it matter? Because the martyrs, even though they’ve got a body, are still immortal, or rather, before ...

When people quarrel among themselves, they all say they’re right but they appropriate more of the right than they’ve any right to, which is why they’re forever quarrelling.

Buenos Aires, June 24, 2016 An open letter from METROPOLITAN PAUL of ALEPPO addressed to all the Hierarchs of the Orthodox Church on the Feast of the Holy Spirit My chains, the bond of our unity “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you… may become what I am, except for these chains” (Acts 26:29)   Your Holinesses, Your Beatitudes, Your Eminences and Your Graces, Hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, My Fathers and brothers in the grace of the episcopate, “Apostles of Christ” and “Servants” of the people of God in all the oikoumene,   This year, an inexpressible joy flooded my heart on the Feast of Pentecost, because of the Holy Spirit who unites us, in a visible and invisible way, in the apostolic ministry that the Lord bestowed on us. First, ...

Some years ago a young student came up to me. Very hesitantly, but with the intensity of demanding an answer, he told me he was an atheist and, though he would very much like to believe, he couldn’t. He’d tried for years and stuck to his search, but had gotten nowhere. He’d chatted with professors and educated people but his thirst for something serious hadn’t been satisfied. He’d heard of me and decided he’d share his existential need with me. He asked me for scientific proof of God. ‘Do you know about integrals and different kinds of equations?’, I asked him. ‘Unfortunately not. I’m studying Philosophy’ ‘Pity’, I said, ‘because I know just such a proof’, obviously joking. He looked embarrassed and went quiet ...

The first Sunday after Pentecost is traditionally observed as the Sunday of All Saints in the Orthodox Church – both those that are “hidden” and those who have been “revealed.” These are some thoughts on the “hidden” saints – by far the most numerous. It is surely the case that most saints are hidden. St. Paul says that “our true life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).  I believe that it is for our own sakes that these things are hidden. We’re told that the Theotokos “pondered these things in her heart” (Luke 2:19) which is a world away from walking around asking everybody, “What do you think about this?” There is much about our life with God that remains ...

My body is a well-disposed enemy and a threatening friend. What a strange combination of closeness and alienation! What I fear, I honor and what I take care of, I fear. Before warring against it, I’m reconciled to it; and before making peace, I oppose it’ (On Love of Poverty, VII)

5th PAN-ORTHODOX PRE-CONCILIAR CONFERENCE Chambésy, 10-17 October 2015 RELATIONS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH WITH THE REST OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD DECISION The Orthodox Church, as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, in her profound ecclesiastical conscience, firmly believes that she maintains a central place in matters pertaining to the promotion of unity among Christians in the contemporary world. For the Orthodox Church, Church unity is grounded on the establishment of the Church by the Lord Jesus Christ, and also on communion in the Holy Trinity and sacramental communion. This unity is experienced in the Church to this day and made manifest through apostolic succession and the patristic tradition. It is the mission and duty of the Orthodox Church to transmit and preach the ...

(Heraklion, June 18, 2016) Your Eminence Archbishop Irenaios of Crete and Your Eminences and Graces, as well as holy brothers comprising the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Church of Crete, Most honorable and beloved Mr. Vasilios Lambrinos, Mayor of Heraklion, and the representatives of local and regional authorities, Beloved people of this historic city of Heraklion, All of us here today, both our Modesty the Ecumenical Patriarch, and our colleagues, their Beatitudes the Primates of the Most-Holy Orthodox Autocephalous Churches, are overjoyed by the convocation of the Holy and Great Council of our Orthodox Church on the glorious island of Crete. We wholeheartedly thank you, Mr. Mayor, and all the authorities of Crete and the God-loving children of the Mother Church of Constantinople in Crete; ...

5th PAN-ORTHODOX PRE-CONCILIAR CONFERENCE Chambésy, 10-17 October 2015 THE IMPORTANCE OF FASTING AND ITS OBSERVANCE TODAY DECISION Fasting is a divine commandment (Gen 2:16-17). According to Basil the Great, fasting is as old as humanity itself; it was prescribed in paradise (On Fasting, 1, 3. PG 31, 168 A). It is a great spiritual endeavor and the foremost expression of the Orthodox ascetic ideal. The Orthodox Church, in strict conformity with the apostolic precepts, the synodal canons, and the patristic tradition as a whole, has always proclaimed the great significance of fasting for our spiritual life and salvation. The annual liturgical cycle reflects the entire patristic teaching on fasting, the teaching on constant and unceasing watchfulness of the human person, and our participation ...

(Chania, Crete, June 16, 2016) Your Beatitudes, holy brothers, Primates of the Orthodox Churches, Your Excellency, Minister of Foreign Affairs, The gracious initiative of your Excellency to offer this official dinner in honor of both our Modesty and the brother Primates of the various Holy Orthodox Churches, manifests the honor, love and respect that is fostered by the Orthodox Hellenic Republic and you, personally, for our One and Unified Orthodox Church and the persons comprising Her, who gathered here on the island of Crete to convene this Holy and Great Council. Your Excellency manifests tangibly these sentiments that are familiar to us all by the exercise of your high and responsible office and by everything you have offered to us. We recall, at this ...

4th PRE-CONCILIAR PAN-ORTHODOX CONFERENCE Chambésy, 6-13 June 2009 THE ORTHODOX DIASPORA DECISION *The following English text is a working translation. An official English translation is forthcoming. The Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference was convened by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with the consensus of Their Beatitudes the Primates of the Most Holy Orthodox Churches expressed during their Sacred Synaxis at the Phanar in October 2008. The Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference met at the Orthodox Center of Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, from 6 to 13 June 2009 under the chairmanship of His Eminence Metropolitan John of Pergamon, representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This conference, to which all of the most holy Orthodox autocephalous Churches were invited and were represented, studied the issue of the canonical organization of the ...

5th PAN-ORTHODOX PRE-CONCILIAR CONFERENCE Chambésy, 10-17 October 2015 AUTONOMY AND THE MEANS BY WHICH IT IS PROCLAIMED DECISION The 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference, upon the completion of its work on the text, Autonomy and the Means by Which it is Proclaimed, already agreed upon and adopted by the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Committee during its session in Chambésy on December 9-17, 2009, considered the ecclesiological, canonical, and pastoral aspects of the institution of autonomy and sought a unanimous pan-Orthodox position on the matter. The 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference, which grounded its work on the text adopted by the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Committee, addressed: The concept, nature, and various forms of the institution of autonomy. The prerequisites for a local Church to request autonomy from the autocephalous Church to which ...

SYNAXIS OF ORTHODOX PRIMATES Chambésy, 21-28 January 2016 THE MISSION OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IN TODAY’S WORLD DECISION *The following English text is a working translation. An official English translation is forthcoming. The contribution of the Orthodox Church in realizing peace, justice, freedom, fraternity and love between peoples, and in the removal of racial and other discriminations. The Church of Christ exists in the world, but is not of the world (cf. Jn 17:11, 14-15). The Church, as the sign and image of the Kingdom of God in history, proclaims the good news of a new creation (II Cor 5:17), of new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (II Pt 3:13); news of a world in whichGod will wipe away every tear from people’s eyes; ...

‘Your frequent Salutations will be pleasing to me when you desist from hatred, lying and the theft of other people’s goods. And as long as you oppress the poor, distressing them with high interest rates and onerous taxes, then you’re no different from the pagans and those who killed Christ, even if you do boast about your Baptism. I won’t listen to you, however many canons and hymns you sing to me in a strong and beautiful voice’.