Tag: Christianity

Churkin, Astrakhan Province, Russia, March 25, 2024

Photo: lotosgtrk.ru     

A series of large man-made tunnels and rooms has been discovered under a monastery in Russia’s Astrakhan Province.

Altogether, 14 chambers were found at a depth of 40 feet. The largest of them is comparable to the size of a subway station, Alexander Soloviev, chairman of the regional branch of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, told TASS.

The largest chamber is 235 x 30 feet. Bone remains indicate that burials used to take place in the chambers, hundreds of years ago. Pieces of metal were also found, that could be reliquaries or Church utensils, Soloviev said.

The tunnels were discovered thanks to Innotech XXI, a Moscow-based charity for the revival of Russian Church architecture, which sent a team of researchers that spent a month studying a 25-acre plot of land on the territory of the monastery.

The researchers believe the chambers could contain sacred items known in Russia before the time of the Bolshevik revolution. In particular, they speculate that a staff of St. Seraphim of Sarov, which was given to his fellow Sarov monk Archimandrite Evgeny who was then appointed abbot of the Churkin Monastery in 1840, could be somewhere within the chambers.

The video below shows scenes from around the monastery:

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In 1568, the present Churkin Island was transferred to the ownership of the Astrakhan-Holy Trinity Monastery, and the first church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, was built there by the abbot of Holy Trinity, Igumen Kirill. At the beginning of the 18th century, the church was moved to the Churkin hillock, from which the monastery derives its name.

In 1919, the monastery was closed, and in 1930, the cathedral, most of the buildings, and the bell tower were demolished. The former hospital later housed a boarding school, a sanatorium, and a TB hospital.

An agreement was signed between the Astrakhan Diocese and the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society in December 2022 for the restoration of several of the monastery’s buildings.

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St. Dismas is the man known as the “Good Thief.” He was crucified on Calvary next to Jesus, along with another criminal. Luke’s Gospel describes him as the man who repented from his sins, asking Jesus to “remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” 

Anchorage, Alaska, March 25, 2024

Photo: odosa.org     

Hierarchical representatives of two great monastic traditions came together earlier this month to lead the annual clergy retreat for the Orthodox Church in America’s Diocese of Sitka and Alaska.

Held March 8 to 10 in Anchorage, the retreat was hosted by the local hierarch His Grace Bishop Alexei of Sitka, who spent decades as an Athonite monk, with presentations offered by His Grace Bishop Luke of Syracuse, the abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, which represents the monastic tradition of the great Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra in Western Ukraine.

The theme of the retreat was “Confessing Holy Orthodoxy,” the Diocese of Alaska reports.

The gathering began with the All-Night Vigil and Divine Liturgy at St. Tikhon’s Church in south Anchorage, with prayers and koliva for all the Orthodox departed. Following the Vigil, the parish treated all the guests to a feast, “including many Alaskan delicacies like smoked salmon and moose meat.”

Photo: ecatholic.com     

On Saturday morning, Bp. Luke offered a presentation on the dogma of the Church. The diocese writes:

Vladyka Luke first presented the heroic life and work of St. Job of Pochaev, who was responsible for defending and confessing the faith in Carpatho-Russia, a region much like Alaska flooded by well-funded missionaries and sects trying to proselytize Orthodox faithful. Vladyka Luke also highlighted the teachings of St. Hilarion Troitsky, whose writings delineate the boundaries of the Church and emphasize that one must be a member of the Orthodox Church to practice Christianity. Vladyka Luke also debunked “branch theory” ecclesiology and highlighted some of the excesses found in the ecumenical movement. His presentation encouraged the clergy to “fight the good fight” and continue their pastoral and missionary labors in the face of challenges brought by sects well-funded from outside sources.

That evening, the clergy attended the All-Night Vigil and the Sunday-morning Liturgy at St. Innocent of Irkutsk Cathedral. Following the service, Bp. Alexei’s third anniversary as a bishop was celebrated.

On Monday, Bishops Alexei and Luke traveled to Kodiak Island to speak with the students of St. Herman’s Seminary. “During his Tuesday talks Vladyka Luke emphasized the need for seminarians to become true pastors and hold fast to the deposit of Faith. He also recounted stories about the Russian Royal Martyrs Nicholas and Alexandra, in order to inspire piety and Christ-centered family life.”

The hierarchs then traveled to Monk’s Lagoon, “which our Venerable Father Herman sanctified by his holy prayers and ascetic struggles.” The hierarchs offered prayers at the holy sites and “returned to Kodiak strengthened for the upcoming Great Fast.”

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Only Jesus can deliver humanity from hatred and violence, Pope Francis said on Palm Sunday.

“Jesus entered Jerusalem as a humble and peaceful king,” he said in brief remarks after celebrating Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square. He prayed that the faithful would open their hearts to the Lord because he alone “can deliver us from animosity, hatred, violence, because he is mercy and the forgiveness of sins.”

On a sunny and windy day, about 60,000 people attended the Mass March 24, which began with a solemn procession of hundreds of people carrying green palm branches followed by about 60 cardinals and bishops, carrying “palmurelli,” pale green palm branches that were woven and braided.

Dressed in red vestments, the color of the Passion, Pope Francis presided over the Mass, the solemn beginning of Holy Week, but he skipped the homily and did not have an aide read any prepared remarks. Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, was the main celebrant at the altar.

The Vatican offered no explanation about why there was no homily. The pope did read brief remarks after praying the Angelus, greeted the cardinals in attendance from his wheelchair, and he rode in the popemobile for about 15 minutes enthusiastically greeting the faithful, waving, gesturing, offering a thumbs up and occasionally calling out remarks to those he saw.

In his brief remarks, he expressed his sorrow over a deadly attack in Moscow March 22 in which more than 130 people were killed inside a crowded concert venue.

He prayed for the victims of this “cowardly terrorist attack” and called for the conversion of the “hearts of those who plan, organize and carry out these inhumane actions that offend God, who commanded, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’”

The pope extended his prayers to all people who suffer because of war, particularly those in Ukraine, “where so many people find themselves without electricity because of intense attacks against the infrastructure that, in addition to causing death and suffering, carry the risk of an even larger humanitarian catastrophe.”

He also asked people not to forget about the people of Gaza who “are suffering so much” and the many other places experiencing war.

Sometimes you get to know certain saints in a completely unusual way. It’s all individualized in the life of any person. Probably everyone has his own story about how he learned about this or that saint. And such events almost always bear the significance of a miracle.

Icon of the Skhodnya Nun-Martyrs My whole family started going to Holy Trinity Church in Skhodnya when we moved from Moscow to this cozy suburb town twelve years ago. I can’t even remember for sure when I first saw the icon of the Skhodnya New Martyrs in our church. Perhaps it wasn’t there at first, but when I became aware of it, I felt great joy, as if I had unexpectedly met my own kin, some very dear people. By that time, the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church had become so close to me that such an encounter was something important for me, something significant, and at the same time very bright and solemn.

That’s how it is: You do a search online about the New Martyrs, and it turns out there are three of them in your local church: The Nun-Martyrs Natalia (Baklanova), Elena (Korobkova), and Ekaterina (Konstantinova). All of them were parishioners of Holy Trinity Church at one time. All of them suffered for their faith. Nun Natalia died in a camp hospital. Nun Elena also died in a camp. Novice Ekaterina was shot in Butovo. All three of their lives are very short, one and a half pages each. There are surviving photographs of Nun Natalia and Novice Ekaterina. It’s such a joy that there is information and photos—this isn’t the case for many of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

“>New Martyrs. There’s often nothing to write about these sufferers: He lived, he served, he was arrested, he was shot for faith in Christ. That’s it. Therefore, I truly rejoiced for our parishioners and for myself that we even know our saints by sight!

Several years later, our family was lucky enough to get land for a new dacha in the Moscow Province, near Solnechnogorsk, and we started digging there enthusiastically. In the summer, the whole family went out to the new dacha, and we went to the church there, of course. Although the village where we bought land has a Church of the Holy Protection. My husband liked the magnificent five-altar Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in the village of Obukhovo, and that’s where we started going. My husband would drive us, and we’d all pour out of the car like peas, straight through the gate to the church. After the service we’d hurry home to get our youngest child fed.

Holy Dormition Church in Obukhovo     

It was 2019. In July, we had another baby. That summer, we went to church exactly as I described it. But the next summer, our one-year-old and I had to clomp around outside the church, because I didn’t think I should clomp around with the baby inside the church. And so, bent down, holding the hand of a briskly stomping child, I turned a corner of the church building where I’d never been before, and in my periphery, I saw a familiar face on the wall of the church. The baby was happily stomping ahead, so I took a closer look the second time around. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was a photo of Novice Ekaterina, which, surrounded by other photos, framed a schematic image of the Solnechnogorsk District, with an inscription above saying something like, “Holy New Martyrs of Solnechnogorsk.” “Wait, wait!” flashed through my head. “Who are these New Martyrs of Solnechnogorsk? This is our Ekaterina Konstaninova, of Skhodnya! Our hometown saint!” This made me study her life in more detail, although by then I’d already posted a shortened version in my group about the Russian New Martyrs and Confessors several times.

Nun-Martyr Ekaterina By the way, that same day, I found out that the Dormition Church has its Heavenly patrons: One of the rectors of the church, Fr. Pavel Ivanov, is now glorified in the host of New Martyrs, commemorated on June 27. He was shot in Butovo in 1938, three months after the execution of the Novice Ekaterina. Fr. John Tarasov (December 8) and Protodeacon Nikolai Goryunov (March 22) are also directly related to this church, having both served there.

The life of Novice Ekaterina doesn’t say a single word about Skhodnya (this geographical name isn’t mentioned once), but it does mention Solnechnogorsk: She was in prison there. You may ask me, dear reader: “So then what does she have to do with the Nun-Martyrs of Skhodnya?” Allow me to explain.

Ekaterina was born in 1887 in the village of Savrasovo, which is now in the Skhodnya District. The nearest church was in Skhodnya itself. At first it was a wooden, summer building, built in 1903, when Ekaterina was 16. In 1907, they built a winter altar. In 1909, the church completely burned down, so in 1910, a new stone church was built. The Holy Trinity Church in Skhodnya was active until 1936, when it was closed. When the church was transferred to the faithful in the early 1990s, there was a granite workshop in the church building, where they made statues of Lenin and Stalin. The sculptors were quite aggressively opposed to the transfer. Wikipedia says the liberation of the building had to be won through an arbitration court. But the old-timers say the sculptors were expelled from the church by the Theotokos herself.

At that time, as already mentioned, the church was the workshop of two sculptors who made large figures of party leaders—the high ceiling was just right. The church was given to the Orthodox Church, but the sculptors either weren’t informed of it, or they didn’t understand something. In general, when our ever-memorable rector Fr. Nikolai Ryzhenkov, 25-years-old at that time, an unathletic young man, went to the church building and asked the sculptors to vacate the premises, they threw him out of the church in stern silence, sticking him in a snowdrift. The young priest went there every day with the same request, and every day they threw him out of the church into the snowdrift. In the end, realizing they couldn’t get rid of the stubborn priest that easily, they proposed: “Father, how about we give you a monthly payment, and you don’t come here anymore?” And they offered what was a huge amount for those difficult times. Batiushka politely rejected the offer and continued his daily visits.

Holy Trinity Church in Skhodnya before it was given back to the Russian Orthodox Church     

And then a parish group of twenty was formed. The future parishioners began to unite around Batiushka, and Fr. Nikolai no longer had to go to the sculptors alone, but accompanied by two or three activists. Still, there was no way to expel the sculptors from the church.

One wonderful morning, Batiushka and several activists, including the parishioner who told me this story, arrived at the church to find the doors wide open and a complete mess inside the church, and no trace of anyone living. By all indications, the church was hastily abandoned by the sculptors—they didn’t even take their expensive tools. After waiting a few days, the parishioners started cleaning up in the church. After a while, the priest was summoned to the authorities. The sculptors had filed a complaint against him. Mind you, dear reader, it was something official.

Batiushka was accused of using some unseen special means to scare the poor unfortunate sculptors half to death, remotely showing them in a way incomprehensible to science, in one of the side altars in the church right under the arches, a large, three-dimensional image of some majestic woman with a Child. The image was from the waist up. The Child was standing, and the woman, with a stern face and hands lowered, commanded the sculptors, in a stern voice, to clear out of the church before something bad happened to them. The sculptors were so scared that even some time later they flatly refused, to go to the church grounds to take their tools, which had been packed up for them.

The image appeared precisely in the place where, according to historical information, there used to be a Kazan Icon of the Mother of God

“>Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. And it’s in that place now, carefully preserved by the former parishioners and handed over to the church by their descendants.

Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Holy Trinity Church in Skhodnya Needless to say, our dear Fr. Nikolai had nothing to do with the miraculous appearance of the image of the Most Holy Theotokos to the sculptors. In the physical sense, at least.

It was this church that Ekaterina attended for several years until 1905, when she came of age and entered the Joy of All Who Sorrow Monastery in Moscow.

Nothing is known about the next thirteen years of Novice Ekaterina’s life, save that she had an obedience as a seamstress. It was probably a truly monastic life, striving to please the Lord and serve Him. Thirteen years is a long time. During this time, the Novice Ekaterina was imbued with the wonderful oil of true monasticism, which allowed her to stand firmly in the faith of Christ despite the coming trials and tribulations.

In 1918, the monastery was closed, and Ekaterina returned to Sarvasovo. It was, harsh though it may sound, providential: Within a year, her sister would die, followed by her sister’s husband, and their three young children would be orphans. Ekaterina took over the care of the children. She raised, fed, and educated them. Before the revolution, her father was a well-to-do peasant who ran a carpentry workshop and a grocery store. But after the revolution, the Bolsheviks confiscated all the family’s property. How did Novice Ekaterina cope? She earned a little by sewing blankets to order. Her monastic sewing obedience came in handy. At the same time, she strictly fulfilled all the monastic rules, and as it is written in her life, tried to go to church as often as possible, to Holy Trinity Church in Skhodnya, and therefore, dear reader, we consider her our own. The walls of our church are saturated with the prayers and perhaps the hymns of Nun-Martyr Ekaterina. These walls remember her.

Holy Trinity Church in Skhodnya     

Novice Ekaterina was able to go to the Holy Trinity Church all the way up until 1936, when it was closed. It’s amazing that in a time of God-fighting and satanic hatred for all things Orthodox, the Lord granted Novice Ekaterina twenty calm years. There’s no information about her being summoned by the police, persecuted, interrogated… They came for her only in the brutal year of 1938, when she was arrested based on false testimony.

This was typical for those times. A witness testified that Novice Ekaterina said the following: “Here they go again, some elections are needed, what for, if there are those in power? Let them lead for the time being or are they afraid of war. They’ve jailed some, now they have to choose new ones, but there’s nothing to choose from, they’re already chosen, and they are squeezing well as it is; look how poorly you lived under the tsarist power, see how your communists are being shot, but this too shall end.” And some other absurdities. If we compare these texts with the testimony of Novice Ekaterina herself, even the style of speech differs strikingly. Ekaterina spoke clearly, correctly, coherently, without slang.

On February 23, 1938, the Solnechnogorsk Police drew up the necessary order on the basis of “witness testimony,” and the next day, they came for Ekaterina. For some reason, the first thought that came to her mind was: “I managed to raise the children.” Although this isn’t a monastic task at all, the Lord showed His mercy to her: She didn’t have to worry about the children—they were already grown.

The investigation was very interested in the novice’s contacts: Usually anyone who was named during such interrogations was then subject to arrest. The investigators were especially interested in her monastic contacts.

Novice Ekaterina had been in contact with Nun Natalia (Baklanova) and the Proshkin sisters who were with her—all the women were parishioners of Holy Trinity Church in Skhodnya. By the time Novice Ekaterina was arrested they had all been arrested already, so Ekaterina answered the investigator’s questions directly:

I have a number of other nuns I know. We go to pray together… I would meet with them only in church. They’ve all been arrested. I went to their apartment once.

Nun Natalia (Baklanova) in the center, with Novices Evdokia and Anastasia Proshkin The investigation was also interested in what the nuns spoke about. To this, Novice Ekaterina responded:

I do not confess to counter-revolutionary agitation, but the nuns and I shared our personal opinions among ourselves that things were good under the Tsar, and bad under the Soviets. What exactly we said, I can’t recall right now.

But Ekaterina’s fervent counter-revolution was “confirmed” by a fellow villager. Supposedly, the novice was dissatisfied with the collective farm’s greenhouses, saying they spent a lot of money and yet the people were swollen with hunger.

The decision regarding Novice Ekaterina was made on March 11, 1938. The NKVD Troika in the Moscow Province resolved: Ekaterina Grigorievna Konstantinova was to be shot for systematic counter-revolutionary agitation, for expressing terrorist intentions, for anti-collective farm conversations, and for spreading slander about a famine in the USSR.

Sister Ekaterina was shot on March 20, 1938 at the NKVD Butovo training ground.

And we feel that we are under the prayerful protection of our holy Nun-Martyr Ekaterina, whenever and wherever we go. By the great grace of God, she is venerated in both the churches that we love and where our entire family goes to church.

At the age of 81, Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez remains the best-known champion of the legacy of his friend and mentor St. Óscar Romero, who was killed 44 years ago during El Salvador’s civil war and today is considered an icon of the Catholic Church’s social justice advocacy. 

In 2017, Pope Francis surprised observers by making Rosa Chávez the first cardinal in El Salvador’s history, despite only being an auxiliary bishop. A year later he declared Romero a saint, the culmination of a long, difficult effort led by Rosa Chávez.

Much has changed in El Salvador since then. In 2019, the country elected as president outsider politician Nayib Bukele, who has used heavy-handed tactics to bring sweeping changes to the country once known as the “murder capital of the world.” The most well known is the “state of exception” declared by Bukele, which has given the government emergency powers to arrest and imprison tens of thousands of suspected gang members without due process.

The result is a country almost unrecognizable compared to just a few years ago. Homicide rates have plummeted, tourism has risen, and there have been small signs of improvement in the country’s economy — all factors that contributed to Bukele’s reelection in February.

But Rosa Chávez has since emerged as the Catholic Church in El Salvador’s leading critic of Bukele’s measures, arguing that the means do not justify the ends: not only the damage to the country’s judicial system, but also the potential imprisonment of thousands of innocent young men.

Rosa Chávez visited Los Angeles in the days leading up to Romero’s March 24 feast day, where he visited several parishes — including St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Pico-Union and St. John the Baptist Church in Baldwin Park — to spend time with the local Salvadoran community.

He sat down to speak with Angelus before Mass with parishioners at St. Marcellinus Church in Commerce March 18.

Your Eminence, what brought you to Los Angeles this time?

For me, this city is very important in the history of our country. Today it’s considered the second largest city of El Salvador, because it has the largest population of Salvadorans outside of San Salvador.

So I wanted to be here with the people close to the feast day of our beloved St. Óscar Romero, March 24. I was here in 2018 for the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim and it was great to be with everyone there.

We’ve always been grateful to the help we’ve received from the Church here. I was reminded of 1986, when a large [magnitude 5.7] earthquake struck El Salvador and a plane full of aid supplies arrived to help. We will never forget that. 

According to you, what would St. Óscar Romero have to say about the situation of El Salvador — and of the Church there — right now?

Let me tell you an anecdote to explain what is going on right now.

Last year, the Archbishop of San Salvador, José Luis Alas, asked me to celebrate the March 24 Mass for Romero’s feast day. “You do it, I can’t,” he said.

And I thought: “This means I have to preach. What am I going to say at that Mass?” It cost me a lot to give that homily, and I suffered a lot giving it.

A quote from Romero came to my mind: “The shepherd has to be where the suffering is.” I ended the homily with that quote. That’s the part that didn’t make the international headlines. I paid deeply for that homily, because there was a terrible attack against me as a result. But I didn’t say anything more than what I thought.

So, I had the same question: What would Romero say in this moment? That’s a subversive and demanding question, but if one doesn’t ask himself that question, he’s not a shepherd, he’s just taking the easy way out.

And being here, I also thought: What am I going to say in LA? At Mass last Sunday, March 17, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, I talked about three countries: the El Salvador we have, the one that we want, and the one we used to hope for, the one that Archbishop Romero gave his life for.

How is El Salvador doing? You’ll get a different answer depending on who you ask. We have a great image from the outside of what El Salvador is like: that being there feels nice, feels safe. And on this, we all agree that this is the El Salvador we want: a country with justice, where everyone can fulfill their full potential, that has health care, education, employment, shelter. A country where you can have dreams, plans, feel at peace … we all want that right now.

Now, which country did Archbishop Romero want? What was his utopia of a country? He used to say: a country after God’s own heart. A country of brothers. And we’re not that country right now. We’re not a country where we’re all God’s children.

I use the image of a rainbow, which features seven primary colors, or that of the guacamaya bird [macaw] to explain that peace is composed of many colors, where we all fit together. If not, there’s no peace. That’s why it’s important to have dialogue, for each one to be able to share their own proposals, to walk together toward a common goal. This is how peace is built.

Until now that hasn’t been possible, because we have a polarized country, where there’s practically a pensamiento unico, a single line of thought. And the one who dissents ends up badly. That’s not how you build peace!

I dream of a country where the people are truly a people. There’s a famous line that says, “God wants to save us as a people. God doesn’t want a mass of people. What’s a mass of people? It’s just a bunch of persons, and the more alienated they are, the better.

And what is a people? It’s an organized community that looks for the common good. That’s what Archbishop Romero worked for. And he would tell people what was going on in the country, what needed to be thought about, what should be done … that’s what a critical, proactive laity does, it dreams of a world of justice and truth.

If you read Archbishop Romero’s last homily the day he was killed, he ends saying exactly this: to give your life to suffering, as Christ did, so that we may have a country where peace and justice reign. That was his dream. And that’s what we don’t have right now. So we need to work to make that possible in this country that’s suffering so much right now.

Some would say that in these last few years, peace has finally come to El Salvador. But others would argue that this peace has come at the expense of justice. Is it possible to have both in El Salvador?

Those who visit El Salvador feel happy to be able to walk the streets without fear, to see the beaches, the airport … and it’s true, there are reasons to feel good.

But I say this: Do any of you have the deeper life, the truth of God? Because God conquers all.

There are more than 70,000 people imprisoned [in El Salvador] under this “state of exception” from these last two years. Let’s estimate that each one has 10 people in their lives who love them: parents, family, friends. What’s 70,000 times 10? In a country of about 7 1/2 million people, that means that about 10% of the population don’t have freedom. How does this make the people suffer?

Then there are those who were removed from workplaces in the city center of the capital [San Salvador]: more than 10,000. And if one speaks, there’s fear that they could be put in jail. That is not peace. That is the peace of the cemetery, in a sense.

That’s why I am working patiently on proposals so that people don’t feel alone, so that they know they are listened to, because it’s about accompanying them. That’s the role of the Church, the role of Jesus, and that was Romero’s role. There’s an inspiration in people who want to do so much, even if in silence, discreetly, so that people can have hope.

Pope Francis, the Catholic Church, and much of the world has been following the situation in Nicaragua, where the Church is threatened in a very direct way, with a lot of concern. In that kind of situation, where do you start to look for this justice and peace?

I’ll tell you the story of Bishop Rolando [Álvarez]. He was going to leave [Nicaragua] on a plane with several others to the United States. And he decided not to get on the plane, he chose to stay with the people. He spent more than a year in prison.

I have known Bishop Rolando since he was a young priest. His gesture was marvelous: to stay with the people, to risk for the people.

But what is happening in that country? The Church is not respected there. Everything is decided by the presidential couple. And they do truly absurd things, like confiscating the Church’s material goods, and not allowing those who leave the country to reenter.

This is the reality, and it’s all totally in the hands of whatever those two people decide. This can also happen in El Salvador: the government has all the power, and no one has anyone to defend them. The way decisions are made there is almost pornographic. But in reality, they [the people of Nicaragua] need to feel accompanied by our prayer, that they may feel that they’re not alone, and that God will do the rest in his time.

Right now, Nicaragua is going through a Good Friday. Let us hope that the Resurrection comes soon.

Denver, March 25, 2024

Photo: parishlife.app     

Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver, who has served as a hierarch of the Patriarchate of Constantinople for 38 years, has resigned.

Met. Isaiah spent the last 32 years of his ministry overseeing the Denver Metropolis of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

His resignation was accepted by the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on March 23, reports Romfea. He was also given the honorary title of Metropolitan of Lystra, a once great Christian see.

The Metropolitan has been residing at Holy Archangels Monastery in Kendalia, Texas, one of the monasteries founded by the great Athonite father Elder Ephraim, for several months now.

In 2017, Becoming His Eminence (VIDEO)In this short film, directed and produced by Andrew Shebay, and edited by Michael Hurley, His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese) shares some thoughts on how he entered a life of service in the Church, and on the calling of all Christians.

“>a short film was produced in which the Metropolitan shares some thoughts on how he entered a life of service in the Church and on the calling of all Christians.

Within 40 days, the Eparchial Synod of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese is to select three candidates from which the Holy Synod of Constantinople will select the next Metropolitan of Denver.

***

Biography of Met. Isaiah:

Metropolitan Isaiah is a native of New Hampshire, having been born in Portsmouth. He is one of four children born to Dennis and Mary (Kapsimalis) Chronopoulos who had emigrated to the United States from Olympia, Greece. After his primary and high school education, he served with distinction in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean conflict. In the autumn of 1954, he enrolled at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts. Upon his graduation in 1960, he attended the Ecumenical Patriarchate Seminary of Halki in Istanbul, Turkey for graduate studies.

On February 25, 1962, Metropolitan Isaiah was ordained a deacon by His Eminence Archbishop Iakovos at Saint Spyridon Church in San Diego, California, having been tonsured a monk on the previous day. He received his ordination to the holy priesthood from His Grace Bishop Demetrios of Olympos at Saint Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles, California, on March 18, 1962. His first assignment in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese was as assistant to the pastor at Holy Trinity Church in Salt Lake City, Utah. In December of 1964, he was assigned as pastor at Saint John the Baptist Church in Youngstown, Ohio. On November 30, 1969, he was raised to the office of Archimandrite by Archbishop Iakovos at the consecration services of the new church and community center in Youngstown.

Archbishop Iakovos reassigned the Metropolitan to Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology as the Director of Student Life in August of 1971. Taking a leave of absence from his duties in February 1975, he enrolled as a graduate student at the School of Theology at the University of Thessaloniki, fulfilling requirements for the recognition of his master’s degree in theology. He returned to the United States in July of that year and continued in his capacity as dean of students.

In September 1976, he was given additional responsibilities at the college-seminary as the Dean of Administrative Affairs together with his position as Dean of Students. In October 1977, he assumed additional duties as the Interim Pastor at Saint Nicholas Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Relinquishing all of these positions in March 1979, he was assigned as the Chancellor of the Diocese of Chicago under His Grace, Bishop Iakovos of Chicago.

Metropolitan Isaiah was elected to the rank of bishop by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul (Constantinople), Turkey, on April 10, 1986. He was consecrated a Bishop on May 25, 1986, at Holy Trinity Cathedral in New York City, and was given the title of Bishop of Aspendos, a former Christian city in southwestern Asia Minor. In September 1986, His Eminence Archbishop Iakovos assigned him as the Chancellor of the Archdiocese in New York. Bishop Isaiah continued to function in this capacity until June 23, 1992, when he was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Denver by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, taking the new title on June 24, 1992, at special ceremonies in the Archdiocesan Chapel. He was enthroned as Bishop of Denver on September 10, 1992, at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Denver, Colorado.

On November 24, 1997, the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elevated him as Metropolitan of Proikonisos and Presiding Hierarch of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Denver. Metropolitan Isaiah was also appointed as President of Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology on July 1, 1997, by His Eminence Archbishop Spyridon of America. He accepted a one-year term which officially ended on August 14, 1998.

On December 20, 2002, the Ecumenical Patriarchate elevated the status of the Diocese to a Metropolis, and in 2003, elected Metropolitan Isaiah as Metropolitan of Denver.

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It was disappointing to learn that the first manned test flight of the Artemis space program has been postponed to the end of 2025. If that goes as planned, and successfully launches four astronauts beyond Earth’s gravitational embrace into a lunar orbit and returns them safely, the next Artemis flight will be late in 2026, landing astronauts on the moon’s surface for the first time in 57 years.

Growing up during the space race, astronauts were like sports heroes. We grew up on sci-fi movies on late-night TV, and the dashing, fearless astronauts of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs became household names. Back in the day, I could rattle off the flight numbers of each space mission and the names of the astronauts who flew them like I was naming the batting order of the 1967 Dodgers. 

Today, there are more astronauts than there are space missions. But I have to admit my inner 10-year-old is excited at the prospect of a return to the moon, even if the trip is delayed by a year.

There is so much more to space exploration than just satisfying the need for wonder. Since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, humankind has been sojourning. The Old Testament hinges on a journey to the Promised Land, and the New Testament is all about the spiritual journey that makes us all explorers.

The Age of Discovery, which we sometimes erroneously confine to the exploration of the New World, existed well before that, and will extend far beyond where we are today. The people who traversed the ice bridge from Asia to North America were just as intrepid as Vasco da Gama taking his small ships around the Cape of Good Hope, Africa’s southern tip, to make it to India.

Exploration, whether terrestrial or otherworldly, is a spiritual endeavor. You can debate the pros and cons of New World contact with the Old World all day long, but there is no denying that the Church was there to baptize and teach people about the Gospel. And as flawed as some of those travelers may have been (and how unfair it can be to assess the actions of men of faith 500 years through the lens of our modern sensibilities), I will always vote in favor of people coming to the God of the universe.

Which brings us back to the extraterrestrial form of discovery and exploration. Since nothing happens to even a sparrow on Earth without him knowing about it, you do not need an intricate logic syllogism to stipulate that he also knows what is happening in the Horsehead Nebula.

The Church has long been by the side of horizontal seafaring explorers, as well as astronomers with more vertical quests. Those who attack the Church as being “anti-science” notwithstanding, the lists of Church-sponsored scientists, especially astronomers, are as long as an MIT professor’s equation explaining quantum physics. 

That may explain how even space exploration was intentionally or accidentally accounted for in the Catholic Church. It may have been 1969 when Apollo 11 landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Sea of Tranquility, but it was a 1917 Code of Canon Law that connected the Church on Earth to the heavens above.

The 1917 Code of Canon Law stipulates that any newly discovered land becomes part of the diocese from which the expedition originated. Since all the Apollo moon flights blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, the current bishop of the moon is Bishop John Noonan of the Diocese of Orlando.

As some readers may know, my brother was a former auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He is now the Bishop of Fresno. I wish Elon Musk would move his SpaceX operation to Bakersfield and launch his mission to the Red Planet from there. I would love to tell people that my brother is the bishop of Mars. What a cool diocesan visit that would make.

Tirana, Albania, March 25, 2024

Photo: Romfea     

On March 17, the Greek outlet Romfea published two letters that His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Albania wrote in response to letters from Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria concerning the Russian Orthodox Church’s African Exarchate’s activity on the canonical territory of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.

The first letter is from more than a year ago, February 7, 2023, but the second letter is new, from March 14 of this year.

As he has in previous communications, the Albanian primate attempts to take a mediating stance, offering both support and criticism as necessary. For example, Abp. Anastasios has consistently opposed Constantinople’s interference in Ukrainian ecclesiastical affairs, culminating in the creation and granting of “autocephaly” to the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” but he has Albanian Church publishes full text of letters to Pat. Kirill, opposes Russian Church’s break in communion with ConstantinopleThe Albanian Church has published the full text of two letters of Abp. Anastasios to Pat. Kirill which show that while Abp. Anastasios is gravely concerned about Constantinople’s actions in Ukraine, he also does not support the Russian Church’s decisions to first cease commemorating Pat. Bartholomew and later to fully break communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

“>also informed His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow that he does not support the Russian Synod’s decision to break communion with Constantinople.

Thus, in his February 2023 letter to Pat. Theodoros, His Beatitude states plainly:

The incursion of the Patriarchate of Moscow into Africa was clearly an unacceptable anti-canonical action, undermining the unity and the missionary work of the Orthodox Church. What you describe in detail confirms that a clear schism is unfolding within Orthodoxy.

But at the same time, he tells Pat. Theodoros:

Our long ecclesiastical experience and theological engagement confirm that the tactic of reprisals, however justified it may seem, does not solve problems; instead, the prolongation of the conflict exacerbates the wounds.

What is needed is a therapeutic treatment of reconciliation and resolution, Abp. Anastasios believes.

And as he has done repeatedly since 2018, he again calls for a pan-Orthodox Synod to address the issues in Ukraine and Africa.

His letter from March of this year repeats the same points:

We clearly do not agree with the power demonstration on the part of the Patriarchate of Moscow, especially in the sensitive area of mission in Africa. We clearly deem such methods unacceptable and condemnable.

And:

Equally, we do not agree with the adoption of a similar mentality and methods of reaction—with the depositions of hierarchs and the creation of a climate of tension among the Orthodox Churches in the media.

Patriarchate of Alexandria defrocks second Russian Exarch of AfricaBp. Konstantin commented simply: “The fact of the matter is that I am a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. I am subordinate to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia as his vicar and to the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church as any of its bishops.”

“>On February 16 of this year, the Alexandrian Synod ruled to defrock His Grace Bishop Konstantin of Zaraisk, the Russian Church’s second African Exarch. The Synod had already ruled to defrock the first Exarch, Metropolitan Leonid of Klin in Patriarch Theodoros stops commemorating Patriarch Kirill, Russian Exarch declared defrocked by AlexandriaToday’s decision from Alexandria marks the first time another primate has ceased commemorating Pat. Kirill.”>November 2022, in addition to two Russian priests already in Patriarchate of Alexandria rules to defrock two Russian priestsThe priests were tried in absentia. Fr. Andrei has already returned to Russia, while Fr. George remains in Africa but did not appear at the trial.”>February 2022.

But such unilateral actions offer nothing to Church unity, the Archbishop believes:

The problems that have arisen in recent years, due to the cessation of Eucharistic communion between Orthodox Patriarchates, cannot be resolved through unilateral decisions and announcements.

And he again calls for a pan-Orthodox Synod.

Abp. Anastasios has also Archbishop of Albania supports persecuted UOC hierarchs“We share in your sufferings and, to the best of our ability, share our testimony of the atrocities committed against the righteous Orthodox clergy, pious people, and famous holy sites of Ukraine.”

“>personally reached out to persecuted hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, assuring them of his prayerful support.

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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would be the mother of Christ. 

The Bible tells us that Gabriel greeted Mary, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” Mary accepted God’s will, saying, “Be it done unto me according to thy word.” From this salutation and Mary’s response we have the basis for the Hail Mary and the Angelus prayer, along with St. Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary at the Visitation. 

The Church began celebrating the Annunciation as early as the fourth or fifth century, with the first recorded mention in 656 at the Council of Toledo.