Tag: Christianity

ROME – After Pope Francis made remarks in a recent interview implying that Ukraine ought to raise a “white flag” and open negotiations in its ongoing war with Russia, his remarks were met with fierce backlash from both Ukrainian civil and ecclesial authorities.

Speaking while making a visit to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish of Saint George in New York, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) said in response to the pope’s remarks, “in Ukraine no one has the possibility of surrendering.”

“Ukraine is wounded but undefeated. Ukraine is exhausted but remains standing,” Major Archbishop is Sviatoslav Shevchuk said, telling those who are skeptical about Ukraine’s ability to continue resisting Russia’s military offensive to “come to Ukraine and see!”

Similarly, the Ukrainian Embassy to the Holy See said that “it is very important to be consistent.”

“When we speak about a third world war, which we have now, it is necessary to learn from the second war: did anyone then seriously talk about negotiating peace with Hitler and the white flag to satisfy him?” the embassy said.

The lesson to be learned, then, they said, is “if we want to end the war, we must do everything to kill the Dragon!”

On Saturday, a new papal interview was published on Swiss broadcaster RSI that was recorded Feb. 2, and which is expected to be broadcast in full on March 20 as part of a new cultural program.

During the interview, Pope Francis made waves when asked about the debate between those who say Ukraine ought to raise a “white flag” and surrender as it has not been able to overcome Russia forces, and those who argue that doing so would legitimize Russia’s actions.

In response, Francis said he believes “the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates.”

“The word negotiate is a courageous word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate,” he said, noting that many countries, including Turkey, have voiced a willingness to mediate.

The pope’s remarks were the first time he had used the term “white flag” or “defeated” in reference to the Ukraine war, sparking immediate blowback from Ukrainian authorities and allies who have supported Ukraine for past two years, since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

In response to the pope’s remarks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba authored a post on social media platform X saying Ukraine’s flag “is yellow and blue.”

“This is our flag with which we live, die and conquer. We will never raise other flags,” he said, and voiced gratitude to Pope Francis for his continual prayers for peace in Ukraine, saying he still hopes the pope will be able to visit Ukraine to support local Catholics and those impacted by the war.

Kremlin spokesman Maria Zakharova spoke to Italian media following the pope’s remarks, saying the pontiff was not speaking to Kyiv, but to the West, which she said is using Ukraine as “an instrument” of its “ambitions.”

“The way I see it, the pope is asking the West to put aside its ambitions and admit that it was wrong,” she said, saying, “every expert, every diplomat today understands” that the situation in Ukraine “is at a dead end” and that many countries and international leaders have asked for negotiations.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni attempted to smooth things over after the backlash, issuing a statement Saturday saying the term “white flag” had been used by the interviewer, and that Pope Francis had simply repeated it “to indicate a cessation of hostilities and a truce reached with the courage of negotiations.”

“His hope is a diplomatic solution for a just and lasting peace,” Bruni said.

However, Pope Francis has also faced pressure from his own flock and from other Christians for the remarks.

The Christian Association of Ukrainians in Italy called the pope’s remarks “shocking, embarrassing, and deeply offensive.”

Similarly, in a March 10 statement, the bishops of the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who are currently meeting in the United States, also weighed in, voicing concern but appearing to offer the pontiff the benefit of the doubt.

In their statement, the synod noted that the pope’s remark about the “white flag,” according to Bruni, was a summons to negotiation and not surrender, and that Francis had also spoken of the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

In this sense, they said Ukrainian citizens are “wounded yet unbroken, tired yet resilient.”

“Ukrainians cannot surrender because surrender means death. The intentions of Putin and Russia are clear and explicit. The aims are not those of one individual,” they said, saying 70 percent of Russian citizen are “clear and explicit” in their support for “the genocidal war against Ukraine.”

Both the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate and its patriarch, Kirill, they said, support the war and back Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions.

For Putin, they said, “there is no such thing as Ukraine, Ukrainian history, language, and independent Ukrainian Church life. All matters Ukrainian are ideological constructs, fit to be eradicated…The ideology of Ukrainian identity, according to Putin, is ‘Nazi.’”

“By calling all Ukrainians (who refuse to be Russians and accept Russian rule) ‘Nazis,’ Putin dehumanizes them,” they said, saying Ukrainians are seen as a people “to be annihilated, killed,” and that alleged war crimes in cities such as Bucha, Irpin and Izium prove it.

They also argued that Russian occupation of Ukrainian territory has led to “the eradication of the Ukrainian Catholic Church” and of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as well as the suppression of other religious traditions and institutions that do not support “Russian hegemony.”

“Ukrainians will continue to defend themselves. They feel they have no choice. Recent history has demonstrated that with Putin there will be no true negotiations,” they said, noting that Ukraine in 1994 negotiated away its nuclear arsenal, at the time the third largest in the world, and in return received guarantees of territorial integrity.

However, that memorandum, signed by Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom, they said, “is not worth the paper on which it was written. So it will be with any agreement ‘negotiated’ with Putin’s Russia.”

In light of suggestions from Pope Francis and other world leaders that Ukraine open itself to negotiations, the synod said that regardless of these calls, “Ukrainians will continue to defend freedom and dignity to achieve a peace that is just.”

“They believe in freedom and God-given human dignity. They believe in truth, God’s truth. They are convinced that God’s truth will prevail,” they said.

Chișinău, Moldova, March 10, 2024

Met. Vladimir (left), Pat. Daniel (right). Photo: pravlife.org     

The head of the Moldovan Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate is calling on the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church to enter into a dialogue about the aggravated ecclesiastical situation in Moldova.

For three decades, there have been two overlapping jurisdictions in Moldova: the Moscow Patriarchate’s Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova and the Romanian Orthodox Church’s Metropolis of Bessarabia, which have essentially tolerated each other since the latter was reestablished in 1991 by a bishop formerly of the Russian Church’s structure.

However, relations have severely deteriorated since the start of the war in Ukraine. A number of clerics and parishes have moved from the Moscow to the Romanian side, but as these transitions were made without a canonical release, a number of the clerics have been defrocked.

However, the Metropolis of Bessarabia has declared these canonical sanctions null and void, and Romanian Synod establishes “Romanian Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” Ukrainian hierarch respondsA number of important decisions were made during the session of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church held in Bucharest on February 29.

“>on February 29, the Holy Synod of the entire Romanian Orthodox Church took the same position.

On Friday, March 8, the Moldovan Church published a statement, arguing that “The Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church does not have the authority to annul the sanctions applied to priests from other Local Orthodox Churches.”

Two days earlier, the Moldovan Church had published a letter from His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir of Chișinău to His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania, calling on him to engage in dialogue about the troubling situation.

Met. Vladimir notes that such divisions between Orthodox brothers are pleasing to politicians but painful for the Church. He also charges that some of the clerics who have joined the Romanian Church’s Metropolis of Bessarabia did so for a higher salary (in a letter to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in September, Met. Vladimir complained of the financial difficulties facing the Moldovan Church, in addition to its diminishing authority in Moldovan society due to its association with the Moscow Patriarchate).

Read Met. Vladimir’s full letter to Pat. Daniel:

We present these words to you, laid out from love for the rational flock, hoping in the proverbial wisdom of Your Beatitude. We see Christ’s robe being torn, and the flock scattering. We look with concern at how, to the joy of politicians, division among brothers is once again used as an electoral weapon, and the souls of the faithful are lost in the nets of sects. It’s painful how material interests awaken in some servants of the Church a patriotism of convenience, and the offered salary influences the perception of nationality—a salary that some of our priests take without even having switched to the Metropolis of Bessarabia.

We need Your Beatitude’s wisdom and characteristic discernment. With pain, we watch how, under the cover of Synodal Decision No. 8.090 from December 19, 1992, clerics suspended or defrocked for serious moral deviations and incompatibility with priestly service are received as servants of the Metropolis of Bessarabia. Others, who until recently declared unhindered loyalty to the Metropolis of Moldova, have left our Metropolis without requesting a canonical letter of release, a letter that we provide to every cleric who asks for it. It is fitting, Your Beatitude, to look wisely upon a harmful situation that is being created, a situation in which we are open to dialogue and cooperation. Peace and obedience cannot be established in this territory under such circumstances. We desire, Father Patriarch, to coexist in love and peace with the Metropolis of Bessarabia; we plead for constructive dialogue, but we have always encountered opacity and stubbornness, as some alleged counselors and pseudo-advisors of the Metropolis of Bessarabia, engaged in the work of reconciling our institutions, have continually sown discord and strife. Regrettably, the hierarch of this Metropolis has fallen prey to a group of influence that benefits from this conflict situation, guided by personal interests.

It’s necessary, Your Beatitude, for the Romanian Orthodox Church’s involvement in this bleeding wound to be one of healing, through the mediation of brotherly dialogue, by restoring communion, and by establishing canonical obedience. Money will not calm things in the territory between the Prut and Dniester Rivers. We wish that salvation and care for the faithful, not the canonical structure they belong to, would prevail, and for the good intentions of Your Beatitude not to turn the Metropolis of Bessarabia into a bottomless pit for the material resources of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

We hope that you will consider our paternal care for the people who are injured and mediate cooperation that will restore obedience and canonical order.

We pray to the Savior Christ, the Eternal High Priest, to grant you many years in the service of the Church and the Romanian people!

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Come right down to it, the argument is simple to the point of being self-evident: a human embryo is either a human person or well along in the process of becoming one. In either case, the embryo enjoys fundamental legal rights of personhood, including the right to life.

That occurred to me again while reflecting on the furor over an Alabama Supreme Court decision asserting the legal personhood of human fetuses in a case involving in vitro fertilization — IVF for short. Pro-lifers were predictably gratified while pro-choicers predictably threw a fit.

The Alabama case was not directly about abortion. But it undoubtedly has helped set the stage for two new U.S. Supreme Court cases that are. The court will hear oral arguments in one case, from Texas, on March 26 and in the other, from Idaho, on April 24. Decisions in both are expected before the court’s current term ends in late June or early July.

No matter what the Supreme Court does, its decisions will further inflame debate over abortion as an issue in November’s presidential and congressional elections. President Biden and Vice President Harris say they will make abortion central to their reelection campaigns. And in November a dozen or more states will consider ballot measures to add a right to abortion to their state constitutions.

In the Texas case (Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, consolidated with Danco Laboratories v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine), the court is asked to consider a ruling last August by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The 5th Circuit largely upheld a lower court ruling that placed substantial restrictions on the abortion drug Mifepristone.

Mifepristone is used in more than half of all U.S. abortions, especially so-called mail-order ones performed by women on themselves. The lower court ruling being considered by the Supreme Court reduces the point in pregnancy after which Mifepristone can’t be used, from 10 weeks to seven weeks — the time when the fetus begins to feel pain. It also bars nonphysician prescription of the drug and sending it through the mail, and requires three in-person visits by the woman to the prescribing physician.

According to the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine — a group of pro-life physicians and others — the Food and Drug Administration, acting under pressure from the administrations of former president Barack Obama and President Biden, weakened restrictions on use of the drug in 2016 and again in 2021.

The Idaho case (Moyle v. United States) involves a challenge to that state’s tough new pro-life law — specifically, whether a federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act overrides the state statute and obliges emergency rooms in Idaho hospitals to perform abortions. The Supreme Court has placed a federal district court ruling that says yes to both questions on hold pending its decision.

In asking the Supreme Court to consider the case, Idaho stressed its state’s rights aspect. The federal government, it argued, “cannot use [the federal law] to override the emergency room state law about abortion any more than it can use it to override state law on organ transplants or marijuana use.”

To repeat — the Alabama case described above was not directly about abortion but about IVF procedures. But the status of the human fetus in the eyes of the law — whether the fetus enjoys the legal rights of personhood, including the right to life (along with other rights already recognized in law) — is central to the ongoing national debate.

Charlotte, North Carolina, March 11, 2024

Photo: easterndiocese.org     

A Serbian Orthodox priest in North Carolina fell victim to burglary recently.

Fr. Srebrenko Vidakovich, rector of the Church of St. Simeon the Myrrh-flowing in Charlotte, North Carolina, and his family lost their entire life savings and all valuables when their house was broken into.

The parish launched a GoFundMe on March 5 to help their priest. It has already raised more than $18,000.

The fundraiser reports:

Dear friends, our priest suffered a great loss, his house was broken into and his entire life savings was stolen together with all their valuables, both sentimental and physical.

He moved to the USA two years ago, leaving his family and friends in Serbia to serve in our parish. From the very moment he and his wife and two sons arrived, they met with great love and care and reciprocated many times over.

Words cannot describe the kindness, love and all kinds of help that he gives us every day, both as a priest and as a man together with his family, and I assure you that they more than deserved this help.

As parishioners, we will do everything in our power to raise funds and help recover at least part of the savings lost in this unprovoked and undeserved crime. We are asking everyone who can help us in this humane act, and we hope that God will repay you many times over. Thank you all in advance.

The robbery came just days after the Fr. Srebrenko and the parish celebrated their patronal feast with His Grace Bishop Irinej of Eastern America on February 25.

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It is not so much that the Frankenstein epic as imagined by Mary Shelley more than 200 years ago is making a comeback. It’s that it has never left. 

The current Oscar-nominated film “Poor Things” borrows heavily from the Frankenstein motif and turns it into a new wave feminist manifesto. Universal Pictures churned out various Frankenstein films from the 1930s to the 1950s, mangling the story but filling their coffers. The British horror film company Hammer picked up the flag in the 1950s through the 1970s with multiple spins on the Frankenstein franchise.

The story even survived the comic assault of Mel Brooks. There are billboards right now advertising a movie called “Lisa Frankenstein” with the premise of a reanimated corpse as the backdrop for a rom-com.

The closest any film has come to the original was actor/director Kenneth Branagh’s version in the 1990s, called “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.” The film was indeed her story and follows the plot closely. But in the end, I found it disappointing, as it fixated on the monster/violence aspect and not the more subtle attributes of the story that make it so universal. 

As divergent from the original material as the first two Universal Pictures Frankenstein movies were, Karloff’s monster, especially in the sequel “Bride of Frankenstein,” really captured the pathos of the creature who feels abandoned, alienated, and alone in the world.

And now news comes that acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro, noted for his penchant for the macabre, is about to go into production with another attempt to tell the Frankenstein story. A recent article about the preparation for the film claimed del Toro was for some reason in a remote frozen landscape getting ready to shoot. 

Not to sound like a Frankenstein snob, but having read the book more than a couple of times, the story begins in a very cold, desolate, and foreboding place — and things just get worse from there.

Like sharks, and the monster of all metaphors, the Titanic, Frankenstein will not let go of our morbid curiosity. But it is something more than just a good horror story. 

Even though Mary Shelley orbited a progressive/libertine social strata that flaunted traditional religious standards and practices, the core of the story from which everything resonates is the human folly of playing God — as Shelley so eloquently stipulates in the novel. “Frightful must it be, for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world.” 

It is a warning Victor Frankenstein ignores at his peril.

Sadly, in the 200 years hence, we have thrown caution to the wind with human endeavors equally ignoble as Dr. Frankenstein’s quest. From continuing to seek out just how much city-destroying power exists within the tiniest of atoms to working on truly Frankenstein-inspired medical research in virology labs, we cloak our attempts in tortured language such as “gain of function.” 

And our hubris just keeps going. Mary Shelley could never have imagined sex-selective abortion, growing “spare” parts via stem cells, or cloning. 

But just as Shelley, her avant-garde lifestyle notwithstanding, was a product of her time, so is del Toro. He shares Shelley’s disinterest in traditional principles, but is unshackled by any cultural guideposts. His film “The Shape of Water,” a kind of Frankenstein story in and of itself, is a good window into his point of view. Still, I will probably see his new version when it comes out, though I have a nagging feeling I will be disappointed regardless of how faithful he is to the plot.

The tale of Frankenstein and his “creation” has survived these many centuries not so much because of its plot structure, but for what it asks about life, creation, and the true nature of humanity. The novel makes it clear. “God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance.” 

Will the next chapter in the Frankenstein movie matrix hit these same points or miss the mark? The bad news is we have to wait and see until the film comes out. The good news is this next version, good or bad, may stir the embers of interest in this worthy book and cause people to read it for themselves. It will horrify them for sure, but it may also enlighten them.

Povardarie, North Macedonia, March 11, 2024

Photo: liturgija.mk     

The Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric (MOC-OA) has full and complete autocephaly, and does not need to change its name in order to receive a new tomos from the Patriarchate of Constantinople, an elder bishop of the MOC-OA writes in a new statement.

His Eminence Metropolitan Agathangel of Povardarie, who has served the MOC-OA as a bishop since 1998, and as ruling hierarch of the Povardarie Diocese since 2000, published a strongly worded statement, “The Belittling of the Autocephaly of the Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric,” over the weekend.

It was initially published on novamakedonija.com.mk, then republished on the Macedonian Church’s official resource liturgija.mk.

In the article, Met. Agathangel defends the MOC-OA’s full autocephaly, its rights as a Local Church, its name and identity, and defends it against unjust accusations of outside influence. The Orthodox Church knows no Eastern Papacy, and it is unacceptable to belittle the MOC-OA based on any pretensions to such authoritarian rule, the hierarch argues.

Though the MOC-OA received a tomos of autocephaly from its Mother Church of the Serbian Patriarchate in Macedonian Church receives tomos of autocephaly from Serbian Church“Today, by the grace of God, we have the opportunity to ratify what already exists between us, this unity that was once disturbed,” Pat. Porfirije stressed.

“>June 2022, its independence has not been recognized by all Local Churches, including the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Church of Greece, both of which have specifically pointed to the Church’s name—“Macedonian”—as a problem, as Macedonia is also the name of a region in Greece.

Moreover, Macedonian Church rejects communion with Ukrainian schismaticsThe Holy Synod of the MOC decided to wait until the OCU’s status is finalized for the whole Church.

“>in March of last year, the Holy Synod of the MOC-OA decided not to concelebrate with the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” until its status is finally resolved within the Orthodox Church. This decision angered Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who created the OCA on the canonical territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and is another reason why he refuses to recognize Macedonian autocephaly, Macedonian bishop explains: Constantinople doesn’t recognize MOC as autocephalous because of its stance towards Ukrainian schismatics“The ‘Orthodox Church of Ukraine’ is a non-canonical church. They were ordained without grace,” Met. Timotej explained.”>according to His Eminence Metropolitan Timotej of Debar and Kičevo.

Last month, the Macedonian primate, His Eminence Archbishop Stefan of Ohrid, visited Rome and met with, among others, Ukraine’s local ambassador Andrei Yurash, who has distinguished himself as an enemy of the canonical Ukrainian Church.

Soon after his return to North Macedonia, the Macedonian Orthodox Church is “studying the status” of the Ukrainian schismatics“The Synod devoted serious attention to the study of the Ukrainian ecclesiastical issue and established a commission that will study the status of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which received autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarchate,” the Synodal report states.

“>Macedonian Synod announced the creation of a commission to “study the status” of the schismatic OCU and to study the issue of the MOC-OA’s name, which seemed to many an indication that the Church was ready to bow to the demands of Constantinople. It is no coincidence, many outlets write, that a delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church’s Department for External Church Relations made a trip last week to Serbia, during which time Abp. Stefan of Ohrid also visited Serbia and met with the Russian Church delegation.

It is against this background that Met. Agathangel issued his new statement.

The tomos of autocephaly that the Macedonian Church received from the Serbian Church ruined the plans and calculations of certain forces in the country, who wanted the “final resolution” of the MOC-OA situation to be a loss for the Macedonian people. “Suddenly, without any prior notice, their years of effort and hard work were in vain,” the hierarch writes.

Instead, the MOC received “full autocephaly, without any conditions or bargaining, without any pressures, concessions, and hidden accrued interests, which were supposed to be called in in the near or distant future.”

This “noble Christian act” between the Macedonian and Serbian Churches staved off plans for the “complete … eradication of Macedonians,” forcing many “self-proclaimed ‘experts’” to have to explain their failure “before their global sponsors.” They did this, Met. Agathangel argues, by inventing the idea of “Russian influence” and imposing the thesis of the “primacy of Constantinople.”

However, there is no such “Russian influence” in the MOC, Met. Agathangel states. True, its people are influenced by the great Russian saints and has relations with the Russian Church, but the same can be said of Greek saints and the Greek Church. But Greek influence is “politically unacceptable,” unlike Russian influence the MOC-OA hierarch states.

“We look with deep sadness at the catastrophe in brotherly Ukraine, where two Orthodox peoples clashed to the point of bloodshed, from which, in the end, only the greedy satanic corporate liberalism, ready to trample over corpses just to gain control over the abundant Ukrainian and Russian resources, will benefit. We do not take sides, we do not fall for their cheap propaganda tricks.”

“Paradoxically, but invisible to the eyes of these ‘experts,’ Russian influence is much more present in Greece than in Macedonia. There, Russian investments are much more significant, and Russian clerics are much more present than they are here,” the Metropolitan writes.

Further, the idea that only Constantinople can grant full autocephalous has absolutely no canonical grounds, Met. Agathangel insists. “Let them prove me wrong with a canon,” he states.

Constantinople refers to the MOC-OA only under the name of Ohrid, which the MOC-OA should accept in order to receive full autocephaly, they’re told, but, “This is the same manipulation that was served to us for years regarding the state name. We all know that this ‘Greek opportunity’ will not go away so easily, because it’s a maximalist Byzantine trick.”

Just as the state did not solve all problems by changing its name to “North Macedonia,” so the MOC-OA will not benefit from altering its name to please Constantinople, Met. Agathangel writes (Macedonian-Ohrid Church issues statement on its name and autocephalyThe hierarchs of the Synod gathered in a regular session yesterday, February 21. Among the topics discussed was the Church’s relations with other Local Churches.

“>The MOC Synod explicitly understands itself as the guardian of the Church’s statutory order and norms, including its full name of “Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric”).

“One thing should be clear: Constantinople is not in the East what the Pope is in the West. Nowhere in the canons is it categorically stated and indicated that they are ‘all and all,” that they have the exclusive right to grant autocephaly. This is their long-standing desire.” Constantinople took advantage of the Soviet persecution of the Church, when the Churches were too busy trying to survive to “deal with the papacy of Constantinople,” His Eminence continues.

Constantinople’s primacy is one of honor, and the rest of its self-understanding “has nothing to do with Christ’s Gospel,” Met. Agathangel argues. It was granted this honor because it was the “New Rome” at the time, but “this canonical provision today is used only … to achieve some transient earthly material benefits, but by no means for some Church or spiritual purpose.”

The Macedonian Church, in fact, has all the characteristics of an autocephalous Church, but remains unrecognized as such by Constantinople. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian schismatics, who are demonstrably “less” autocephalous, are in the Constantinople diptychs.

In Orthodoxy, Christ is the sole head of the Church. There is no earthly center, because such “Western dualism” is a heresy and “perverted spirituality,” Met. Agathangel argues.

Both Rome and Constantinople “forget Jerusalem,” the hierarchs writes, “where Christ resurrected, where the First Apostolic Council was held. Is Jerusalem less ecumenical than them?” The caesaropapism of Constantinople “must be silenced,” lest we “crown the Papacy in the East,” he warns.

“Constantinople needs to solve its problem with nationalism and high self-esteem,” Met. Agathangel believes.

“Where did they get the idea that they should rule everyone’s diaspora? There’s no canon for such a thing, there’s no justification for vanity, pride, and lust for power.”

Further, the MOC doesn’t forbid Constantinople from addressing them in its preferred terms, but the MOC itself won’t forsake its Macedonian identity and become something it’s not, the Metropolitan writes, because it is a sin to “devalue even one person, let alone an entire people.”

Macedonian primate Abp. Stefan said the same in an interview in Greek Churches can call us “Ohrid,” but we will call ourselves “Macedonian”—MOC primateDespite the joy of a previously schismatic Church of millions of people returning to the fold of the Orthodox Church, the issue of the Church’s name often takes center stage.

“>July 2022—that the Greek-speaking Churches are welcome to refer to them only as the Church “of Ohrid,” but the MOC-OA will continue to refer to itself by its full name.

The MOC-OA has neither the “strength nor capacity” to get involved in the struggle between Moscow and Constantinople. “We hope that they will come to a resolution soon, to the joy of all Orthodox Christians in the world. Neither Moscow nor Constantinople are princes of this world, who sit at the top of humanity and rule over the peoples. This is foreign to the Spirit of Christ, Who did not come to be served.”

Moreover, the MOC-OA must not “leave its diaspora to those who have not sown there, and therefore have no right to reap.” Here, the Metropolitan refers to another stipulation of Constantinople, Constantinople enters into communion with Macedonian ChurchAccording to the new statement, Constantinople accepts the hierarchy, clergy, and laity of the MOC into communion under the name of “Ohrid,” thus “healing the wound of schism.”

“>that the MOC-OA give up its diaspora in Europe, North America, and Australia, as Constantinople believes it has global rights to rule all diasporas.

And Met. Agathangel concludes: “May the Lord protect and shelter the holy autocephalous Macedonian Orthodox Church-Ohrid Archbishopric, the Macedonian people, our respected Archbishop, and the holy Macedonian land.”

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St. Aurea was born around the year 1042 in a small village in Spain. As a young girl, she studied the scriptures and the lives of the Church’s early martyrs, choosing her favorite saints as Agatha, Eulalia, and Cecilia.

Aurea left home and joined the convent of San Millan de la Cogolla. Soon after she joined, she received a vision of her three favorite saints, who urged her to follow monastic life with great zeal.

Although she was only at the monastery for a few short years, Aurea did great works. Many miracles were attributed to her, and many people came to her for prayers and advice. St. Aurea fell ill in the year 1069 and died at the age of 27.

Kiev, March 11, 2024

Photo: regnum.ru     

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine is calling on the Romanian Orthodox Church to reconsider its decision to open the “Romanian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.”
Romanian Synod establishes “Romanian Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” Ukrainian hierarch respondsA number of important decisions were made during the session of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church held in Bucharest on February 29.

“>On February 29, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Church announced the creation of its structure in Ukraine, saying it encourages the more than 100 churches of Romanian ethnicity in Ukraine to join the new structure in order to “restore communion with the Mother Church, the Romanian Patriarchate.”

On Thursday, February 7, the Information-Education Department of the UOC published its response to this decision, which caused it “surprise and concern:”

The decision of the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church regarding the intention to open its structure on the canonical territory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was received by us with surprise and concern, as contradicting the canonical organization of Church life, which is based on territorial, not national principles.

Having Romanian-speaking parishes within its fold, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church values them, for their presence emphasizes the universal nature of the Church. We also do everything necessary to ensure that Romanian-speaking believers feel comfortable within our Church, having complete freedom in conducting services in Romanian and preserving their national and spiritual traditions.

The relations between the Romanian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches have always been warm and constructive, and therefore it is hoped that the decision made by the Romanian side will be reviewed and will not cloud the traditionally good relations between our Churches

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Matthew 25:31–46

Last Sunday, in the The Prodigal Son and UsThe children should learn, one way or another, about the world full of illusory dreams, fantasies, and satanic lies, and then return to a place where they were happy.

“>parable of the prodigal son, the Lord spoke to us about His unmatched love towards us. Today He speaks of the Second Coming and the Last Judgment. The Second Coming, says the Lord, will be preceded by the “wicked audacity” of antichrist—fierce persecution against the faith. And if the Lord would not shorten the time, no flesh would be saved (Matt. 24).

The Gospel calls to purity and a pious life us who await the “day of the Lord”. And we repeat after the apostle Paul, For our conversation [in Church Slavonic, dwelling] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (Phillip. 3:20), through deeds of goodness, philanthrophy, love, mercy, and compassion, crowned with humility—we go to Christ and are established in Him.

Watch ye therefore, and pray always (Lk. 21:36), says the Lord, for in His Second Coming, then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn (Matt. 24:30). The tribes of the earth are those who are completely bound to the earth, who persist in their unbelief and carelessness for their souls, in their total commitment to the earthly. Tribulation and anguish, will come upon every soul of man that doeth evil (Rom. 2:69). Those who live in Christ will be filled with joy, but those who live for the flesh will be filled with shame, sorrow, and despair.

The Creator gave man everything for his growth in goodness. But when He sees evil again taking first place due to man’s free will, when He sees that people have abandoned Christ the Son of God, and have bowed down before and submitted to the antichrist, He will again come down to earth, but this time not as one Who is longsuffering, in humiliation, but as the Judge, separating the incurable from the healthy. He will descend in great glory—He shall sit on the throne of His glory (Matt. 19:28).

This was also revealed to the Holy Prophet Daniel Among the chosen youths Daniel had three friends: Ananias, Azarias and Misail. All four steadfastly preserved their faith in the one true God and together refused to eat the king’s food for fear breaking one of Moses’ laws. They asked their overseer to give them only bread and vegetables, but the overseer was afraid that they would become thin and he would be made to suffer the king’s wrath. Daniel persuaded him to make a test and allow them to observe this regimen for ten days.

“>prophet Daniel, who wrote: I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit… and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7:9, 13–14). In accordance with this prophecy of Daniel, the Gospel also says, And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats (Matt. 25). The Lord calls the righteous sheep; they are quiet and meek, and walk the path in their life that Christ has shown. He calls sinners goats; they are impertinent, unmerciful, and dissolute. They live in worship to idols, and their idols are “nature” and carnal mindedness.

Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, the impartial Judge will say to those standing at His right. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. In these words, the original thought and aim of the Creator at the creation of the world are expressed. The Creator gave man everything needed for the achievement of this aim: the Word become flesh, His sufferings, and the purifying and healing Sacraments. Come and inherit the kingdom… Enter into the joy of your Lord, for as God’s children, you have lived according to the Gospel; you have correctly used the earthly, corruptible, and transient world.

In what was expressed the righteous’ correct use of earthly blessings, their likeness to Christ? In deeds of mercy and humility. I was an hungred, and ye gave Me to eat… naked, and ye clothed Me… “Lord, when did we see Thee hungry and gave Thee to eat, or saw Thee a naked wanderer… and served Thee?” the righteous will ask Him. Their humility can be seen in this question. And humility is the expression of love for God and man.

There was none of that amongst those standing on the left side of the Righteous Judge, Who calls them goats. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy (Jas. 2:13), says the Apostle. Therefore, the Lord also says, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Let us pay attention to the Savior’s words: prepared not for you, not for man… But rather you people, through your own free will have bound your hearts and will to the devil; your hardness and enmity, uncompassionate hearts and miserly manners reveal the fullness of sin in you; you have placed your own selves outside of God.

Thus, my dear brothers and sisters, love and philanthropy, mercy and compassion, will reveal to us at the end of our earthly sojourn the things which God hath prepared for them that love him… Which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9).

The Gospel of the Last Judgment calls us to follow Christ. In following Christ, and becoming like Christ, man’s dignity and grandeur unfolds. Amen.

St. John Ogilvie was born in 1579 to a noble family in Scotland. Some of his relatives had remained Catholic, while others followed John Calvin and had become Presbyterians. John was raised as a Calvinist, but he had doubts about its compatibility with Scripture. He was unable to reconcile Calvin’s ideas about predestination with Scripture passages teaching that God loves all people and wills them to be saved. 

At age 17, John decided to join the Catholic Church, and in 1599, he became a novice in the Society of Jesus. After extensive training, he was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1610 in Paris. 

John wanted to return to his home and encourage people to return to the Church. He served as a priest in France for a while, but requested to be sent back to Scotland. Although many members of his order warned him that this would be a dangerous mission, in 1613, John was allowed to go back to Scotland. 

Once there, he had difficulty in his mission to convert. Many members of the upper class had no interest in returning to the Church. John worked among the poor Scots who had kept the faith, and returned to France to seek advice. 

The French Jesuits ordered John to return to Scotland, where he resumed his ministry with the underground Church there and converted a small number of people. A potential “covert” turned out to be an informer, and John was arrested and interrogated. 

John was charged with celebrating Mass within the king’s realm, for which he was imprisoned for two months. An iron bar was attached to his feet so he could not move in his cell. Despite this treatment, he refused to give evidence against Scottish Catholics. 

John endured tortures during his time in prison. His hair and fingernails were pulled out, and for nine days he was jabbed with sharp stakes repeatedly to prevent him from sleeping. He was beaten, thrown to the ground, and shouted at, but he refused to renounce his faith or betray his fellow Catholics. 

John’s tormentors were impressed by his fortitude and his sense of humor in the face of these punishments. They could not spare his life, because John refused to recognize King James I as a higher authority than the Church in religious matters. John was eventually convicted on charges of high treason. 

John was plied with bribes right up to the day of his execution. His refusal is recorded: For the Catholic faith, he said, he would “Willingly and joyfully pour forth even a hundred lives. Snatch away that one which I have from me, and make no delay about it, but my religion you will never snatch away from me.” When he was asked if he was afraid to die, he replied, “I fear death as much as you do your dinner.” 

St. John died on March 10, 1615. Minutes before he was hanged, he tossed his rosary into the crowd. It was caught by a Calvinist nobleman, Baron John ab Eckersdorff, who later converted to Catholicism, and credited St. John with his conversion. 

St. John was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1976, and is the only post-Reformation Scottish saint.