Tag: Christianity

Tirana, March 14, 2025

Photo: orthodoxalbania.org The next primate of the Albanian Orthodox Church is set to be elected this coming Sunday, March 16.

The Chief Secretariat of the Holy Synod announced yesterday:

The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania announces that the election of the new Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and all Albania, to succeed the late Archbishop Anastasios, will take place on the Second Sunday of Lent, March 16, 2025, at the Synodical Center, after the Divine Liturgy. The procedure will follow the provisions of the statutes of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania.

The previous primate, His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios, reposed in the Lord on Archbishop Anastasios of Albania reposes in the LordHis Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania reposed in the Lord this morning at the age of 95.

“>January 25, after resurrecting and guiding the Albanian Church for more than 30 years.

His Eminence Metropolitan John of Korça has been serving as Locum Tenens of the Albanian Church since the Archbishop’s repose.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

As the United States continues to attempt to broker a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with the Vatican secretary of state.

In a long post on X March 14, the Ukrainian leader said that during the conversation with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, “I wished Pope Francis a speedy recovery and thanked him for his prayers and moral support for our people, as well as for his efforts in facilitating the return of Ukrainian children illegally deported and displaced by Russia.”

“The Holy See has received a list of Ukrainians being held in Russian prisons and camps. We are counting on support for their release,” the president posted.

Pope Francis confirmed in April 2023 that the Holy See had acted as an intermediary in several prisoner exchange negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna was appointed by the pope to serve as his peace envoy for Ukraine and has been working to secure the return of thousands of Ukrainian children taken into Russia.

The Vatican did not respond to requests for confirmation of or information about the conversation between the president and the cardinal, who had traveled to Ukraine in July and met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.

After speaking to Cardinal Parolin March 14, Zelenskyy reaffirmed his position that “the exchange of prisoners and an unconditional 30-day full interim ceasefire are the first quick steps that could significantly bring us closer to a just and lasting peace.”

When Zelenskyy met in February with U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, he said that in the past Russian leader Vladimir Putin had reneged on agreements to exchange prisoners.

“The Ukrainian people want peace more than anyone,” Zelenskyy wrote in his post on X after speaking with Cardinal Parolin. “Meanwhile, the world sees how Russia is deliberately setting conditions that only complicate and drag out the process, as Russia is the only party that wants the war to continue and diplomacy to break down.”

Putin, at a news conference March 13, said he also wanted a ceasefire, but he said the agreement would need to include: the surrender of Ukrainian forces in Russian territory, guarantees that Ukraine would not use the ceasefire period to remobilize and some form of monitoring of the agreement.

Zelenskky expressed his hope on X that the Vatican could help move the process forward.

“The voice of the Holy See is very important on the path to peace. I am grateful for the readiness to make efforts towards our shared goal,” he wrote. “Thank you for your prayers for Ukraine and for peace.”

Craiova, Romania, March 14, 2025

Photo: basilica.ro     

An Orthodox parish in southeast Romania organized a fundraiser for children with cancer this year.

The church in Brândușa, Craiova, together with the Vasiliada Assocaition of the Archdiocese of Craiova, as well as local schools and other institutions, managed to raise $3,255 (3,000 euros), which was used to purchase a fully equipped syringe pump-infusion pump station for the Oncopediatrics Department of the local hospital, reports the Basilica News Agency.

This piece of equipment delivers precise doses of medications, fluids, or nutrients at controlled rates directly into a patient’s bloodstream over extended periods.

Fr. Florin Mihail, president of the Vasiliada Association, and Fr. Gabriel Sorescu, the local priest, participated in the donation ceremony, emphasizing the transformative power of good deeds and their impact on the community.

The parish also provides gifts for oncopediatric patients every year, holding a toy fair to raise funds, and organizes pilgrimages and excursions for the children. This year, there will be a pilgrimage to the monasteries of Oltenia after Pascha for the child patients of the Oncopediatrics Department and their families.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

It was one solid social victory amid the communal disintegration of the COVID-19 pandemic: With the congressional passage of the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, an estimated 3.7 million U.S. children were lifted out of poverty when the maximum federal child tax credit was raised — and, more importantly, when it was made “fully refundable.”

That meant that — for the first time — this federal tax credit was available to all children and families, even with low or no earnings.

Previously, an estimated 27 million children — approximately one in three nationwide — received less than the full federal child tax credit because of minimal family incomes. Unsurprisingly, those millions were disproportionately represented by minority groups.

For children under 6, the credit in 2021 was raised to $3,600 from $2,000; for children ages 6-17, it was $3,000. There was no cap on the total credit amount a tax filer with multiple children could claim — and if credit exceeded taxes owed, families could receive a tax refund.

And then, despite the obvious and measurable impact upon child poverty — estimated by Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy to have been lowered to 5.2% — the brief experiment of increased federal child tax credits expired.

After 2025, the federal tax credit is scheduled to drop to just $1,000 per qualifying child.

Parents could easily be forgiven for feeling that all of this is moving in the wrong direction — especially given current economic pressures.

So could state child tax credits be an additional lifeline for cash-strapped families?

The answer is, it depends upon where you live.

State child tax credits are — according to the National Conference of State Legislatures — available in 16 states and the District of Columbia.

“After the 2017 tax changes, we saw a few states convert exemptions into nonrefundable child tax credits; after 2021, we saw more states introducing fully refundable child tax credits at the state level,” said Josh McCabe, director of Social Policy at the Niskanen Center in Washington.

“I think with 2025, there’s a lot of talk about the child tax credits at the federal level — and we’re seeing more, particularly red states, decide that they don’t have to do the 2021 route,” McCabe added, “but they’re finding their own way to different sorts of child tax credit proposals.”

Some examples, McCabe said, include more politically conservative “red states.”

In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine has spearheaded one; in Michigan, some Republicans have spearheaded one that builds off the federal one; and in Indiana, there’s a baby bonus or newborn credit that has just passed the senate unanimously there.

Also, McCabe continued, “in Montana, there is a tax credit for young children that didn’t make it last time around because it got caught up in some child care issues — but it’s been reintroduced by the same sponsor and you’ve got the same governor. So I’m bullish that this time around, they’ll find a way forward with that one.”

A Niskanen report co-written by McCabe in October 2024 notes, “For families with no earnings, total benefits from social assistance and refundable tax credits ranged from $12,288 in New Mexico to $18,661 in California for a single parent with one child and $20,832 to $29,737 for married parents with two children.”

Nonetheless, the report observed, “These incomes put them between about 2/3 (two-thirds) and just short of the federal poverty threshold in 2023.”

Megan Curran — policy director at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy, in New York City — also noted mixed progress.

“There’s been a lot of growth in state-level child tax credits, since the 2021 federal expansion. Coming into the pandemic, you only had a couple of states that had state child tax credits,” she explained. “And you have actually proposals for some in another, perhaps 10 states, at the moment. Some are closer to the finish line than others — but taken all together, that’s actually about half the states in the country that would either have new credits, or proposals to try to have one.”

“That’s a huge policy shift,” Curran indicated. “Really an area to watch.”

Curran’s enthusiasm, however, came with a caution.

“I think one of the most important things to look at when you see new state credits being proposed is to try and understand: Is the policy design of the state level credits sort of replicating the problems and the shortcomings that the federal credit currently is?” said Curran. “The kids who were left out from the federal CTC — are they going to be left out again at the state levels, and be doubly disadvantaged?”

“Or,” Curran said, “are the states actually trying to intentionally say, ‘We’re going to try and fill this gap with our credit?’”

State child tax credits, Curran noted, “may not be as generous or as big as a federal one because states have different budget capacities. But are they structuring them in a way where they’re going to say, ‘Actually, no, we’re making sure it’s going to reach kids with low to moderate incomes; we’re going to make sure that there’s at least some sort of form of support.’”

Child tax credits not only aid struggling families; there are also indications that — when a life hangs in the balance — they are a pro-life asset.

“Creating or expanding a child tax credit is one of the most pro-family things a state government can do,” said Patrick T. Brown, a fellow at the Washington-based Ethics and Public Policy Center. “It recognizes the added expenses that parents face, and celebrates the importance of family life by devoting real resources to helping parents afford the cost of living.”

Abortion in the U.S. is heavily correlated with poverty and low incomes. The abortion research firm Guttmacher Institute reported 75% of women seeking abortion were low-income, with 50% below the federal poverty line. About six out of 10 women seeking abortion were already mothers. The top concerns reported included not being able to afford another child, losing the ability to work or continue education, or having to care for dependents or other family responsibilities.

In an article for Public Discourse, demographer and Institute for Family Studies research fellow Lyman Stone predicted the U.S. could reduce the abortion rate by 5% — potentially saving 50,000 babies a year — if it provided direct cash transfers to parents, by spending an additional $3,500 annually on top of the child tax credit per child. He pointed to a similar initiative in spending, where direct cash support to parents reduced the abortion ratio in Spain.

“Seeing states like Indiana, which has extremely robust legal protections for the unborn, contemplate creating a state-level newborn child credit is a genuinely hopeful sign that more states will support parents in this important way,” Brown said.

McCabe agreed.

“There is some evidence that supports for new parents — if someone is thinking about abortion or something else — this can tilt the scales toward having the child. It’s not going to revolutionize things,” he said, “but on the margin, we know it does have an impact.”

Pervouralsk, Sverdlovsk Province, Russia, March 14, 2025

Photo: diaconia.ru     

The Russian Orthodox Church opened and consecrated a new center for rehabilitating troubled teenagers yesterday.

The opening ceremony for the St. Moses the Ethiopian Center for Social Adaption of Adolescents in Pervouralsk, Sverdlovsk Province, was led by His Eminence Metropolitan Evgeny of Ekaterinburg, reports the Synodal Charity Department.

The center was established by the Orthodox Mercy Service under the Social Service Department of the Ekaterinburg Diocese in October 2024. Today, several teenagers who have broken the law are already undergoing rehabilitation there, working with professional educators and psychologists. The teenagers also go hiking, skiing, fishing, and play chess.

The length of stay at the center is determined by the judicial authorities.

This is the second project in Russia that serves as an alternative to juvenile correctional facilities for teenage criminals. The first was the St. Basil the Great Center in St. Petersburg, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. 400 young men and women have completed the rehabilitation course. Of all the teenagers participating in the center’s program, more than 85% do not commit repeat offenses.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

Activists in India are decrying remarks from the leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in which the politician threatened to prescribe the death penalty for religious conversions in Madhya Pradesh state.

“A provision for capital punishment will be made in the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act for religious conversion,” declared Mohan Yadav, BJP chief minister of the state, at an International Women’s Day program on March 8.

Yadav said the state government “wouldn’t spare those behind illegal conversions.”

“Proposing the death penalty for religious conversion of girls is not only bizarre but deserves to be condemned by all who cherish the rights and freedoms enshrined and guaranteed in the constitution,” outspoken Jesuit peace activist Father Cedric Prakash told CNA on March 13.

Asserting that Article 25 of Indian Constitution “unequivocally states that every citizen has the right to freely preach, practice, and propagate one’s religion,” Prakash said the chief minister’s remarks were “demeaning a citizen’s fundamental right,” which he said “speaks volumes of the abysmal depth to which fascism has taken the country.”

The United Christian Forum (UCF) has listed 834 crimes against Christians in India in 2024, shooting up from 127 in 2014 when the Hindu nationalist BJP captured power at the national level.

The majority of the incidents have been assaults and arrests of Christians on conversion charges that critics have deemed fraudulent.

There is “a very clear political agenda behind the conversion rhetoric,” Prakash said.

“It polarizes the people — we against them; majority vs. minority,” he said. “It helps create fear among the majority [Hindus] that the minorities of the country — namely Muslims and Christians — will take over the reins of power in the country.”

While Hindus account for nearly 80% of India’s 1.44 billion people, Muslims account for 14% and Christians 2.3%.

Other minorities like Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists account for the remaining population.

John Dayal, a Catholic columnist and social activist, told CNA that the call for the death penalty for conversions “exposes the cavalier, and cynical, manner in which [Hindu nationalists] have crafted this political strategy to criminalize Christian presence and community growth in the state.”

Madhya Pradesh state has reported several incidents of harassment of Christian institutions and arrest of clergy, pastors, and lay Christians. Christians are below one-half of 1% of the state’s 89 million people.

“The Christian community, and civil society too, must challenge anti-conversion laws in India as a travesty to human rights and a fraud on the constitution of democratic India,” Dayal said.

A.C. Michael, the Catholic coordinator of UCF, told CNA the threat to introduce the death penalty for conversions is “mere propaganda to boost Hindu nationalist forces.”

“As a matter of fact, the very anti-conversion law being framed under the garb of ‘freedom of religion’ is itself an anti-constitution law. We are hopeful it will not stand scrutiny in court of law when challenged,” Michael said.

He noted that the Supreme Court of India itself last year said the law may run afoul of the national constitution.

Though a dozen of India’s 28 states have enacted anti-conversion laws, Michael pointed out: “There has been hardly any conviction for forceful conversions despite hundreds being arrested regularly on conversion charges, mostly in BJP-ruled states.”

Church officials did not respond to requests for comment on the chief minister’s remarks.

Cherkasy, Cherkasy Province, Ukraine, March 14, 2025

Photo: Cherkasy Diocese     

Less than 10% of clerics of the persecuted Cherkasy Diocese of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church have left for the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”

That is, only 15 out of 200 clerics have left, while 30 priests have been ordained recently, His Eminence Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy said at a clergy meeting on March 12, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists with reference to the diocese’s Telegram channel.

Thus, the number of clergy has only grown under persecution, Met. Theodosy said, adding that he is proud of his clergy who have remained faithful.

Those who left have changed dramatically, becoming aggressive and denouncing their former brethren to the state security services, the Metropolitan said.

According to Met. Theodosy, two departed priests have expressed a desire to return to the Church, though the hierarch stipulated that they do so publicly, just as they left publicly, “bringing temptation to the flock.”

His Eminence believes that most of those who left will eventually return. He also looks forward to the end of the present persecution: “One morning we’ll wake up in a different society, and everything will be in its place. And we’ll go to our open, wide-open churches, our parishioners will return, and all will be well. But until then, we need to endure.”

Cherkasy was the scene of a particularly violent and bloody church seizure Violent seizure of Orthodox cathedral in Cherkasy leaves dozens injured (+VIDEO)The anti-Orthodox schismatics and nationalists of the “Orthodox Church in Ukraine” (OCU), founded by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, finally managed to violently seize the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy after several attempts.

“>in October that left Met. Theodosy and dozens of others in need of hospital care. The hierarch is also being personally targeted by the state with fabricated criminal charges, and he has been held under house arrest at different times for more than a year.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

Following a proclamation from Oregon Governor Tina Kotek that March 10 would henceforth be “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day,” Archbishop Alexander Sample has described the decision as a moment “when you realize just how far culture can drift from reality.”

“The idea that those who make a living ending innocent, unborn life should be publicly honored. Thanked. Applauded. This isn’t just moral confusion. It’s something deeper,” Sample, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oregon, wrote in a March 13 pastoral teaching on the sanctity of life.

“A kind of spiritual blindness so thick that what should be self-evident – the sheer wonder and worth of a human life – is obscured entirely,” Sample said.

Kotek, signing the proclamation March 10, touted Oregon as a safe haven for abortion.

“Here in Oregon, we understand that abortion is health care, and providers are appreciated and can continue to provide care without interference and intimidation,” Kotek said in a statement. “To our providers and to the patients who live in Oregon or have been forced to retreat to our state for care, know that I continue to have your back.

According to data from the Oregon Health Authority, there were 10,075 abortions performed in the state in 2023, which is a 16.2 percent increase from 2022. 1,661 of those abortions were provided to patients who reside outside of the state, the data shows. Further, there was a 165 percent increase in late-term abortions – those occurring after 23 weeks gestation – from 85 in 2022 to 225 in 2023.

Oregon has no restrictions on abortions based on how far along a woman is in their pregnancy.

Sample, in his pastoral teaching, highlights that the words “choice” and “reproductive freedom” are used by supporters of pro-choice abortion laws to “obscure” the truth.

“Because deep down, we know. We know what abortion is. We know what it does. And we know that no amount of slogans or legal jargon can make a wrong thing right,” Sample said. “And yet, modern culture insists on turning tragedy into triumph. It demands not just tolerance for abortion, not just legal protection, but celebration. It must be honored, enshrined.”

“Why? Because modernity has exchanged the wonder of life for the pursuit of power,” he explained. “If a baby is inconvenient, it must go. If it interferes with autonomy, it must be sacrificed. A life is no longer a gift. It is an obstacle, a burden, a problem to be solved.”

Sample also makes the case that abortion is a spiritual issue, because it’s not about politics, law, or ethics, but “how we see reality itself.” Still, he argues, the reality that an unborn child is a life is a truth that lingers, and something that cannot be fully erased.

“And that’s why, no matter how loudly abortion is celebrated, something feels… off,” Sample said.

“The need to frame it as a social good, as a moral necessity, reveals the guilt just beneath the surface,” he said. “If abortion were truly nothing, no one would need to justify it. No one would need to celebrate it. The fact that it must be ritualized as progress is itself an admission of its darkness.”

Sample closes his pastoral teaching with a message that it’s never too late to choose life, that grace is still available, and forgiveness is still possible.

“The call of Jesus is always the same: Repent. Open your eyes. Step out of the lie and into the light, and most of all – choose life. Not just biologically, but spiritually. Choose to see reality as it truly is. To embrace the mystery, the beauty, the wonder of existence itself,” Sample said. “Because life – every life – is a gift, and a world that forgets that is a world that has lost its soul.”

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock Our world is a world of locked gates, bolted doors, barred windows, and guard dogs watching over our possessions. When we enter our homes, the first thing we do is lock the door behind us—to keep out strangers, to prevent anything valuable from being stolen, to ensure that no harm is done. At night, we double-check whether the front door is locked, so that nothing external disturbs our sleep.

What drives us in this locked and barred reality? How to Overcome Fear, Find a Spiritual Father, and Other Miraculous StoriesFrom this article you will learn what it is like growing up in a family with thirteen children who are “people of the old school”—what kind of protection all of us have, how to overcome fear and find a spiritual father, what is the power of a parent’s blessing, the mystery of Divine providence, and many other interesting and miraculous stories.

“>Fear? Uncertainty? Distrust of everyone and everything? It is as if we are putting up barriers against people who make us uncomfortable, drawing a boundary between “friend” and “foe.” Do they want to come in? Password! If you know the password, enter. If not, sorry…

Isn’t this exactly how many of us lock our hearts to God? He stands outside the door and patiently knocks—will they open to Him? Will they let Him in? Every person on earth has heard this knock at least once in their life, when for example a serious illness suddenly strikes, when a child falls sick, when a loved one dies, when something terrible happens at work or in service, when heavy sorrow grips the soul, a dark grief from the realization of the injustice, cruelty, and deceit of the world around us.

Some, on the contrary, feel the touch of happiness: a blessed marriage, the long-awaited birth of a child, the publication of a first book of poetry, the jubilance a strong friendship, and many other bright, joyful things which, though rare, adorn our life.

Many of us lock our hearts to God. He stands outside the door and patiently knocks—will they open to Him? Will they let Him in?

It is God knocking:

“I am giving you all this, only repent, turn to Me, open to Me, let Me in, and I will give you what no one else ever can.”

Blessed are those who hear the knock and open the door, welcoming God into their lives, making Him, through the steady climb of spiritual ascent, the Master, the Lord of their being.

But how many there are who stop their ears, fail to understand anything, and… never open? Fear? Uncertainty? Distrust? Only on their deathbed do some people’s eyes finally open: What did I waste my life on? What did I trade it for? Copper coins? I was offered royal garments, and I chose a beggar’s rags. The King came to me! But I only welcomed beggars as if they were royalty, forcing the Divine Guest to stand behind my closed doors.

So many unfortunately keep the doors of their hearts closed to Christ, but wide open to all kinds of filth: Anger—How to Conquer the Beast Inside YouI get terrified as I hear this! What should I do, a sinful and fallen man? How can I learn to control myself? How can I “conquer” sinful anger inside me?

“>anger, On the Sin of GreedThose who believe in the Gospel know that the Lord takes care not only of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, but also for man.”>greed, hatred, malice, enmity, murder, slander, On Envy and Other MattersEnvy ruins a man: both the one who envies and the one who causes it with his boasting and pride.”>envy, jealousy, theft, fornication. What is this, if not conscious rebellion against God? Our sinful passions, untreated by repentance, worsened by complete disregard for our inevitable accountability for them, amount to open hostility toward the Creator, a blasphemy against Him. Can anyone say that such a life leads to happiness? A life of reckless abandon never leads to good, and blasphemers have ended poorly.

Faith throws open the doors to an infinite, joyous world—a world named Jesus Christ.

It is a world of endless Love, divine Beauty, inexpressible Joy, Blessedness, and Happiness.

And this is not just an approximate description of paradise in the afterlife. This is the very essence of our faith!

Here is a paradox: to rejoice in Christ even in sorrow, sickness, and loss. To thank Christ in hardship, failure, and grief.

When Christ dwells in your heart, locks break, doors open, and with open arms you go out to meet the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the wounded, the suffering, the imprisoned—to comfort, to warm, to feed, to bind up wounds, to calm, to speak a gentle word, a word that makes the lonely feel less alone, a word that helps the lost find new meaning in life.

Each of us stands before the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven, the eternal Kingdom of Christ, and each of us holds the key: a life according to the Gospel commandments, active repentance, and tireless mercy.

Yes, we enter the Kingdom not by our own merits or virtues, but only by the grace and love of God, who expects mercy from us toward others and is ready to forgive any sin—as long as we confess it sincerely before Him.

In the Kingdom of Heaven, there will be no locks, no closed doors. Everything will be open to everyone.

This is what we see in the icon of Christ’s Resurrection: Beneath the feet of the Risen Christ are broken locks and scattered keys—symbols that through His Life-Giving Resurrection, the Savior has opened the sealed, tightly shut gates of hell and led out those prisoners who desired to follow Him into the Kingdom of Light.

The Lord has opened the doors of His Kingdom to mankind:

Enter, My beloved, live, possess, and inhabit the paradise prepared for you from the foundation of the world!

Let us always keep this in our hearts: God is with us!

With God, all doors are open to goodness and love—and locked to all evil in the soul.

In this way, with Christ, by following Him, let us walk the path of the years granted to us, keeping in our hearts the greatest commandment of God:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself (Luke 10:27).