Tag: Christianity

Sofia, December 31, 2024

Photo: Bulgarian Patriarchate     

The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church issued a statement yesterday categorically protesting the legal registration of the schismatic Bulgarian Orthodox Old Calendar Church.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of Cassation ruled that the schismatic organization is to be entered into the legal registry of religious denominations. The court decision states that the canonical Bulgarian Church has existed for centuries, while the new ruling refers to a group that has existed for 30 years and which neither lays claim to any Bulgarian Patriarchate property nor poses any threat to the rights of the canonical Church.

The Old Calendar group, which consists of 3 bishops, one monastery, and 13 parishes, states that “This registration removes all administrative and legal obstacles that until now have hindered or prevented the Bulgarian Orthodox Old Calendar Church from carrying out its activities.”

In its statement yesterday, the canonical Bulgarian Synod states that its Christmas joy was clouded by the unexpected news of the Supreme Court’s decision. Bulgaria was previously plagued by a schism that lasted nearly 20 years (1991–2009), and now the Court has created a precedent for the swarming of multiple organizations that claim to be called and to be “orthodox churches,” the Synod laments.

The Bulgarian Patriarchate is undoubtedly the legitimate expression of the Orthodox faith in Bulgaria, and is recognized as such by Bulgarian law, the hierarchs write. And the presence of overlapping jurisdictions is a “gross violation of the divine and sacred canons of the Church.”

The Synod notes that according to the court ruling, the calendrical difference is a “dogmatic” one, but, the hierarchs argue, if the Old Calendar church is dogmatically different, then it can’t be Orthodox. But if the calendar isn’t a dogmatic issue, then the Old Calendar organization should be part of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. Of course, the calendrical issue is not a dogmatic one, the Synod states, as the Bulgarian Church is in communion with several churches that use the Old Calendar, and even within the Bulgarian Church itself there are churches that serve according to the Old Calendar.

The Orthodox Church, founded by Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, exists through true communion in the Lord, the Synod writes. As one unified body, it unites believers across the world in the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3). The Bulgarian Church, being in full communion with all Local Orthodox Churches, is the sole canonical Orthodox Church in Bulgaria. Just as Christ is one and His sacrifice is unique, there can be only one Orthodox Church in a given territory, offering one holy Eucharist.

Creating parallel “orthodox churches” undermines both Church unity and the faith of Bulgarian Orthodox believers, the Synod warns.

And turning to the people of the Old Calendar church, the Synod writes:

With pain and paternal love in Christ, we call upon you to return to the saving ship of the canonical Bulgarian Orthodox Church-Bulgarian Patriarchate. May the Lord Jesus Christ, born for our salvation, enlighten the minds and hearts of us all, so that we may be bearers, expressers, and messengers of His Heavenly gracious peace, and not sowers of division in these difficult and temptation-filled times in which we live!

Let us also, together with the angelic host, exclaim: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men! (Lk. 2:14).

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Opening the Holy Door of the oldest Marian shrine in the Western world, Cardinal Rolando Makrickas prayed that the world would entrust itself to Mary, “the door to heaven.”

“Let us offer our prayer to the Father so that, like Mary, we may be pilgrims of hope who bring Christ into the world,” said the cardinal, coadjutor archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, before pushing open its bronze door Jan. 1.

As the bells rang out from the summit of Rome’s Esquiline hill, Cardinal Makrickas became the first pilgrim to cross the door’s threshold during the Holy Year 2025.

Among the pealing bells was one originally placed in the basilica’s bell tower — the highest point in the center of Rome — which was used to announce the Catholic Church’s first Jubilee in 1300 and had been housed in the Vatican Museums since 1884; it was returned to St. Mary Major last year ahead of the Jubilee.

Celebrating Mass on the feast of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, Cardinal Makrickas reflected on the mystery of Jesus’ incarnation in Mary’s womb, calling it the “fullness of time” as it united earthly time with eternity.

Today, the cardinal said, humanity often seeks to “perfect time” by saving or enriching it through technology, but “every effort results in its loss.”

“One cannot, however, ever feel lost, wasted or tired from time spent with God,” he said. “It will not be ideas or technology that give us comfort or hope, but the face of the Mother of God.”

Cardinal Makrickas also spoke about the significance of the relics of Jesus’ crib housed in the basilica, “the first, humble, poor home of Jesus,” from which humanity began to mark time itself.

Each pilgrim entering the basilica during the Jubilee and praying before the icon of the Marian icon “Salus Populi Romani” (“health of the Roman people”) — which Pope Francis visits before and after each of his international trips — and the Holy Crib “will not be able to leave here without a deep and particular feeling, a feeling and certainty that the heavenly Mother is with him,” the cardinal said.

“Each person will go from here with the assurance of being accompanied by the grace, the protection, the care and motherly tenderness of Mary,” he said.

St. Mary Major is especially significant to Pope Francis. He has said that he often visited the basilica when traveling to Rome as a cardinal and, breaking with recent tradition, has said he will be buried there rather than in the Vatican after his death. Six popes are buried in the basilica, and the last pope interred there was Pope Clement IX in 1669.

New York City, January 2, 2025

Photo: dzen.ru     

Ukraine has failed to demonstrate the necessity of the law it Ukraine adopts bill 8371 on banning the Orthodox ChurchThe Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s Parliament, voted overwhelmingly today to adopt the infamous bill 8371 on the banning of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“>adopted in August to ban the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, says the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The UN has repeatedly Latest UN human rights report again highlights persecution of Ukrainian Orthodox ChurchThe UN’s latest report covers the period from June 1 to August 31, 2024. It refers to specific cases of persecution against the Church, as well as the unconstitutional law aimed at banning the Orthodox Church throughout the country.

“>sounded the alarm about the persecution of the UOC and the violent church seizures that take place across the country. In its new report covering the period from September 1 to November 30, the UN specifically addresses the vagueness and baselessness of the aforementioned law. Though the bill speaks of banning those religious organizations that are centered in Russia, Ukrainian MPs and politicians openly proclaim that they in fact intend to ban the Kiev-centered Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Local Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church voted to separate itself from the Moscow Patriarchate already in May 2022, as reflected in the Ukrainian Church statutes no longer have any connection to Russian Church, state official confirms“In an official letter, Metropolitan Onuphry clearly indicated that the UOC is no longer governed by the decision of the Bishops’ Council of the ROC, and officially announced its disassociation from the Moscow Patriarchate,” Elena Bogdan said.

“>Church’s updated statutes [full text of the statutes available here], though the Ukrainian state continues to brand it as a Russian Church as a justification for its persecution of the Church.

The new UN report notes that the Ukrainian law invokes “national (or public) security” as a ground for restrictions on religious freedom, but “neither the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) nor the European Convention on Human Rights include ‘national security’ among the permissible grounds for such a restriction.”

Further:

The amendments … specifically prohibit the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. Furthermore, if a court finds that a Ukrainian religious organization is affiliated with a prohibited foreign religious organization, it could order the Ukrainian religious organization’s dissolution. There is concern that once this provision is implemented, it may impact the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

The dissolution of a religious organization is a severe restriction that affects the ability of individuals to practice their religion or belief together with others and threatens the viability of the community as a whole, which requires very serious reasons by way of justification.

And despite adopting such radical legislation, Ukraine has failed to make the case for it, the UN explains:

Ukraine has not demonstrated the necessity and proportionality of this measure, such as by showing why less restrictive measures, such as measures restricted specifically to individuals responsible for wrongdoing, would not be satisfactory and sufficient.

The law’s vague wording and failure to clearly explain what it requires “can result in entire religious communities being held responsible for the conduct of specific individuals. Furthermore, the overbroad and ambiguous formulation may put in jeopardy the right to freedom of expression.”

The report also critiques the practice throughout Ukraine of canceling UOC leases to use church properties, “which, particularly in communities with few churches, may limit exercise of freedom of worship and contribute to social tensions.”

Lastly, the report details the violent Servants of hell assaulted Metropolitan Theodosy in church seizure, say UOC hierarchsThe schismatics of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” shot gas pistols, sprayed tear gas, and physically beat Christians who were attempting to protect their church from the impiety of the attackers.

“>seizure of the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy on October 17, during which “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” thugs put several Orthodox Christians in the hospital, including His Eminence Metropolitan Theodosy. The UN report notes that the police largely stood idly by.

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Harrisburg Bishop Timothy Senior is urging Catholics to combat human trafficking in Pennsylvania and beyond, calling on elected leaders to address the crisis and for citizens to take steps to fight it in their communities.

In a Dec. 29 pastoral letter, the first Senior has issued since becoming bishop of Harrisburg in June 2023, the prelate said he was “shocked and appalled” to learn about the extent of human trafficking “within our own diocesan territory.”

Within the diocese “there are networks of human trafficking, particularly along the main corridors of travel, enslaving many individuals through illicit indentured servitude,” the bishop wrote.

Human trafficking does not occur in a vacuum, Senior noted, but rather stems from issues and crises including immigration, drug addiction, labor violations, and pornography.

A 2024 joint report by the International Organization for Migration, the International Labor Organization, and the human rights group Walk Free found that on average more than 50 million people are enslaved in the world at any given time.

Senior told his diocese that trafficking is “not a problem that only happens somewhere else.” The National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2023 ranked Pennsylvania as among the top 15 states for reported cases of human trafficking, he noted.

“Human trafficking is in our diocese,” the bishop said, in which “scared and exploited men, women, and children are forced into labor and degrading acts so that some people can make money, and others can take advantage of them for free or cheap labor and/or sexual gratification.”

Though the prelate admitted that the situation “sounds like a bleak assessment, and it is,” he called upon the faithful to “remove the blinders from our eyes” and work to bring about change.

The Pennsylvania bishops have repeatedly advocated legislation to combat trafficking, he said, but “this is not nearly enough.” Church authorities will “continue education efforts” and work through charity groups and other nonprofits, he said.

The faithful, meanwhile, can take numerous steps to combat trafficking, including refraining from sins such as watching pornography and patronizing prostitution, both industries rife with abuse and human traffic.

Sins that “directly erode the dignity of others” should be proactively addressed, he argued.

“Since these sins afflict young men at a greater percentage than young women, parents should have conversations with their sons and help them by setting up restrictions for the use of the internet and social media,” the bishop said, further urging fathers to “set good examples for their sons, especially in how they speak about women.”

Parents, meanwhile, should “speak to their children about their God-given dignity, empowering the next generations to recognize when a trafficker may be attempting to groom them.” And individuals should know when to spot signs of trafficking victims, he said, including signs of malnourishment and physical abuse.

The bishop expressed hope that the spirit of the jubilee year will help the faithful “be the instruments of grace and mercy who help to set captives free.”

Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken out against human trafficking. In May the Holy Father described the crime as “one of the most terrible scourges of our time” that disrespects and disregards human dignity and delivers “large profits to people without moral scruples.”

It is “never too late to take action” against human trafficking, the pope said in February 2024.

Also last year, the U.S. bishops urged Congress to pass a bill aiming to combat human trafficking that would, among other things, provide grants to aid organizations in areas with high rates of trafficking.

Concord, New Hampshire, December 31, 2024

Photo: gtv-cdn.com     

The local Satanic Temple’s blasphemous display outside the State House in Concord, New Hampshire, has been attacked and destroyed several times by numerous people, including local Orthodox Christian Joshua Cummings.

Cummings was apprehended by police last week but says his conscience is clean.

“What does it say about us as a people if we allow such a filthy and hideous image to appear before God in our most basic societal representation?” he writes in a Facebook post acknowledging that he has destroyed the statue several times. “The spiritual principality is a higher order of reality than the legal municipality,” he told the police.

Cummings writes that this act of confession is one of the greatest things he’s ever done.

His statement reads:

I live in Concord, New Hampshire. It was I who destroyed the Satan statue in front of the State House. Other people have destroyed it on several occasions. It has basically become open season on the stupid thing at this point, but I (have lost count but) did at least five times bash it on the head with my medieval mace in the middle of the night, and I was finally apprehended by police for it a few nights ago. I wasn’t arrested, only asked some basic questions and read my Miranda Rights; and I don’t think charges will be pressed, and if they are I’m sure I can cover the lawfare with some kind of crowdfunding. It’d probably quickly go viral the same way the news articles have.

What I said to the cops is the same thing I’d say before the press: that the presence of the statue hurts everyone in the city and even the whole state—that the spiritual principality is a higher order reality than the legal municipality. The cops were surprised by my answers and didn’t really know how to respond.

Online, some Protestants and Catholics in the comment sections of the widespread news articles have even defended the statue, saying that the 1st Amendment protects its being in front of the State House. I maintain my stance that we ought to have anti-blasphemy laws, and that it is unChristian to not destroy idolatrous statues, a fact witnessed to by the countless saints who did not hesitate to topple monuments to falsehood.

I know the Satanic Temple wants to catch me on a “hate crime” charge. On the night I was apprehended, the officer, after spending a few minutes at his vehicle, came up to me and said “So you did this because you hate the Satanic Temple?” Paraphrasing, I responded “I don’t hate anyone. The Satanic Temple are a bunch of idiots, but I pray they repent. I hate Satan.”

Again, I maintain that Satan is not who the Satanic Temple says he is—he is who he is—he has no humility and no love, and hates everyone, seeking their destruction. The “Seven Tenets” of Satanism (which the Temple regularly cites as the reason for making their cause attractive) have nothing to do with the actual agenda of Satan. God forbid the members of the Satanic Temple die in their delusion and realize their eternal disappointment: Satan doesn’t like you as much as you liked him!

I don’t think anything will come of this legally, but if anything does I will be happy to state my case, and I pray it can provide a confession for Orthodoxy, which has the fullness of theology to explain why it is perfectly Christian to destroy an idol in front of the very State House. What does it say about us as a people if we allow such a filthy and hideous image to appear before God in our most basic societal representation?

It was impossible that I would not do everything in my power to destroy that horrific statue standing in the very city in which I live, this city that I so dearly love, and I am grateful to God for giving me the gumption to do it. I regard it as one of the greatest things I’ve ever done, dust that it is. My conscience is clear, and should I be charged unfairly, then the crisis of conscience shall move laterally to my interlocutors. I may stand trial tomorrow, but we will all stand trial before the only Righteous Judge. Please pray for me, I’m not sure what is about to happen, but I maintain: Glory be to God for all things.

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Staroe Sandovo, Tver Province, January 2, 2025

A priest of the Bezhetsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church tragically perished in a fire over the weekend.

A fire broke out in a residential building in the village of Staroe Sandovo, Tver Province, on Sunday evening. The body of Archpriest Vyacheslav Zernov of the local Church of the Nativity of Christ was found as the firefighters fought the flames, reports tverigrad.ru.

“Archpriest Vyacheslav Zernov was a deeply religious, kind and modest man who responsibly carried out the obediences entrusted to him, treated people with love and himself enjoyed the deserved love and respect of the clergy and parishioners,” writes the Bezhetsk Diocese.

He was ordained to the priesthood on February 15, 1992, and was appointed rector of the church in Staroe Sandovo later that year.

His funeral was served by His Eminence Archbishop Kallistrat of Bezhetsk on Tuesday.

May Fr. Vyacheslav’s memory be eternal!

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Springfield, Virginia, January 2, 2025

Photo: oca.org The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America has announced the dates for the glorification services for St. Olga of Alaska.

Matushka Olga was canonized by decision of the Holy Synod OCA Synod glorifies Matushka Olga of Alaska among the saintsMatushka Olga (†1979) has long been venerated in Alaska, throughout America, and abroad. She is remembered as a humble mother, midwife, and priest’s wife who was filled with love for everybody, and especially abused women.

“>in November 2023. November 8, 2024 marked the OCA Alaska Diocese marks 45th anniversary of St. Olga’s reposeMatushka Olga was canonized by decision of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America in November 2023.”>45th anniversary of her repose, and on November 16, her Relics of St. Olga of Alaska solemnly uncovered (+VIDEO)Today is a historic day for the Yup’ik nation, the Alaskan people and every Orthodox Christian throughout the world.”>relics were solemnly uncovered in Kwethluk, Alaska.

According to the new announcement, her glorification services will be celebrated on June 19 and 20 at St. Nicholas Church in Kwethluk.

Celebrations will continue with services at St. Innocent Cathedral in Anchorage on June 21–22 for the Sunday of All Saints of North America, and later at the 21st All-American Council in Phoenix on July 16–17.

Her feast will be celebrated annually on October 27 on the New Calendar and October 27/November 9 on the Old Calendar (the entire Diocese of Alaska serves according to the Old Calendar).

She will be generally celebrated with a Doxology-rank feast, except in her native Diocese of Sitka and Alaska, where she may be commemorated with a Vigil-rank feast.

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Greece, January 2, 2024

Photo: slpress.gr     

The Greek Orthodox Church faced a record number of attacks in 2023, according to a new report from the General Secretariat for Religious Affairs of the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports.

According to the “Report on Incidents against Religious Sites in Greece,” in 2023, 591 incidents were recorded against the Orthodox Church, representing 97.20% of the total 609 incidents recorded that year.

The recorded attacks include vandalism, break-ins, thefts, robberies, sacrilege, grave desecration, tomb raids, arson, and other desecrations.

The Orthodox Church “is the only religious community that has been targeted twice by attacks with explosive devices intended to cause not material damage but human casualties. From what is known so far, the motives of the first attack were purely political, as the perpetrators came from anarchist circles. The perpetrator of the second attack came from far-right conspiracy circles but also had religious motives, as he turned against the Holy Synod, which he believed had ‘betrayed’ Orthodoxy,” notes the General Secretary of Religious Affairs in the Report’s introduction.

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If you are still looking for a good New Year’s resolution this January, I’d suggest spending some time with a few saints … 365, to be exact. If your first thought is, “That sounds boring,” then you don’t know saints.

For the last few years, I’ve been reading a short life of a saint each day of the year. It has been a practice that has had me traversing all the centuries of the Church’s history, an adventure that has been almost always inspiring and occasionally shocking.

Of course, we all know the stories of a few saints — St. Patrick and St. Nicholas, perhaps — though much of what we think we know may be more legend and pious tradition than fact. Knowing only the holy card version is a disservice to the very real flesh and blood women and men who preceded us and from whom we can learn so much.

The real stories of the saints are a reminder that history is always messy. The past is no over-simplified golden age disconnected from what we are experiencing today.

At a time when the Church challenges our own rulers on abortion, immigration, and the death penalty, there are endless examples of the saints resisting the authorities. Take St. Ambrose. In the 4th century, both Church and state were divided by the Arian heresy, pitting would-be emperors against one another. St. Ambrose was an esteemed defender of orthodoxy, but also a beloved leader negotiating a maelstrom of competing interests. At one point, his people had to fill a church to protect him from being seized by imperial troops. Exemplifying grace under fire, he taught the people hymns as they outwaited the soldiers.

Church-state relations figure prominently in many stories. The Church calendar pays tribute to the many brave priests and laity in Great Britain who were killed for refusing to renounce their Catholicism during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James. The tortures were cruel and executions drawn out and painful.

Saints often goaded the consciences of the powerful. St. Peter Claver was a Spanish Jesuit in the 17th century who went to Colombia, where he ministered to the Africans that Spanish slave traders were bringing at the rate of 10,000 a year. St. Peter called himself Slave of the Africans and tried to care for those who survived the brutal conditions on the boats.

In the 20th century, many saints were martyred by fascists or Communists. Blessed Vilmos Apor, who lived in the first half of the 20th century, was born in Romania. He was a bishop who understood early the evil of Nazi ideology. “One cannot tolerate antisemitism,” he wrote to a fellow bishop. “What Jews are undergoing is genocide.” When Russia occupied Romania after World War II, he sought to help the many refugees. On Good Friday, 1945, he was defending a young woman from harassment by drunken soldiers, and they shot him.

Blessed Maria Stella Mardosewicz and 10 other religious women in Poland were executed by the Nazis after they sought to save the life of a priest. Ukraine’s many martyrs, remembered on March 5, were killed over a period of 38 years by both Nazis and Communists.

In the saints’ lives we see examples of strong women who were not afraid to speak truth to power. Take, for example, Blessed Mary MacKillop, who lived in 19th-century Australia. Her commitment to education, care for the sick, the homeless, and unmarried women at times meant she locked horns with Church authorities. She is “an obstinate and ambitious woman,” one bishop said of her. She “battled lifelong opposition to her work,” a biographer wrote, and was even excommunicated for a short while.

Our own St. Katherine Drexel, who grew up in Philadelphia into a family of bankers, lived from 1858 to 1955. Despite her wealth, she was tremendously dedicated from an early age to the care for Native Americans and, later, African Americans. Inheriting her family’s great wealth, she traveled throughout the country, using her money to start schools, missions, and orphanages, including what was to become Xavier University in New Orleans.

What characterized many saints was their charity and concern for the poor. What we now might call the social Gospel was alive and well from the earliest days of the Church. Unlike the rich young man in the Gospel, many saints were willing to sell everything and even to beg in order to support those in need.

In our cynical and depleted age, 2025 may be a good year to be inspired daily by men and women who met the challenges of their age and bore witness to the faith.

Where to start? Two resources I use are “Butler’s Saint for the Day,” by Paul Burns (Liturgical Press, $34.95) and “Voices of the Saints” by Bert Ghezzi (Loyola Press, $19.95). Most recently Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Press has published “Voices of the Saints: A 365-Day Journey” ($34.95).

    

2024 can be remembered by many as a year of Christian suffering.

Ukraine

The Ukrainian Church Crisis

“>oppression against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has not let up—to the contrary, the past year has seen the persecution against it only deepen. The most sacred place in the Ukraine, the Kiev Caves Lavra, has been almost entirely taken over by the uncanonical “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, and its magnificent churches, practically empty of worshippers, have been repurposed as concert venues and OCU “priest” calls Orthodox churches “toilets” while cooking show is filmed in Lavra churchThe show caused outrage in Ukrainian society, among representatives of various religious.”>cooking shows (cooking meat, of course, during the Nativity fast). Blasphemies abound, including physical attacks on Orthodox bishops. Metropolitan Longin of Bukovina and Chernovitsi Persecuted Metropolitan Longin attacked at home, has to undergo surgery”This happened on the night of January 22, 2024. Someone knocked on the door three times, and when I opened it, I was struck and knocked unconscious.””>was attacked in his own home—an event that left his hundreds of adopted orphans traumatized. Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkassy had to be Metropolitan Theodosy diagnosed with burns and concussion after violent seizure of Cherkasy cathedral (+VIDEO)Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy and Kanev was severely injured. During the attack, he was beaten, his klobuk was torn off, and his bishop’s staff was snatched away and used to strike believers.”>hospitalized after being hit on the head and sprayed in the eyes with tear gas. This is not to mention the physical attacks on his parishioners and Monk still unable to walk after brutal attack on Cherkasy cathedralA monk severely injured during the violent assault on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church cathedral in Cherkasy continues to face a difficult road to recovery, church officials reported Wednesday.”>clergy during this 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.”>outrageous seizure of his cathedral church, its building fund, and all its valuables by so-called “priests” of the non-canonical structure.

Ukrainian priests have been More Ukrainian priests called up to the armyAs one UOC hierarch explained, the canons forbid clergy from participating in military activity.

“>hauled off to the front, despite the fact that it is forbidden for an Orthodox clergyman to spill blood. Priests and their families have been Schismatics evicting priest with four young childrenThe schismatics captured the Church of St. Nicholas in the village of Mytinstsy, Khmelnitsky Province last year, and now they’re trying to make sure the canonical priest, Archpriest Oleg Tsaruk, and his family suffer as much as possible.”>kicked out of their homes, clergy and laymen imprisoned, Ukrainian priest beaten and injured at military recruitment center after refusing to join schismaticsArchpriest Oleg Melnik, 55, was stopped and taken to the Territorial Recruitment Center on Saturday, November 2, ostensibly to clarify whether he had undergone a military medical commission. Despite having valid documentation of his clerical status, Fr. Oleg was detained upon arrival.”>mocked, and abused. Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod is under house arrest, Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchin was Convicted Ukrainian hierarch was released from UkraineThe hierarch of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church who was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for allegedly supporting the Russian war in Ukraine and inciting religious enmity has been released and left Ukraine.”>arrested and released to Russia, and Metropolitan Arseny of Sviatogorsk is Ukrainian court extends bishop’s detention for another 2 monthsMet. Arseny faces up to 8 years in prison if found guilty.”>in detention, continually travelling from back and forth from detention in center to regional court for trial.

And in August came the largest nail in the cross: The entire canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church was Ukraine adopts bill 8371 on banning the Orthodox ChurchThe Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s Parliament, voted overwhelmingly today to adopt the infamous bill 8371 on the banning of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

“>officially banned by the Ukrainian parliament—which opens wide the door for even greater persecution and seizure of church property.

Meanwhile, the Pope of Rome, who earlier gave assurances that he would not recognize the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” and its head, “Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko, received the latter in the Vatican on December 15. It was a symbolic visit, which, no matter what sauce it’s going to be served under, is an admission of the Vatican’s willingness to turn a blind eye to the ongoing destruction of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church—the largest and historically oldest religious confession in Ukraine. Treacherous though it be, it is not surprising, given Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew’s many friendly meetings at which the reunification of Roman Catholicism with Eastern Orthodoxy has been discussed. Patriarch Bartholomew has even gone as far as Patriarch Bartholomew works toward a common Pascha date with RomeThe question as to why a common date would be needed if there was no intention to concelebrate, is left officially unanswered by the Phanar.

“>to announce his intentions to celebrate Pascha together with Catholics, calling the Orthodox practice “narrow-minded”. Apparently, to some it is also narrow-minded to view all of the above-mentioned persecutions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as sinful, blasphemous, and plain outrageous.

Metropolitan Luke of Zaporozhie has put it very clearly: The OCU and the Greek Catholic church in Ukraine—which is under the Roman Pope—have been talking about uniting under a single “Ukrainian” structure since the formation of the OCU. They have already concelebrated the Liturgy on numerous occasions. Regardless of who will head the union—“Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko or Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk—the structure would be de facto subject to the Pope of Rome. This is the latest version of an old song in Ukraine—bringing Orthodox Slavs under Rome by hook or by crook.

So, 2025 promises to be full of machinations of this stripe and color. But we will hold to our Holy Orthodox Church—and pray even more fervently, with tears of love and compassion for our Orthodox brothers and sisters in Ukraine as they are led to their Golgotha, together with His Beatitude Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine.

The Middle East

And neither let us forget our suffering brothers and sisters in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. Since the bombing of Gaza by Israeli forces began back in October, 2023, nearly 1,000 Palestinian Christians have been sheltering in the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius and the Latin Monastery in the center of Gaza City. For more than a year now they have been living in these two churches with hardly any food, water, or electricity.¹

Christians in Syria are bracing again for attacks by radical Muslims as chaos takes over in their country after the fall of President Bashar Asad. We have yet to see what their fate will be in the coming year.

So as we sit with our families and friends, be it at home or in our churches, let us hope in God’s mercy for the new year, that He grant us true repentance and prayer for our great family, the Holy Orthodox Church.