Greek Orthodox

One month on the abduction of our two Archbishops

May 22, 2013 Featured News

22/5/13 One month lapsed and we are still living the nightmare of the abduction whereabouts our two Archbishops Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim Metropolitan of the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo, and Boulos Yazaji Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo were kidnapped on the 22nd of April 2013. An unknown group has abducted them without claiming [...]

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Stolen religious items returned to Greek Orthodox Church in Watertown

May 12, 2013 News

By Dana Forsythe Wicked Local Watertown 12/5/13 On Friday morning a garbage bag full of previously stolen religious items was found behind the Taxiarchae/Archangels Greek Orthodox Church in Watertown. According to Fr. Demetrios Tonias of Archangels Greek Orthodox Church, a maintenance man found the items behind the church’s social hall when he arrived to clean [...]

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Greek Orthodox patriarch washes the feet of bishops

May 3, 2013 News

3/5/13 Lindsey Tugman JERUSALEM (CBS) — Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III washed the feet of 12 of his clergymen in the courtyard of the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem’s Old City on Thursday (May 2), in a traditional ceremony that takes place three days ahead of Easter. According to Christian faith, Jesus washed the feet [...]

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Settlers Burn Greek Orthodox Church Land In Jerusalem

April 29, 2013 Featured News

29/4/13 On Sunday evening April 28, 2013, a group of extremist Israeli settlers burnt a land that belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church in Wadi Hilweh, in Silwan town, in occupied East Jerusalem. The Wadi Hilweh Information Center reported that dozens of extremist Israeli settlers and soldiers gathered in the area, and that the armed [...]

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No sign of Orthodox bishops’ release, fears of political blackmail grow

April 27, 2013 Featured News

Elias Khoury – 27/4/13 Sources tell AsiaNews they will believe in the release  when they can see and talk to the two bishops. Delay is a sign that something  went wrong. So far, Christians have not taken sides with either warring party. The pope calls for a political solution to the crisis. Western governments seek  [...]

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Joint statement on Syria from Archbishop Justin and Archbishop Vincent

April 26, 2013 Featured News

25.04.2013 Joint statement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster, Justin Welby and Vincent Nichols, concerning the ongoing violence in Syria Since the very first days of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, we have prayed as we watched in horror and sorrow the escalating violence that has rent this country apart. We have grieved [...]

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Global church heads distressed by Orthodox bishops’ abductions

April 25, 2013 Featured News

Peter Kenny – 23/4/13 The Global Christian Forum, the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches have expressed concern about the safety of two Orthodox Christian bishops abducted in Syria while doing humanitarian work, with one leader saying they are promiment for all people in the war-torn country, not just Christians. The [...]

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Orthodox Church denies cover up

April 25, 2013 News

25/4/13 Bishop Iakovos fronts the parliament’s child sex abuse inquiry and says the church would never cover up any criminal behaviour. Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis defended the Church’s reputation when he fronted the Victorian parliamentary inquiry on child sex abuse in the church this week. The Bishop said the church and the [...]

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Early Reports of Bishops Release Premature

April 24, 2013 Featured News

23/4/13  The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch has made the following statement on Facebook: “Beloved, do not pass around news here and there that play with people’s emotions. there is no news about Their Eminences. Let us pray until there is certain news.” The Antiochian Archdiocese of North America has released the following statement: “There have [...]

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Syrian bishops in hands of ‘Chechens’: church sources

April 24, 2013 Featured News

Agence France-Presse – 23/4/13 The kidnappers of two Orthodox bishops seized in northern Syria are Chechen fighters, sources in the Syriac and Greek Orthodox dioceses in Aleppo said on Tuesday. “The news which we have received is that an armed group… (of) Chechens stopped the car and kidnapped the two bishops while the driver was [...]

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al-Joumhouria: Details Emerge about the Metropolitans’ Kidnapping

April 24, 2013 Featured News

23/4/13 Arabic original, from the April 23 al-Joumhouria, here. For background on the kidnapped priests whose release they were trying to secure, see here. The two kidnapped metropolitans are Metropolitan Youhanna Ibrahim, Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, and Boulos Yazigi, Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo and Alexandretta, brother of Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X Yazigi, who has [...]

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Govt calls for release of Syrian Orthodox archbishops

April 23, 2013 Featured News
The Greek Orthodox archbishop of Aleppo, Paul Yazigi

23/4/13 Concern after the kidnapping of Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox archbishops of Aleppo, Paul Yazigi and Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, on the road to Aleppo from the rebel-held Bab al Hawa crossing with Turkey. The Greek government has called for the release of two Syrian bishops kidnapped on Monday by armed rebels in the northern [...]

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Metropolitans Boulos Yazigi and Mor Youhanna Ibrahim Kidnapped Outside Aleppo

April 23, 2013 Featured News
Metropolitan Paul (Yazigi) of Aleppo

22/4/13 Armed men have kidnapped the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo and Iskanderun, Metropolitan Boulos Yazigi and the Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, Metropolitan Youhanna Ibrahm near the city of Aleppo. An-Nahar has learned that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, which recieved news of the kidnapping of the two metropolitans this evening, will not issue any [...]

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Boston Metropolitan Methodios Speaks at Interfaith Prayer Service for Marathon Victims

April 20, 2013 News

Anastasios Papapostolou – 20/4/13 President Obama spoke at an interfaith prayer service to honor victims of the Boston Marathon bombings Thursday morning at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Among the clergy that prayed was the Greek-Orthodox Metropolitan of Boston, Methodios who also spoke at the event. Titled “Healing Our City,” the service began at [...]

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The Greek Orthodox Church would never sweep abuse allegations under the carpet, a Victorian inquiry has heard.

April 13, 2013 News

13/4/13 - Australia  The church has a rigorous process for dealing with misconduct complaints, including reporting criminal behaviour to police, but it has never been tested in an allegation of child sex abuse, the parliamentary inquiry heard on Friday. Church groups The Salvation Army and the Jehovah’s Witnesses told the inquiry on Thursday they felt it [...]

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Fordham University’s Orthodox Christian Studies Center to host 3-day conference, June 11-13

April 9, 2013 News

Washington, D.C. 4/1/2013 Fordham University’s Orthodox Christian Studies Center will be hosting a conference on “Christianity, Democracy, and the Shadow of Constantine” held at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus on June 11-13, 2013. The Orthodox Christian Studies Center is co-chaired by Archons Aristotle Papanikolaou and George E. Demacopoulos, PhD. Click here to register for the conference. [...]

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The holy light of Easter in Jerusalem

March 23, 2013 Featured News
Woman lights candle in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem. This site is holy to Catholics and other Christians, who believe it stands on the ground where Jesus of Nazareth was crucified by Roman soldiers. It also marks the site where many believe Jesus was entombed and resurrected. Kip Evans, (c) Kip Evans Photography

By William Hamblin and Daniel Peterson, For the Deseret – 23.3.13 One of the oldest rituals in Christendom is enacted each year at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the traditional site of Christ’s burial and resurrection, on the Saturday before Orthodox Easter — which falls, this year, on May 4. In the morning, the clergy of the [...]

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Obama lights candles, prays at Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity compound

March 23, 2013 Featured News

22/3/13 JERUSALEM (CNS) — U.S. President Barack Obama, visiting the West Bank city of Bethlehem, stopped twice to light candles for his family and himself: first at the Church of Nativity grotto, where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born, then at the adjacent Catholic Church of St. Catherine. On the last leg of his [...]

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Archon Maestor Andrew A. Athens leaves global legacy

March 18, 2013 News

New York, NY 3/17/2013 Archdiocese mourns the passing of Andrew A. Athens Archbishop Demetrios expresses condolences New York (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America) – Andrew A. Athens, Archon Maestor of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and president of the Archdiocesan Council of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese for almost two decades (1974-1995) fell asleep in the Lord today [...]

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Libya: Security of Christian Communities ‘Precarious’ in Libya – Archbishop

March 17, 2013 News

15/3/13 Tripoli — Various Christian communities in Libya, as well as some Muslim groups, have been feeling increasingly under pressure from hardline Islamist groups since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011. “The level of security remains precarious for all foreigners, especially for Christians, because of the presence of some fundamentalist Islamic groups,” Giovanni [...]

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Patriarch Yazigi refuses to sanction Qatar diocese

March 14, 2013 Featured News

The Daily Star – 14/3/13 BEIRUT: Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X Yazigi  said Wednesday the church could not  sanction the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem’s decision to establish a new  diocese in Qatar. Yazigi said in a statement the move violated the laws of the All-Orthodox  Church, “because it required the approval of the Greek Orthodox [...]

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Gaza’s Orthodox Church Celebrates 1,606 Years

March 13, 2013 Featured News
A Greek Orthodox priest attends Christmas services at the St. Porphyrius church in Gaza City, Jan. 7, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Mohammed Salem) Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/gaza-orthodox-church.html#ixzz2NLvQOWQV

  Asmaa al-Ghoul for Al-Monitor Palestine Pulse 12/3/13 In the only Orthodox Church in Gaza, surrounded by saints’ icons hanging on the walls, young and old churchgoers — along with Greek Orthodox Bishop Alexios and worshippers — sing hymns, hold candles and burn incense, filling the place with an aromatic smell and bringing more holiness [...]

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Turkey Leans Toward Opening Halki Seminary

March 10, 2013 Featured News

Nicky Mariam Onti - 7/3/13 After years of resistance, the Turkish government is considering allowing the re-opening of the closed Halki Seminary, the Anatolia News agency reported. Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said the institution should be reopened to educate clerics for the Orthodox community, saying “minorities have the same rights as us” while he was [...]

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Jennifer Aniston May Marry in Greek Orthodox Church

March 4, 2013 Featured News

Joanna Varikos - 4/3/13 Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux’s wedding plans are moving along, with buzz that the intimate ceremony may take place at a Greek Orthodox Church in Pennsylvania Aniston used to frequent as a child. Sources in the town of Eddystone, Penn., have said that the couple are looking at possibly marrying at St. [...]

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Holy springs, healing springs: Istanbul’s ayazma

March 2, 2013 Featured News
Istanbul has quite a few holy springs, referred to as ayazma from the Greek, meaning holy water. The most important of the ayazmas in Istanbul is the one in Balıklı.

Niki GammISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News 2/3/13 The most important of the ayazmas in Istanbul is the one in Balıklı, outside the Theodosian walls near Silivrikapı. This spring, which belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church, is dedicated to the Virgin Mary Springs are to be found all over the world and nowhere more so than [...]

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