Month: March 2010
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Fr. Raphael Morgan against Marcus Garvey
Marcus Garvey was a widely influential black nationalist from Jamaica. He promoted black pride and championed the “back to Africa” movement. In 1916, when he was just 29 years old and at the outset of his public career, he visited the United States and embarked on a 38-state speaking tour. Not all of the black Americans…
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The death of Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople, 1821
Today is both the Feast of the Annunciation (on the New Calendar), and Greek Independence Day. With that in mind, I decided to look in my archives for American accounts of the Greek War of Independence, in 1821. I have quite a few reports from various newspapers and journals, and the single event that received…
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St. Makarii of Glukharev: A Quick Reminder that Alaska was not in a Vacuum
Over at Frontier Orthodoxy I have put up a post on St. Makarii of Glukharev. He was not an American saint. Nor did he ever come to America. I mention him here, though, as a reminder that the missionary work to Alaska did not occur in a vacuum. It was part of a larger missionary…
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Today in history: the first Albanian liturgy
As far as Albanian Orthodox history in America goes, there’s no bigger figure than Metropolitan Theophan — or “Fan” — Noli. He’s best known for his three-plus decades as bishop of the Albanian jurisdiction which ultimately joined the Russian Metropolia (and which is now the Albanian Archdiocese of the OCA). Before that, he was the…
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Serbs in Chicago
I’ve recently stumbled onto a really interesting article on the history of Chicago’s Serbian community. This paper, written by Krinka Vidaković Petrov, was published in the journal Serbian Studies in 2006. It helps shed further light on the early history of Orthodoxy in Chicago, which we’ve discussed many times on this website. I found this…
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Irvine on St. Patrick’s Day, 1916
Fr. Ingram Nathaniel Irvine has probably had more of his letters published in the New York Times than any other Orthodox clergyman. Just in the period from 1907-1918, the Times published no fewer than six Irvine letters. One of them appeared in their March 17, 1916 issue — that is, exactly 94 years ago: To the…
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Metropolitan Antony Bashir podcast
My latest podcast is up at AFR. I discuss the life of Metropolitan Antony Bashir, basically repeating what I wrote a month ago, on the anniversary of his death.
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The Reversal of St. Raphael
Last week, we discussed St. Raphael’s involvement with the Episcopal Church — his role in an Orthodox-Anglican dialogue group, and his June 1910 letter permitting Episcopalian clergy to minister to Syrian Orthodox people in limited circumstances. Later that year, one of St. Raphael’s top assistants, Fr. Ingram Nathaniel Irvine, wrote a lengthy open letter, warning…