Author: Guest Author
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St Tikhon to Antioch: Set Up Shop in America!
Editor’s note: Last year, Scott Kenworthy (whose landmark biography of St Tikhon comes out in November and is available now for preorder) sent me a remarkable email. He had discovered a letter written by Patriarch Tikhon to Patriarch Gregory IV of Antioch in 1922, dealing with the jurisdiction of Syrians/Antiochians in North America. The letter…
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A Plea for English in Greek Orthodox Services in 1963
The US Congress imposed immigration quotas in 1924, ending the Ellis Island era of immigration. With no more newcomers, Orthodoxy in America began to assimilate more rapidly into American society, as the children and grandchildren of the original immigrants came to see themselves as Americans, even if they held onto their cultural inheritances (which, in…
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Protopresbyter Pontius Rupyshev – a spiritual light from Vilnius
I serve in Vilnius Cathedral of the Dormition which is the historical cathedral of the Orthodox Church in Lithuania. Today it functions as a simple parish, our metropolitan lives and mostly serves the Divine Liturgy in the monastery of the Holy Spirit. It was so already in the 19th century when St. John of Kronstadt…
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The Ukrainian Crisis and Orthodoxy’s Impasse, by Carol Saba
Carol Saba is an attorney in France and one of the leading thinkers and writers in the Patriarchate of Antioch. Recently, he published a 5-part series in the widely-read Lebanese newspaper an-Nahar, describing the historical context for the current Orthodox crisis. This series was translated into English and published at Notes on Arab Orthodoxy. In the interest…
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The History of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, 1830-1923
The following paper, originally entitled, “Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople, 1839-1923,” was written by Professor Dimitris Stamatopoulos and published in the Great Online Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World. The original Greek text may be found at this link. The original English translation may be found at this link. I found this paper to be extremely helpful in writing…
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1970 Letter from Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras on Autocephaly
Editor’s note: In 1970, the Patriarchate of Moscow issued a Tomos of Autocephaly to its former archdiocese in North America, which was commonly known as the “Russian Metropolia” and is now the “Orthodox Church in America.” Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras protested against this act in multiple letters to the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate. The correspondence between…
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A Man of Sorrows and of Faith
Editor’s note: The essay below was written by Father Christopher Morris, pastor of St George Orthodox Church in Kearney, Nebraska. Fr Christopher wrote this in the wake of the tragic death of Fr Matthew Baker, a young priest who died in a car accident on Sunday night. Fr Matthew left behind a wife and six…
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Recollections of My Grandfather: Fr. Joseph Xanthopoulos
Editor’s note: In June, I published a biography of Fr. Joseph Xanthopoulos, an remarkable (and even saintly) Greek priest who first served in an Antiochian parish under St. Raphael before eventually joining the Greek Archdiocese. Fr. Joseph’s story is both amazing and inspiring, and the more I learn about him, the more impressed I am.…
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Embassy, Emigrants, and Englishmen: A Review
Review of Christopher Birchall. Embassy, Emigrants, and Englishmen: The Three Hundred Year History of a Russian Orthodox Church in London. Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Publications, 2014. In Embassy, Emigrants, and Englishmen, Christopher Birchall has produced the definitive history of Russian Orthodox presence in London. The book is unlikely to be surpassed in the near future…
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A History of the Antiochian Representation Church in Moscow
Since 1848, the Patriarchate of Antioch has had a “metochion,” or representation church (basically an church embassy) in Moscow. Immediately before he came to America, St. Raphael Hawaweeny served as head of the metochion. Earlier this year, the must-read blog Notes on Arab Orthodoxy published a brief history of the metochion and an interview with…