Category: Global Orthodoxy
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The Pan-Orthodox Council of 1998
Beginning in the post-Communist era in the early 1990s, a faction of schismatics emerged in Bulgaria, breaking away from the canonical Bulgarian Orthodox Church. These schismatics — known as the “Alternative Synod” — elected their own Patriarch in 1996, with the backing of the Bulgarian government. Under immense pressure, the canonical Bulgarian Church appealed to…
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Was Crete really the first “Pan-Orthodox Council” in centuries?
In the run-up to what was hoped to be a Great and Holy Council in 2016, many church leaders and commentators emphasized that this was a monumental event, the first time in X years that representatives from all of the world’s Orthodox Churches had met in a council. “X years” kind of varied — some…
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Patriarch Athenagoras Clearly States How Autocephaly Must Be Granted
Editor’s note: On Friday, Orthodox History published a 1970 letter by Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras in response to the Moscow Patriarchate’s decision to grant autocephaly to the “Orthodox Church in America.” After posting the letter, we received the following article by “Petrus Antiochenus.” Today, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is on the verge of creating an autocephalous…
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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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W.J. Birkbeck on St. John of Kronstadt
W.J. Birkbeck was a living bridge between Orthodoxy and Anglicanism at the turn of the last century. An Englishman, he fell in love with Russia and spent huge amounts of time there, developing contacts with pretty much every major figure in the Russian Orthodox Church. He visited monasteries and village churches, elders, bishops, Tsar Nicholas…
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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…
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Conference on St. Sergius of Radonezh
One of our SOCHA advisory board members is Deacon Andrei Psarev, church history instructor at Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY. He’s asked us to help spread the word about a conference being held at Jordanville on October 10 and 11 to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Registration is…
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Jordanville to host conference on St. Sergius of Radonezh
One of our SOCHA advisory board members is Deacon Andrei Psarev, church history instructor at Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY. He’s asked us to help spread the word about a conference being held at Jordanville on October 10 and 11 to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius of Radonezh. They’re asking…