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St. Augustine of Hippo Rome, Italy, Sep 4, 2009 / 10:08 am (CNA).- In a letter he sent Thursday to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity,  Pope Benedict XVI has underscored that the teachings of St. Augustine are a path seeking unity with the Orthodox. The message from the Pope was sent to Cardinal Kasper as the 11th Inter-Christian Symposium gathered in Rome. The meeting was organized by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical University Antonianum and the Aristotle Orthodox Theological Faculty of Thessalonica.In his message, the Holy Father expressed his gratitude...

Ancient faith of their Middle East fathers Guardian Weekly reader Catherine Ann Lombard writes on a visit to Mor Ephrem, the Syrian Orthodox Monastery at the far eastern border of the Netherlands and meets 45 boys who are learning to read and chant in kthobonoyo, the litur gical language that only about 300 people in the world speak today Tuesday September 1st 2009 The morning is hot and sticky, but I have promised Dayrayto Shmuni to help in the monastery kitchen and put on my long-sleeved T-shirt. How the nun manages during the summer months in her long black habit...

I was taken by the desire to share some further brief thoughts from the Christian East, picking up from our consideration of last week on the holy Icon and the depth of theological meaning to be found there in its various regards. I turned to a set of books published as part of the Cistercian Studies series, The Spirituality of the Christian East by Tomas Spidlik, SJ. I began with a consideration of various paragraphs and sections, but I determined to simply instead present a few very brief quotations from those books, that might serve as a point of some...

While I do not agree with everything Richard Bauckham argues for in his book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, I wholeheartedly agree with his fundamental premise: the Gospels are not the product of a long process of anonymous traditioning (as the Form-Critical model suggested). In this awesome video, Bauckham lays out a summary of his thought: http://www.thesacredpage.com/2009/08/bauckham-gospels-as-eyewitness.html

Protests rise as Turkish renovation work turns church into mosque Deutsche Presse-Agentur Aug 25, 2009, 10:22 GMT Istanbul - Restoration work that would result in an historic Greek Orthodox church being recognized as a mosque has caused uproar in Turkey, reported the daily Milliyet newspaper on Tuesday. At issue is the 178-year-old St Dimitrios church in the northern Turkish village of Silivri. The village was once a Greek settlement but, after the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, ethnic Greek residents had to leave in a forced resettlement that swapped 1.5 million ethnic Greeks from Turkey for 600,000 ethnic Turks living in...

Prayer is an ongoing dialogue of intimate communion with God. God fashioned men and women as the crown of His creation, creating us in “His Image”, for this loving, relational conversation of life with Him. ... The Lord wants us to freely choose to respond to His continual invitations to love. We will only find our fulfillment as human persons by entering into that kind of relationship. This is the meaning and purpose of life itself. ...Prayer is about falling in love with God. Isaac of Ninevah was an early eighth century monk, Bishop and theologian. For centuries he was...

The Monthly » December 2006 - January 2007, No. 19 » The Nation Reviewed | Dec 2006 - Jan 2007 Contra Mundum Kate Holden A paean in an arcane language derived from ancient Egyptian and Greek; a ceremonial procession of men in Byzantine beards and robes; a supper table laid with platters of pizza and fried rice; a sermon aided by PowerPoint slides above a Madonna icon outlined in blue sequins; the spiritual wisdom of the Desert Fathers. Welcome to a Friday night Coptic service in a northern Melbourne suburb. There is something splendidly venerable about an institution such as...

How We Got the New Testament - 2 1/2 Views (Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic) The following excerpts are pulled from the Internet. Their full articles are worth reading, if you want to understand their thought. In hopes of keeping this at a digestible meal, I've quoted the sections I found most interesting - and deleted a great deal of good reading! First, the Orthodox: taken from the Orthodox Christian Information Center. The Emergence of the New Testament Canon by Daniel F. Lieuwen Link: http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/ntcanon_emergence.aspx ...When the church began, there were no New Testament books. Old Testament texts alone were used...

Rita Wilson: Why I Love My Greek Orthodox Faith Friday August 7, 2009 In a video interview with Sally Quinn, producer of "On Faith" at The Washington Post, actress and producer Rita Wilson (one half of a Hollywood celebrity super couple with Tom Hanks) shares why she loves the Greek Orthodox faith ("I love my church. I find the Greek Orthodox Church a sort of a wonderfully moderate, accepting faith."), her brief period as a reborn Christian during her teenage years, and what gives her life the most meaning. Some highlights from the interview include: When you were growing up,...

Hagia Sophia angel uncovered in Turkey Restoration workers have uncovered the mosaic face of an angel in the world-renowned Hagia Sophia Museum in the Turkish city of Istanbul 29 Temmuz 2009 Çarşamba 02:35 The mosaic, believed to be one of a group of six, was found in the pendentive, an arched triangular section supporting the dome of the monument. Some experts believe the six-winged figure dates back to the 14th century, but the Hagia Sofia Science Board is set to determine the relic's true age by comparing it to similar mosaics found in 1935. Built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian,...

Review: How the Byzantines Saved Europe Posted by JOHN COURETAS on MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2009 The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Edited by Elizabeth Jeffreys, John Haldon, Robin Cormack. Oxford University Press (2008)Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin. Princeton University Press (2008) Ask the average college student to identify the 1,100 year old empire that was, at various points in its history, the political, commercial, artistic and ecclesiastical center of Europe and, indeed, was responsible for the very survival and flourishing of what we know today as Europe and you’re not likely to get the...

Osprey Media. - Peterborough Examiner - Ontario, CA [Emperor] Constantine's Last WalkJunior Fiction winner Local News - Wednesday, July 11, 2007 @ 00:00 By Erik Blackthrone O'Barr Grade 9 Peterborough Collegiate The cannon fire grew closer with each thundering belch of rock and iron, as the walls of Constantinople, wonders of the world that had never been breached save for treachery, groaned under the strain. Buildings crackled with scorching heat, set ablaze by pitch- covered arrows. The shouts and screams of the dying echoed in the empty streets of the once great city. And Constantine XI Palaiologos, last Emperor of...

...The “Fiat” is more than a prayer and the “Magnificat” more than a hymn of praise. Together they constitute a lesson book, a guide, for our own lives. This lesson book is desperately needed by Christians, indeed all people of good will, in an age characterized by pride and arrogance. The pattern of the life of Mary, the first disciple of the Lord, reveals a trajectory of surrendered love. If we embrace the mystery of Mary, we will find the meaning of our own lives. We were created out of Love, in Love and for Love. As the beloved disciple...

Synaxarion: Concerning the Dormition of the Theotokos, this is what the Church has received from ancient times from the tradition of the Fathers. When the time drew nigh that our Savior was well-pleased to take His Mother to Himself, He declared unto her through an Angel that three days hence, He would translate her from this temporal life to eternity and bliss. On hearing this, she went up with haste to the Mount of Olives, where she prayed continuously. Giving thanks to God, she returned to her house and prepared whatever was necessary for her burial. While these things...

Aug 14, 2009 From church to mosque: Istanbul’s forgotten Byzantine heritage Is it a church? Is it a mosque? Is it a museum? Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia, the Church of Divine Wisdom) may be one of İstanbul's most famous buildings, but it's also one that suffers from an acute identity crisis, having started life as the great sixth century church of the Emperor Justinian, before becoming a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and then a museum in 1935 after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk declared the Turkish Republic. Something similar happened to Chora, near Edirnekapı, which also kicked...

San Isidoro y San Leandro Spanish Orthodox Church (CLICK LINK TO SEE VIDEO) By: NYCulturalPhysician November 05, 2007 On fourth street in Manhattan, just west of Avenue D, there is a small church: La Iglesia de San Isidoro y San Leandro. It is a Western Orthodox Church, using the Hispanic Mozarabic rite. I, personally, had never previously heard of Western Orthodox, much less Spanish Orthodox, Christians. Like many others ignorant on the subject, my initial assumptions were: aren't all Orthodox Christians Eastern? Aren't all Spanish churches Roman Catholic? This tiny Church employs a liturgy which predates the sad schism between...

Folks, you all probably remember Fr. Al Kimel, legendary author of the blog Pontifications, an Anglican convert to the Catholic Church and currently a Catholic priest in New Jersey.  Well, the good father wanted to comment on my post on the Twelve Differences Between the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches, but his comments were too long for the comment field. He then sent his input to me which I am now reproducing for your reading pleasure. Folks, it is my distinct honor and pleasure to present to you Fr. Al Kimel:   Your list raises many questions for me.  My...

Good morning! My Son-In-Law called me last night and told me a neat story about (him) losing his work ID ( a fireable offense), praying for the first time in 2 years because of that, seeing a brief glimpse of something about the Moravian church, then finding his badge. Of course there's more to it but I'm sparing you. :) He also reported feeling completely re-energized and touched by the Hand of God -this would be a GREAT time for an 'AMEN!"- and "on fire and alive" despite having a rough weekend almost no sleep. Anyway, he asked about the...

Only One Queen in Poland: Protest Madonna Written by TFP.org    Tuesday, August 4, 2009 When it was announced that American pop-singer Madonna would be performing in Warsaw’s Bemowo Airport on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the American TFP joined the firestorm of protest sweeping Poland. Madonna "Sticky & Sweet" tour is causing a stir because August 15 is not just any Catholic feast day or Polish national holiday. It is the day when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims arrive at the foot of Our Lady of Czestochowa shrine at Jasna Gora...

Folks, Elizabeth Mahlou, my fellow blogger from Blest Atheist, asked me one of those “big questions” which necessitate its own blog post. Here is the question: I am a Catholic who upon occasion attends Orthodox services because of my frequent travels in Eastern European countries. The differences in the masses are obvious, but I wonder what the differences in the theology are. I don't see much. Is that something that you can elucidate? I welcome this question because, as many of you know, I belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Church for about four years and in many ways, I still...

MOSCOW, August 2 (RIA Novosti, Ivan Korzun) - The Russian Orthodox Church is marking on Sunday the day of the Prophet Elijah, with church services around the country commemorating one of the greatest Old Testament saints. Elijah is the patron saint of Russia's Airborne Troops, who celebrate their professional holiday on August 2. Elijah, also known as Elias, was born in the ninth century before Christ in Tishba of Gilead (present-day Ajloon, Jordan) into the tribe of the Levites. He was a zealous proponent of true faith and fought the worship of pagan idols by Israelites. Through his prayer, the...

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, August 1 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Orthodox Church is commemorating St. Seraphim of Sarov, one of Russia's most prominent monks and ascetics who lived in the 18th-19th centuries. Over 15,000 people took part in festive events dedicated to the finding of St. Seraphim's relics, kept in the Holy Trinity St. Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent. The celebrations were held in the village of Diveyevo in the Nizhny Novgorod Region crossed by the Volga River, where the saint lived in the final period of his life. "Father Seraphim unites us all. We see him attract thousands of people, heal their wounds,...

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE CONCERNING THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST THUS FAR, I have tried, as perhaps you have observed, to furnish you with four kinds of spiritual weapons, and the methods by which they may be profitably employed; it remains to present to you the invaluable aids to be derived from the Holy Eucharist in subduing the enemies of perfection and salvation. As this sublime Sacrament towers above the others in dignity and efficacy, it is the most terrible of all weapons to the infernal powers. The methods previously treated have no force but through the merits of Jesus...

Kiev, July 27, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia urged to preserve spiritual unity of Russians and Ukrainians. "If you prefer, Kiev is our shared Jerusalem, Orthodox faith has started here," the Patriarch said after a prayer service to St. Vladimir on Monday in Kiev Vladimirskaya Gorka park. "When we pray here near the monument to the holy prince on the bank of our baptismal font, we witness to vitality and triumph of our spiritual ancestor's legacy in history, as being Vladimir's heirs and residing in different states, we stick to spiritual unity commanded by him," the...

July 27 Spiritual Bouquet: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. St. John 14:23 SAINT PANTALEON of NICOMEDIAPhysician and Martyr(†303) Saint Pantaleon was born in Nicomedia of a pagan father and a Christian mother, who died while her son was still a child. He was among the court physicians of the Emperor Galerius Maximianus. Deceived by hearing the false maxims of the world applauded, he was without religion when God decided to rescue his soul from its unhappy darkness....

I ran across this real cool video series on YouTube showing the return of the relics of the two great Saints, John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian back to Constantinople. There is also some good historical info in them as well, although it is admittedly in favor of the Orthodox position. I put all four parts in order so you don't have to go searching for each part. Each video is like 7 minutes so it is not too long. For some reason the videos are cut off on it. But you can hit the full screen button to view...

A Few Texts From Saint Cyril of Jerusalem on the Eucharist I ran across these texts by St Cyril of Jerusalem in his Catechetical Lectures regarding the Eucharist. Recently some "Reformed" Protestants have used his writings to try and support their heresy of Sola Scriptura. In reading the texts in full context, I found no evidence of this whatsoever. In doing this research I ran across these texts pertaining to the Eucharist. Let me ask this simple question. Without applying any sophistry to the texts, who does St. Cyril appear to be in line with concerning Eucharistic doctrine? The...

In a move welcomed by the Orthodox Church, Russia is introducing religion classes in its schools, but Catholicism is not one of the four creeds to be taught. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill praised the initiative announced Tuesday by President Dimitri Medvedev, which programs a choice of classes on Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism or Judaism, or on a combination of these four creeds, or on secular ethics. Medvedev explained that children under 10 in 12,000 schools of Russia's 18 regions would receive these classes. Patriarch Kirill praised the proposal: "All of the worries that society expressed will be taken care of...

Experts have uncovered one of the six angel mosaics within the world-famous Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul after it had been hidden for 160 years behind plaster and a metal mask. The mosaic, which measures 1.5 meters by 1 meter, was last seen by Swiss architect Gaspare Fossati, who headed restoration efforts at the museum between 1847 and 1849, and Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid. Experts were surprised to see that the mosaic, believed to date from the 14th century, was so well preserved. Hagia Sophia, built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian between A.D. 532 and 537, was originally a basilica before...

Mary Magdalen Mary Magdalen was so called either from Magdala near Tiberias, on the west shore of Galilee, or possibly from a Talmudic expression meaning "curling women's hair," which the Talmud explains as of an adulteress. In the New Testament she is mentioned among the women who accompanied Christ and ministered to Him (Luke 8:2-3), where it is also said that seven devils had been cast out of her (Mark 16:9). She is next named as standing at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:40; Matthew 27:56; John 19:25; Luke 23:49). She saw Christ laid in the tomb, and she...

- Your Eminence, you have been the head of the Church of Japan for four years. Before that you had served as a priest for many years. How has your perception of Japanese Orthodoxy changed since you became a Metropolitan? - I fully realized that the Orthodox Church of Japan is economically independent and it results in our great responsibility. We have to attend to very many administrative matters. Orthodox Bishops of Russian origin, based in the USA, used to run the Church of Japan. It was after the Second World War. But thirty years ago the Orthodox Church of...

Jakarta, Indonesia- Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral) of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) Archbishop of Australia and New Zealand arrived in Indonesia today and served a liturgy in Jakarta were he ordained 2 Indonesians deacons to the Priesthood. During the course of his visit to Indonesia His Eminence will ordain 4 priests and 1 deacon. In the ROCOR mission of Indonesia there are already over 2500 Indonesian Orthodox parishioners. The Dean of the Indonesian Orthodox mission Archimandrite Daniel Byantoro held a press-conference with www.pravoslavie.ru to describe the difficult situation in the rapidly...

Warrnambool, Australia – On the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the 1st Eccumenical council, the Russian Orthodox community in the Australian city of Warrnambool celebrated their Parish feast day and a 10 year jubilee since the day the parish was converted from a historical Anglican Church to a thriving Russian Orthodox Parish. In mark of this event, Protopriest Michael Protopopov gives an interview to www.pravoslavie.ru to discuss the reasons why Catholics, Protestants and Anglicans are deserting their churches.

Yesterday, millions were waiting to watch eagerly the Ark of the Covenant revealed. A day passed but it was not made public. “No, the ark is not going to be revealed. Nobody could touch it. If you do so, God will smite you.” Abune Paulos Aba Gebremedhin said. Paulos puts the blame on the Adnkronos journal, which originally posted the news, and rectification later on. "…I am here to say what I saw, what I know and I can testify. I did not say that the Ark will be shown to the world.” Paulos is quoted to say on Adnkronos...

The Catholic Church makes men . . . Of such she may also someday make soldiers. — Hilaire Belloc It is a source of no small irony that, even as radical feminists within and without the Church have railed for two generations against patriarchy and phallocentrism, it can be quite plausibly said that the post-conciliar Church in this country has, for all intents and purposes, been run by women. Consider a Sunday in the life of a typical American parish. Father Reilly, once his mother's darling, says Mass before a congregation disproportionately representative of widows (both the traditional and the...

To Our Venerable Brethren the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops and other Ordinaries at Peace and in Communion with the Apostolic See Venerable Brethren, Health and Our Apostolic Benediction St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, glory of the Eastern Church and celebrated champion of the Virgin Mother of God, has always been held by the Church in the highest esteem, and We welcome the opportunity of recalling his merits in this brief Letter, now that fifteen centuries have passed since he happily exchanged this earthly exile for his heavenly home. 2. Our Predecessor St. Celestine I hailed him as 'good defender...

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 25, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I will send a delegation to Rome to celebrate the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul with Benedict XVI, and to close the Year of St. Paul. The visit reciprocates the habitual exchange of delegations for the respective patronal feasts in which the patriarch of Constantinople sends a delegation to Rome on June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and St. Paul, and the Pope sends a delegation to Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 30, the feast of St. Andrew. In November 2006, Benedict XVI led the delegation himself, and last June...

Speaking on Wednesday morning to the ACNA Assembly, His Beatitude, Jonah, Metropolitan of All America and Canada and leader of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), called for a "full... intercommunion" with the Anglican Church in North America. "What will it take," he asked, "for a true ecumenical reconciliation? That is what I am seeking by being with you today." This marks the potential resumption of an Orthodox/Anglican dialogue that began a hundred years ago between two missionary bishops, St. Tikhon of Moscow and Bishop Grafton of Fond du Lac, only to be broken off in the 1970s with the...

A period of twelve long years since 1983 was filled with thrills and challenges. Our spiritual journey, along with arduous research and painful struggles, was nonetheless edifying. The plight led us providentially to the Great Church of Jesus Christ. Our prayers and petition were heard. Our group leader received sacerdotal formation from His Grace Bishop Sotirios of Seoul and, in God’s time, Rev. Father Philemon was canonically ordained to the priesthood by His Eminence Metropolitan Dionysios of New Zealand at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral on April 2, 1995. On the following Sunday during the Patriarchal Liturgy, Fr. Philemon received a...

MOSCOW, June 14 (RIA Novosti, Ivan Korzun) - Russia is celebrating the Feast of All Saints on June 14, with liturgies in Orthodox churches throughout the country commemorating all known and unknown saints. The feast, also called All Saints' Sunday, is marked on the first Sunday after Pentecost. It became prominent in the ninth century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-911). His wife Theophano was known for her piety, giving alms to the poor and monasteries, caring for widows and orphans, and consoling the sorrowful. After her death Leo built a church, and forbidden from...

Fathers for Good, a website for men operated by the Knights of Columbus, is offering a host of resources to address the growing availability of and addiction to pornography. Click HERE to listen to a podcast of Deacon Ralph Poyo talk about his former addiction to pornography and how other men can avoid falling into the same trap. Click HERE for an article by Gerald Korson on computer porn and the ways it can destroy a marriage and a family. Korson's article also includes a link at the end that will take you to other resources, such as counseling and...

Decani Monastery Relief Fund, Inc. USA My fifth pilgrimage to Kosovo/Metohija Beloved in Christ our Lord, May our Gracious God always bless you and ever shine His Luminous Face upon you! I will make my fifth pilgrimage to Kosovo/Metohija during the last week in June and the first week of July, 2009. The Decani Monastery Relief Fund must continue to offer assistance because so many people there are still greatly in need. For this reason I once again appeal to you, my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, and beseech you to continue to support these worthy souls through our...

Last Sunday was the 4th of 13 in my sabbatical time. Each of them is precious to me. Each week I am choosing a place and a way to worship. I’m not a church tourist, hoping to see new things. I’m seeking spiritual experiences. I want to worship. Saturday night Jeanene and I still hadn’t decided where to go. I experienced something common to our culture but new to me. The “Where do you want to go to church - I don’t know where do YOU want to go to church” conversation. I found the Saint Anthony the Great website....

MOSCOW, June 7 (Itar-Tass) - On the fiftieth day after the Easter, known as Pascha in the Eastern Orthodox World, the Orthodox Christian community is marking the Day of the Holy Trinity -- the Pentecost. In Russia, Trinity Day is one of the major religious and popular festivals. Canons of the Orthodox Church suggest that the feast of the Pentecost is the last event in the annual liturgical circle that is linked to the Pascha. The Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill visits the world-famous The Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra (Troitse-Sergieva Lavra) northeast off Moscow where he serves a...

In a St Peter’s Basilica, draped in red – flowers, vestments, altar – Benedict XVI celebrated mass for the feat of Pentecost, which commemorates the gift of the Holy Spirit to the apostles and May gathered in the Upper Room. Lending greater solemnity to proceedings was the presence of the choir from Cologne Cathedral and the city’s Kammerorchester, whose 200 members, together with the Sistine Chapel choir, preformed the Harmoniemesse, one of Joseph Haydn’s last masses, marking two hundred years since the composers’ death. In thanking them, the Pope described the work as “a sublime symphony of God’s glory”. Of...

The issue of legalizing same-sex marriages continues to be at the forefront of debate. On Tuesday the Californian Supreme Court upheld a referendum, Proposition 8, which modified the state constitution to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples. The referendum invalidated a previous decision by the state's Supreme Court that resulted in the legalization of same-sex marriage. In the weeks preceding the latest decision same-sex marriage was legalized in three states. As a result, five states now allow such marriages -- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont and Iowa. As a May 27 article in the Washington Post pointed out, four of these states...

MOUNT ATHOS – When you see the summit of Athos emerge through the mist of the Aegean, stop the clocks. Because things are on another schedule there. The calendar is the Julian one, 13 days behind the Latin calendar that spread throughout the rest of the world. The hours are counted not from midnight, but from sunset. And it is not under the noon-day sun but in the dark of night that Athos is most alive and pulsating. In songs, lights, and mysteries. Mount Athos is a truly holy land that inspires fear of God. It's not for everyone....

Moscow, May 25, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia considers women the stronger sex, as they have proved to be more psychologically sturdy in Russia's tough environment. "Men happen to be frailer. The upheavals of 1990s caused many of them to break down, but women had more vigor to endure the stress," Patriarch said at a meeting with a youth audience of five thousand people at the Izmaylovo sport complex. Answering their questions, he mentioned sport achievements as an example of women's courage: "women win our country most of Russia's gold medals in sport." These Patriarch's words...

Festivities in Rome this weekend for the dedication of an Orthodox church on the grounds of the Russian Embassy near the Vatican attest to a surprising but marked warming of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican in recent months, according to church officials and analysts. If trends hold true, they add, a meeting of the pope and the patriarch of the Orthodox Church in Russia may be close. Whether even that could begin to overcome the centuries-old hatred surrounding the two churches’ conflicting authority over Christians is another question. To mark the dedication Sunday of the Church...

MOSCOW, May 22 (RIA Novosti) - The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke of the importance of meekness during a service on Friday in central Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral to commemorate St. Nicholas' Day. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, fishermen, children, travelers, the falsely accused and the sick, as well as of the cities of Bari, Amsterdam and Liverpool. He is also the archetype for the British and U.S. version of Santa Claus. He is especially venerated in Russia. On Friday, the Russian Orthodox Church marks the day when the relics of St. Nicholas the...