Free Republic

Ukraine’s Orthodox Church split from its Russian counterpart in 2018. We explain why.In October 2018, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church officially split from its Russian counterpart, after more than 300 years. The decision, which was approved by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the symbolic “first among equals” of the world’s Orthodox churches, triggered a major fallout within the Orthodox world, possibly the most serious in 1,000 years. The same month the declaration was made, the Russian Orthodox Church announced that it would break off relations with the Patriarchate. The process was ratified in a ceremony in Istanbul on Orthodox Christmas Eve, 2019,...

I was born in 1955, nine years after the start of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West. One of the constant refrains from that era was the claim that the Soviets represented “godless” communism. The false belief continues to frame how most Americans view modern Russia — i.e., it is a godless country. But that is a lie. The Russia of Vladimir Putin is a Christian nation, but respects and embraces its Muslim citizens.I believe that one of the unstated reasons the West hates Russia is because the majority of the Russian people strongly embrace Eastern...

Neither the police nor an ambulance was called to the sceneOnce again, a unique and at the same time terrible incident occurred in Russia. Begging for alms, a man in a cassock and holding an icon beat a pensioner.The corresponding video appeared in Telegram. The reason, apparently, (to view the video, scroll to the end of the page).The footage shows how the man, despite the fact that he was in a priest's cassock, and was holding an icon in his hands, kicked a woman. It is noted that this happened near the subway.A pensioner was selling flowers, and a man...

It was 9:00 am in the city of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine, on 12 April 2014. A group of 52 armed men, about 80% of them Ukrainian citizens, stormed the city’s Interior Ministry building. The government policemen in the building opened fire on the armed men, but quickly surrendered to the larger force after they fired automatic weapons into the building. The armed men, led by the shadowy Russian Colonel Igor Strelkov, tore down the building’s Ukrainian blue and yellow flag. They raised the Russian white, blue, and red tricolor. Strelkov and his men formed the nucleus of a rebellion...

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, warned NATO on Thursday that the defeat of Russia in Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war. Striking a similar tone at what he described as an anxious time for the country, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said trying to destroy Russia would mean the end of the world. -snip- Asked if Medvedev's remarks signified that Russia was escalating the crisis to a new level, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "No, it absolutely does not mean that." -snip- Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church,...

At its session held at St. Panteleimon’s Monastery in Kiev yesterday, the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church adopted an urgent appeal to President Zelensky, calling on him to end the persecution against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and to block any bills that would ban the Church, which is by far the largest religious organization in the country. The hierarchs, gathered under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, remind the head of state that the UOC stands by the Ukrainian people and has always supported Ukrainian territorial integrity sovereignty, whereas the enmity against...

Yesterday, September 6, His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church made a special statement on the urgent issue of EuroPride. EuroPride is a pan-European LGBT event hosted by a different city ever year, and this year it is planned to be held in Belgrade on September 12-18. The event has proven to be a scandal for traditional Serbian society, and the Orthodox faithful have taken to the streets several times now to prayerfully protest the imposition of LGBT values. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced late last month that EuroPride won’t be held as scheduled on September 12-18 due...

Speaking at the Russian Senate on May 17, 2022, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia focused on some of the most sensitive issues, including the nature of Russia’s dialogue with the West: Back in the 18th century, Russia opened up to the West, which became a source of knowledge for us, an example for the transformation of society. Thousands of foreigners came to our country, and for many of them Russia became a second home.At that time, cultural communication was built largely on shared Christian values. However, in modern times in the West, ideas which I believe...

Pavlyuk, 53, was a surviving resident of besieged Ukrainian town where gruesome evidence of killings and torture has come to light following withdrawal of Russian forces. He told when Russian troops came they killed all the men who were younger than 50, including two of Pavlyuk's friends. Pavlyuk was given 20 minutes to bury them. He showed shallow graves he hastily dug, each marked with a plank of wood topped with a religious icon. He wanted to give whatever dignity he could. "But it's too shallow," Pavlyuk said. "I just wanted to protect them from the dogs." Pavlyuk and other...

The history of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is highly checkered, with moments of greatness alternating with periods of failure and corruption. Sadly, as Vladimir Putin has attacked Ukraine and created a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, the ROC is writing another dark chapter. While other Christian organizations have spoken out boldly against Putin’s war, the ROC has remained silent — and complicit. Their moral error is so egregious that the World Council of Churches has no real choice. Just as other global organizations have barred Russian participation, so should the Russian Orthodox Church be expelled from membership. Before the...

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s annual cross procession on the eve of the Baptism of Rus’ drew its largest crowd ever this year. According to preliminary calculations, more than 350,000 Ukrainian faithful took to the streets to honor St. Vladimir the Equal-to-the-Apostles, who baptized Rus’ in the Orthodox faith, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Borsypil and Brovary, the Chancellor of the canonical Ukrainian Church, reported in the briefing following the procession. The day began with a moleben on St. Vladimir Hill at 1:00 PM in Kiev. Then the procession, headed by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, made...

The publication yesterday of Paul Volcker's fifth and final report on the U.N.'s Oil for Food program tells us little we didn't know about the broad outlines of the $100 billion scandal. But, oh, are the details ever instructive. The Volcker report confirms that Saddam Hussein demanded, and got, some $1.8 billion in illegal surcharges, kickbacks and bribes from companies doing business in Iraq. It confirms that he steered billions in oil and humanitarian contracts to his politically preferred clients, particularly Russia and France, and smaller sums to agents of influence (or their associates) such as British MP George Galloway,...

Homosexuality is usually a problem transferred to a foetus, when a pregnant woman has anal sex and enjoys it, the Bishop of Morphou Neophytos said during a recent speech, LGBTI rights group ACCEPT said on Thursday. During his speech in June to a group of people in Akaki, the bishop said Saint Porfyrios made mention of the issue in his writings. “It is a problem, which is usually transmitted by parents to the child,” the bishop said. He added that it occurs when the couple has sex while the woman is pregnant, and the sex is “unnatural,” as he characterised...

The Bishop of Rome’s support is being called upon by two sides of Eastern Orthodoxy over the creation of a new independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.VATICAN CITY — Within the span of a week, Pope Francis met with the spiritual head of Eastern Orthodoxy, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, and the representatives of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow. Both Constantinople and Moscow are locked in a battle over the creation of a new and independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which could shift the balance of power in Eastern Orthodoxy and impact the course of Orthodox-Catholic ecumenical dialogue. Pope Francis’ May...

A Russian Orthodox bishop has advised the faithful not to vote for Vladimir Putin when he stands for re-election in March, a nearly unheard of occurrence in the loyal church. The angry statement marked the first time an acting bishop has spoken against supporting the current president. Bishop Yevtikhy Kurochkin of the epiphany cathedral in the Siberian city of Ishim wrote on his page on VK, Russia's most popular social network, that he could no longer follow his “desire to vote for Putin” following “blasphemous” remarks by the president. “'If the light that is in you is darkness, how great...

Russia’s Orthodox Church has opened 30,000 churches over the last 30 years, although it is expected to take until 2050 to return to what it was before the 1917 revolution, reported The Tablet. “Houses of worship aren’t built as architectural or artistic monuments – they’re there for the people,” Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, the Moscow Patriarchate’s external relations director told Rossiya-24 TV. “And we don’t build churches to obtain impressive statistics, but because people want them. It shouldn’t be forgotten that the construction or renovation of most churches is financed by the faithful – both small people and big entrepreneurs.” Metropolitan...

Moscow, November 9, Interfax - The Moscow Patriarchate is hoping that the victory of Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential elections will positively impact the international situation. "I don't think we should fall into euphoria about the Republican candidate's victory. Time will show what kind of president he will be, whether he will fulfill the promises that he gave during the election campaign. But his election gives hope for improvement of the entire system of international relations, for the creation of a unified global coalition against terrorism," Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Synodal Department for External Church...

A muezzin’s call to prayer reverberated inside the sixth-century Istanbul landmark Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years on July 1. The building in the city’s historic Sultanahmet district broadcast the azan from its minarets following July 1’s Laylat al-Qadr, or night of power, marking the first revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad. The broadcast of the morning call to prayer from within Hagia Sophia is likely to reignite controversy over the use of the building, which was designated a museum in 1935 under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic. Although the...

Tbilisi, June 10, Interfax - The Georgian Orthodox Church will not participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete which is slated for June 16-27. "This decision was adopted during today's session of the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church in which the Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia participated," the report of the Georgian Patriarchate said. Ilia II said in February that the Holy Synod rejected the document 'The relation of the Orthodox Church towards the rest of the Christian world' which was prepared for discussion at the Pan-Orthodox Council. The Synod also opposed a number of other documents...

Documents on the upcoming Great and Holy Council 1. Communication of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia to the Clerics and Faithfulhttp://www.synod.com/synod/eng2016/Holy%20Synod%20Response%20to%20Preconciliar%20Documents%20en.pdf2. OBSERVATIONS ON THE TEXT PREPARED FOR THE PAN-ORTHODOX COUNCIL: “RELATIONS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH WITH THE REST OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD” by Dr. Demetrios Tselengideshttp://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/90489.htm3. A SECOND INTERVENTION-CONFESSION OF FAITH: ON THE DOCUMENT "ORGANIZATION AND WORKING PROCEDURE OF THE HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL" by Dr. Demetrios Tselengideshttp://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/90694.htm4. METROPOLITAN OF LIMASSOL: "WHAT UNITY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? THOSE WHO DEPARTED FROM THE CHURCH ARE HERETICS AND SCHISMATICS"http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/90619.htm5. A WORD ABOUT THE "COMMON CUP" AND...