Free Republic

The Maronite Catholic patriarch of Lebanon brought a message of universal forgiveness and mercy Monday to a Uniontown parish overflowing with Lebanese Catholics eager to see him. "Have you ever tried to live in a world without forgiveness? It is a cold, harsh and unbearable world," Patriarch Bechara Peter Rai told 750 people who had greeted him with applause and ululation. St. George Maronite Catholic Church in Uniontown holds 250 people and a tent was erected outside its front door to accommodate 500 more.He said that forgiveness and mercy is needed among Christians, Muslims and Jews, within the Christian church...

Moscow, September 15, Interfax - Depiction of Orthodox crosses appeared on a new 500 ruble banknote issued on September 6. Official website of the Bank of Russia represents a drawing of the new banknote, on its backside crosses crown churches of the Solovki Monastery. The previous banknote depicted the monastery in its "Soviet" variant without crosses. Depictions of cupolas and crosses appeared at the banknote after Patriarch Kirill's petition to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin told Interfax-Religion on Thursday. He reminded that once when the Patriarch visited Solovki...

BISHOP BECHARA RAHI (Name Translation: Bechara=Annunciation and Rahi =Shepherd) became our Shepherd on the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25, 2011 at 5:00 pm Lebanon Time) (Picture taken by Fr. Antonio Elfeghali on March 25, 2011) "We will live together this communion through charity in Lebanon whose glory is in its mission... The motto "the Glory of Lebanon is given to him" is taken from Isaiah. It is given to the Patriarch and his church as long as they commit to build the communion and to witness to love. The Glory of Lebanon is diminished when closed in and isolated. But it grows and goes...

Bishop Beshara Rai was elected as the 77th patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church today. He takes over after the retirement of 91-year-old Nasrallah Sfeir, who had served as the Maronite patriarch for 25 years. A patriarch is the highest-ranking bishop in a particular Church. Maronites were once the most important political bloc in Lebanon but since the 1960s, high emigration rates have reduced the community's size in the country. They still make up more than 20% of the Lebanese population and, according to an agreement enshrined in the country's constitution, the president of Lebanon must always be a Maronite....

BEIRUT (AFP) – Bishop Beshara Rai was elected as the 77th patriarch of Lebanon's influential Maronite church on Tuesday to succeed Nasrallah Sfeir, at a time when his community's political loyalty is deeply divided. Monsignor Youssef Tawk, head of the council of Maronite bishops, announced the news from the church's headquarters in Bkerke, northeast of Beirut, after days of meetings behind closed doors during which the bishops voted on who would succeed the long-serving Sfeir. The head of the Maronite church wields considerable influence in Lebanon, where Christians make up about one-third of the four-million population. Rai, 71, a high-profile...

BEIRUT: The Synod of Maronite bishops will convene on March 9 to elect a successor to Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, whose resignation was accepted last week by Pope Benedict XVI, the Council of Maronite Bishops announced Wednesday. Bishops will gather in a spiritual conclave at the seat of the Maronite patriarchate in Bkirki next Thursday at 6 p.m. in isolation from the outside world for a 15-day period to elect the church’s 77th patriarch, a statement released following the council’s meeting said. The meeting of the Council of Maronite Bishops, held on the first Wednesday of each month, was...

ROME (Zenit.org) -- "Welcome, Mr. President, this meeting of ours is very important," Benedict XVI told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Feb. 17 when the president visited the pope in the Vatican. These words underscore something of the visit's significance, Medvedev's first after the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Russia. It was at their first meeting in December 2009 that the president and pope agreed to upgrade existing ties to the level of full diplomatic relations. The customary press release from the Vatican's press office described Thursday's meeting in positive terms: "In the course of the...

The Patriarch of Constantinople is the leading figure in the Orthodox world, the “first among equals” of the Orthodox patriarchs. So it is no small matter that the current Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, could be the last man to hold that title.On the Get Religion site, Terry Mattingly calls attention to an unusually informative CNN story on the topic. As CNN reports, the Orthodox community in Constantinople (Istanbul) is dwindling, endangered by falling birth rates, an increasingly assertive (and sometimes violent) Muslim majority in the region, and the Turkish laws that place sharp restrictions on the Orthodox leadership.But Mattingly observes...

First, I must lay all my cards on the table. I long for the full communion of the Orthodox and Catholic Church. I pray daily for the full communion of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. I do so because I believe it is the will of God that "All May be One" (John 17: 21). I also believe that the healing of the division between the two churches would unleash a profound renewal of the entire Church at the dawn of what I believe is a new missionary age. I believe that the gifts found in the whole Church will...

ISTANBUL, Turkey (ELCA) -- A delegation of clergy and lay leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) stressed "the long view" in ecumenical dialogue, a topic of discussion with leaders of the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate here Feb. 9. The Lutherans and Orthodox discussed the status of some of the 28 international Orthodox theological dialogues, dialogue difficulties and the overall desire for Christian unity. The Ecumenical Patriarchate is the global headquarters of the Eastern Orthodox. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, world Orthodox leader, met the ELCA delegation Feb. 8. He also hosted the Lutherans at a luncheon Feb. 9...

Bartholomew I / Pope Benedict Vatican City, Nov 30, 2009 / 09:55 pm (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI reached out to Bartholomew I and the Eastern Church Monday in his annual letter to the Patriarch celebrating the Feast of St. Andrew. The message encouraged continued ecumenical talks towards unification of the churches of the East and West and "openness to the Holy Spirit" to guide them in the process.   The letter was delivered to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Istanbul, Bartholomew I, by way of a Papal delegation led by the President of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity Cardinal Walter...

BELGRADE, Serbia — Patriarch Pavle, who led Serbia's Christian Orthodox Church through its post-Communist revival and called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, died Sunday. He was 95. There have been reports of an internal struggle over who would succeed Pavle, a respected theologian and linguist known for personal humility and modesty. The favorite is influential Bishop Amfilohije, a hard-liner known for his anti-Western and ultra-nationalist stands. The seven-million member church said its highest body, the Holy Synod, could announce Monday when Pavle's successor will be chosen. At least 40 days must pass after Pavle's...

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...

His first message to the faithful - and to the world as millions watched by television and internet - emphasized his commitment to reaching out to the young, his dedication to working with those whom he called the “sister churches” and his strong intention to combat “moral relativism”. Each of these is, of course, being received with great hope and optimism by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. They echo so clearly the missionary mindset and urgent mission of his own Papacy. Finally, they signal to millions of Christian faithful the goodness of God in his response to their prayers. Polls...

MOSCOW, January 27 (RIA Novosti) - Metropolitan Kirill has been elected head of the Russian Orthodox Church, becoming the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Kirill received 508 votes, and the second candidate, Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk - 169 votes. A total of 700 ballots were cast in the vote, with 23 recognized as invalid. The Local Council, which is a council of bishops, priests, monks and laymen, including political figures and businessmen, gathered in Moscow earlier on Tuesday to elect the new Russian Orthodox Church leader. The 700-plus-member group convened for a session to elect a...

Patriarch-elect Kirill Moscow, Jan 27, 2009 / 05:21 pm (CNA).- Meeting in Moscow today, the Russian Orthodox Church has elected Metropolitan Kirill as its new patriarch. Patriarch-elect Kirill’s election is being hailed as a boon for those seeking to buttress Orthodoxy against a spreading secularism. According to the Associated Press, Metropolitan Kirill received 508 of the 700 votes cast.  Prior to today’s election, Metropolitan Kirill was the most well-known candidate, having served as the head of the External Affairs Office for the Moscow patriarchate. Since the death of Patriarch Alexy II on December 5, 2008, he has functioned as the...

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad has been elected the new head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Council, which comprised clergymen, monks and laymen, announced on Tuesday the results of the voting for the post of Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. Kirill has been temporarily in charge of the church since the death in December of Aleksy the Second. Kirill had previously been head of the external church relations department. He also hosted a TV programme popular among Russian believers and viewed on one of Russia’s main television channels. Kirill was an active supporter of the reunification between...

MOSCOW, January 25 (RIA Novosti) - The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church announced on Sunday a shortlist of three candidates to elect a new leader following the death of Patriarch Alexy II last year. Patriarch Alexy II, who led the revival of Orthodoxy in the country after the demise of communism, died of heart failure at the age of 79 in December 2008. Kirill, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, was chosen by the Holy Synod as interim patriarch. The shortlist includes Metropolitans Kirill, Kliment and Filaret. Senior members of the Russian Orthodox Church met at the Christ...

(Google Translation) The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II has died, reported RIA Novosti on Friday from a source in the Moscow Patriarchate. Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad urgently left the meeting the World Russian People's Cathedral of Christ the Savior Cathedral, reports RIA Novosti correspondent.

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- One of the topics mentioned in a good number of the synod presentations was that of the saints and blessed who offer the Church concrete examples of lives rooted in the sacred Scriptures and the living Word of God. When Archbishop Angelo Amato, the new prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, addressed the synod Tuesday, he offered a very graphic image of lives rooted in the sacred Scriptures: For more than 2,000 years men and women, old and young, wise and ignorant, in the East as in the West, applied themselves to the...