Free Republic

ATHENS – Just after the Holy Synod said it was opposed to religious acceptance of same-sex marriage and letting gays adopt children, the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Ieronymos, has homosexuality a “deviation.” That came during a visit to Argolida in southern Greece where it was reported that he said, “The Church has its beliefs… Those who are in the Church and believe have a way of life. Whatever is outside this thing is a diversion from life.” When asked whether all people are children of God, he said, “All are children of God, but we cannot say...

A Washington County priest is facing hundreds of felony charges after being accused of stealing more than $117,000 from his parish. Father George Athanasiou, 37, is an assistant priest at All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in North Strabane Township. Through an investigation, authorities said they discovered that between April 2022 and mid-November 2023, Athanasiou made 219 unauthorized ATM withdrawals from the church account. Last month, church members notified police about missing donation checks to the church. The investigation led authorities to a PNC Bank on Washington Road where church donation checks were deposited into a personal account. Additionally, Athanasiou was...

AMMAN, Jordan (RNS) — Yasmine Faraa, a Jordanian of Palestinian heritage, was angered when an Israeli missile hit a building belonging to St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza, killing 18 and injuring 20. Faraa, a Muslim, came up with the idea to hold a vigil outside the Orthodox Christian Church, in the Jordanian capital’s Sweifieh neighborhood, to show solidarity. The numbers that turned out for the vigil on Sunday (Oct. 22) surprised even the Jordanian police, who had initially decided that they didn’t need to block the roads leading to the church. The crowd was largely composed of middle-...

A Greek Orthodox church compound in the Gaza Strip sheltering hundreds of Palestinians of multiple faiths was reportedly damaged by a fatal Israeli airstrike on Thursday. The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem announced that a building on the compound of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrios, the oldest church in Gaza, was damaged in the overnight Israeli airstrike. "The Patriarchate emphasizes that targeting churches and their institutions, along with the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially children and women who have lost their homes due to Israeli airstrikes on residential areas over the past thirteen days, constitutes a...

Three suspects have been charged with vandalism of multiple houses of worship in southeast Maryland, including one historic Black church that suffered approximately $100,000 in damages. On Wednesday, Anne Arundel County Police Department officers arrested Jarren Alexander, 22, on charges of vandalism against two area churches. His alleged crimes included extensive damage to Fowler United Methodist Church (UMC), a historic Black church in Annapolis, on June 9. Alexander also is being charged in connection with two additional incidents of vandalism at nearby St. Philip’s Episcopal Church on subsequent nights. Fowler UMC Reverend Jerome Jones briefly recounted the vandalism he saw...

WASHINGTON — In a striking apparent Freudian slip, President Biden told Greek Orthodox leader “Father Alex” Karloutsos Wednesday that “I’m gonna ruin your reputation by talking” at a White House event. The 80-year-old president made the bizarre remark to Karloutsos, vicar general of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, at a celebration of Greek independence also attended by actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson. Karloutsos, 77, reportedly attended an infamous April 16, 2015, dinner at DC’s Cafe Milano with then-VP Biden, his son Hunter Biden and international business associates from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

My beloved brother in Christ, Metropolitan Methodios of Boston, Minister of Justice of Greece, Mr. Kostas Tsiaras, Honorable Consul General of Boston, Stratos Efthymiou, Mayor of Kalamata, Mr. Athanasios Vasilopoulos Deputy of Thessaloniki, Mr. Dimitrios Kouvelas, Reverend Clergy, Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, Χριστὸς Ἀνέστη! [in response: Ἀληθῶς Ἀνέστη!] Christ is Risen! [in response: Truly He is Risen!] Χριστὸς Ἀνέστη! [in response: Ἀληθῶς Ἀνέστη!] With our triumphant Paschal proclamation, I greet each and every one of you on this glorious morning in Boston, where we have gathered once again to praise and give thanks for the Rebirth of the...

His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America Introduction & Prayer March for Life Rally National Mall, Washington, D.C. Friday, January 21, 2022 Dear Sisters and Brothers, Today, we come together in solidarity with our Brother Bishops of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America. We affirm the gift and sanctity of life – all life, born and unborn. As Christians we confess that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. Every life is worthy of our prayer and our protection, whether in...

SYDNEY – His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia issued an encyclical saying that all the faithful are welcome in the churches, those who are vaccinated and those who are not. He wrote among other things that “personally, I will never agree with a measure which divides the faithful between vaccinated and non-vaccinated. The doors of our Churches will be open for all. I do not accept that there will be people who wish to come to Church and we will not allow them.” The Archbishop also stated that, “we often find that key issues, such as the pandemic, are discussed...

thenationalherald.comSt. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was the only place of worship destroyed in the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Since then, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has been working on rebuilding the structure as both a church and a national shrine. In honor of the victims of the terrorist attack, the St. Nicholas Church, still under construction, was lit up for the first time ever on Friday night, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of that sorrowful day. Members of the Greek-American community, local politicians, representatives of Hellenic associations and organizations, and relatives of Greek Americans who lost their lives...

Beloved Sisters and Brothers in Christ, This year, on September 11th, we will observe the Twentieth Anniversary of the tragic day we call 9/11. It is a solemn day for our Nation and for the world, particularly in light of recent events in Afghanistan. It is worth remembering that the first commemoration of America’s military response to 9/11, America’s Response Monument (De Oppresso Liber [Latin for “from oppressed to free”], the motto of US Special Forces) sits in Liberty Park across from the Shrine. Most poignantly, it is sited directly above what was 155 Cedar Street, the location of the...

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Canada has issued a powerful statement against unnamed individuals it claims “worship” the communion spoon and refuse vaccines. The unusually strongly-worded statement was posted on the Archdiocese’s Facebook page on Wednesday, July 21. The post isn’t signed by an individual and doesn’t carry the signature of the Archbishop Sotirios of Canada. Do You Worship the Communion Spoon? Then You Are a Pagan. What a shame that you refuse to understand this. You continue to think that you are more orthodox than others. You shout in all directions that you possess the truth. Without realizing it,...

My beloved sisters and brothers in Christ, Today, we commence our annual pilgrimage to Holy Pascha – a sacred journey of Forty Days and Forty Nights, from which we emerge into the Holiest Week of the year, and the Passover from death to life. As we chant today, on Pure and Clean Monday – Kathara Deftera: Τὴν πάνσεπτον ἐγκράτειαν, ἐναρξώμεθα φαιδρῶς, ἀκτῖνας ἀπολάμποντες, τῶν ἁγίων ἐντολῶν, Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν, ἀγάπης τὴν λαμπρότητα, προσευχῆς τὴν ἀστραπήν, ἁγνείας καθαρότητα, εὐανδρείας τὴν ἰσχύν, ὅπωςλαμπροφόροι προφθάσωμεν, εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν καὶ τριήμερον Ἀνάστασιν, τὴνκαταλάμπουσαν ἀφθαρσίαν τῷ κόσμῳ. Let us begin the most holy season...

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, To hear the words of the Declaration of Independence can still bring a shiver to my spirit. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These words sparked the American Revolution, providing our nation, then and now, with an ideal that still inspires, and also still needs to be accomplished for all our citizens. We live in a nation founded on a set of principles, enshrined in...

Orthodox Christianity and Islam are based on the same fundamental values, President Vladimir Putin said in an address to a religious conference in Kyrgyzstan. The conference, titled "Orthodoxy and Islam — Religions of Peace," aimed to promote interethnic and interreligious dialogue between Russia and Kyrgyzstan. "Islam and Orthodox Christianity, just like other world religions, are based on fundamental humanistic values that are of enduring importance — on mercy and love for one’s near, justice and respect for human beings," the state-run TASS news agency quoted Putin as saying Thursday. The address, which was read out to the conference by Russian...

The Greek Orthodox Church of St. George in Lynn, Massachusetts, was desecrated by unknown vandals with satanic and anarchistic symbolism. The mosaic icons of the Most Holy Theotokos and the Great Martyr George the Victorious were vandalized with an upside down Cross, a “Circle-A,” and the number of the beast. According to Father George Tsoukalas, the rector of the parish, the police and mayor of Lynn arrived on the scene and with great regret, declared that this shameful incident was not only against the church, but against the entire city of Lynn, as Romfea reported. “Somebody has got a sick...

Tbilisi, June 17, 2019 Two events were held simultaneously on Friday evening in front of the government administration building in Tbilisi, one led by LGBT activists and the other by defenders of the traditional family and traditional values, on the eve of the first Tbilisi Pride event scheduled for June 18-23. The two sides were divided by a cordon of police, reports Interfax-Religion. Georgia is a deeply traditional country, with more than 80% of the population belonging to the Orthodox Church, and the battle between traditional, Orthodox values and more liberal, secularized values is being prompted and aggravated not only...

CONSTANTINOPLE – Archbishop Demetrios of America has given his resignation in writing to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The official announcement of the Ecumenical Patriarchate has as follows: “Ecumenical Patriarchate Communique Herein it is announced that today, Saturday May 4, 2019, His All-Holiness received in audience His Eminence Geron Archbishop Demetrios of America, who informed Him of various matters involving his God-saved Eparchy. Furthermore, His Eminence the Archbishop submitted his written resignation from the throne of the Holy Archdiocese of America, which he shepherded with godly love for twenty years. The Patriarch will bring the resignation before the Holy and Sacred Synod...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed converting the fabled Hagia Sophia into a mosque on Sunday. The Greek government responded with anger on Monday, pointing out that the Hagia Sophia was the seat of Greek Orthodox Christianity for centuries and has been designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. Erdogan said during a television interview on Sunday that the Hagia Sophia might be “reverted” into a mosque, referring to the structure’s status as a mosque following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 A.D. The Hagia Sophia was constructed as a relatively modest Greek Orthodox church in 360,...

A Greek court has convicted prominent Greek Orthodox Bishop Amvrossios of violating laws against racism and abusing his office over an anti-gay blog posting. [No further excerpt due to AP being hypersensitive over copyright. Click link for story.]