Free Republic

Wheaton theology professor Jennifer Powell McNutt, in her article An Unsung Inspiration for the Protestant Reformation: the Ethiopian Church, recounts how the Reformation–far from being an exercise in individualism–saw itself in the context of the historical church and global Christianity.  The Reformers looked to the Orthodox churches of the East and of Africa as providing a precedent for many of their reforms. When Rome insisted that there can be no church without a Pope, the Reformers pointed to the Orthodox churches, which have no Pope and whose practices pre-date those of Medieval Catholicism.  Those churches do not emphasize Purgatory and do not...

"As a priest in the Orthodox Church, it is my duty to ban members of Black Lives Matter from receiving Communion. I will not desecrate the precious Body and Blood of Christ, by allowing it to touch the unclean lips of those who are members of that satanic organization. If they want to take communion, they will have to find some other church." "Members of Black Lives Matter need to get on their knees, and ask forgiveness for their participation in this godless movement." Black Lives Matter is a terrorist, Marxist organization which promotes abortion and homosexuality. This wicked group...

RAIR Foundation A Coptic Christian woman, Ranya Abd al-Masih (“servant of Christ”), 39, disappeared in Egypt on April 22, 2020, only to resurface days later in a recorded video. The beloved mother was forced to dress in a black niqab in the video, claim she converted to Islam, and express she did not want any contact with her husband, three children, or family members anymore. A few days after her family alerted Egyptian state security, of her disappearance, a disturbing video of the devout Christian mother covered in oppressive sharia garb and pledging her allegiance to Islam emerged. Ranya claims...

Pastoral Letter from His Eminence Metropolitan JOSEPH on the Feast of All Saints Download His Eminence's letter June 8, 2020 Beloved Faithful in Christ, Greetings and blessings to you and your families in the Name of our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! As we wrote in our pastoral letter for Pentecost, these holiest of days have been difficult and heartrending. We have experienced the unprecedented restrictions on the gathering of our faithful in the churches, anxiety and fear stemming from a new virus spreading with great speed throughout the world, economic distress arising from the lockdowns, and controversies and...

Serbia: Muslim migrants rob Belgrade churchgoers in the middle of church service JUN 7, 2020 4:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER “According to the latest update of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are currently 8,052 migrants in Serbia, the majority of them in 19 refugee centers across the country. Their stated countries of origin are Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran, Morocco and Palestine.” Hmmm, what do all those countries (and “Palestine”) have in common? Could it be an ideology that holds Christianity in contempt and considers Christians “the most vile of created beings” (cf. Qur’an 98:6)?...

Fr. Altman gives a 23 minute homily chastising the riot groups and also Archbishop Gregory.

AMAZING drone footage of new Orthodox Christian cathedral for Russian Armed Forces looks impressive. The musical background Is Psalm 91More about this church here: Russia's Massive Military Church Will Open in May -- and It is Magnificent

Click for lovely music! Happy Orthodox Easter! Christ is Risen. He is Risen Indeed!

On Tuesday, April 13, the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church petitioned the state to lift the recently-instituted curfew this coming weekend so the Orthodox faithful can celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection. In addition to a curfew from 5:00 PM to 5:00 AM, President Vucic also banned all movement from 5:00 PM Saturday to 5:00 AM Monday two weeks ago, thus wholly depriving the people of the ability to attend the Sunday Divine Liturgy. After the new measures, the services began to be celebrated without parishioners, although they were celebrated with respect to all the relevant sanitary and safety measures...

Metropolitan Klimis of Peristeri sent a clear message in every direction at the Church of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in Peristeri and called on the faithful to “receive Holy Communion without fear.” The Metropolitan of Peristeri, who presided over the Service of the Rejoicings to the Theotokos (Chairetismoi ) on the first Friday of Great Lent, stressed that the Holy Communion was the body and blood of Christ and, therefore, it could not contract any disease.

BUCHAREST – The Press office of the Romanian Patriarchate published a communiqué, in the context of extensive media coverage of the coronavirus (Covid – 19) and following requests from some state institutions that the Church should take measures to prevent the spread of the virus and to reduce the population’s fear of this phenomenon. “Believers who are afraid of virus transmission may temporarily refrain from kissing the holy icons in the churches. They can exceptionally ask the priest to use their own spoon for the Holy Communion,” says the announcement by the Church while adding that “these are exceptional measures...

According to a new Lifeway Research survey, while 47 percent of “mainline” pastors now support same-sex “marriage,” only 8 percent of evangelical pastors do. More specifically, “Presbyterian or Reformed (49%), Methodist (47%), Lutheran (35%) and Christian/Church of Christ pastors (20%) are more likely to see nothing wrong with same-sex marriage than Baptist (3%) or Pentecostal pastors (1%).” None of this is surprising in the least.First, as noted by Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research, “The movement we see among pastors’ views of same-sex marriage has less to do with their denominational tradition than their view of the Bible.”Accordingly, those...

In the 2016 US presidential elections, most polls declared that 70% of American Jews voted for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. In my opinion, American Jewish support for Trump is far higher than commonly thought. Before you recommend sending me to a mental health clinic, please read my reasoning in the article below. The first question is, of course, who is a Jew? In the United States, voter registration does not indicate voter religion. Polls are conducted by companies that specialize in the Jewish population. The problem is that these companies are actually surveying a partial and unrepresentative group of the...

Like most of his Orthodox friends, Richard Goldberg was raised a Democrat. But by 2000, Goldberg had affixed a Republican congressional campaign bumper sticker to the maroon Lincoln Town Car he drove to his Orthodox Jewish high school in Chicago. Spurred by concerns about President Bill Clinton’s Israeli-Arab peace process, disgust with the Monica Lewinsky scandal and a desire to emulate his older brother, Goldberg had decided to become a Republican. Though he was not yet old enough to vote, Goldberg knew he was unusual. He remembers walking into Chicago’s largest Judaica store, Rosenblum’s, to see stacks of yarmulkes adorned...

“Despite the many challenges and opposition from ill-wishers, the past year witnessed the birth of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Epifaniy said on December 14, 2019, at Kyiv’s St. Sophia Cathedral. “As such, a centuries-long struggle for autocephaly, establishing historical justice by freeing Ukraine from the unsanctioned control of the Russian Church over Ukraine, was accomplished.” The move to establish the OCU heralded a historic break with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), ending more than three centuries of Russian spiritual and temporal control of the dominant faith in Ukraine. It also sparked one of the biggest rifts...

The Eastern Orthodox Church is breaking apart. The Russian Orthodox Church cut ties with the patriarch of Alexandria on December 26, following his decision to recognize an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This schism follows the Russian church’s decision to cut ties with the archbishop of Athens and the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. Both leaders also recognized the new Ukrainian church. There are 14 universally recognized Orthodox churches, plus the Orthodox Church of America and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (which are not universally recognized). The Russian Orthodox Church holds jurisdiction in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet nations. Therefore, Patriarch...

The point of the open letter, which has now been signed by nearly 200 priests from across Russia, is brief and specific: the priests call on “those with judicial power who serve in the law enforcement agencies of our country” to review the court rulings in cases of people sentenced to jail time for taking part in Moscow protests, and to make sure that future sentences are fair. “Many of you were baptized in the Orthodox Church and consider yourselves believers. Judicial proceedings should not be repressive, courts should not be used as a means of suppressing dissent, and the...

A man accused of stabbing five people in a rabbi's home during a Hanukkah celebration in a predominantly Jewish town in upstate New York on Saturday night has pleaded not guilty. Grafton E Thomas, 37, of Greenwood Lake, was arraigned on five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary in Ramapo Town Court late Sunday morning. His bail was set at $5million.

The man accused of entering the home of a New York rabbi and stabbing five people with a machete in a horrifying anti-Semitic attack on Saturday night pleaded not guilty to multiple murder charges hours after the attack. Wearing a white jumpsuit, Grafton E. Thomas, 37, of Greenwood Lake, N.Y., appeared at the Ramapo Town Hall in Ramapo, N.Y. last Sunday morning, faces five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. Bail was set at $5 million.