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India has a thriving community of Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Eastern Orthodox faith stems from the Apostolic Church, brought by Saint Thomas the Apostle to India. Orthodox Christians have confronted certain challenges from the Latin West. As per the book Acts of Thomas, written in Edessa sometime in the 2nd to 4th centuries AD, on his first mission, St. Thomas the Apostle reached the capital of the Indo-Parthian king, Gondophares. Gondophares ruled Afghanistan and Punjab—with Taxila as the capital—along with the trader Abbanes. On his second mission, he traveled to a kingdom in southern India ruled by a first-century dynasty....

Since Obama has raised the alarm about alleged Russian espionage activity, it’s appropriate to shine a spotlight on his own administration’s connections to Soviet-era spy rings and terrorist networks. Obama and two of his key advisors, Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod, were raised by families with members who are known either to have been in contact with Soviet agents or to have belonged to the Communist Party (CP) at a time when the CP was controlled by the Soviet Union. Associates of Obama’s campaign team and Jarrett’s family interacted with agents linked to the famous pair of spy rings known...

"The Patriarchate of Constantinople is struggling with the Russian Church for influence in the Orthodox world. The Moscow and Constantinople Patriarchates are in tense relations today because of Ukraine.” Russian Orthodox priests are complaining they are unable to obtain Schengen visas for EU travel through Greek missions as relations between Athens and Moscow worsens... In a report carried by the BBC’s Russian-language service on Thursday, a source from the church in Constantinople claimed this Greek “policy” is because “Russian priests … are perceived as potential spies and agents of influence”. Several priests told the BBC they had either been refused...

Ukraine’s Parliament has created the legal tools for a governmental ban on any religious group that it deems to be too closely tied to Russia by voting for a bill that explicitly bans the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. However, the ban also directly affects the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which the Ukrainian government says is too closely tied to Moscow because of its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. After more than a year and a half of legal wrangling over the language of the bill, Ukrainian lawmakers are set to ban the sole canonical body of Orthodox...

The walls of Russia’s new Orthodox cathedral dedicated to the Armed Forces will be decorated with the faces of President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Soviet leader Josef Stalin, the MBKh News website reported Friday. The 95-meter Armed Forces cathedral, a symbol of close defense-church ties in Russia, is expected to open on May 9 — the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II — at a sprawling military-themed park near Moscow. Once completed, the building will become one of the tallest Orthodox churches in the world. One of the cathedral’s mosaics...

If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived thereof. If any...

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...