Christians fleeing Mosul after targeted killings
By Erica Goode and Suadad Al-Salhy
International Herald Tribune
Published: October 10, 2008
BAGHDAD: Hundreds of Christians are fleeing Mosul after a string of killings that appear to be singling out the minority group in the northern city, where many had sought refuge from persecution in other parts of Iraq.
Since late September, at least 11 and perhaps as many as 14 Christians have been killed in Mosul, according to government officials and humanitarian groups. The victims include a doctor, an engineer, two builders, two businessmen and a 15-year-old boy, who was gunned down in front of his home. In some cases, there have been two or three killings on the same day.
A pharmacist was killed Friday by a man who pretended to be an undercover police officer and asked for the pharmacist's identification card, said Khisroo Koran, deputy governor of Nineveh Province, of which Mosul is the capital.
The attacks coincide with an angry dispute over the Iraqi Parliament's decision to drop a provision of the provincial elections law that ensured political representation for Christians and other minorities, before passing the legislation on Sept. 24. To protest Parliament's action, Christians held demonstrations in Nineveh Province - where about 250,000 Christians live, about 50,000 of them in Mosul - and in Baghdad.
Read the rest here.
14 October 2008
09 September 2008
Jerusalem Pilgrimage 2008
At last, the annual holy pilgrimage of the Friends of Orthodoxy on Iona has come about. This time, we have journeyed to the Holy Land. We begun our pilgrimage with the blessing of His Beatitude, THEOPHILUS, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem.
For our pilgrimage group blog, go here:
Also, see the Friends of Orthodoxy on Iona homepage.
Turkey is still repressing its Greek Orthodox Christians
Orthodox Christianity under threat
By Nicholas Gage
Published: September 8, 2008
When Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and his Islamic-rooted party came under fierce fire this summer from secularists, who came close to persuading the country's supreme court to bar both from politics, he called the campaign an attack against religious freedom and a threat to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.
Yet in nearly six years in power, Erdogan has shown no inclination to extend even a modicum of religious freedom to the most revered Christian institution in Turkey - the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the spiritual center of 300 million Orthodox Christians throughout the world. As a result, Turkey's persecution of the Patriarchate looms as a major obstacle to its European aspirations, and rightly so.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate, which was established in the fourth century and once possessed holdings as vast as those of the Vatican, has been reduced to a small, besieged enclave in a decaying corner of Istanbul called the Phanar, or Lighthouse. Almost all of its property has been seized by successive Turkish governments, its schools have been closed and its prelates are taunted by extremists who demonstrate almost daily outside the Patriarchate, calling for its ouster from Turkey.
The ecumenical patriarch, Bartholomew I, is often jeered and threatened when he ventures outside his walled enclave. He is periodically burned in effigy by Turkish chauvinists and Muslim fanatics. Government bureaucrats take pleasure in harassing him, summoning him to their offices to question and berate him about irrelevant issues, blocking his efforts to make repairs in the few buildings still under his control, and issuing veiled threats about what he says and does when he travels abroad.
Read the rest HERE.
By Nicholas Gage
Published: September 8, 2008
When Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and his Islamic-rooted party came under fierce fire this summer from secularists, who came close to persuading the country's supreme court to bar both from politics, he called the campaign an attack against religious freedom and a threat to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.
Yet in nearly six years in power, Erdogan has shown no inclination to extend even a modicum of religious freedom to the most revered Christian institution in Turkey - the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the spiritual center of 300 million Orthodox Christians throughout the world. As a result, Turkey's persecution of the Patriarchate looms as a major obstacle to its European aspirations, and rightly so.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate, which was established in the fourth century and once possessed holdings as vast as those of the Vatican, has been reduced to a small, besieged enclave in a decaying corner of Istanbul called the Phanar, or Lighthouse. Almost all of its property has been seized by successive Turkish governments, its schools have been closed and its prelates are taunted by extremists who demonstrate almost daily outside the Patriarchate, calling for its ouster from Turkey.
The ecumenical patriarch, Bartholomew I, is often jeered and threatened when he ventures outside his walled enclave. He is periodically burned in effigy by Turkish chauvinists and Muslim fanatics. Government bureaucrats take pleasure in harassing him, summoning him to their offices to question and berate him about irrelevant issues, blocking his efforts to make repairs in the few buildings still under his control, and issuing veiled threats about what he says and does when he travels abroad.
Read the rest HERE.
The Forty Languages of the Caucuses
The dozens of languages of the Caucasus say much about the Georgia conflict.
By Ellen Barry
Published: August 24, 2008
Two weeks ago, when Georgian troops began shelling Tskhinvali, Eduard Kabulov could not stop thinking about the trouble he had taken to learn Georgian: its base-20 counting system; its ridiculous consonant clusters ("gvprtskvni"); its diabolical irregular verbs.
Kabulov, who is 22, had grown up in a valley where South Ossetians have coexisted with Georgians for many centuries, but that did not make it any easier. Ossetians speak a language related to Farsi; Georgians speak a language whose closest relative, some linguists say, is Basque. Kabulov's friends were so hostile to the Georgians and their language that he kept his studies secret. He sounded bitter talking about it. He hasn't opened a textbook since Aug. 8.
The languages of the Caucasus explain much about the current conflict.
About 40 indigenous tongues are spoken in the region - more than any other area in the world aside from Papua New Guinea and parts of the Amazon, where the jungles are so thick that small tribes rarely encounter one another. In the Caucasus, mountains serve the same purpose, offering small ethnicities a natural refuge against more powerful or aggressive ones.
Read the rest HERE.
International Orthodox Christian Charities Joins with Antiochian Patriarchate for Ministry In Syria
At the invitation of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, IOCC began working in Syria in 2002 on small projects to rehabilitate schools, hospitals and orphanages.
In 2007, IOCC was awarded two grants totaling $1.98 million from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM) to provide schooling, school supplies and other humanitarian items to Iraqi refugee children, families and disadvantaged Syrian youth.
Read more HERE.
Also, read more about their expanded programmes to Iraqi refugees HERE.
In 2007, IOCC was awarded two grants totaling $1.98 million from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM) to provide schooling, school supplies and other humanitarian items to Iraqi refugee children, families and disadvantaged Syrian youth.
Read more HERE.
Also, read more about their expanded programmes to Iraqi refugees HERE.
Turkish President in Ani, Ancient Armenian Capital
Turkish president to visit Armenia
Reuters, The Associated Press
Published: September 3, 2008
ANKARA: In a major diplomatic step, President Abdullah Gul of Turkey will visit Armenia this weekend for a soccer match, his office said Wednesday. The countries have no diplomatic relations and their border has been closed for years.
Hostility between the nations stems from Turkey's opposition to Armenian forces' occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and from Armenia's insistence that the deaths of an estimated 1.5 million ethnic Armenians under Ottoman rule be recognized as genocide. Turkey strongly denies the accusation of genocide during World War I and says that both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in the fighting.
The national teams of Armenia and Turkey will play in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on Saturday in a qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup.
"We believe that this match will be instrumental in removing the barriers blocking the rapprochement between the two peoples with common history and prepare a new ground," a statement on the president's official Web site said.
"We hope that this will be an opportunity for the two peoples to understand each other better," it added.
The Armenian president, Serzh Sarksyan, invited Gul to watch the match and called for closer ties with Turkey. Armenia is sandwiched between Turkey and Azerbaijan.
25 August 2008
Pray for Peace in Georgia
Pray for Peace in Georgia
In any conflict in this fallen world, it is our first duty to pray for those who are suffering, especially our fellow Orthodox brethren. His Grace, Bp. BASIL has sent out this prayer:
PRAYER FOR PEACE IN THE CAUCASUS: "O Master Who lovest mankind, King of the ages and Bestower of good things, Who hast destroyed enmity and givest peace to the human race: Grant peace even now unto all Thy servants who dwell in the lands of the Caucasus. Establish among our nations love one for another; quell every uprising; and allay all dissent and temptations. Grant unto them, O Lord, health and oneness of mind, protect them from all tribulations, afflictions and sudden death; bring an end to all enmity and malice which ariseth through the activity of the devil. Plant peace, O Lord, through the intercessions of the holy Theotokos, of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-called, of the first hierarchs of Moscow, of the holy Nino, Equal-to-the-Apostles, and of the Great Martyr George the Victorious. For Thou art our Peace, and we send up glory unto Thee—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen." (Released by the Press Service of the Moscow Patriarchate)
Icon: St. Nino, Equal-to-the-Apostles (Click here for her Life)
In addition to our prayers, the IOCC (International Orthodox Christian Charities), has been distributing food and hygiene supplies in Georgia's capital of Tbilisi to people displaced by the fighting in Georgia. To date, the IOCC has assisted almost 1,000 people, providing them with rations such as pasta, canned fish, rice and tea.
“Many of the displaced people we are seeing from South Ossetia are farmers who have never lived without a piece of land to farm or raise cattle so it has been difficult for them to take shelter in Tbilisi,” said IOCC Georgia Program Manager Darejan Dzotsenidze.
The IOCC expects to widen its assistance to other parts of the country as American shipments of food and other items are distributed throughout Tbilisi and the surrounding areas. The Moscow office of the IOCC is working with the Russian Orthodox Church to provide aid to people who have fled into Russia.
To help in providing emergency relief, call IOCC's donation hotline toll-free at 1-877-803-4622, make a gift on-line at www.iocc.org, or mail a check or money order payable to “IOCC” and write "Conflict in the Caucasus" in the memo line to: IOCC, P.O. Box 630225, Baltimore, Md. 21263-0225.
20 August 2008
Abkhaz Monks Seek Release from Georgia
Abkhaz monks want freedom from Georgia
Posted on Sun Aug 17 2008
NOVY AFON, Georgia, Aug 17 (Reuters) - The balance of power in Abkhazia is clear to anyone looking out to sea from the Novy Afon monastery.
Six Russian warships are visible through the cypresses below the orange and ochre building, and military trucks with their black number plates rumble along the coastal road.
Technically, the 50 monks here belong to the Georgian Orthodox Church. But they disagree. Just like their separatist republic's politicians who won a vicious war against Georgia in 1992-3, they have declared independence from the church there.
"What does separatism mean anyway? It means you want to separate. And who do we want to separate from? From murderers," Father Vissarion, the head of the rebel state's church, told Reuters.
"If a man beats his wife, a court will allow her to leave him. People say we are Abkhazian separatists, but this means what? Are we supposed to be Georgians? We have nothing in common with them."
Father Vissarion's quest has gained fresh emphasis in recent days, although all other Orthodox churches still consider Abkhazia to be under Georgian spiritual control.
Abkhazia captured the last corner of its territory this week, after 15 years of uneasy peace. .
Their offensive took advantage of a powerful Russian operation against Georgian troops sent by President Mikheil Saakashvili to seize the second rebel region of South Ossetia.
The Georgian counter-offensive in South Ossetia and prompted the Russian invasion. The 75 percent of Abkhazians who are Christians noticed that Georgian Patriarch Ilia II has not condemned it.
"Sadly, Ilia II sees problems through the prism of politics, and those are the politics of Saakashvili. He has not spoken out against the genocide in South Ossetia," said Hieromonk Ignation, a fellow religious rebel.
The Orthodox Church, once the religion of the Byzantine Empire, has always had close ties with its rulers.
Abkhazia's monks argue that they are just doing what Georgia itself did, since it took advantage of the 1917 revolution to re-establish its independence from the Russian Patriarchate.
Abkhazian clerics have been independent in the past, and had a patriarch until the early 19th century.
They now claim to be restoring their ancient rights.
Their path has not been easy. Most clerics fled during the 1992-3 war in which the Georgians lost control of Abkhazia.
The handful that remained, who chose Vissarion to lead them, had to cobble together a national church with priests borrowed from Russia.
The differences between the rebel priests and the Georgian hierarchy are great, even though Ilia II has himself appealed for peace.
"Georgia has had harder times and still managed to overcome," Ilia II said, in comments on the Georgian Patriarchate's web site.
In the circumstances, it was perhaps unsurprising that the Abkhazian priests organized a service on Sunday for the crews of the six Russian naval vessels out in the bay.
They were also extremely accommodating to the hundreds of Russian tourists arriving every hour.
As Ignation said farewell with a quick squeeze on the arm, a Russian tourist dressed in pink hotpants, a purple vest and sparkly sandals approached him and asked for a blessing.
With only a sailor's cap over her long, blonde hair, she could not have looked more out of place next to Ignation, whose robe and hat made him resemble a huge, bearded crow.
"I bless you," he said. "But I do think you should at least cover up a bit."
Posted on Sun Aug 17 2008
NOVY AFON, Georgia, Aug 17 (Reuters) - The balance of power in Abkhazia is clear to anyone looking out to sea from the Novy Afon monastery.
Six Russian warships are visible through the cypresses below the orange and ochre building, and military trucks with their black number plates rumble along the coastal road.
Technically, the 50 monks here belong to the Georgian Orthodox Church. But they disagree. Just like their separatist republic's politicians who won a vicious war against Georgia in 1992-3, they have declared independence from the church there.
"What does separatism mean anyway? It means you want to separate. And who do we want to separate from? From murderers," Father Vissarion, the head of the rebel state's church, told Reuters.
"If a man beats his wife, a court will allow her to leave him. People say we are Abkhazian separatists, but this means what? Are we supposed to be Georgians? We have nothing in common with them."
Father Vissarion's quest has gained fresh emphasis in recent days, although all other Orthodox churches still consider Abkhazia to be under Georgian spiritual control.
Abkhazia captured the last corner of its territory this week, after 15 years of uneasy peace. .
Their offensive took advantage of a powerful Russian operation against Georgian troops sent by President Mikheil Saakashvili to seize the second rebel region of South Ossetia.
The Georgian counter-offensive in South Ossetia and prompted the Russian invasion. The 75 percent of Abkhazians who are Christians noticed that Georgian Patriarch Ilia II has not condemned it.
"Sadly, Ilia II sees problems through the prism of politics, and those are the politics of Saakashvili. He has not spoken out against the genocide in South Ossetia," said Hieromonk Ignation, a fellow religious rebel.
The Orthodox Church, once the religion of the Byzantine Empire, has always had close ties with its rulers.
Abkhazia's monks argue that they are just doing what Georgia itself did, since it took advantage of the 1917 revolution to re-establish its independence from the Russian Patriarchate.
Abkhazian clerics have been independent in the past, and had a patriarch until the early 19th century.
They now claim to be restoring their ancient rights.
Their path has not been easy. Most clerics fled during the 1992-3 war in which the Georgians lost control of Abkhazia.
The handful that remained, who chose Vissarion to lead them, had to cobble together a national church with priests borrowed from Russia.
The differences between the rebel priests and the Georgian hierarchy are great, even though Ilia II has himself appealed for peace.
"Georgia has had harder times and still managed to overcome," Ilia II said, in comments on the Georgian Patriarchate's web site.
In the circumstances, it was perhaps unsurprising that the Abkhazian priests organized a service on Sunday for the crews of the six Russian naval vessels out in the bay.
They were also extremely accommodating to the hundreds of Russian tourists arriving every hour.
As Ignation said farewell with a quick squeeze on the arm, a Russian tourist dressed in pink hotpants, a purple vest and sparkly sandals approached him and asked for a blessing.
With only a sailor's cap over her long, blonde hair, she could not have looked more out of place next to Ignation, whose robe and hat made him resemble a huge, bearded crow.
"I bless you," he said. "But I do think you should at least cover up a bit."
Russian & Georgian Churches Appeal for Peace
Church groups back Russian, Georgian Orthodox peace appeals
Posted on Thu Aug 14 2008
Sophia Kishkovsky
New York (ENI). The patriarchs of the Russian and Georgian Orthodox churches have issued calls for peace as military conflict between Russia and Georgia over the pro-Russian separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia escalated into the first war between countries with Orthodox Christian majorities in modern history.
"Today blood is being shed and people are perishing in South Ossetia, and my heart deeply grieves over it. Orthodox Christians are among those who have raised their hands against each other. Orthodox peoples called by the Lord to live in fraternity and love are in conflict," Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II said in a statement on patriarchia.ru , his official Web site.
The Georgian authorities were reported as saying on 12 August that Russian troops were continuing to attack the town of Gori, although Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier in the day said he had ordered troops to stop military operations in Georgia. Russia has denied attacking the town and has denied any incursions outside the disputed region of South Ossetia.
The Web site of the Georgian Orthodox Church, patriarchate.ge, reports that in a sermon on 10 August, Patriarch Ilia II called for prayers to end the conflict.
Backing for the patriarchs' appeals came from two international church groupings that said the United Nations must "ensure the territorial integrity and political independence of Georgia".
In a 12 August joint statement, the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches warned, "The use of force in the dispute over South Ossetia and Abkhazia has cost the precious lives of civilians and soldiers, risks destabilising a fragile region, and reawakens deep fears there and far beyond."
In his statement, Patriarch Alexy called for negotiations that would "respect the traditions, views and hopes of the Georgian and Ossetian peoples", and said that the Russian Orthodox Church was ready to work with the Georgian Orthodox Church in a peace effort.
Georgian Patriarch Ilia said in his sermon, ''God is with us and the Virgin Mary is protecting us but one thing concerns us very deeply: that Orthodox Russians are bombing Orthodox Georgians," He added, "Reinforce your prayer and God will save Georgia."
Ilia had earlier called on the Georgian and South Ossetian authorities, "to spare no effort to cease fire and solve disputes peacefully."
On 9 August, Russian nationalist youth groups, led by the Georgiyevtsy, a Russian Orthodox youth movement, held a prayer meeting in front of the Moscow offices of the European Union.
"We believe Saakashvili betrays Orthodoxy when he sets Orthodox peoples against one another," Diana Romanovskaya, press secretary of the Georgiyevtsy, told the Interfax-Religion news service in a reference to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Georgia became Orthodox in the fourth century, more than 600 years before the baptism of Rus in the Dnieper river in Kiev in 988, which Russians mark as the creation of their church.
Russia annexed Georgia, which was seeking protection from Persia, in 1801, and abolished the Georgian Patriarchate. It was reinstated after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. Relations between the Russian and Georgian churches in recent years have been amicable.
The Web sites of both the Russian and Georgian churches report that before the fighting began, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sent congratulations to Patriarch Ilia on his name day on 2 August.
"We appreciate your efforts in strengthening civil peace and harmony in the region among the nations and religions," read the message. "Common Orthodox traditions have been the greater factors of unity for Russian and Georgian nations for many centuries. Please accept my gratitude for your unchangeable kind attitude towards Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. We are certain that common spiritual roots, plus friendly and good neighbouring traditions will help us to overcome all existing difficulties between our countries."
Sophia Kishkovsky is a correspondent for ENI, based in Moscow. She wrote this story from New York.
Contac
Posted on Thu Aug 14 2008
Sophia Kishkovsky
New York (ENI). The patriarchs of the Russian and Georgian Orthodox churches have issued calls for peace as military conflict between Russia and Georgia over the pro-Russian separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia escalated into the first war between countries with Orthodox Christian majorities in modern history.
"Today blood is being shed and people are perishing in South Ossetia, and my heart deeply grieves over it. Orthodox Christians are among those who have raised their hands against each other. Orthodox peoples called by the Lord to live in fraternity and love are in conflict," Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II said in a statement on patriarchia.ru , his official Web site.
The Georgian authorities were reported as saying on 12 August that Russian troops were continuing to attack the town of Gori, although Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier in the day said he had ordered troops to stop military operations in Georgia. Russia has denied attacking the town and has denied any incursions outside the disputed region of South Ossetia.
The Web site of the Georgian Orthodox Church, patriarchate.ge, reports that in a sermon on 10 August, Patriarch Ilia II called for prayers to end the conflict.
Backing for the patriarchs' appeals came from two international church groupings that said the United Nations must "ensure the territorial integrity and political independence of Georgia".
In a 12 August joint statement, the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches warned, "The use of force in the dispute over South Ossetia and Abkhazia has cost the precious lives of civilians and soldiers, risks destabilising a fragile region, and reawakens deep fears there and far beyond."
In his statement, Patriarch Alexy called for negotiations that would "respect the traditions, views and hopes of the Georgian and Ossetian peoples", and said that the Russian Orthodox Church was ready to work with the Georgian Orthodox Church in a peace effort.
Georgian Patriarch Ilia said in his sermon, ''God is with us and the Virgin Mary is protecting us but one thing concerns us very deeply: that Orthodox Russians are bombing Orthodox Georgians," He added, "Reinforce your prayer and God will save Georgia."
Ilia had earlier called on the Georgian and South Ossetian authorities, "to spare no effort to cease fire and solve disputes peacefully."
On 9 August, Russian nationalist youth groups, led by the Georgiyevtsy, a Russian Orthodox youth movement, held a prayer meeting in front of the Moscow offices of the European Union.
"We believe Saakashvili betrays Orthodoxy when he sets Orthodox peoples against one another," Diana Romanovskaya, press secretary of the Georgiyevtsy, told the Interfax-Religion news service in a reference to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Georgia became Orthodox in the fourth century, more than 600 years before the baptism of Rus in the Dnieper river in Kiev in 988, which Russians mark as the creation of their church.
Russia annexed Georgia, which was seeking protection from Persia, in 1801, and abolished the Georgian Patriarchate. It was reinstated after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. Relations between the Russian and Georgian churches in recent years have been amicable.
The Web sites of both the Russian and Georgian churches report that before the fighting began, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sent congratulations to Patriarch Ilia on his name day on 2 August.
"We appreciate your efforts in strengthening civil peace and harmony in the region among the nations and religions," read the message. "Common Orthodox traditions have been the greater factors of unity for Russian and Georgian nations for many centuries. Please accept my gratitude for your unchangeable kind attitude towards Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. We are certain that common spiritual roots, plus friendly and good neighbouring traditions will help us to overcome all existing difficulties between our countries."
Sophia Kishkovsky is a correspondent for ENI, based in Moscow. She wrote this story from New York.
Contac
Ukraine's Divided Churches
Orthodox Christianity
Brothers in Christ
Jul 31st 2008
From The Economist print edition
By the skin of their teeth, prelates of the Christian East avoid a rupture
WHENEVER two or more Orthodox Christian clerics join in celebrating the Eucharist—consecrating bread and wine in a manner that is far more elaborate, solemn and formal than is usual in today’s Christian West—it creates a special bond between them. And if one Orthodox cleric refuses to “concelebrate” with another, that is a sign of a deep, painful rift.
That helps to explain why Orthodox Christians all over the world (who may number more than 200m, if one makes generous assumptions about the religiosity of ordinary Russians and Ukrainians) looked on with fascination as two important gentlemen, one from Moscow and the other from Istanbul, came together in Kiev on July 27th to conduct their church’s most important rite. This was a powerful, if provisional, moment of reconciliation between the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Moscow, whose relations have been scratchy for most of the past decade.
It was a close-run thing: the 1,020th anniversary of the advent of Christianity among the Slavs, celebrated with enormous fanfare by Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko, might just as easily have led to a dramatic bust-up between the two institutions whose multiple disagreements have cast a shadow over Orthodox Christian affairs in places ranging from New York to Paris to Beijing.
In the end, however, rupture was avoided. A basis was also laid for better relations in future, thanks to careful diplomacy by Bartholomew I, the Patriarch of Constantinople, who is by tradition the “first among equals” in the Orthodox hierarchy.
Read the rest here at the Economist.
Brothers in Christ
Jul 31st 2008
From The Economist print edition
By the skin of their teeth, prelates of the Christian East avoid a rupture
WHENEVER two or more Orthodox Christian clerics join in celebrating the Eucharist—consecrating bread and wine in a manner that is far more elaborate, solemn and formal than is usual in today’s Christian West—it creates a special bond between them. And if one Orthodox cleric refuses to “concelebrate” with another, that is a sign of a deep, painful rift.
That helps to explain why Orthodox Christians all over the world (who may number more than 200m, if one makes generous assumptions about the religiosity of ordinary Russians and Ukrainians) looked on with fascination as two important gentlemen, one from Moscow and the other from Istanbul, came together in Kiev on July 27th to conduct their church’s most important rite. This was a powerful, if provisional, moment of reconciliation between the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Moscow, whose relations have been scratchy for most of the past decade.
It was a close-run thing: the 1,020th anniversary of the advent of Christianity among the Slavs, celebrated with enormous fanfare by Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko, might just as easily have led to a dramatic bust-up between the two institutions whose multiple disagreements have cast a shadow over Orthodox Christian affairs in places ranging from New York to Paris to Beijing.
In the end, however, rupture was avoided. A basis was also laid for better relations in future, thanks to careful diplomacy by Bartholomew I, the Patriarch of Constantinople, who is by tradition the “first among equals” in the Orthodox hierarchy.
Read the rest here at the Economist.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
