MP News

[Kollyvas]

http://www.mospat.ru/index.php?page=29569

Some 300 Orthodox churches were restored in Mordovia

Some 300 Orthodox churches were restored in Mordovia during the last 15 years, Archbishop Varsonofy of Saransk and Mordovia said at the solemn divine service dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the diocese.

The celebrations held in St.Macarius Monastery near the city of Saransk were also attended by representatives of the neighboring dioceses.

According to Archbishop Varsonofy, Orthodox churches have been restored in almost all villages. There were only some 50 churches in the beginning of 1990s, when the Mordovia diocese was established. Archbishop Varsonofy underscored that dozens of churches are being built with the help of the natives of the Republic who had left it. ‘They are well-to-do people, but they have not forgotten their compatriots’.

The cathedral church dedicated to the holy and righteous warrior Feodor (Ushakov) is located in the centre of Saransk and is one of the most well known newly built churches. The life of Feodor Ushakov who was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church was closely linked with Mordovia. A great Russian naval commander and a founder of the Black Sea Navy spent the last years of his life in the village of Alexeyevka near the Sanaksar Monastery.

[Kollyvas]

http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7039

Paris Church of Three Holy Hierarchs marks 75th anniversary

PARIS, February 12 (Itar-Tass) -- A liturgy marked the 75th anniversary of the Paris Church of Three Holy Hierarchs.

The celebrations will also include a prayer for the dead at the Russian cemetery in Sainte Genevieve des Bois, a performance by the chorus of the Moscow Assumption Cathedral at the Notre Dame de Paris and a meeting entitled “The Russian Orthodox Church on the Junction of Centuries” at the UNESCO Paris headquarters.

Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate External Church Relations Department, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill is taking part in the celebrations.

Metropolitan Eulogius seceded from the Moscow Patriarchate in 1930, but six parishioners refused to follow him and confirmed their loyalty to the Patriarchate. Other believers joined in, a new church was blessed, and the diocese of Three Holy Hierarchs was formed. Hence, the Moscow Patriarchate retained the exarchate in West Europe.

The Church of Three Holy Hierarchs founded in 1931 is the center of the Korsun diocese, which is made up of 17 parishes and four monasteries in France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland.

[Jean-Serge]

The panheretical forces are holding their conference these day in Porto Alegre. Bishop Hilarion of Viena will head the MP delegation.

[Kollyvas]

http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7050

World Russian People's Council to discuss problems facing Russia

The 10th World Russian People's Council due to open in the Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow on April 4.

Moscow, February 13, Interfax - The mission of Russia in the 21st century will become the key subject of the 10th World Russian People's Council due to open in the Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow on April 4.

"The questions of values, the need for Russia to adopt democratic ideals creatively and and the Orthodox and secular systems of values will top the agenda," Oleg Yefimov, secretary of this religious public organization, told Interfax on Monday.

The council will also discuss the attitude of the church and the public to human rights and dignity, he said.

The council, founded in 1993 is trying to play an important role in shaping civic society in Russia, Yefimov said.

Its sessions traditionally bring together officials from all branches of power, the leaders of public associations, heads of traditional religions, representatives of education, culture and science, delegates of Russian communities abroad and young people.

The council was designed as a broad public forum, a meeting place for people of different political convictions sharing a concern for the future of Russia and set on a dialogue and cooperation.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church patriarch Alexy II has led the council since its inception.

In 2005 the council was given special consultative status with the United Nations.

[Kollyvas]

http://www.mospat.ru/index.php?page=29611

Concert of Russian religious and folk music in the Notre Dame de Paris on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Three Hierarchs church in Paris

A concert of Russian religious and folk music was performed in the Notre Dame de Paris on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Three Hierarchs church in Paris.

Over three thousand listeners, some of them standing, welcomed the choir of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery with loud cheers.

Attending the concert were Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Archbishop Innokenty of Korsun, other hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, and many clergymen from Russia and different countries of Western Europe.

Introductory word before the concert was delivered by monsignor Patrick Jacquens, rector of the Notre Dame de Paris, who noted the importance of the Russian church’s jubilee.

After the concert the Saviour’s Crown of Thorns was worshipped. Metropolitan Kirill offered up prayers to the Lord for His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia, for Russia and France and for all Chris6tians before the holy relic that has been kept in France for many centuries.

Addressing the rector of the cathedral, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations emphasized the importance of common confirmation of the Gospel values in the life of society today.

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Завершились юбилейные торжества, посвященные 75-летию основания Трехсвятительского подворья Русской Православной Церкви в Париже
Митрополит Смоленский и Калининградский Кирилл возглавил торжества в Париже по случаю 75-летия кафедрального храма во имя Трех Святителей
Святейший Патриарх Алексий направил поздравительное послание по случаю 75-летия Трехсвятительского подворья - кафедрального храма Корсунской епархии Русской Православной Церкви в Париже
Слово митрополита Кирилла за Божественной литургией в кафедральном храме во имя Трех Святителей в Париже 12 февраля 2006 года, в день празднования Собора вселенских учителей и святителей Василия Великого, Григория Богослова и Иоанна Златоустого
Продолжается визит митрополита Смоленского и Калининградского Кирилла во Францию
Начался визит митрополита Смоленского и Калининградского Кирилла во Францию

[Kollyvas]

http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7079

Moscow Patriarchate sees in homosexual parades ‘a propaganda of sin’ and strongly protests against conducting them in Moscow
Interfax

Moscow, February 15, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church considers the homosexual parade planned for May in Moscow to be inadmissible and sees such activities as propaganda of sin.

‘The Church treats those who practice homosexuality as profoundly pitiful if they do not engage others in the sphere of their influence and urges them to repent and abandon their ruinous behavior and sin’, Rev. Mikhail Dudko, Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations for church-society relations, said to Interfax.

‘But if they propagandize homosexuality - and a homosexual parade is a propaganda and attempt to romanticize sin to make it attractive - we are simply obliged to come out strongly against such an activity’, he added.

As a reminder, Father Mikhail said the Church has repeatedly expressed protest against the conducting of homosexual parades in other countries where there are parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church.

‘We believe it inadmissible to hold such propaganda actions in the heart of Russia. We know that other traditional religions in our country support us in this desire to protect the people and the youth from these lawless people’, he said.

The Church, he said, calls upon all those who have authority to do all that is possible ‘lest an ever growing number of people should be caught in the sphere of sinful influence’.

[Kollyvas]

http://www.mospat.ru/index.php?page=29656

French court rules a Russian church be returned to the Patriarchate of Constantinople immediately

Interfax new agency reports, citing the French Sude-Ouest, that the court of Pau, France, has ruled to return to the Patriarchate of Constantinople the Russian church in Biarriz, whose community decided earlier to return to the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church.

According to this regional newspaper, the legal controversy was resolved through the interference of the DST, the French counterintelligence service.

In December 2004, the newspaper reports, parishioners of the Russian church of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God and St. Alexander Nevsky, together with their rector, Father George, ‘decided at a general meeting to tear away from Constantinople’ and to ‘seek shelter under the protective wing of Moscow’.

However, ‘a part of the parishioners’, the newspaper writes, turned to court, ‘challenging the legitimacy of the general meeting’. A year after the decision was made, the local court in Bayonne supported the minority of the parishioners, ‘referring to a procedural violation’ in convening the meeting. Consequent meetings, during which ‘the parish community reconfirmed its move to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate’, were ‘annulled’ as well. Recently the court of appeal resolved that the ruling of the first court be executed immediately in spite of the appeal made by the community.

Therefore, the newspaper reports, ‘from now on the parish in Biarriz depends again on Archbishop Gabriel of Comana’ who ‘suspended Father George a year ago, which ‘led to a serious crisis within the community’.

Among the circumstances of the case mentioned by the newspaper is ‘Father George’s complaint to the law enforcement concerning the threats made to his family’ and ‘an unprecedented’ event when ‘a DST agent came to Biarriz to investigate Moscow’s alleged attempt to take control of the Western European Orthodox Church’. According to the newspaper, Biarriz Mayor Didier Borotre ‘received the special agent in his office’.

Father George’s lawyer has stressed that the case has not been completed yet because an appeal has been filed. ‘However, Father George is treated like the worst of men, which is surprising as they claim to be Christians. And how can it be forgotten that the whole thing began with a desire of parishioners to observe the rites and traditions of the Russian Church?’ the director of a law firm in Paris wonders.