MP News

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http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7410

The first Russian Orthodox church to be built in Rome crowned with a cupola and a cross
Interfax

Rome, March 31, Interfax - The cross and cupola of the Russian Orthodox church under construction in Rome have been consecrated and elevated on Friday in the Italian capital city. The church is dedicated to the Holy Protomartyr Catherine.

The solemn ceremony was led by Bishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations. Present at the ceremony was Russian Ambassador to Italy Aleksey Meshkov.

Addressing the congregation, the bishop described the event as historic. ‘The Russian church stands near St. Peter’s, and this symbolizes the common witness of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches before the challenges of our time, as our Churches through their temples in the Eternal City assert the eternal values of Christianity,’ Bishop Mark said in an interview to Interfax.

He also pointed to the fact that the cross was elevated to the cupola of the Russian church at the end of the Week of the Adoration of the Cross. ‘In every Orthodox church today, the cross is taken away to the sanctuary, while here it is elevated!’ he noted.

The need to build a first ever Orthodox church in the Eternal City, where many suffered martyrdom, was dictated first of all by the strength of the Russian Orthodox flock in Rome.

The church is being built on the Janiculum in the immediate vicinity of St. Peter’s. St. Catherine, to whom the church is dedicated, is equally venerated by the Orthodox and the Catholics.

An attempt to build an Orthodox church in Rome was made as far back as the late 19th-early 20th century on the initiative of the rector of the Russian embassy church and with the support of the imperial family. But at that time this plan was prevented from execution by the 1917 Revolution.

At the turn of the century, the idea of the construction of a church was put forward by the Orthodox public and was blessed by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.

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http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7408

Patriarch calls for unity of Russian Orthodox Church Abroad
Interfax

Moscow, March 30, Interfax - Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia has called for further efforts aimed at the unification of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.

"We highly appreciate the arrival of Metropolitan Laurus in Russia who attended several patriarchal church services. I think that thus our communication in prayer was restored," he told the Moscow press on Wednesday.

"Now communication in communion should be restored, but that is for the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad to decide," he added.

The council is due in May. The key subject will be the possibility of the unification of two parts of the Russian Orthodox Church.

[Kollyvas]

(I have a very salient question to Vladyka Hilarion:

WHY NOT INSTALL AN ORTHODOX BISHOP OF ROME & RESTORE THE WESTERN CHURCH?! ROME CERTAINLY HAS NO PROBLEMS PUTTING ITS APOSTATES ON OUR TERRITORIES AND RILING RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE, POLITICAL REPRESSION & CREATING PARALLEL STRUCTURES. I'M SURE WE CAN FIND CLERICS WHO SPEAK ITALIAN AND CAN SERVE IN THE TRADITIONAL & DIGNIFIED WAYS PEOPLE RESPECT AND MISS...

r)

http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7436

Russian Orthodox says Pope should shed more titles
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, who has dropped his title "patriarch of the West" to boost ties with Orthodox Christians, should scrap more terms tagged to his name if he wants real progress, a senior Russian Orthodox bishop has said.

Papal titles such as "vicar of Jesus Christ" or "sovereign pontiff of the universal Church" were "unacceptable, even scandalous" for the Orthodox, Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev said in a statement published this week on his Web site.

"Only renouncing titles stressing the universal jurisdiction of the pope, and the ecclesiological doctrine hidden behind that, would be a real step on the path toward reconciliation between the Orthodox and Catholic churches," he wrote.

Hilarion, Russian Orthodox bishop of Vienna and his church's main representative in Europe, said the "patriarch of the West" title was actually more acceptable than some others.

Benedict, who has made better relations with the Orthodox a priority of his papacy, quietly dropped "patriarch of the West" from his nine official titles early in March.

Vatican relations with the Russian church, the largest of the Orthodox churches, have been strained because the Moscow hierarchy suspects the Catholic Church of trying to win new members there following the fall of communism in 1991.

Russian Patriarch Alexiy II said last month he hoped for a rapid resolution to the problems between the churches. Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican's top official for ecumenism, said neither side wanted to lure believers away from the other.

Hilarion said a statement from Kasper's office clarifying the change did not explain how it could help dialogue between the two churches split since the Great Schism of 1054.

"The Pontifical Council's communiqué cannot be considered an adequate response" to differences between them, he said.

WESTERN PATRIARCH TITLE WAS ACCEPTABLE

The Orthodox accepted the Roman pope as the "first among equals" in pre-schism Christianity and as the patriarch of western Europe as opposed to other patriarchs in Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, he said.

"It is only in this form that the Orthodox could accept the primacy of the bishop of Rome if church unity between the East and the West were to be reestablished," he said.

The Orthodox, based mostly in Russia, Eastern Europe and Greece with diaspora churches around the world, reject papal authority and maintain a loose family of national churches with a spiritual leader based in Istanbul.

There are about 220 million Orthodox Christians around the world, compared to 1.1 billion Roman Catholics.

Kasper told Reuters last month that bilateral talks had improved the prospects for a meeting between Benedict and Alexiy, but it was too early to speak of a time or place.

Hilarion objected to three of Benedict's eight remaining titles -- Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles and Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church -- because the Orthodox do not believe any cleric can claim such authority.

The rest -- Bishop of Rome, Primate of Italy, Metropolitan Archbishop of the Roman Province, Sovereign of Vatican City and Servant of the Servants of God -- refer to more limited powers of the pope and do not clash with Orthodox views.

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http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7444

Russia: Orthodox Church Discusses Morality And Human Rights
Radio Free Europe

By Valentinas Mite

Patriarch Aleksy II has questioned the concept of Western human rights

At the 10th World Council of Russian People under way in Moscow, a prominent Orthodox official said that the concept of Western human rights is not working in Russia. It should, he said, be substituted by Orthodox values -- "motherland, nation, and the security of one's neighbors." However, not everyone agrees.

PRAGUE, April 5, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The World Council of Russian People brings together Russians from around the world and led by the Moscow patriarch. On the council's agenda this year is the issue of human rights. The council is expected to announce the church's position on the matter.

Metropolitan Kirill, the Orthodox Church's main authority on interchurch and interfaith relations, on April 4 set the tone for the council. He denounced the concept of "moral autonomy."

Kirill said the Orthodox Church could not accept the mocking of the sacred, abortion, homosexuality, or euthanasia. All these, he said, are often defended as human rights.

The problems Russian society faces, he said, are due to the lack of a religion-based morality:

"We should not shed any tears about rising xenophobia at a time when we open opportunities for a person, who is not restrained by any moral forces, to ravage sacred places, spit on his fatherland, and destroy his culture," Kirill said. "Such a person will go and kill someone else on the basis of race or faith. There is one single and indivisible morality."

Kirill denounced a "distorted vision of human rights," which he said has become prevalent in the West. He added that secularism is to be blamed for xenophobia and other vices of the Russian society."

Yesterday, Patriarch Aleksy II supported Kirill's concern: "To what extent does this [Western] vision of human rights allow an Orthodox people to live in accordance with the faith it professes?"

Human Rights Concept Questioned

It is not the first time the Russian Orthodox Church has questioned the validity of the concept of universal human rights. On March 30, Metropolitan Kirill announced the church's plans to set up a center to deal with issues related to human rights and liberties.

He said the center would tackle the problems in the context of Russian national and church traditions. The Interfax news agency quoted him as saying "Russian civilization has nothing to do with it [Western concept of human rights.]"

There were, however, dissenting opinions at the assembly. Russia's human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin said on Tuesday that the speeches at the assembly should not be taken as a new state policy condemning the West.

Allison Gill, the director of the Moscow office for the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said vices such as xenophobia have little to do with adhering to a religion or secularism.

"I don't think it's fair to blame the problems he sees [Kirill] in Russia or the problems he sees in the West on human-rights law, which sadly enough isn't fully implemented in the West or in Russia," Gill said.

Gill said that Russia has signed international agreements that oblige the state to protect human rights: "Human rights are universal and they are not granted by government but governments promised to protect them. The Russian government is a signatory to all major human-rights treaties, which means that human rights are an integral part of Russian law and not some foreign Western impost."

However, despite that, Russian officials often take notice of what the church says. And it isn't just human rights that is an integral part of Russian law. The Orthodox Church is considered the most significant body in Russian religious life.

Slideshow

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http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7454

Russian Orthodox church to open in Rome

Rome, Apr. 06 (CWNews.com) - The first Russian Orthodox church in Rome will be consecrated on April 19, with Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk presiding.

The opening of the church, near the Russian embassy on the slope of the Janiculum hill, comes 5 years after construction was begun there. It will be an unprecedented event for the little Russian Orthodox community in Rome, and the importance of the consecration will be underlined by the presence of Metropolitan Kirill: the second-ranking prelate in the Moscow patriarchate, and the top Russian Orthodox official dealing with ecumenical affairs.

The desire of Russian Orthodox believers for a church in Rome dates back to the 19th century. But permission for construction in the city was difficult to obtain. Bishop Mark d'Egoryevsk, who heads the department of external affairs for the Moscow patriarchate, said that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was instrumental in obtaining permission for the building. Ironically, the construction was done at a time when Russian Orthodox leaders were complaining bitterly about the activities of the Catholic Church in the traditionally Orthodox territory of Russia.

After the consecration, the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated in the new church for the first time on April 23: Easter Sunday on the Orthodox calendar.

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http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7501

Seminarian beaten brutally in Moscow
Interfax

Moscow, April 11, Interfax – Yevgeniy Yefremov, 18, a student of Moscow Theological Seminary, was brutally beaten last Saturday by unknown persons in the Zhulebino district, Moscow, a source in the Moscow law-enforcement informed Interfax.

According to the source, Yefremov wore ordinary ‘civil’ clothes, nothing in his appearance suggesting his belonging to the church. The attackers stole nothing from him. Experts have reasons to believe he was beaten with baseball bits. He was taken to hospital with a craniocerebral injury.

The source also reported it was impossible to talk to Yefremov because of his grave condition, doctors not permitting to find out details of the incident.

A criminal case has been established under Russian Criminal Code Article 111 on deliberate infliction of gross injury to health, providing for the maximum punishment of eight year imprisonment.

The source did not rule out that the villains could be acquainted with the victim and the attack was not accidental but the crime could also have personal relations as its motive. He underscored that there were many church ministers residing in Zhulebino but there were no attacks on them before.

Yefremov was attacked at about 11.00 pm, when he was coming back home after attending All-Night Vigil at the church of the Transfiguration in Liubertsy. Witnesses saw two people running away from the scene.

Yefremov has undergone an operation. Before it he was anointed and administered communion.

The pro-rector of the seminary for students’ affairs, Hegumen Vassian Zmeyev, surmised in an interview to Interfax that ‘it was simply an act of unmotivated hooliganism’.

He said Yefremov is ‘a modest and polite person, accommodating and yielding in his relations with other students’.

‘We exclude any action on his part that would provoke a conflict’, the hegumen noted.

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http://www.interfax.com/3/148461/news.aspx

Alexy II greets Western Christian leaders at Easter
MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax) - Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All
Russia has sent Easter greetings to Pope Benedict XVI and the heads of
other churches celebrating Easter this Sunday.
Alexy's address begins with the traditional Easter greeting,
"Christ is Risen!"
"Greetings to you on the holiday of Christ's Resurrection, I wish
the Lord, who was "raised from the dead by the glory of the Father," to
fill your hearts with peace, live, and Easter joy," the letter reads.
Among Alexy's addressees are Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan
Williams, head of the Evangelical Church of Germany Bishop Wolfgang
Huber, head of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland Archbishop
Jukka Paarma, Secretary General of the World Council of Churches Samuel
Kobia, Conference of European Churches Secretary General Colin Williams,
and others.

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