Introduction: The Factor of Time in the Dynamics of Ecclesiastical Divisions The study of contemporary intra-Orthodox conflicts requires a shift away from opportunistic political narratives in favor of rigorous canonical and ecclesiological analysis. The chronic crisis of Orthodoxy in Ukraine, manifested in the coexistence and severe confrontation of two parallel jurisdictions—the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)[…..]
The Spin
Preparing a Home: On Disability and Accessibility in the Church
To mark the designation of July as Disability Pride Month, we are offering a sermon delivered by Subdeacon Jeremy Swartz at St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church in Cambridge, MA.
Statement by the “Peace Unto All” Regarding the Strike on the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra
On the night of June 14–15, a massive strike on Kyiv triggered a large-scale fire at the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. The exact extent of the damage and destruction is currently being assessed. This tragedy occurred immediately after the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the feast of the “Saints of the Russian Land,” including[…..]
What Are We Canonizing? On the ROCOR Synod’s Decision to Open the Path to Father Seraphim Rose’s Glorification
A few days ago in Munich, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia received the report of Bishop James of Sonora, who chairs the commission studying the life and veneration of the late Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose). The Council resolved to recognize the righteousness of his path and to bless the[…..]
A Saint for All Seasons: The Curious Case of St. Ilie Lăcătușu (†1983)
Part 2 in the two-part series offered by Dr. Ionut Biliuta in his continuing examination of the recent canonizations in the Romanian Orthodox Church. On 23 July 2025, the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate issued a statement in which it distanced itself from the fascist paraphernalia (the green flag of the Iron Guard) displayed at the tomb[…..]
Boundless Love
I have tried to think how many times I have heard the Life of St. Mary of Egypt read in the church. Twenty? Thirty? I have been asked to read it several times myself, and it has always felt like a gift, a special treat during the long and solemn cycle of Lenten services. And whether reading or listening, it has always been a magical experience: a darkened or slowly darkening church, a single candle, and a story that I know by heart and yet am always eager to hear again.
Women Saints for the Twenty-First Century Women? The Politics of 2025 Canonizations in the Romanian Orthodox Church
This essay is the first in the two-part series offered by Dr. Ionut Biliuta in his continuing examination of the recent canonizations in the Romanian Orthodox Church. Icon of newly-canonized women saints. www.basilica.ro On July 1, 2025, the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church decided to canonize sixteen women as saints as part of[…..]
The “Removal” of the Prayer of St. Ephraim in the Presanctified Liturgy of the AOA: A Liturgiologist’s Response
In a recent encyclical issued by Metropolitan Saba of the Antiochian Eastern Orthodox Archdiocese of North America (AOA), dated February 19, 2026, one of the proposed liturgical changes was the complete removal of the two instances of the Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim from the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. This elimination of a seemingly[…..]
Three Responses to a Moment of Crisis: Gospel, Power, and the Fate of the World
On Western Christian Ash Wednesday (18 February), a coalition of 400 prominent American Christian leaders issued a powerful joint statement and call to action entitled “A Call to Christians in a Crisis of Faith.” The release of this statement coincided with the traditional issuing of pastoral Lenten letters from Orthodox bishops on the eve of the Great Fast, which starts this year on 23 February. I thus ended up reading “A Call to Christians” alongside the pastoral messages of Metropolitan Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America, the senior bishop of what self-identifies as the local American Orthodox Сhurch, and of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the bishop who is first-among-equals within the global communion of Orthodox churches.
These three documents are a remarkably illuminating constellation. They represent genuinely distinct theological grammars, each with its own сhristology, ecclesiology, anthropology, and eschatology, and each implying a different account of what the gospel means for the world as it actually is. Reading them together also reveals a real asymmetry that a merely even-handed analysis would obscure.
Orthospeak
Orthospeak: An Outline A bishop told me once, in response to a direct, publicly addressed question, that he put obedience to Church hierarchy above truth and justice. It was, paradoxically, a moment of truth: normally, this is the underlying maxim of what is done in practice, but it is not often so candidly acknowledged. Christians[…..]