Originally written as a reflection for the OCA’s upcoming All American Council in July of 2015, I believe what follows applies to all Orthodox Christians in North America. The theme of mission and evangelization permeates our ecclesial atmosphere. From the beginnings of Christianity mission and evangelization has compelled the Church to enter the new and unknown. This is seen in the Pauline letters and in The Acts of the Apostles regarding the reception of Gentiles. Guided by the Spirit, this monumental movement on the part of the Church to move beyond the confines of Judaism was fraught with fear, suspicion and opposition. Yet, in the end, as the Church expanded its mind and heart Christianity was saved from becoming another Jewish sect as it engaged and transformed its surrounding cultures.
One of the important stages in the formation of the Russian quasi-religious neo-fascist doctrine of the "Russian World", intended to become the official state and religious ideology of Putin's Russia, took place on 27 March 2024. On this day a little-noticed but significant event took place in the Church Councils Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Under the chairmanship of Patriarch of Moscow Kirill (Gundyaev) the "Edict of the XXV World Russian People's Council", titled "The Present and Future of the Russian World," was officially approved. As stated in the preamble of this document, it "is a program document of the World Russian People's Council, as well as an order addressed to the legislative and executive authorities of Russia"
The Wheel invites scholars, theologians, artists, and practitioners to contribute to a special issue exploring the theme of "Nonhumans" within the context of Orthodox Christianity and contemporary culture.
January 18, 2024, afternoon. I receive a call from my wife: “Did you hear the news? Fr. Ivan Moody had passed away.” “Ivan Moody, dead? Could it be a mistake?” Hope in such situations always trumps the tragic news, even just for a moment. The news is soon confirmed. The Orthodox world, Serbian Orthodox Church, musicians, composers, and musicologists, have lost a truly remarkable person, a man of great stature.
There is constant tension between the principles of equality and hierarchy in the continuing debate within Orthodoxy concerning the ordination of women to clerical rank. Advocates of the ordination of women stress the ontological equality of men and women as a strong argument supporting the ordination of women to the diaconate and the priesthood, while opponents of women’s ordination argue that there exists a natural hierarchy between the sexes which bars women from ordination.
In early November, at the Maliotis Center at Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess held a symposium as part of the celebrations of its ten years of existence. The well-attended conference included presentations by several seminary faculty and other Orthodox theologians as well as a Greek Orthodox metropolitan bishop, and discussed a number of topics related to women’s ministries in the church: the historical diaconate, notions of ritual impurity, contemporary female chanters here in the U.S., consecrated deaconesses in some African Orthodox churches, pastoral issues where an ordained women’s ministry would benefit the church, logical fallacies in some arguments opposing the female diaconate, and the possibility of and strategies for reviving the female diaconate within the Eastern Orthodox Church.
