Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of the Orthodox Church visited the Demilitarized Zone of the two Koreas on Saturday, December 8, 2018 where he led a special prayer for peace and unification. The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a weapons-free buffer zone between North and South Korea. The area was established on July 27, 1953 when the…

CHICAGO (CBS) — Members of a historic church in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood are fighting to keep it off the auction block this month. Members of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church are praying for a miracle to prevent the church from closing. The church is about $8 million in debt, and the building is set…

President Moon met with the head of the Orthodox Church — the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew the First. The South Korean leader said he greatly appreciates the patriarch’s dedication to the movement to reconcile different religions and sects as well as to the conservation of ecology and the environment. He asked for the Patriarch’s wisdom and…

Romania ranks first among 34 countries in Europe included in an analysis of Pew Research Center, which looked at the countries’ levels of religious commitment. The study took into account four common measures of religious observance, namely religious service attendance, prayer frequency, belief in God and self-described importance of religion in one’s life. According to the…

Kiev, December 7, Interfax – The Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) said its bishops, other clerics and parishioners were being pressured following the Bishops’ Assembly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on November 13. “Following the Bishops’ Assembly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which took place on November 13, 2018, pressure has…

At its last meeting in 2018, the UOC Synod decided to report anti-constitutional policy of authorities toward the Church to Local Churches, Embassies, and the Ombudsman. On December 7, 2018, a final meeting of the Holy Synod of the UOC was held at the residence of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude…

The members of the Holy Synod of the UOC did not bless the episcopate, clergy, monkhood, and laity to participate in the “unification council”. On December 7, 2018, the Primate of the UOC, His Beatitude Onufriy, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, informed all the bishops of the decisions of the Holy Synod of the…

A letter of Pat. Bartholomew to Met. Onufriy is published, in which Phanar says that in case of refusal to take part in the “council,” the UOC head will be a schismatic. Patriarch Bartholomew sent a letter to His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy urging him, “willingly, in the spirit of harmony and unity with the hierarchy…

His Beatitude Onufriy and other hierarchs of the UOC, who received invitations to the “Unification Council”, sent them back without a reply to the sender — Phanar. His Beatitude Onufriy, having received a letter from Patriarch Bartholomew with an invitation to the “unification council,” sealed the message in an envelope and sent it back to…