Italian mediation on Thursday helped resolve a long-running dispute between Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian government and the Serb minority, allowing a highway project that will bypass a historic Christian Orthodox monastery listed as an endangered World Heritage site. Serb Orthodox leaders long protested works to greatly widen a road brushing the 14th Century Visoki Decani Monastery…

The copper plaque from the tombstone of former President Tassos Papadopoulos has been found, police said on Monday, after it was discovered stolen on Sunday. The plaque, depicting Papadopoulos, was reported stolen on Sunday morning, along with two copper crosses from other graves in the old cemetery in Deftera village, in the Nicosia district. The…

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be received by the Ecumenical Patriarch at the Patriarchate’s Phanar-district seat, the US State Department said this week, while adding that talks will focus on “…religious issues in Turkey and the region and to promote our strong stance on religious freedom around the world.” The statement noted that…

The Archbishop of America, His Eminence Elpidophoros, over the weekend visited the celebrating monastery of St. Nektarios, in Roscoe, New York, on the occasion of the feast day of St. Nektarios. The Archbishop attended the services venerating the memory of the saint, while officiating at the Great Vespers. The Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Nektarios…

The Archbishop of Australia, His Eminence Makarios, welcomed an overwhelming decision by the Greek Orthodox community of Woologong to return the parish of St. Nektarios into the fold of the Archdiocese and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. His Eminence noted that “…are not here to judge or condemn the mistakes of the past, but we are here…

The visiting Serbian Orthodox Bishop of South and Central America, the Rt. Rev. Kirilo, was called to the police headquarters in the Montenegro capital of Podgorica on Wednesday evening, in order to answer questions over a Divine Liturgy he officiated last Sunday at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation. A local prosecutor reportedly opened a…

The Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and All Albania, His Beatitude Anastasios, remained in high spirits on Wednesday, after being transported from Tirana to a hospital in central Athens after testing positive for the Covid-19 virus. In a brief interview with an Athens-based television station, and shortly before departing from Tirana aboard a Greek military aircraft,…

The Church today venerates the memory of John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria. St. John the Merciful was born in 555 on the island of Cyprus. His father, Epiphanius, was the ruler of Cyprus. The saint was consecrated Archbishop of Alexandria in 608. A man of commendable decency, in his zeal for Orthodoxy he strove…

Beirut Greek Orthodox Archbishop, Metropolitan Elias Audi, on Tuesday welcomed the Greek Ambassador to Lebanon, Catherine Fountoulaki. Discussions touched on the current situation and the challenges facing Lebanon after the August 4 blast.   — nna-leb.gov.lb