ARSON AT ORTHODOX MONASTERY IN NORTHWESTERN UKRAINE
Verbka, Volyn Province, Ukraine, April 16, 2024
Two buildings at a monastery of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church were set ablaze yesterday, April 14.
The incident occurred at the Nativity of St. John the Baptist Monastery in the village of Verbka, Volyn Province. Around lunchtime, two monastery buildings were broken into and set on fire, reports the Diocese of Vladimir and Volyn.
One of the utility buildings burned out completely, while the building where the house church and refectory are located was partially damaged. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire within an hour.
The arson was committed after the end of the Sunday Divine Liturgy. Windows broken from the outside can be seen on the ruins of the monastic buildings.
The abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Varlaam (Boichuk), said that, as always, he inspected all the monastery premises after the service, and found nothing that could have caused an accidental fire.
Source: Orthochristian.com
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RUSSIAN CHURCH RESPONDS TO PAPAL DOCUMENT ON BLESSING HOMOSEXUAL COUPLES, FIDUCIA SUPPLICANS
Moscow, March 26, 2024
Photo: npr.by
The Russian Orthodox Church published a document yesterday, March 25, responding to the Roman Catholic Church’s controversial Fiducia Supplicans document, which speaks of the possibility of blessing homosexual couples.
The Russian Church’s document, “On the Orthodox Attitude to the New Practice of Blessing ‘Couples in Irregular Situations and Same-sex Couples’ in the Roman Catholic Church,” was developed by the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission, headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Budapest.
According to the new document, “the ideas expressed in Fiducia Supplicans declaration represent a significant deviation from Christian moral teaching and require theological analysis.”
While “proclaiming fidelity to the Christian understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage and the practice of blessings,” the Catholic document “actually postulates a sharp departure from this fidelity.”
“In the context of the processes taking place in the Christian community, this document can be perceived as a step towards the full recognition by the Roman Catholic Church of ‘same-sex unions’ as a norm, which has already happened in a number of Protestant communities,” the Synodal Commission notes.
“All believers, including those with homosexual aspirations, need pastoral care. However, this pastoral care must not be aimed at legitimizing a sinful lifestyle, but at healing the soul of the suffering,” the Russian Church document states.
It concludes:
Despite the fact that the Fiducia Supplicans declaration is an internal document of the Roman Catholic Church, the Russian Orthodox Church considers it its duty to respond to such radical innovations that reject the divinely revealed norms of Christian morality. The Church, with maternal love and condescension accepting every individual sinner asking for its blessing, cannot bless ‘same-sex couples’ in any form, since this would mean the actual consent of the Church to a union that is sinful in nature.
Source: orthochristan.com
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PATRIARCH PORFIRIJE PRAYERFULLY COMMEMORATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF NATO BOMBING OF YUGOSLAVIA
On March 24, 1999, NATO began its aerial bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, which continued until June 10, 1999.
The campaign killed more than 1,500 people and destroyed or damaged hospitals, industrial plants, schools, cultural and religious monuments, private businesses, and more.
This past Sunday, March 24, His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Church prayerfully commemorated the 25th anniversary of the tragedy with a memorial service at the Toplica Hero’s Square in the city of Prokuplje in southern Serbia, reports the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Despite the terrible violence that was carried out 25 years ago, the Patriarch preached of love and forgiveness:
We gather to pray to God, who is Love and resides in love, to affirm our unwavering commitment to choose love over hate, peace over war, justice over tyranny, truth over falsehood, and the innocent over the guilty…
I am happy as a man, joyful as an Orthodox Serb, and blessed as a priest because no ultimatum has swayed my people from abandoning love, God, and neighbor. Even if the cost of such commitment is high, it simultaneously secures our survival and continuity, not only on geographical maps but also in eternity, in the Kingdom to which St. Sava guided us, and which was embraced by the noble prince and immortal knight Lazar.
All those who suffered in the NATO bomb stand with the innocent victim Abel, while the bombers stand with the fratricide Cain, the Patriarch said.
“The innocent blood shed across the land God gave us became the pledge of our hope and the seed of salvation… But with faith in Christ risen from the dead and the only Lord of love, we confess that nothing will be able to separate us from His love,” the Serbian primate continued.
“Our guides and measures are the holy martyrs,” His Holiness preached.
“Summarizing the reason for tonight’s prayerful remembrance, let us remember the past, live in the present given to us, and resolutely look ahead and move towards the future with hope as our guide, because according to Holy Scripture: Hope maketh not ashamed (Rom. 5:5).
Christians must not return persecution and slander with persecution and slander, but must bear witness to the truth, the Serbian primate encouraged. “Remembering our suffering, the prayerful remembrance of the innocent victims of the NATO bombing is not borne of malice, and with God’s help, it will not turn into vindictiveness,” Pat. Porfirije said. “Remembering our suffering, and our prayer for the innocent victims, is a testament to truth, justice, love, and peace, an effort to manifest the fullness of life in every good deed and virtue,” he added.
And the Patriarch concluded by quoting a prayer of his predecessor, Patriarch Pavle of blessed memory:
Lord Jesus Christ, our God, receive our earnest supplication and forgive us our trespasses. Remember our enemies who hate and oppress us, and do not repay them according to their deeds, but guide them with Thy great mercy, so they too may understand that evil cannot bring forth good. Deliver Thy holy Church and Thy faithful from all evil with Thine almighty hand. Help us, Lord, Thou Who for the salvation of all didst endure the cross and death, to replace hatred with love, unrest with peace, sorrow with joy, across the world and among us, that we might lead a quiet and peaceful life as Thy people, brothers and sisters with each other and among each other. Amen.
Source: orthochristian.com
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CANONICAL UKRAINIAN SYNOD CALLS ON PARLIAMENT NOT TO PASS LAW THAT WOULD BAN THE CHURCH
Kiev, April 11, 2024
The Holy Synod of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church held its first session of 2024 yesterday at the primatial residence at St. Panteleimon Monastery in Kiev.
The current situation with the violation of the right to freedom of religion of the faithful and organizations of the UOC was discussed, and it was decided to inform the Local Orthodox Churches, foreign countries, and international human rights organizations about the ongoing persecution, reports the Information-Education Department of the UOC.
The Synod also reiterated the Church’s administrative independence and that since 1990, its administrative center has been located in Kiev.
The Synod also adopted the text of a statement, emphasizing
that hierarchs, priests, and laymen of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are subjected to criminal prosecution on trumped-up charges. Churches and other property are taken away, and religious communities are unlawfully re-registered into the newly-formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Nearly a thousand and a half churches have already been seized to date. Local self-governments take unlawful decisions to ban the use of property by religious organizations of our Church.
The Synod also called on the Ukrainian Parliament not to pass draft law No. 8371, which aims, “under the pretext of protecting national security,” to completely ban the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the federal level.
Deputies voted in favor of the bill in its first reading in October, though it must pass a second reading to enter into law, and this second reading has been delayed several times.
The Synod notes that such a law would incite religious enmity and intolerance and infringe upon the principle of the autonomy of a religious community.
The Synod also elected a new vicar bishop for the Kiev Metropolis and a new vicar bishop for the Odessa Diocese.
Source: Orthochristian.com
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