Ukrainian Ecclesiastical Conflict Impacts Antarctic

Chapel on Ukrainian research station switches from Moscow-compliant jurisdiction to the new independent Ukrainian church - churches and religions in Ukraine are calling for peaceful presidential elections.

Kiev (kath.net/KAP)The Ukrainian church dispute now has an impact on the Antarctic.

 The Volodymyr Chapel, which was officially part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, was built in 2011 in the Ukrainian Vernadsky Station in Perpetual Ice. The Ukrainian National Scientific Antarctic Center in Kiev has announced that the chapel of the new autocephalous "Orthodox Church of Ukraine" is to be placed under the control of the Ukrainian media. A corresponding request to Metropolitan Epifanij, head of the church, had already been made and answered positively.

According to media reports, at the Antarctic Station's current shift change, a copy of that tomos (document) was also brought along, with which Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I released the Ukrainian Church into independence at the beginning of January 2019.

Meanwhile, there are more important decisions in Ukraine itself. The "All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religions" called on the people of the presidential election next Sunday for a "conscientious voting decision" and not to vote "against something" but "for a good and, above all, peaceful future for all". In the election of the new head of state, it should be remembered that one should choose not in their own interest, but in the interest of the good of the entire state. The elections must be peaceful, respect for those who represent other political opinions, is essential, according to the church and religious representatives.

The Council also proclaimed Saturday, 30 March, the "Day of Prayer and Fasting" for honest and peaceful elections. The "All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religions" has around 20 Christian, Muslim and Jewish churches or religious denominations.

The current incumbent President Petro Poroshenko has to fear for his re-election on Sunday. According to surveys, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, and especially the actor and newcomer Volodymyr Selenskyj in the electoral favor before Poroshenko. According to observers Poroshenko was all the more eager to found the new Ukrainian Orthodox National Church. In the surveys, he was able to gain between six and eight percentage points.

The President is not only looking for closeness to the Orthodox, but also the Catholic Church. So this week he handed over to representatives of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Ternopil a small monastery complex that originally belonged to Dominicans and was expropriated during the communist era. According to a report by the church news portal "risu.ua.org", “historical justice" has been restored. He also wanted to thank the Greek Catholic as well as the Orthodox Church of Ukraine for their constant prayer for Ukraine, Poroshenko said.

Nearly 28 percent of already determined voters said they were voting in favor of Selenskyj. Poroshenko and Tymoshenko are going head-to-head with about 16 to 17 percent to qualify for the April run-off election. The 36 other candidates remained in the polls under 10 percent of the vote. More than 20 percent of voters, however, said they were still undecided.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Relic of Saint Nicholas Drawing of Millions of Pilgrims in Moscow

(Moscow) For the first time in the history of Russia, there are relics of St. Nicholas of Myra, one of the saints especially worshiped in the Orthodox Church, on Russian soil. After almost a thousand years, for the first time, a relic of the Saint has left Italy.

Arrival of the relic shrine at the Moscow airport

During their meeting in Cuba, Pope Francis and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill agreed in February 2016 that a relic of the Saint would visit Russia. This passed May 21, it was time. All the church bells in the Russian capital Moscow rang as a sign of the great joy over the arrival of the relic. In a spectacular procession, it was taken to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, where Patriarch Kirill celebrated Divine Liturgy.

Since 22 May, the relics have been venerated by the faithful in the patriarchal church. Millions of believers have come. Since then, people have been patiently standing in mile long lines in front of the cathedral to find their way in. Often, it takes eight to nine hours before they can step in front of the relic and just wait a few seconds. That is enough to touch or kiss the shrine. Prayer is "in the heart" on the way there, as the Russians say. For this reason, the pilgrimage line moves rather quickly. All the more surprising is the never-ending line in front of the cathedral.

On a dedicated website, believers report on their pilgrimage to the relic, including a young woman, Alena Romanenko. She said, "After I crossed myself and kissed the relic, the priest allowed me to kiss him a second time, no one pushed or protested ... I think that everything depends on what you carry in your heart and the Saint brings it."

A few seconds at the reliquary shrine

On all Moscow metro lines (the Russian capital has the world's fourth largest subway network after Shanghai, London and New York), the visitor to the St. Nicholas Reliquary has been given directions since May on how to come to the pilgrimage.

So far, only the exhibition of the girdle of Mary in 2011 and the relics of Saint Andrew 2003 had moved such crowds. In order to find something similar in the past, one has to go back to 1989, when the body of Sakharov was exhibited in Moscow, and the people were kept in long lines at a most inhospitable temperature of up to minus 20 degrees centigrade. (-4 Fahrenheit) Communist rule in the truest sense of the word.

Vladimir Putin, the current President of Russia, visited the relic on the evening of May 21st.

Until July 12, the relic remains in Moscow, then it is transfered to St. Petersburg to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. In St. Petersburg, an equally impressive number of believers are expected. On the way to the shrine of the saint they will touch or kiss, they will pass the tombs of Dostoevsky and Musorgsky, who are buried there.

Remains of the Saint were translated to Bari from the Muslims

The faithful wait patiently in long lines

The mortal remains of the famous martyr bishop have been preserved since 1087 in the southern Italian city of Bari, where they had been brought for the protection from the Seljuk Muslims from the small Asiatic town of Myra (today Demre in Turkey). Since then they have not left the Apennine peninsula. After coming to terms with Patriarch Kiril on 19 June, part of a rib of the saint was recovered from the crypt below the altar of the basilica named after him in Bari. On the morning of May 21, 2017, Metropolitan Hilarion, the "Foreign Minister" of the Moscow Patriarchate, celebrated a Divine Litirgy at the St. Nicholas Basilica of Bari, attended by Monsignor Francesco Cacucci, Archbishop of the Apulian city. At the end of the liturgy, the metropolitain received the relic from the representatives of the Catholic Church.  Hilarion brought the relic to Russia, in a specially designed shrine where the relic was received at the Moscow airport with military honors.

At the request of the Patriarch, all the church bells of Moscow were ringing for this event at 6 pm. The relic reached Russian soil exactly on the eve of the feast, with which the Orthodox Church commemorates the transfer of the relics from Myra to Bari. With a grandiose procession, Patriarch Kirill accompanied the relic into the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the main church of Russian Orthodoxy. The cathedral was blown up by the communist rulers in 1931, but after the end of the Soviet dictatorship it had once again been built up according to the original. On 19 August 2000 it was blessed by Patriarch Alexius II, the predecessor of Kyrill.

Great St. Nicholas procession of Veliteretskoye

Procession of Velitoretskoye

Also this year's Great Procession of Velikoretskoye, one of the great processions of Russia was marked by the presence of the relic of St. Nicholas. The procession, which ended on June 8, is actually a multi-day pilgrimage. It lasts from the 3rd to the 8th of June and finds its end in the inconspicuous place of Velikoretskoye on the river Velikaja in the remote Russia. In Velikoretskoye, about 50 kilometers northwest of Kirov, there is a monastery, where an ancient icon of St. Nicholas was preserved. The icon was found in 1383 by a farmer named Agalakov on the bank of the river. The revered icon is credited with numerous miracles. Soon the procession, still carried out today, was carried out, with the icon being carried 150 kilometers.

During the Soviet period it was first brought to the bishop's church of the city of Viatka, which was renamed by Stalin for the Communist leader Kirov, whom he had executed. When the Communists destroyed the Cathedral of Kirov in 1935, the icon was lost. The Great Procession was already forbidden at that time, but never broke off completely, as small groups of believers kept them secret. After the collapse of the Soviet regime, the pilgrimage was re-established and is now regarded as a sign of the orthodox rebirth of Russia. Since the early 1990s the pilgrimage takes place every year, even if only a replica of the old icon is available. In 2000, Patriarch Alexius II granted the event the status of an all-Russian procession. This year, 35,000 people came to a remote place, including Patriarch Kiril, who, through his personal presence, made the bridge to the relic of the saint, which was revered in Moscow.

https://youtu.be/DLjUmIDOFuo

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Bidl: Asianews

Trans: Tanceed vekron99@hotmail

Pan-Orthodox Council is Endangered? Conflict in Moscow and with Constantinople

Since the Synaxis of 2014, an Agreed Meeting of a Holy and General
Council of Orthodoxy for 2016 is Endangered 

(Moscow) The Roman Curia has officially been a permanent construction site since March 2013. Currently, it's primarily the communication area that's being reorganized. While Rome is being restructured, there was a veritable earthquake in the communication sector of the Moscow Patriarchate.

DISPLAY 

HERE YOU CAN ADVERTISE »

In Rome the Pontifical Council for Social Communications headed by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli Curia is pending a change in leadership. Msgr. Celli will be 75 in a few months. His former deputy, the Irish Curial Bishop Paul Tighe has already been appoinnted by Pope Francis in mid-December to the Assistant Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture  under the direction of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi. The American journalist Greg Burke is the new Vice-Vatican spokesman and deputy of Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.

In Moscow, at the same time, the two most famous heads of communication  were shown the door.  On December 24, approximately two weeks before  Orthodox Christmas, the Moscow Patriarchate issued the press release no. 98. At the end of a meeting of the Holy Synod, the merger of two previously separate departments of the Synod was announced. The Department for Relations between Church and Society and the Information Department were merged.

The newly created institution is called Department of the Church, Society and the Media. It is led by layman, Vladimir Legoyda who already previously headed the information department and is chief editor of the Orthodox journal "Thomas."

However, Archpriest Vsevolod Tsaplin was shown the door. Since 2009 he was head of the Department for Relations between Church and Society. In this capacity, the Archimandrite was regarded as the main spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church.

Critics of too much dependence of the Church on state power

A few days before him, Sergei Tschapnin, the chief editor of the official press organ of the Moscow Patriarch had already been dismissed. The reason for the dismissal was that  the American website in First Things published an article by him in November, "A Church of Empire". The title could be translated as "state church". Tschapnin expressed himself  very critically of the close association of the Russian Church to the state power.

In an interview with the Catholic News Service Asianews Tschapnin repeated that the main bone of contention justifying Russian military intervention in Syria and Ukraine is that it is a "holy war" for God..

The Orthodox churches are known for the fact that internal conflicts are carried out with rigor. In the current power struggle are Tsaplin and Tschapnin against Patriarch Kirill I and the "foreign minister" of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. Tsaplin complained in his criticism, of authoritarian repression of synodality, which is so characteristic of the Orthodox Church, by the patriarch and the "foreign minister".

 

The Dismissed Santander Archimandrate Tsaplin,
one of the most famous voices of Russian Orthodoxy

Against criticism: cooperation with western stakeholders

Tschapnin repeated his criticism at the Moscow Carnegie Center. Therein his critics see the evidence that the two dismissed workers are collaborating in the new East-West conflict between Moscow and Washington with western stakeholders. The Patriarchate did not justify the dismissal order, but in the reading of subordinate bodies, the dismissal is presented as "self-protection" by the Russian Orthodox Church against a kind of fifth column. Established in 1994, the Carnegie Center in Moscow is an offshoot of the US foreign policy think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Russian government accuses comparable Western institutions of interference in internal Russian affairs.

Points of contention between Moscow and Constantinople endanger convening a Pan Orthodox Council

At the same meeting of the Holy Synod on 24 December,  Metropolitan Hilarion reported that it had come to a time to break the Pan-Orthodox meeting in mid-December in Athens. In the Greek capital, representatives of all recognized Orthodox churches gathered for the preparation of a Pan-Orthodox council. In a dispute over the rules according to which the  Council should take place.  Farthest apart are the positions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Patriarchate of Moscow. Constantinople claims primacy, while the Moscow does not recognize in this form. [Emphasis ours]

The patriarchs and heads of the Orthodox churches had agreed to in March 2014 after many years, to convene a Holy and Great Council of the whole Orthodoxy in Constantinople  in 2016.  The Pan-Orthodox Council is to be held in the Cathedral of St. Irene in Istanbul. The official reason for convening is the situation of Christians in the Middle East and the Ukraine issue. It is also about the recognition of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Equality of all Orthodox Churches has blocked the convocation off a Council for 50 years 

The convening of a Pan-Orthodox Council has been attempted  already for half a century, but failed repeatedly owing to inter-Orthodox  conflicts. In the absence of a generally recognized authority with ​​the outbreak of new conflicts always brought all previous attempts to naught. Central to this is the dispute over the question of what powers the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is entitled to as Primus inter pares. Since all Orthodox Churches are equal and decisions can be adopted unanimously, they block each other from a common approach.

Without an agreement in the current procedural issue,  there will be no Pan-Orthodox Council. Observers already expect   a postponement of the date by a few years, as has been the case for more than half a century.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi 
Image: Asianews

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

The Cross Remains in Polish Parliament -- Kulturkampf Against Anti-Christian Powers

(Warsaw) A Warsaw court rejected the demand to remove the crucifix hanging in the Polish parliament. The Christian symbol will continue to hang in the parliament hall in Warsaw, because it "violates no law." The atheistic party Ruch Palikota (Palikot Movement) still wants to continue their anti-Christian campaign and are now calling Strasbourg against the judgment.

"Even if the cross is a religious symbol, you can not ignore its importance it has as a symbol of national identity and  Polish culture" and thus "no law is violated." The Warsaw court justified its ruling that the crucifix still hangs in the Polish parliament.

Anticlerical Palikot Movement Provoked Fierce Culture War

The decision ends an ongoing dispute since 2011, which the annticlerical, left-liberal Palikot Movement had launched (for backgrounds and origin of the Palikot Movementsee the report hangover to Poland-election - "Not a good day for the protection of life" - Anti-Clerical Phantom has a Face   ). It calls for the removal of the cross from the hall of the Sejm , the first chamber of the Polish Parliament.The Cross with Corpus had been installed on the initiative of Catholic deputy after the fall of the communist regime.

The Palikot party, named for an entrepreneur,  now wants to bring their anti-Christian campaign before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. It argues that the presence of a cross in Parliament "violates the right to freedom of conscience and religion".

The Polish judiciary is of a different opinion and rejected the application. It recognizes the Christian symbol's special historical and cultural significance, which is an integral part of the Polish identity, especially as concerns the role of the Catholic Church over the past two centuries for national unity, especially during the Second World War and the Soviet occupation to in 1989.

Prime Minister Tusk welcomes Court Decision

The decision was also welcomed by the liberal-conservative Prime Minister. Donald Tusk. He stressed that the secularism of a state should not be expressed in fruitless arguments about the placement of crosses in public space. One survey found that 71 percent of Poles are in favor of maintaining the cross in parliament. However, the aggressiveness of anti-Christian groups leads to the cross are becomingthe focus of  more and more of legal proceedings. The atheists strive in numerous methods in the hope of someday finding a judge who will make a breach in their favor.

The Palikot Movement concluded in 2013 with representatives of the post-communist left alliance Europa Plus, which wants to compete with left-liberal, pro-EU positions in the European elections in 2014 and offers itself as an alternative choice  for the entire left spectrum of the left-wing Liberals to the Greens and Communists .

Historical praise of the Russian Orthodox Patriarch  for Polish Church

40 percent of Polish Catholics regularly attend Sunday mass. 90 percent of Poles regard the Catholic Church as a central factor, "unifying  the people." Recently, even the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow praised  the "Catholic Church of Poland" because it is "at the forefront of the European Union and  defends Christian values".An award of extraordinary importance in view of the old historical enmity that has existed between Catholic Poland and Orthodox Russians.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Asianews

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches....

AMGD

Putin to Visit Pope Francis -- To Forge a New "Holy Alliance"?

(Moscow / Vatican) Russia's President Vladimir Putin will pay a visit to Pope Francis. The audience is set for Monday, the 25th of November. The meeting was strongly desired by the Russian head of state. The diplomats of the Kremlin made inquiries a few weeks ago at the Vatican to include a trip to Rome during Putin's trip to Italy, which leads him to Trieste. The wish was granted immediately by the Vatican. On the same day, the man in the Kremlin will also pay a courtesy visit to the Italian Head of State, as required by diplomatic convention. But the real destination is Pope Francis.

Putin is not just seeking a photo-op, which would immortalize him next to the head of the Catholic Church. Russia seeks to establish a new network of strategic partnerships for several years. This was exemplified with the rapprochement between the Russian Orthodox and the Catholic Church under Pope Benedict XVI., an approach that is reinforced by the reigning Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill. However, the approach involves not only the Church but also the political level. And reveals that this is not just a purely political question.

Moscow in Search of Strategic Allies

In Moscow there is a quest for similarities and potential allies for a counterweight to the United States. A power struggle under very different circumstances. It's about national interests, geopolitics, and influence. But it is also a dimly recognizable counter-model to the new Western state doctrine of relativism. At this level, Putin calls out to the West. He did this by supporting the opponents of gay marriage in France and by Russia's refusal to fall under the U.S. Cartel. In addition to a national antagonism, a new ideology has entered. A contrast that will take place globally as the different language programs broadcast by Russian television show. There are  English and a Spanish editors to supply much of the world with counter-information to Western broadcasters.

The promising contacts by Benedict XVI arose between Moscow and the Vatican, should the Kremlin so desire, will be be expanded. The opportunity to continue leading the way with Pope Francis is apparent. Putin wants to personally attend the last decisive exploratory visit on the 25th November. Syria will only be a topic of discussion to demonstrate similarities. Russia has signaled in the Middle East it is ready to take on the role of protector of the Christians, whom the West seems to be willing to give up on other interests. 

Recognized Role of Russia: Open Letter from Francis to Putin

Early September, Pope Francis signaled that Russia must play an important role with an open letter to Putin, facing the G20 summit in St. Petersburg. Specifically, it was about the Syrian conflict. This was followed by prompt cooperation in the diplomatic field between the Vatican and Russia to defuse the conflict by securing Syrian President Assad's assent to destroy chemical weapons. The fate of Christians in the Middle East will be discussed at the meeting. Pope Francis has so far avoided any gesture that could be exploited in any way in an anti-Islamic manner by the West or from Russia. Unlike the West, he avoided any mention and even praise for the "Arab spring", in whose lee the Islamists in the Middle East experienced an unexpected increase in power. But he also avoided any invitation to the old protective forces to work beyond diplomatic activities for the protection of Christians in the Orient.

A new "Holy Alliance"? - Argentine Pope is no Longer in East-West Logic of the Cold War

In Russia, there is quite an interest to forge a kind of "Holy Alliance". Moscow has set aside a lot of the old resentment against the West and its representatives. What seemed unthinkable for the Moscow Patriarch with a Polish Pope, was already possible under a German pope. Then a Pope from Argentina is definitively not in the old East-West logic in which the Catholic Church was seen as part of the North Atlantic Alliance by Russia. This is also why new opportunities of approach are seen in the East.

Opportunities that could possibly lead to long-silent and gradually prepared meeting between a pope and a patriarch of Moscow. The trail leads to Moscow on a common defense of non-negotiable values.

Papal Gesture of Goodwill for Orthodox

Pope Francis shown his hand already in several benevolent gestures toward Orthodoxy. On the return flight from Rio de Janeiro, he expressed his admiration for the Orthodox liturgy, which is to have more strongly preserved the sacred. In his Civiltà Cattolica interview, he said of the Orthodox: "From them you can learn even more the meaning of episcopal collegiality and the tradition of Synodality".

On November 12th the "Foreign Minister" of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, has already come to Rome. The occasion is the presentation of a book with contributions of the Russian philologist Sergei Averintsev (1937-2004), who was a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences as an Orthodox. Hilarion's stay in Rome, are seen also as preparatory talks proceeding the 25th of November.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: Wikicommons
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...
AMGD

Putin Venerates His Patron: Russia to Commemorate Baptism of Russia

Edit: this from Pravda. This move is also being taken with a critical stance toward those countries, like Ukraine, which have crumbled to Western trends attempting to normalize apocalyptic sins:

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit commemorative events in Ukraine dedicated to the celebration of the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia. The visit will take place on July 27-28. The head of the Department for Relations with the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox community Kirill Frolov shared his comments on Putin's upcoming trip with Pravda.Ru. 

"Vladimir Putin's route coincides with the route of his divine patron, Equal to the Apostles Saint Prince Vladimir. The president will first visit key celebrations. July 27 will be the day for the historic prayer, to be attended by the leaders of all local churches, headed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. Then Putin will travel to Hersonissos in Sevastopol, where he will worship the shrines associated with the adoption of baptism by his patron, Saint Vladimir. In Sevastopol, Putin will also attend the parade of the Black Sea fleet, which historically guards the frontiers of our Orthodox Fatherland. 

"The Institute of CIS countries held a conference in 2007 on the fate of Sevastopol. Patriarch Kirill took part in the conference too. That was also the time, when the relics of saint righteous warrior Fyodor Ushakov, Russian naval commander and admiral of the Black Sea Fleet were brought to Sevastopol.

Read further...

Also, the Patriarch, Kiril, says that "gays" will destroy humanity and that monks should stay off the internet.  There's also a note of increasing bitterness and frustration towards Pope Francis, and his apparent ambivalence toward moral issues of the day. The Patriarch made these statements about Gomorrism, saying that they are "apocalyptic signs" on July 22nd :

Patriarch Kiril: 10 million Christian Websites Destroyed by FTC

Editor:   Islamism has long shared a certain affinity to Socialism, resembling it in its early stages and finally, becoming a tool by which it can continue to serve toward the destruction of the West.

“The Obama administration is set to begin formal contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood, a group dedicated in its own words to “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within, and sabotaging its miserable house.”

A shocking report authored by the office of Russia’s top religious leader Patriarch Kirill I states that this past week the United States ordered over 10 million Christian websites destroyed that they claimed were a “threat” to their National Security and that the American Internet giant Google quickly responded by making them all disappear.

According to this report, Google first came under assault from the US government in June when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that they had launched an investigation into the company, a move defended against by top Google executive Amit Singhal who aside from claiming the attacks against them were baseless said, “At Google, we’ve always focused on putting the user first.”

After weeks of unrelenting pressure upon them, however, this past week Google, which had refused to answer the baseless charges against them, caved to the US government and announced that their Chairman, Eric Schmidt, who had previously said the charges against them were nonsense, agreed to testify before a US Senate Committee under threat of subpoena.

Read further, here...

Russian Orthodox Church hierarch calls for strategic alliance with Catholics, Protestants

Editor: The only course is through true ecumenism. The problem will be highlighted by the fact that most protestant organizations don't find abortion, birth control or the dissolubility of marriage to be problematic.

Moscow, February 28, Interfax - Russia's moral and demographic situation raises a question about its future, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, said.

"I often say that today there is a bad need for a 'strategic alliance' between Orthodox believers and Catholics, members of the ancient eastern Churches, traditional Protestants, that is to say all those who defend true Christian values - the family, children's upbringing, indissolubility of marriage, the value of human life from inception until death," the Metropolitan said in an interview published in the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily on Monday.

All these notions are being "totally reviewed, and we must oppose this," he said.

"Otherwise, both Russia and the Christian civilization in general will over [not so much] time lose their 'salt,' lose their image and remain just a subject of study for historians and archeologists," the hierarch said.

Russians "are beginning to get used to their country's "severe demographic crisis," he said.

Asked what the Church can suggest to change this situation, he recalled the recent major initiative by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, involving a set of proposals to fight abortions, to support families with many children, to help children left without parents and to pass new legislation to protect families and childhood.

Link to interfax...

Modernization in Russia to base on moral norms - Patriarch Kirill

Moscow, March 3, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia urged to modernize Russia basing on moral principles and historical experience.

"True modernization always bases on modern principles... Modernization without moral dimension turns to unrestrained pursuit of temporary goods and pleasures, heartless technocracy, results in perverted relations between people," the Patriarch said on Thursday at a ceremonial session dedicated to 150 anniversary of serfdom cancellation in Russia at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.

According to him, a lesson of the 19th century reforms is that even most sensible and logical reforms "didn't resonate with ordinary people if they were performed impetuously, without looking back to the previous experience and traditions."

Read further...Interfax.

Moscow Patriarchate, Vatican wage common fight against secular liberalism - Patriarch Kirill

Moscow, November 19, Interfax -Despite a difficult relationship between the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches, they have been effectively cooperating along many avenues, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia told students and diplomats at the Russian Foreign Ministry Diplomatic Academy in Moscow.

"Together with the Roman Catholic Church we have been defending the traditional Christian concept of family and human values from aggressive secular liberalism. Our Churches are waging a common fight against medico-biological experiments incompatible with respect for human dignity," His Holiness said.

Cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church has become possible thanks to Pope Benedict XVI and is proceeding simultaneously along several avenues.

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7927

Orthodox Patriarch Condemns Homosexuality in Spanish Schools

By Hilary White

ROME, October 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has condemned a move by the Spanish government to insert what he called homosexual “propaganda” into school textbooks.

Patriarch Kirill said the Orthodox Church “would never fail to call a sin a sin.”

“I consider it very important to take into account the second article of the Protocol 1 of the European convention on human rights that stipulates that ‘the state shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religions and philosophical convictions.’”

Read further...

Patriarch Kirill Impressed by the Childlike Simplicity of Indigenous People

Yakutsk, September 24, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia during his trip to the Far East pointed out to particular purity of local peoples.

"When I met with local residents and looked them in the eyes I saw this childishness. Some may say: they're naive people, others may say: their life will change, they will become richer and it won't be this way anymore. And I'd like to wish all of you, all who live in these severe lands to keep this childishness in your hearts," the Patriarch said on Friday after the Divine Liturgy in the Transfiguration Cathedral of Yakutsk.

According to him, a child's soul has something that should never leave a person - "purity of heart."

"We can become very strong, rich, influential, clever, educated, learned, politicians or ordinary workers who enjoy everyone's respect, but in our heart we should keep this childishness, this ability to adore God's world, to feel the world beauty, to feel the truth like children do, to have pure soul like children. Only those with pure heart will see God," the Primate said.

"It's impossible to build a paradise on Earth. Human task is not to build paradise on Earth, but not to turn human life in hell," the Patriarch stressed.

According to him, a person by his or her own efforts cannot stay away from influence of sin, "he or she will lose sanctity given to him in the early years," but "we will keep the best we have and obtain the best the world can give us when God is in the center of our life."

Read further...

Patriarch Kirill consecrates icon on Kremlin tower

Moscow, August 30, Interfax - Last Saturday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and about thousand believers attended a solemn ceremony of consecrating an icon over the gates of the Moscow Kremlin Spasskaya Tower held by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

At 03:00 p.m. sharp with chimes striking, the President and the Patriarch walked out of the Kremlin Building No. 1 and proceeded through the Spasskaya Tower gate to the square. After a prayer service, Patriarch Kirill came up to a platform decorated with white flours that was then elevated to the level of the icon. The Primate sprinkled the icon with holy water and blessed the believers.

Ceremony of opening the icon over the gates was timed for the Assumption. Earlier that day the Primate celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Kremlin Assumption Cathedral.

St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation had initiated the reinstallation of icons over the gates of the Moscow Kremlin towers as far back as in 2007. The project received the government support and the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.

In April 2010, experts of the Interregional Scientific and Restoration Office made probes of the icon-cases of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya Towers. The research has confirmed the hypothesis that the icons were preserved under the layer of plaster.

Ancient icons were discovered on the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya Towers of the Kremlin. They were walled in during Soviet times and have been deemed lost for a long time now.

According to the existing historical materials, the Spasskaya Tower houses the icon of the Savior depicted with St. Sergius and St. Varlaam falling down at His feet. The icon was painted to commemorate the rescue from the siege of Moscow by the army of Magmet Girey in 1521. The mural on the Nikolskaya Tower dates back to the late 15th - early 16th centuries. During the civil fights in October 1917, the icon of St. Nikolas of Mozhaysk was riddled with shots, but his face escaped unharmed which the Moscow believers considered a miracle.

Link to original...Interfax.

Future of Russia is impossible without renewal of national self-identification - Patriarch Kirill

Pskov, August 18, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia believes the future of Russia depends on solid national self-identification based on Orthodox tradition.

"Today it's impossible for our Motherland to move further without renewal of our faith, our national self-identification, renewal of our shared spiritual system of values and shared responsibility of people for the country, Motherland, our children, for the future," the Patriarch said on Wednesday speaking to five thousand Pskov residents gathered at the Oktyabrskaya Square in the city center.

He stressed that foundation of Russian solidarity is not an ideology, but the Orthodox faith that "besides high and saving spiritual ideas, brings powerful ethic norms forming national character."

Read further...

What do Patriarch Kiril and Pat Robertson have in Common?

Who will quote the Moscow patriarch?

What is this? An invocation of the God of the Old Testament? Who else would it come from but a Russian, a religious sentiment capable of condemning the public expression of Sodomy, a voice capable of uttering the consequences of deeply held ancestral beliefs, something as rich and powerful as the Russian soul itself, something patriarchal and prophetic.

Getreligion says there will be a firestorm coming. It will be interesting to hear it, but we don't think it will get quite to the level of condemnation raised against Bishop Williamson, because globalists generally agree that Haitians' deserve some of their misfortunes as well, but for more worldly and unforgiving reasons.

Meeting possible between Pope, Patriarch Kirill - Archbishop Hilarion

Moscow, November 12, Interfax - Relations between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches are improving and a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, may be on the cards, a Russian Orthodox bishop said.

"Today it can be said that we are moving to a moment when it becomes possible to prepare a meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch of Moscow," Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Department for External Church Relations, told reporters in Moscow.

"There are no specific plans for the venue or timing of such a meeting but on both sides there is a desire to prepare it," the Archbishop said.

Preparations for such a meeting must involve finding "a common platform on all remaining points of dispute," the Archbishop said.

One such issue are relations between the Uniate community and Orthodox believers in Ukraine. In the early 1990s, "the fragile interdenominational balance was upset and a serious situation took shape that still exists," Archbishop Hilarion said.

At the same time, conversion of Orthodox believers into Catholicism is less of a problem today than it was a decade ago, he said.

Benedict XVI is "a very reserved, traditional man who does not seek the expansion of the Catholic Church to traditionally Orthodox regions," the Archbishop said.

When Benedict XVI, shortly after being elected Pope, met with Metropolitan Kirill (the present Russian Patriarch, then head of the DECR, a papal visit to Russia "was taken off the agenda as now it appears to us to be impossible," the bishop said.

After Metropolitan Kirill has been elected Patriarch, "one can hope for further steps" in Orthodox-Catholic dialogue because the Patriarch "will continue the line on relations with Christians of other denominations that he pursued as part of his former activities," the Archbishop said.


Link to article...