Jordanville Started to Commemorate the Head of Moscow Patrarchate
(Portal-Credo.Ru – Vertograd, Jordanville)The head of Moscow Patriarchate Patriarch Alexey II was commemorated at Liturgy in Jordanville for the first time of September 2. From now on Partiarch will be commemorated in the services at this main monastery of ROCOR(L).
The reason for the first commemoration was bishops of MP present at the service in Jordanville for the first time. It made many people unhappy, because they believed that such commemoration is possible only after MP condemns ecumenism and sergianism, forbidding those bishops who were known for cooperation with KGB.
A few weeks before September 2 Metropolitan Lauris personally assured a number of people that the Patriarch would never be commemorated in Jordanville.
Jordanville was the main spiritual center of ROCOR. Most of ROCOR clergy studied there and most of ROCOR laity has visited the monastery at least once in their lives. The commemoration of Partiarch Alexey was taken by many as the fall of the biggest citadel of ROCOR.
Partiarch Alexey awards Catholic Bishop for "establishing good relations between Russian Orthodox and Catholic Churches"
(Official web-site of Moscow Patriarchate – Vertograd, Moscow)Partiarch Alexey awarded the official representative of Vatican in Russian Federation Catholic Archbishop Antonio Mennini. Catholic hierarch received the order of St Daniel of Moscow of the Third Degree on September 3 "to notice his labors for establishing good relations between Russian Orthodox and Catholic Churches and because of the 60-th anniversary", the official web-site of Moscow Patriarchate reports.
Bishop Damascene (Balabanov) of RusOC Ordained Three More Bishops and Became Metropolitan
(Official web-site of RusOC – Vertogtrad, Zaporozhje)Extraordinary Sobor of Bishops of RusOC took place in Zaporozhje on August 29 – September 1 headed by Bishop Damascene (Balabanov) of Oriel and Central Russia. Bishop Damascene and Archbishop Ioann (Zinoviev) of Zaporozhje and Ukraine broke form the group of Metropolitan Anthony (Orlov) in July 2007, and the group of Metropolitan Anthony (Orlov) was formed after Metropolitan Anthony and Bishop Victor (Pivovarov) of Kuban broke from ROCOR(V) (ROCiE) shortly before the repose of Metropolitan Vitaly.
During the Sobor Bishop Damascene and Archbishop Ioann ordained three new bishops: Bishop Gregory (Krentsiv) of Belgorod and South Russia, vicar bishop Vladimir (Matveev) of Voskresenksk and Cenral Russia and vicar bishop Pafeniy (Grinjuk) of Izmailovo.
The Sobor elected Bishop Damascene to the rank of Metropolitan and stated that the group of Metropolitan Anthony (Orlov) "had fallen away from the Russian Orthodox Church". (A year ago the group of Metropolitan Anthony (Orlov) stated that everyone who is not with that group "had fallen away from the Russian Orthodox Church"). Besides more than a half clerics of the new church group (7 people) received church awards…
Attack Against ROAC in Suzdal
(Suzdal Diocesial Herald – Vertograd, Suzdal)On August 24th, there was a demonstration in front of the Synodal headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church in Suzdal, Russia. The demonstrators, members of the Moscow Patriarchate, were accompanied by officers of the local police, and gave interviews to members of the local press, critical of the ROAC Church. As they stood demonstrating, they called out, "Sectarians, get out of Suzdal!" and "Sectarians, get out of Russia!"
Are all sectarians being treated this way, or are the "sectarians" of the ROAC church being singled out for this treatment? What evil are these people doing by going to church and saying their prayers the way they want to? Why would this be a threat to the governing authorities? How does the present government of the Russian Federation even determine who is a sectarian? Since the fall of Communism, Russia, in its bid to join the rest of the civilized nations of the world, has signed international treaties guaranteeing freedom of conscience for its citizens, and separation of church and state.
The Head of Moscow Patriarchate Greets the Latin Mass after Serving the Liturgy Where Four Catholic Bishops Were Present
(Interxaf-Religion – Vertograd, Moscow)The
motu proprio Summorum Pontificum that provides more freedom to use the pre-Vatican II Missal 'is a positive fact,' the Head of MP Patriarch Alexey II said to comment on the Roman Catholic Church reintroducing her ancient liturgical form.
'We strongly adhere to the tradition. Without being faithful to her liturgy the Russian Orthodox Church would have failed to survive persecutions in 1920s and 1930s,' the Russian primate told the Italian daily Giornale on August 28, on the Feast of Dormition, after celebration liturgy in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin.
Four Catholic bishops from Italy were present at that liturgy, as Russian
edition of Interfax-religion reports.
The patriarch opined that the pope's decision might contribute to establishing closer links with the Orthodox Churches, Giornale said.
The obligatory Latin Mass was abolished by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) when the Roman Catholic Church legalized liturgical use of modern languages hoping to attract more people. But the results were far from ideal, and the reform led to a schism as Archbishop Marcel Lefevre refused to accept it an faced excommunication in 1988.
Photo: Patriarchial service in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin on August 28, 2007. You can see Catholic Bishops among "Orthodox" bishops there.
