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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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Kyiv – At a session of the Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) presided at by Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan), head of the UOC-MP, the members approved the membership of the Committee of the UOC-MP on the Revival of Ukrainian Orthodox Unity, created by the Hierarchal Sobor [Assembly] of the UOC-MP on 24 January. The committee will consist of 12 members, of which there are 6 bishops, 3 archimandrites, and 3 archpriests. pravoslavye.org.ua posted the news on 29 March 2007.
Source:
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Kyiv – Archbishop Mytrofan (Yurchuk), administrator of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), has condemned the creation of the civic organization A National Church for Ukraine, headed by National Deputy Petro Yushchenko, brother of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, whose aim is to unite the Ukrainian Orthodox churches into a single national church. RISU’s Ukrainian-language site posted the news on 30 March 2007.
“This is another attempt to wreak havoc on the complicated interdenominational life of Ukraine,” said Archbishop Mytrofan.
According to Archbishop Mytrofan, Parliament already has a similar committee, consisting of “very nationalistic national deputies, Uniates, Greek Catholics, and people who are far from the faith and the church.”
“It is not a secret that all these attempts failed. It is not hard to imagine what A National Church for Ukraine is up to. No doubt, they will work in the regions in order to ruin the church, starting with parishes,” said the archbishop.
According to him, “after the idea of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko to create a bilateral commission between the Orthodox and the schismatics failed, they decided to change the tactics of the criminal war against Orthodoxy.”
Source and previous related RISU news: portal-credo
• http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;14882/
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Kyiv – Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko), head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), has warned Protopresbyter Ioan Zamaraiev, secretary of the Kherson Eparchy of the UOC-KP, about cooperation with the Latvian-based New Generation Church. cerkva.info released the text of the patriarch’s letter on 21 March 2007.
Patriarch Filaret’s letter was in response to the fact that on 18 March, at the invitation of Fr. Zamaraiev, Pastor Aleksey Ledyaev of the New Generation Church in Latvia preached during the morning Liturgy at the UOC-KP Cathedral of the Presentation of the Lord in Kherson. Prior to that, Fr. Zamarayev had participated in a New Generation conference in Riga without the patriarch’s blessing.
Patriarch Filaret recalled that the UOC-KP supports the position that the foundations, practice, and activities of the New Generation Church have the classical characteristics of a totalitarian sect or cult and its “new world order” doctrine, which states that it is necessary to introduce religious control over the state and the political life of countries, is non-Christian.
The participation of Fr. Zamaraiev in a New Generation conference and his greeting in the name of the UOC-KP’s Donetsk Eparchy were interpreted as UOC-KP support of the activity of New Generation and its “new world order” doctrine.
In his letter, Patriarch Filaret stressed that, by these actions, Fr. Zamariev “ignored the canonical prescriptions of the Orthodox church, since he allowed a person who does not belong to the Orthodox church to preach in the church and undermined the reputation of the UOC-KP.”
Therefore, Patriarch Filaret demands that cooperation with Pastor Ledyaev cease, and if the canons of the Orthodox church and decrees of the head of the UOC-KP are not followed, he warns that sanctions will be applied against Fr. Zamaraiev.
Source and previous related RISU news:
• http://cerkva.info/2007/03/24/lyst.html
• http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;14855/
• http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;14777/
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VATICAN CITY, APRIL 1, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the homily Benedict XVI delivered today, Palm Sunday. He did not give the customary Angelus address.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the Palm Sunday procession we join ourselves to the crowd of disciples who, in festive joy, accompany the Lord in his entrance into Jerusalem. Like them we praise the Lord in a loud voice for all the great deeds we have seen. Yes, we too have seen and continue to see the great deeds of Christ: how he brings men and women to renounce the comforts of life and put themselves completely at the service of the suffering; how he gives courage to men and women to oppose violence and lies, to make a place in the world for truth; how he, in secret, leads men and women to do good for others, to bring about reconciliation where there was hate, to create peace where enmity reigned.
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VATICAN CITY, APRIL 1, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI named Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, as the pontifical legate to the celebrations marking the 90th anniversary of the Virgin Mary's appearance at Fatima.
Mary's apparitions to three shepherd children, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, began on May 13, 1917, and occurred five more times, the last on Oct. 13 of the same year.
The celebrations of the anniversary will take place May 12-13 at Fatima.
Benedict XVI will be in Brazil at that time to open the work of the 5th General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Code: ZE07040103
Date: 2007-04-01
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Jerusalem, March 14-15, 2007
The Sixth Academic Meeting between Judaism and Orthodox Christianity on “Religious Liberty and the Relationship Between Freedom and Religion” took place from March 14-15, 2007, in the Jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and held at the Van Leer Institute. The meeting was also made possible with the generous support of the Sapir Center for Jewish Education and Culture and of the Archons of the Order of St. Andrew, Ecumenical Patriarchate. The meeting was co-chaired by Chief Rabbi David Rosen, President of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations and His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, who heads the office of Interreligious and Intercultural Affairs to the Liaison Office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the European Union, Brussels.
The opening of the meeting began with the reading of a message from His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and the meeting was honored by the presence of His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel, Rabbi Yonah Metzger. Patriarch Theophilos III also presented his message at the opening session and hosted a reception at the Patriarchate.
Greek government officials who sent their greetings to the participants included Her Excellency Mrs. Dora Bakogiannis, Minister of Foreign Affairs and His Excellency Mr. Thodoris Roussopoulos, Minister of State and Government Spokesman. Greetings were also delivered by Mr. Andrew Athens, Honorary President of the World Council of Hellenes and Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Chief Rabbi Rosen opened with welcoming remarks followed by the introductory address of Metropolitan Emmanuel of France.
Forty delegates were present at the meeting representing Judaism and Orthodoxy. Among the observers were representatives from the Vatican as well as the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Israel.
The subject of the first session was “Religious Freedom and Law in our Sources.” Presentations were made by Chief Rabbi Mordechai Piron, Chairman of the Sapir Center for Jewish Education and Culture in Jerusalem and Professor Vlassios Phidas of the University of Athens, representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The presentations of the second session, on “Faithfulness to a Religious Identity in the Modern World,” were delivered by Rabbi Dr. Richard Hirsch, President of the World Union of Progressive Judaism in Jerusalem and Reverend Professor Thomas Fitzgerald, Dean of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA, representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Papers for the third session on “Addressing the Challenges from Concrete Contexts,” were presented by Rabbi Dr. Richard Marker of New York and Reverend Dr. Sergey Hovorun of the Department for External Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow.
The following principles were affirmed by the consultation:
a. The principle of religious freedom is a fundamental right that flows from our mutual biblical affirmation that all human beings are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). Freedom is a divine gift and religious value and as such must be respected and protected.
b. Because freedom enables us to choose between good and evil, the gift of freedom requires the exercise of responsibility. The manner in which we express our responsibility, profoundly affects human dignity and wider contexts in which the person lives: family, community, nation and humanity. We are, therefore, endowed with an ethical responsibility to pursue righteousness, and to confront evil wherever we find it. Personal freedom, morality and responsibility are all interconnected.
c. Freedom of religion, freedom of conscience for all individuals and freedom to exercise one’s worship and practices at the national, regional and international levels must be guaranteed. Otherwise, societies fail to respect the inviolable rights of persons of diverse religions as well as of those of no religion at all.
d. Religious communities are entitled to defend their own authentic religious identities against attempts to undermine them.
e. The preeminent value of the human person obliges us to respect all forms of religious and secular expression, as long as they do not infringe upon or threaten the security and religious freedom of individuals, communities and societies. Conversely, where militant secularism and religious extremism pose such a threat, they must be repudiated and combated.
Following on from the above principles, we call upon governments to recognize the important role of religion within their states and broader society, and to implement the above-listed principles in all state legislation impacting religious practice and expression.
www.ec-patr.org