Metropolitan Hilarion: Recommendations on general Orthodox themes... .

The Primates and hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem and the Church of Cyprus met in Istanbul on 1-3 September 2011. Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR) commented on the meeting results in his interview to ‘Izvestia’ newspaper. The interview was published on 7 September 2011.


See Russian Orthodox Church DECR

Terry Mattingly Interview with Pravoslavie-ru

Terry Mattingly writes the syndicated "On Religion" column for the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C. that appears in about 350 newspapers nationwide, and is associate professor of media & religion at Palm Beach Atlantic College. He also is a senior fellow for journalism at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He is a member of Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Linthicum, MD.

See Pravoslavie-ru

For the Peace from Above

An Orthodox Resource Book on War, Peace and Nationalism, edited by Fr. Hildo Bos and Jim Forest.

"Since the early days of the Church, Christians have struggled to come to terms with Christ's words of peace and His example of peace. In Christ's life, as recorded in the New Testament, it is striking that He neither killed anyone nor summoned any of His disciples to kill. Indeed, the final miracle Christ performed before His execution was to heal an enemy's wound, an injury caused by the Apostle Peter in an attempt to defend his master. Yet, in the course of more than twenty centuries of Christian history, we see Christians often involved in war and, in surveying the calendar of saints, find not only those who refused to take part in war but also those who served in the military, though no one has been canonized due to his skill as a soldier. Besides the millions of Christians who have fought in armies, often against fellow Christians, we also find many priests, bishops and theologians who have advocated war and blessed its weapons. Our subject is an urgent one. Many people today live either near conflict areas or are directly touched by war or in areas where terrorist actions may suddenly occur. Everyone on the planet is in some way affected by wars in progress or wars in the making as well as the consequences of wars in the past. Every day thousands of Christians struggle in thought and prayer with some of the most difficult of questions: May I fight injustice by violent methods? Am I allowed to kill in combat? Are there limits on what I can do in the defense of my country? Am I as a Christian allowed to disobey demands that I believe are unjust or violate the Gospel? When the demands of my country seem at odds with the demands of the Kingdom of God, how do I respond to this conflict? Rarely do we find easy answers to these and similar questions. Thus, those of us in the Orthodox Christian tradition search for help in Holy Scripture, the canons provided to us by ecumenical councils, the witness of the saints, the writing of the Fathers of the Church as well as theologians of recent times. Imitation of saintly forebears alone, however, will not solve our problems. Different eras have adopted different attitudes. Also many of today's problems never existed before, not least the changed character of war in an era of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and mass propaganda. Yet knowledge of the thought and action undertaken by the Orthodox Churches on the issues of war and peace in recent decades surely can help us find ways out of the dead ends that many communities are experiencing today. This is the aim of this book."


See Orthodox Research Institute

Atlas of American Orthodox Churches

The Atlas provides a “snapshot” of the Orthodox Christian Churches in the United States. It is addressed for the wide - Orthodox and non-Orthodox, academic and non-academic - audiences. Simultaneously, this book is an atlas, a reference book and a thematic monograph. It is an atlas because it contains numerous maps to show the historical development and present territorial patterns of Orthodox Church life in America. It is a reference book because it furnishes comprehensive information and statistical data on all American Orthodox Christian Churches. It is a thematic monograph because the essays in this book tell the story of the Orthodox Christian past and present in the United States. Thematically, the Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches unfolds in four parts (see also table of contents below). Chapter one looks at the historical development of the American Orthodox Churches and presents many interesting facts about particular churches, local communities, and personalities associated with Orthodoxy in America. Chapter two offers an overview of twenty-one national Orthodox Church bodies (including Oriental Orthodox Churches). The short articles with information about each Church are accompanied by two maps: a state-by-state map of parishes and a county-by-county map of membership in this Church. The third chapter is devoted to Orthodox monasteries in the United States. The chapter gives a general introduction into Orthodox monasticism in America and offers a systematic database for the eighty-one Orthodox monasteries in this country. The accompanying map shows their distribution across the country. Chapter four furnishes data from the 2010 US National Orthodox Census. Tables and maps in this chapter contain statistics of parishes, membership, and church attendance for twenty-one different national Orthodox Church bodies.  This information is available church-by-church and state-by-state and county-by-county Principal Researcher, Data Compiler and Editor (akrindatch@aol.com)

"Orthodox Christianity in America has been both visible and invisible for more than 200 years. Visible to its neighbors, but usually not well understood; invisible, especially among demographers, sociologists, and students of American religious life. This first ever Atlas of American Orthodox Christian Churches presents Orthodox Christianity in terms that all can understand - scholars and members of the Orthodox Church. The Atlas presents a much-needed snapshot of Orthodox Christianity in these early years of the twenty-first century. It will become an invaluable resource and reference point for many ongoing conversations among the Orthodox and for our involvement in American life." - Rev. Dr. Thomas FitzGerald, Dean - Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, Massachusetts

See Holy Cross Orthodox Bookstore


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