One-third of all clergymen, two-thirds of all Orthodox parishes, three-fourths of the students of spiritual education establishments belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Culture Ministry said in its report. Over 10,200 clergymen and over 12,600 communities belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The number of the latter is twice as high as the total number of communities of all Orthodox religious organizations (Old Believe…

Already half a million people have bowed to the relics of St. Nicholas in the two weeks since they were brought to the Russian capital. "To date, the number of pilgrims has reached half a million people. The line is on average three kilometers long," Patriarch Kirill's spokesman Alexander Volkov told Interfax-Religion. Among the pilgrims who came to venerate the saint these days was Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the statistics unveiled by the organizers of the bringing of the…

Die Zeugen Jehovas haben angekündigt, gegen das Urteil des Obersten Gerichts zu ihrer Einstufung als „extremistische Organisation“ in Berufung zu gehen. Am 20. April hatte das Oberste Gericht Russlands einen Antrag des Justizministeriums gebilligt, die Zeugen Jehovas als „extremistische Gruppe“ einzustufen, die die öffentliche Ordnung bedrohe und Familien zerstöre. Russlands Kirchen reagierten unterschiedlich auf das Verbot der Zeugen Jehovas. Der Leiter des Außenamtes des Moskauer Patriarchat…

In Jekaterinburg ist der Blogger Ruslan Sokolovskij wegen des Schürens von Hass und der Verletzung der Gefühle von Gläubigen zu einer bedingten Haftstrafe von dreieinhalb Jahren verurteilt worden. Der 23-Jährige war im September verhaftet worden, nachdem er ein Video auf Youtube gestellt hatte, das ihn beim Jagen von Pokémons in einer der größten Kirchen Jekaterinburgs zeigt. Die Spiel-App, in der virtuelle Wesen mithilfe des Mobiltelefons an realen Orten gefangen werden, war zu der Zeit sehr b…

Die Russische Orthodoxe Kirche hat sich gegen die Umstellung vom kyrillischen auf das lateinische Alphabet in Kasachstan ausgesprochen. Dieser Schritt werde für Millionen Russen in dem zentralasiatischen Land und viele Kasachen „sehr schmerzhaft“ sein, sagte der Leiter des Kirchlichen Außenamts des Moskauer Patriarchats, Metropolit Ilarion (Alfejev). Staatspräsident Nursultan Nasarbajew hatte im April angeordnet, bis 2025 die kyrillische Schrift durch lateinische Buchstaben zu ersetzen. Metrop…

On 5 June 2017, the Day of the Holy Spirit, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Trinity Cathedral, one of the largest Ukrainian Orthodox churches in Kiev. Concelebrating were Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod and Chernobyl; Metropolitan Antony of Borispol and Brovary, chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; seventeen archpastors – two metropolitans, five archbishops, and ten bishops; clerics of the cathedral and ordained guests. Arch…

The Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church met at the Monastery of the Protecting Veil in Kharkov 27 May 2017. It was chaired by His Beatitude Onufriy, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, and was timed to the 25th anniversary of the Council of Kharkov. The meeting took place at the historic building in which the Council of Kharkov was held, as part of the church celebrations devoted to the jubilee. The Synod adopted a Message to the Episcopate, Clergy, Monastics and Laity on the Occasion of t…

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia consecrated the Cathedral of the Resurrection in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan capital city of Bishkek and celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the newly consecrated church. Before the service the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church was met at the cathedral door by Bishop Daniel of Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan, the Director of the Kyrgyz State Commission for Religious Affairs Z. Ergeshev, and the Russian Ambassador of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan A. Kr…

On June 4, a conflict erupted between the faithful of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate around the building of a church in Kolomyia. According to IRres, which is citing a local television station STC, it is a wooden Church of Annunciation of the 17th century. The activists of the UGCC came to the church building and organized a meeting in which it claimed the rights to it. Allegedly, only Greek Catholics ruled there, but in the Soviet t…