Der Bratislaver Erzbischof Stanislav Zvolenský ist als Vorsitzender der Slowakischen Bischofskonferenz bestätigt worden. Seine Amtskollegen wählten den Metropoliten der Westslowakischen Kirchenprovinz an ihrer Herbstvollversammlung im Nationalheiligtum Šaštín für vier weitere Jahre zum Vorsitzenden. Zvolenský steht seit 2009 an der Spitze der Bischofskonferenz seines Heimatlandes. Stellvertretender Vorsitzender bleibt der Erzbischof von Košice und Metropolit der Ostslowakischen Kirchenprovin...

Die von „Pro Oriente“ einberufene „Catholic-Orthodox Study Group“ hat am 14. November ihre konstituierende Sitzung im Wiener Kardinal-König-Haus abgeschlossen. Sechs orthodoxe und sechs katholische Theologinnen und Theologen aus acht verschiedenen Ländern hatten im Rahmen dieser Sitzung seit dem 12. November über zukünftige Perspektiven für den orthodox-katholischen Dialog beraten. Im Hintergrund stand die Frage, welche Schwerpunkte die Stiftung „Pro Oriente“ künftig in ihrem Engagement für d...

The official site of the Polish Orthodox Church has published its Council of Bishops’ communiqué from its Wednesday session, confirming earlier reports that they refused to recognize Constantinople’s rehabilitation of the two groups of Ukrainian schismatics. “The Holy Bishops’ Council forbids the priests of the Polish Orthodox Church from having liturgical and prayerful contact with the ‘clergy’ of the so-called Kiev Patriarchate and the so-called ‘Autocephalous Orthodox Church,’ which have c...

A new subsection has been opened on the official site of the Russian Orthodox Church dedicated to the “Historical unity of the Russian Orthodox Church,” providing documents, publications, and news dedicated to the ongoing crisis in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. As the announcement reads, “Throughout its 1,000-year history, the Russian Orthodox Church, despite the changing political circumstances and temporary divisions, include the two-century period of forced separation from the Kiev Metro...

The Pope for Ukraine Initiative was implemented in Europe to help victims of hostilities in the east of Ukraine on the initiative of Pope Francis. As Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti said at a press conference, the total amount of EUR 16 million was collected for the campaign, a Ukrinform journalist reports. “The Pope wanted that the manner in which this aid would be distributed was special. On Sunday, during the Angel of the Lord prayer, the Pope said from a window of his apostolic palace that...

Zu einer ungewöhnlichen Bestandsaufnahme von Kirchengebäuden hat sich die Diözese Ostrava-Opava entschlossen: Sie lässt alle 15 der wertvollen Holzkirchen auf ihrem Diözesangebiet mit Hilfe von Drohnen per Laser einscannen. Die neue Technik ermöglicht die räumliche Darstellung der Gotteshäuser in einem dreidimensionalen Modell. Dies erleichtert nicht nur die Behebung von Schäden oder gar einen Wiederaufbau zerstörter Holzkirchen. Kommt es zu einem Brand, sollen die digitalen Modelle auch Feue...

The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church has issued a pastoral letter on the first Sunday of the Nativity Fast recalling that the Romanian people bears the ‘seal of the mystery of Christ’s Cross and Resurrection.’ ‘The luminous fruit-bearing of Christ’s Gospel in the history and culture of the Romanian people is observed in the gift of national unity, freedom and dignity, gained through strong faith and sacrificial struggle over many ages of Christian suffering,’ the hierarchs point o...

On November 17, 2018, a conference of the heads and high-ranking representatives of traditional religious communities in Syria and the interreligious delegation from Russia, headed by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR), took place at the main hall of the Patriarchate of Antioch at the Cathedral of the Dormition in Damascus. The event was initiated by the Russian Orthodox Church and was timed to the DECR ch...

His Holiness Patriarch-Catholicos Ilia II of Georgia, the most beloved and trusted man in the nation, has celebrated his 56th mass Baptism ceremony at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi, the site of the Georgian Orthodox Church reports.  More than 700 children became the patriarch’s Godchildren this time around at the mass ceremony celebrated on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on July 12. His Holiness now has more than 37,200 Godchildren. With the first mass Baptism on January 19, 2008,...