Ecumenical Patriarch Suggests Reunion with Rome
Patriarch Bartholomew tells Athonites reunion with Catholics is inevitable, reports UOJ
Mt. Athos, November 27, 2019
On November 12, Patriarch Bartholomew participated in the Vespers service at the Catholic Abbey of Our Lady of St. Rémy in Rochefort, Belgium, together with Archimandrite Alexios, the abbot of Xenophontos Monastery, and Hieromonk Theophilos of Pantocrator Monastery, both on Mt. Athos.
According to a new report from the Union of Orthodox Journalists, during his trip to Mt. Athos the previous month, Pat. Bartholomew attempted to convince several Athonite abbots and monks that there are no dogmatic differences between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, and that reunion with the Catholic church is inevitable.
Pat. Bartholomew expressed his personal convictions during a private talk at Pantocrator Monastery with the brethren and guests of the monastery, including other Athonite abbots. Eyewitnesses report that Pat. Bartholomew’s security did not allow anyone to record the conversation.
In his opinion, the division that now exists between Orthodoxy and Catholicism is merely a matter of historical events, not dogmatic differences.
Catholics “are just as Christian as we are,” Pat. Bartholomew emphasized, adding that the recent gift of the relics of St. Peter from Pope Francis is proof of the Catholic church’s nearness to Orthodoxy.
According to the UOJ’s sources, Pantocrator abbot Archimandrite Gabriel, Xenophontos abbot Archimandrite Alexios, Vatopedia abbot Archimandrite Ephraim, the brethren of several monasteries, and other guests were all present for the talk.
Most of the brethren were at a loss, hearing Pat. Bartholomew’s ecumenistic arguments, though none present objected. Some of those present reportedly began to weep when Pat. Bartholomew said that reunion with the Catholic church is inevitable.
Recall that Xenophontos and Pantocrator Monasteries have been the most receptive to the Ukrainian schismatics. Abbot Alexios of Xenophontos concelebrated in the enthronement of Epiphany Dumenko as primate of the OCU, and Pantocrator was the first monastery where schismatics served Liturgy on Mt. Athos.
At a recent meeting in Constantinople with representatives of Tbilisi University, Pat. Bartholomew said that dialogue with other Christians, especially Catholics, is one of the priorities of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Pre-Advent Lenten Dinner
The pre-Advent Lenten dinner will be held Sunday, 10 November, 2019, following Divine Liturgy. Please coordinate this pot luck dinner with the sisterhood president, Susan Russo.
27th Annual Slavic Festival, Ambridge, PA
Holy Ghost Orthodox Church
210 Maplewood Avenue
Ambridge, Pennsylvania 15003
V. Rev. Fr. William J. Evansky, Pastor
10 September, 2019
Glory to Jesus Christ!
The Holy Ghost Orthodox Church will be sponsoring its TWENTY-SEVENTH Annual Slavic Food Festival on Saturday, October 12, at the Holy Ghost Orthodox Youth Center, 405 Maplewood Avenue, Ambridge from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. I would appreciate it if you would relay this information to your congregation in your weekly bulletin or after-Church announcements.
Dinners will feature stuffed cabbage, chicken Kiev, kielbassi with sauerkraut, pierogis, and halushki. A variety of home baked pastries, cake and pies will be available for dessert or to take home.
Other highlights of the festival will include a Religious Articles booth and a festival auction. The Russian Balalaika Orchestra will provide live musical entertainment at 3:00 pm followed by the Strolling Balalaikas of Pittsburgh at 4:00 pm. Attached is a flier to post on your Church's bulletin board.
I will be looking forward to seeing you and members of your congregation at our Festival. Thank you for promoting our event.
Please feel free to notify me when your congregation has a festival or fund raising event, so that we may publicize it in our Church bulletin.
Yours in Christ,
Metropolitan's Encyclical at the Begining of the New Church Year
The Beginning of the Ecclesiastical New Year 2019
Archpastoral Message of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon
on the Beginning of the Ecclesiastical Year,
the Day of Prayer for Creation
September 1, 2019
To the Venerable Hierarchs, Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of the Orthodox Church in America,
O timeless Word and Son without beginning, united with the Holy Spirit, Co-maker of all and Co-creator of all things visible and invisible: bless the beginning of this year; bring peace to Thine Orthodox people, through the prayers of the Theotokos and all the saints. (Doxastichon for the Indiction at Lord I Call.)
On this day, the Ecclesiastical New Year, the church calls us to contemplate and meditate upon our Creator and His Creation. This first day of the New Year not only marks a renewal of the liturgical cycle, but, as the beginning of the year, it draws our attention to the beginning of all and to God who has no beginning. As such, we are given the opportunity to offer prayers for the preservation of the earth, for the welfare of us who inhabit it, who are part of it, and who crown it, and for God to grant us the wisdom and grace to be good and faithful stewards of this earth, the Lord’s creation, given to us freely and always imparting more gifts for our nourishment, benefit, and life.
It is easy to take creation for granted, to see the world around us as comprising inanimate objects and dumb beasts, servants to our purpose and delight, or obstacles in our way. Indeed, in the beginning God placed human beings at the head of creation, creating us in His image and likeness to have “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” (Gen. 1:26) Yet, as with our Lord and his Kingship over us, we are not to dominate nature, but humbly commune with it in a relationship of love, of care, and of stewardship.
While Genesis shows that the world was created for the service of humanity, the Psalmist so eloquently puts into divinely-inspired words the ultimate, higher purpose of God’s creation:
Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the highest… Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy winds fulfilling his command. Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, beasts of the earth and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds. Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth, young men and maidens, old men and children! (Ps. 148:1, 7-12)
“Let them praise the name of the Lord!” the Psalmist exclaims. We are of creation, and ultimately ought to be of one mind and purpose with all created things, praising the Lord. While creation praises the Lord by its very existence, we offer our praise to the Lord through our stewardship of creation and created things themselves, a reality revealed so fully in the Eucharist.
Thus, as we celebrate the beginning of the New Ecclesiastical Year, I exhort you to bear in mind the beginning of the world, and the world itself. Let us give thanks for creation, with the words of the beautiful Akathist “Glory to God for all Things” on our lips. Let us contemplate the great mystery of creation, which offers itself for our nourishment and earthly life. Likewise, let us further meditate upon the culmination of creation: Jesus Christ, our Lord, offering his very body and blood, his substance and life, upon the Cross for our life. Let us join the earth, wood and water, sky and stone, praising and worshipping the Lord, the Giver and Creator of Life. May our Lord and Creator inspire us, that we may heal our state of enmity with nature wrought by sin (Gen. 3:15-19), that we may strive for the preservation and renewal of the world, and that we might sing His praises with the earth and all that is in it as good stewards of His creation.
With paternal love and blessings,
+TIKHON
Archbishop of Washington
Metropolitan of All America and Canada
Further Details on 2019 Pan-Orthodox Picnic
As mentioned previously below on 08AUG19, the pan-Orthodox annual picnic will be held on, Sunday, 15 September, 2019, at 12:00 PM, at Alameda Park- Odd Fellows Gazebo Pavilion 184 Alameda Park, Butler, PA.
Divine Liturgy arrangements are as follow:
10:00 AM at St. Andrew Orthodox Church, Lyndora, and
10:00 AM at the above mentioned venue for SS Peter & Paul and St. Anthony’s parishes.
All are welcome to attend the picnic.
Directions to the picnic site can be found on that news bulletin of 08AUG19.