Tag: Russia
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Romania vs Moscow, 1940
Today, relations between the patriarchates of Moscow and Romania are tense: both lay claim to jurisdiction in the Republic of Moldova, which makes up about two-thirds of the historic region known as Bessarabia. The other third of Bessarabia is now in Ukraine, Budjak (Izmail and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi). In the Republic of Moldova, the Russian and Romanian…
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St John Maximovitch on the Purpose of the Russian Diaspora
Last week, the World Russian People’s Council, chaired by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, issued a document called “The Present and Future of the Russian World.” The document contains several problematic ideas. It describes the “Russian World” in this way: “The borders of the Russian world as a spiritual, cultural and civilizational phenomenon are significantly wider…
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Heresy on the Holy Mountain
In 1907, the Russian Schemamonk Ilarion Domrachev wrote a book about the Jesus Prayer, which was published by the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary, whose abbess was the Grand Duchess and future New Martyr Elizabeth. In the book, Ilarion stated that “the Name of God is God Himself.” The book sold remarkably well, and…
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St John of Kronstadt’s Surprising Respect for Anglicanism
W.J. Birkbeck was a living bridge between Orthodoxy and Anglicanism at the turn of the last century. An Englishman, he fell in love with Russia and spent huge amounts of time there, developing contacts with pretty much every major figure in the Russian Orthodox Church. He visited monasteries and village churches, elders, bishops, Tsar Nicholas…
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Patriarch Nikon’s Reforms and the Spoon Controversy
On June 8, the OCA website published “A Letter of a Parish Priest to His Flock.” This letter has been shared widely on social media, by people of many different Orthodox jurisdictions. It was written by an unnamed OCA priest in the Diocese of the South and was made public by his bishop, Archbishop Alexander…
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1970 Letter from Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras on Autocephaly
Editor’s note: In 1970, the Patriarchate of Moscow issued a Tomos of Autocephaly to its former archdiocese in North America, which was commonly known as the “Russian Metropolia” and is now the “Orthodox Church in America.” Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras protested against this act in multiple letters to the leaders of the Moscow Patriarchate. The correspondence between…
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W.J. Birkbeck on St. John of Kronstadt
W.J. Birkbeck was a living bridge between Orthodoxy and Anglicanism at the turn of the last century. An Englishman, he fell in love with Russia and spent huge amounts of time there, developing contacts with pretty much every major figure in the Russian Orthodox Church. He visited monasteries and village churches, elders, bishops, Tsar Nicholas…
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Churches on wheels: then and now
On April 27, MSNBC published photos of a medical train in Russia that includes a full-blown Orthodox chapel (thanks to the excellent Byzantine, TX blog for the link). The train/clinic, named after the great surgeon-bishop St. Luke of Simferopol, travels to the far reaches of Siberia and has “a carriage that operates as a mobile…