The faithful of one parish of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the headship of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine had to defend their church yesterday from the attacks of several schismatics, including priests of the so-called “Kiev Patriarchate” (KP). This latest attempt to break into a canonical Church was made despite the Ukrainian state’s and the KP’s repeated promises to prevent inter-Church violence. The Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate…

Echoing a recent statement from the abbot of the Kiev Caves Lavra, the abbot of the Pochaev Lavra also made a statement about the possibility of attacks and attempted seizures against his monastery. The statement has been posted on the Holy Dormition-Pochaev Lavra’s official website, calling on the faithful to be ready to help protect the holy habitation. “Considering the current situation and information that we have available to us and the threats of…

An Orthodox church in the municipality of Visoko in the central part of Bosnia and Herzegovina was set on fire by unknown vandals last Sunday, suffering serious damage, reports RIA-Novosti. The city of Visoko is located in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is inhabited mainly by Bosniaks (Slavic Muslims), with a small Serbian and Croatian minority. “On Sunday night, one person or a group of unknown persons burned the inside of the…

Police have detained the two men who entered the territory of St. Panteleimon Orthodox Church in Melitopol, Ukraine early in the morning on Tuesday and inflicted fatal injuries on the church guard, reports the site of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. As previously reported, the guard, 66-year-old Anatoly, was found by another church worker later in the morning. He had remained conscious throughout the night, though he later died in the hospital. The men are…

The thieves sat nearby drinking while the guard bled from the severe head injury that eventually killed him. Two thieves brutally beat the 66-year-old security guard of the St. Panteleimon Church in Melitopol, Ukraine during a robbery at about 1:00 AM yesterday morning, leaving him for dead. The guard, Anatoly, was found by another church worker later in the morning. He had remained conscious throughout the night, though he later died in the hospital,…

The site of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has published an address of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine to the faithful of the Church and Kiev city officials in regard to the upcoming LGBT “March for Equality” in Kiev, set for Sunday June 17. The Ukrainian primate fulfills his episcopal duty, speaking the truth in love. Souls hang in the balance over this issue he writes with a sense of urgency,…

An African king traveled to Holy Mt. Athos recently to be baptized into the holy Orthodox Church. The king was baptized by Hieromonk Dionysius of Koutloumousiou Monatery with the Christian name of David, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists, with reference to the Facebook group “† Афон † Ἁγίου Ὄρους † Mount Athos †.” “Yesterday, we reported about the colorful personality at the Athonite port of Daphne. It turns out it was an African…

The Holy Synod of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has chosen candidates for its next primate and announced that the first hierarch will be chosen at its upcoming May 29th session. The previous Estonian primate, His Eminence Metropolitan Cornelius of Tallinn, reposed on April 19 in his 94th year of life, having served as the primate of the Estonian Church since 1990. The Synod of the Estonian Church held a meeting…

On the feast of Mid-Pentecost on Wednesday, His Eminence Archbishop Roman of Konotop and Glukhov celebrated the consecration of a chapel and a well in the Sumy Region in northeastern Ukraine, on the site of the execution of several monks in 1922, reports the Konotop-Glukhov Diocese. The site is popularly known as “Popovsky,” from a word meaning “priest,” in honor of the monks of the St. Nicholas Hermitage in the village of Rikhli who…

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia arrived in Kemerovo yesterday for the 40th day of the tragedy that occurred in the Winter Cherry Shopping Mall on Sunday March 25, reports RIA-Novosti. A fire broke out at the 4-story mall at about 5:00 PM, claiming the lives of 60 people, including 41 children, with another 44 injured. His Holiness began his visit by laying flowers at the people’s memorial at the site…

Thousands gathered on Monday to bid their final farewell to the beloved elder Archimandrite Adrian (Kirsanov), who reposed on Saturday. The Divine Liturgy and funeral were celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Eusebius of Pskov at the Holy Dormition Pskov Caves Monastery, reports the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism of the Moscow Patriarchate. The metropolitan arrived at the monastery the evening before, being greeted by the abbot Archimandrite Tikhon (Sekretarev) with the brethren and…

Tallinn authorities have allocated 180,000 euros ($215,500) towards the restoration of the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos (Kazan Church) in the Estonian capital city, the mayor’s press service reported yesterday, according to RIA-Novosti. The agreement on the allocation of funds was signed by parish rector Victor Melnik and Tallinn City Council Chairman Mikhail Kilvart. According to the plan, the restoration work on the Kazan Church, as it is known by the people,…

Christ is Risen! In Truth He is Risen! On April 28, in the ninety-seventh year of his life, in the Pskov-Caves Monastery, Archimandrite Adrian (Kirsanov) reposed in the Lord. Fr. Adrian was the last of a pleiades of great spiritual fathers and elders who labored in the Pskov-Caves Monastery from the second half of the twentieth century. May he live forever in the Kingdom of Heaven, and may his memory be eternal! Bishop Tikhon…

Podolsk.ru has published the sad news that on April 25, 2018, the Russian equestrian champion Xenia Ryabova died in the local hospital of a heart attack. OrthoChristian.com recently featured Xenia in a three-part series. Xenia Ryabova suffered with cerebral palsy from childhood. But with her extraordinarily strong spirit and will to live a fruitful life, she became journalist and artist, a wife and mother of two, and for 20 of her 44 years of…

Head of the press service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) Vasily Anisimov believes that by requesting autocephaly for a Ukrainian Orthodox patriarchate from His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is playing with fire. “Petro Poroshenko is tempting Patriarch Bartholomew as the devil did Christ. His predecessors did the same. They are tempting him to create pan-Orthodox discord in the world and religious conflict in Ukraine,” Anisimov said in an interview…

The Georgian people have again expressed their great love of and trust in His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia, bringing more than 1,000 children to be baptized and become the primate’s Godchildren in a mass ceremony. This 53rd such mass Baptism took place on Sunday at Tbilisi’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, with more than 1,000 souls being united to Christ our God in His holy Orthodox Church, reports the official website of the. The…

The Orthodox parishioners of the village of Moshkov and Peremilovka in the Rovno province of western Ukraine declined the invitation to join the “Kiev Patriarchate”, reports the Orthodox Life website, citing the Information department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. On April 22, 2018, a meeting took place in the villages at which the members discussed the problem of “jurisdiction change” in communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Despite aggression aimed at them by the…

An official ceremony was held on Tuesday to commemorate the completion of the restoration of the St. John the Baptist Monastery by the west bank of the Jordan River, the Jerusalem Patriarchate reports. This latest round of reconstruction, which was undertaken by the Jerusalem Patriarchate over the past several years, has been to fix the damage that the monastery suffered during the Six Day War of 1967. The monastery also fell victim to acts…

The initiative of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, supported by the nation’s parliament, to create one, Local Ukrainian Church as soon as possible and by any means possible was picked up on by Ukrainian nationalists, who believe it was the president’s signal to them that it is time to act and to begin more forcefully seizing parishes of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a self-governing Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, according to the Church’s website….