Metropolitan Hilarion: “We are joyful because we are able to work together”

Metropolitan Hilarion’s exclusive interview to RIA Novosti’s Andrew Zolotov. (Russian original here).
Vladyka, in your report on the first day of the Council you stressed that you are here for the first time and, thus, you may find many things new or difficult to understand. Almost three days of the Council have passed. What are your [...]

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Post-Council News

Though the Council itself has come to an end, the first post-Council day was marked by several newsworthy events. A previously unannounced emergency meeting of the Holy Synod was called to deal with the Chukotka crisis. In its decision, the Synod cited the Council’s decision to depose Bishop Diomedes of Anadyr and Chukotka for violation [...]

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The Council: Day Four

In its fourth and final day, the 2008 Bishops’ Council made a number of decisions, issued an epistle to the flock, and issued epistles to the Presidents of Russia, Belarus, and Moldova. In our continuing coverage of the Council’s work, we present the highlights of these documents below.
Canonical-Theological Evaluation and Decision Regarding Bishop Diomedes
The Council [...]

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The Council: Day Three

At its third day of work, the Council adopted two important documents, the Statutes of Ecclesiastic Courts in the Russian Orthodox Church and the much-discussed Fundamentals of the Teaching of the Russian Orthodox Church about Human Dignity, Liberties, and Rights. In our continuing coverage of the Council, we present some excerpts from the human rights [...]

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The Council: Day Two

Day Two at the Council of Bishops was marked by several important reports at the plenary session and the start of the working groups. You may find pictures of the day’s work here. As part of our continuing English-language coverage of the Council, we present the main highlights and the working groups below.
Report on the [...]

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The Council: Day One

Welcome back to continuing coverage of the 2008 Council of Bishops, which opened on June 24. The council’s first plenary session included reports by His Holiness the Patriarch, His Emminence Metropolitan Yuvenaly as President of the Synodal Committee for the Canonization of Saints, and His Emminence Metropolitan Kyrill as President of the Department for External [...]

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The Council: Day Zero

Western Media are notoriously bad when it comes to reporting about religion, and especially about the Orthodox Church. So it’s hardly surprising that the only coverage of the current Council of Bishops meeting in Moscow is limited to a Reuters wire claiming that the Russian Synod, which meets every four years, is discussing relations with [...]

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The Garbage Pit of “Journalism”

At the end of last week, we learned about the “shutting down” of The Exile, an-English language newspaper based out of Moscow. (Actually, the paper is apparently only suspending its print version and continuing to operate online.)
A brief visit to The Exile’s webpage reveals that the paper is hardly a “news source”. Advertisements and photos [...]

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In Defence of Prince Potemkin

As if the anti-Russian polemics coming out the OCA were not enough already, new comments on OCANews.org have sought to discredit Prince Potemkin, the 18th century Russian political and military figure remembered for his efforts to settle what is now Southern Ukraine.
The “controversy” arose in Mark Stokoe’s use of the term “Potemkin Village” to describe [...]

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The Math Just Doesn’t Add Up

OK, is it just me, or does the math clearly not add up for Hillary Clinton? Let’s take a look at the latest figures. According to CNN, Barack Obama has 1,741 pledged delegates and 331 superdelegates. That’s a total of 2,072 delegates. Hillary Clinton has 1,624 pledged delegates and 292 superdelegates. That’s a total of [...]

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