CROATIA: FIVE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCHES BROKEN INTO
from: inSerbia News

(10 Mar.) Five Serbian Orthodox temples in Croatia have been broken into during the past several days, the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) announced on Friday.

Money was stolen, but no major material damage has been done, a statement released by the SPC Eparchy (diocese) of Dalmatia said.

The churches targeted in this way are located in Baljci, Stikovo, Krici, Miocix and Kanjani – in Dalmatia.

The police station in Drnis has ascertained that five Orthodox temples were broken into between March 6 and 8, and found that a small amount of money was stolen, but that there was no major material damage.

The same SPC diocese reported earlier this week that an Orthodox church in this area of Croatia was vandalized with fascist graffiti. [read more...]

RUSSIA: JUSTICE MINISTRY SEEKS COMPLETE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS BAN
by Victoria Arnold: Forum 18 News Service

(15 Mar.) With no public announcement, Russia's Justice Ministry lodged a suit at the Supreme Court today (15 March) to declare the Jehovah's Witness Administrative Centre "extremist", to liquidate it, and to ban its activity. If successful, this would ban all Jehovah's Witness activity across Russia.

The liquidation suit, which reached the Supreme Court on 15 March, was handed the same day to Judge Nikolai Romanenko. "Once he has examined the case, the Judge will determine when the hearing will begin and whether it will be open or closed," a Court secretary told Forum 18 from Moscow on 15 March. "All the information will be posted on the court website."

Should the suit succeed, the Administrative Centre's property would be forfeit to the state and all its activity would be prohibited. The local religious communities for which it is responsible would also be dissolved, and their members would be liable to criminal prosecution if they continued to meet for worship. This would end Jehovah's Witnesses' open public life in Russia.

An official of the Justice Ministry involved in an exhaustive inspection in February of the Administrative Centre's entire activity had refused to tell Forum 18 on 11 March if such a suit was imminent. Jehovah's Witnesses claim nearly 172,000 adherents in Russia, with a peak of nearly 300,000 attending their most important annual commemoration, the Memorial of Christ's Death. There are at present 397 registered local organisations and more than 2,500 unregistered religious groups. [read more...]

PATRIARCH FILARET AND CARDINAL LUBOMYR HUSAR ADDRESSED UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine

(17 Mar.) His Holiness, the Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus’ - Ukraine of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret and Archbishop Emeritus of the Greek Catholic Church, Lubomyr Huzar addressed the assembly. "Ukraine is to achieve the public good when citizens of the country are protected," Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Lubomyr (Husar) was reported as saying in the Parliament by Gazeta.ua.

“We have learned that political activity is one of the high sacrificial ministries. The person to whom the people entrust their fate shall be careful when treating their own calling. This person must comprehend that every citizen of the state should feel secure and through joined efforts attain a state called the public good. I think that the experience we gained. And still recruit enrich themselves. So there is real hope that the great thing true. Where each of us will feel happy in their own country," said the former head of the UGCC Lubomyr (Husar). After these words, the Cardinal was given a standing ovation by MPs and government members.

Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kyiv Patriarchate urged MPs to unity, not to lose again the state. He outlined his vision of events, particularly in Parliament. In his opinion, the current Parliament repeats mistakes made 100 years ago. “Repeating is not necessary, because one should not contend for seats in parliament, but must fight for the state, where the Parliament is to operate. And if there is no state, tell me please, in what parliament will you sit?” the Patriarch grew indignant.

According to him, we should draw conclusions from the lessons of 100 years ago as statehood was lost because of disunity. “If we do not have unity, we will lose again the state. Today, the key must be the protection of Ukrainian state ... and all the other issues are less significant,” said the Patriarch of the UOC-KP, noting that we should unite around the protection of the state. He also called on all churches in Ukraine to raise joint prayers on April 2. [read more...]

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OUTSIDE RUSSIA CALLS FOR LENIN’S BODY TO BE REMOVED FROM RED SQUARE
from: Russia Today

(13 Mar.) The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) has called for Vladimir Lenin’s body to be removed from Red Square as a demonstration of the Russian people’s reconciliation with God. “The liberation of Red Square from the remains of the main tormentor and repressor of the 20th century, as well as the destruction of all monuments dedicated to him, could become one of the symbols of the Russian people’s reconciliation with the Lord,” reads the statement passed by ROCOR’s Arch-Hierarch Synod in connection with the upcoming anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

The address was read in all of ROCOR’s parishes during Sunday services, when priests once again called upon their congregations to contemplate history in order to understand why Russia has faced all of its recent ordeals. At the same time, the address recognized that Western antagonism has been one of the reasons for Russia’s hardships. “Today’s relentless baiting of Russia on the part of Western civilization existed a century ago, and a long time before that – the world hated the Russian Empire as an heir to Holy Orthodox Rus. Nothing could help this – neither loyalty as an ally nor the constant readiness of Russian sovereigns for cooperation,” it read.

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was founded after the 1917 Revolution by priests and parishes that had fled the Communist regime and its repressions against religion. In 2007, ROCOR and the Russian Orthodox Church signed a treaty on reunification, restoring the canonical link and marking the event by a joint service celebrated at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow by Patriarch Alexy II of All Russia and Metropolitan Laurus of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. [read more...]

INCLUSION OF WESTERN SAINTS' NAMES ON MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE CALENDAR AIMS TO REMIND OF TIMES OF UNDIVIDED CHURCH
from: Interfax-Religion

(13 Mar.) The Russian Orthodox Church hopes that its official commemoration of the western saints, who were glorified before the division of the Church, will remind Orthodox Christians of the unity of the Christian tradition during the first millennium. On Thursday the Synod in Moscow resolved to include in its calendar the names of the ancient saints who lived in Central and Western Europe before the Schism of 1054 which saw the Christian Church split into the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox.

"The inclusion on the Russian Orthodox Church calendar of the names of a number of saints of the first millennium of the Christian era, who lived in western Europe, reminds us that during the period of the undivided Church, the ecclesiastical life in the two parts of the Christian world was proceeding in the vein of the common spiritual practice which bred many God-pleasers," Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), who is in charge of inter-Christian relations at the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, told Interfax-Religion.

For centuries Churches in the West were very firm in professing the Orthodox faith, the priest said. For example, the British Isles were considered the true "Northern Thebaid," given the number of monasteries and monks there. "No wonder they were called the islands of the saints. And those were the saints of precisely the Orthodox tradition," the hieromonk said, adding that to this day their names are preserved in dozens of location names across Great Britain. Among the saints the Russian Church will be remembering from now on the most famous are Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris and Russian emigres. [read more...]

ROMANIA’S CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES DEBATES INITIATIVE AIMING TO CHANGE FAMILY DEFINITION
from: Romania Insider

(07 Mar.) The Judiciary Committee of the Chamber of Deputies voted in favor of a citizen initiative aiming to change the definition of the family in Romania’s Constitution, on Tuesday, March 7.

At present, the Constitution defines the family as the free-willed marriage “between spouses” but the Coalition for Family, a local civic movement behind this initiative, wants to change it to the free-willed marriage “between a man and a woman.”

The Coalition for Family, which comprises 34 local NGOs and associations, gathered three million signatures in support of this initiative last year. Romania’s Orthodox Church has largely supported this project, which would block same-sex marriages.

According to the Constitution, a project or proposal to revise the country’s fundamental law needs to be adopted by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate with a majority of at least two thirds of the members of each chamber, Adevarul writes. If a mediation procedure leads to no agreement, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate decide, in a joint session, based on the vote of at least three quarters of the numbers of MPs. Such a revision is final after it is approved through a referendum, organized within at most 30 days since the revision proposal is adopted. [read more...]

FAMOUS RUSSIAN JOURNALIST CALLS PATRIARCH KIRILL TO ACCEPT INDEPENDENCE OF UKRAINIAN CHURCH
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine

MUSLIM RADICALIZATION THRIVES AMONG BLEAK FUTURES, BUT CHRISTIANS CAN TURN THIS AROUND
from Mission Network News

THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE BELIEVES LENIN'S BURIAL IS UNTIMELY
from Interfax-Religion

ANOTHER THREE BAPTISTS IN OREL PROVINCE FINED ON BASIS OF "YAROVAYA LAW"
from Orlovskie Novosti

METROPOLITAN HILARION OF VOLOKOLAMSK SPEAKS AT UN CONFERENCE ON THE DEFENSE OF CHRISTIANS
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate

TRAINING CHRISTIAN LEADERS IN TAJIKISTAN
from Mission Eurasia

PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW TELLS UKRAINIAN PM THAT CONSTANTINOPLE WILL HELP BUILD SINGLE CHURCH IN UKRAINE
from Pravoslavie.ru

IS THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH THE NEW KOMSOMOL?
from EurasiaNet.org

POPE FRANCIS DONATES TONS OF POLITICALLY-INCORRECT FOSSIL FUEL TO HEAT HOMES IN UKRAINE
from Breitbart News

Mar. 17, 2017 - Eliminate The Federal Reserve

Mar. 16, 2017 - Stop Misusing the Term "Health Care"

Mar. 17, 2017 - You Can Buy Your Home In Six Years

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The big news this week is the attempt to ban all Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, described in RUSSIA: JUSTICE MINISTRY SEEKS COMPLETE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS BAN. We do not normally cover news items about pseudo-Christian sects such as the Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons. But in Russia, any non-Orthodox religious group is generally considered to be non-Christian. Thus Baptists come under the same condemnation as Jehovah's Witnesses: see ANOTHER THREE BAPTISTS IN OREL PROVINCE FINED ON BASIS OF "YAROVAYA LAW" and IS THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH THE NEW KOMSOMOL? indicating a striving toward ideological conformity with Orthodoxy, on pain of legal harassment.

It is interesting to witness some cracks in the unity between the ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) and the Moscow Patriarchate: ROCOR is calling for Lenin's body and its "Nausoleum" to be removed from Red Square - see RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OUTSIDE RUSSIA CALLS FOR LENIN’S BODY TO BE REMOVED FROM RED SQUARE, while the Moscow Patriarchate says such a move is premature - THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE BELIEVES LENIN'S BURIAL IS UNTIMELY. In my humble opinion, a fitting end to Russia's communist era would be to use one of Russia's surplus missiles to cremate Lenin's remains by launching it into the sun. ;-)

This week has seen the publication of Rod Dreher's latest book, The Benedict Option. I pre-ordered it from Amazon.com and actually received my copy one day before the publication date! It's a real intellectual tour-de-force of Christian history in the West and analysis of "a strategy for Christians in a post-Christian nation" - so says the subtitle. In it, Dreher warns Christians in the West against thinking that with the recent election, all our worries are over. Indeed, his columns in The American Conservative make it clear that he's no fan of the current U.S. president, and any slight tacking to the right is only a temporary reprieve. Use the link below to to get your copy from our Amazon store.

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