(GOARCH) - His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America is pleased to announce that the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate accepted the Holy Eparchial Synod’s petition and unanimously elected His Grace Bishop Constantine of Sassima as the new Metropolitan of the Holy Metropolis of Denver at its meeting today. His Eminence Metropolitan Constantine of Denver was born in Baltimore on October 30th, 1966. He graduated from Hellenic College (BA) in 1991 and Holy Cross (Master of Divinity) in 1994. Thereafter, he was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood in 1994 and has serve ..read more

(Romfea translated by Helleniscope) - I was very surprised to read on the internet that a metropolitan of the second-throne Patriarchate of Alexandria ordained a deaconess in distant Zimbabwe. Arbitrarily, an Orthodox Church went ahead and restored an old institution that has languished since the 3rd century AD. Indeed, in the first three centuries there was in the Church the institution of deaconesses, who at that time performed the duties of newcomers in the Church and mainly helped in the baptisms of women and did social work. After the 3rd century AD, when infant baptism was introduced in ..read more

Metropolitan Saba (Isper) posted this article today entitled "What is the goal?" on the topic of the so-called "deaconess" issue wherein a woman was "ordained" to be a deaconess in Africa. This differs from the status quo in Alexandria where women were set aside as deaconesses in a non-liturgical role. They vested her like a deacon and had her communing people. All to the surprise of not only the world, but from the patriarch's letter, from the patriarchate as well. You can read more about that here.  Internet response to this has ranged from "Finally our day has come!" to "Maranatha!" f ..read more

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(Orthodox Times) - Metropolitans Grigory of Vratsa, Daniil of Vidin, and Gavriil of Lovchan have been selected to form the triprosopon, from which the new Patriarch of Bulgaria will be chosen. The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Church convened today to elect these three Metropolitans, who will be considered for succession following the late Patriarch Neophytos. During this process, several Metropolitans were not eligible for election due to age and experience requirements outlined in the Charter of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Specifically, Metropolitan Antony of Western and Central Europe, Me ..read more

An interesting thing about the Oriental Orthodox Church (pictures taken from this recent article) is the role of deacon and deaconess is thought of quite differently from the way the Orthodox Church does. This confuses many people as what we call a deacon with all his responsibilities is not comparable. In the way in which we historically set people aside for a role before they were allowed into the altar, they make young men deacons. To go into the altar you needed to be a taper bearers, readers, subdeacon, etc. and the Oriental Church throws all of that into different ranks of deacons. And f ..read more

It would be hard to overstate the influence Fr. James had on American Orthodoxy. Surprised by Christ alone brought many people to the Church. And his constant evangelism and willingness to speak to all comers endeared him to many, many people. I fully expect his writings, talks, and pastoral love of Christ to resonate for many years to come. (Antiochian.org) - Archpriest James Bernstein, 78, reposed in the Lord Jesus Christ in the early morning hours of June 17, 2024, surrounded by his family. Arnold Bernstein, better known as Fr. James, was born May 6,1946 to Isaac and Belle Bernstein in L ..read more