Articles in English
CIRCULAR LETTER: The Manner of Reading the Prayers of the Divine Liturgy
The Sacred Synod of the Church of Greece desires to inform you, by way of this letter and through you and to "the whole glory of our Holy Church of Greece" the following, which relates to the manner of reading the prayers of the Divine Liturgy.
Our 'Post-ecclesiological' Age
In the article its author argues that we live in a post-ecclesiological age due to our loss of sense of the local church belonging in a particular place. He also analyses the ways in which overlapping 'co-territorial' Churches define themselves by use of particular rites (Catholic), by confession (Protestant), or, in the case of the Orthodox, by ethnic origin.
Why the Incarnation?
Every year, because we keep two calendars in this church, the feasts of Christmas and Theophany, or Epiphany, are somehow meshed together: we celebrate one after the other and one before the other. But it is important to remember that this overlap is not out of place.
First international conference on the legacy of Metropolitan Anthony Moscow, 28-30 September 2007
A very striking feature of the event was its informality, which in itself is a rare thing in Russia, combined with an exceptional feeling of friendship, companionship, community - we were all there because we wanted to share our experience of following the teaching of a great man.
The Orthodox World Is Reconfigured According to the Political Events
From the book: Antoine Arjakovsky. Church, Culture, and Identity: Reflections on Orthodoxy in the Modern World. Lviv: Ukrainian Catholic University Press 2007.
"Always everyone together for one and the same thing" - The Ecclesial and Sacramental Vision of Nicolas Afanasiev
The paper presented on the theological conference of Russian Orthodox Church 'Orthodox Teaching on the Sacraments of the Church', Moscow, November 2007.
Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: "An inter-orthodox problem"
Interview by Robert Moynihan, "Inside the Vatican". "The absence of the Moscow Patriarchate from this stage of the work of the Mixed Commission, in my opinion, makes the whole work of the Commission problematic".
Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequences of the Sacramental Nature of the Church. Ecclesial Communion, Conciliarity and Authority
The first document adopted by the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Ravenna, 13 October 2007.
Marriage and Possible Alternativees: The Pursuit of Wholeness and Holiness
An article by Dean of St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary presented at SVS Summer Institute, June 2004.
St Herman of Alaska and the Kyivan Missionary Vision
Alaska was the final frontier of the vast expanse of the Tsarist Russian Empire. Like Siberia, it was a place to which Kyivan missionaries were sent to introduce Orthodoxy and Christianize the native peoples.
The Jewish world at the time of Jesus
At the birth of Jesus, Herod I the Great, an ally of the Roman emperor, reigned in Palestine. At his death in 4 BC, the kingdom was divided among his sons, with the consent of the emperor…
Ecclesiastical Regionalism: Structures of Communion or Cover for Separatism?
Issues of dialogue with Roman Catholicism. In discussing issues of ecclesiology, the temptation is always great to manipulate concepts and doctrinal definitions, while avoiding a critical approach to their application in practice. It is easy, for example, for an Orthodox theologian to describe the ecclesiology of St. Ignatius of Antioch and to construct an apologetic argument in favor of the contemporary Orthodox position concerning Roman Primacy. But it is more difficult to analyze ecclesiastical institutions - as they developed in East and West - in their existential role of maintaining the faith, shepherding the faithful, and accomplishing the Church's mission in the world.
Christ as Word: Gospel and Culture
During their famous mission to "Great Moravia," the two brothers of Thessalonica, St Cyril (known also as Constantine "the Philosopher" before his tonsure as a monk) and St Methodius, were faced with strong opposition: the German clergy, who were competing for the souls of the Slavic converts, affirmed that scripture could be read only in three languages - Hebrew, Greek and Latin - and that translation into Slavic was inadmissible. So, the two Byzantine missionaries became involved in a controversy that anticipated the great debates of the Reformation period on the issue of whether scripture should be made available to the laity.
The Orthodox Understanding of Primacy and Catholicity
Paper read at the meeting of the theological commission of the Swiss Bishops' Conference in Basel, 24 January 2005
Orthodox Today: Tradition or Traditionalism?
Delivered at the 22nd Annual Fr. Alexander Schmemann Memorial Lecture, Crestwood, New York, January 30, 2005
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Denounces Moscow's "3rd Rome" Theory
According to the Athens newspaper To Vima of 8 July 2004, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew responded to the "3rd Rome" theory of the Patriarch of Moscow (which had been brought up for discussion during the 8th International Assemblage of the Russian Orthodox Church).
The Theological and Spiritual Aspects of Reconciliation in an Orthodox Key
According to the famous formula of Karl Barth, original sin brought division between man and God, man and man, and inside a man himself. In our times in the presence of the undeclared war of our civilization against nature, we should add at least one more division which exists: between man and creation. But in fact, the division and the permanent violence that it engenders seem to be at the very foundation of our everyday existence and we can find many forms of them.
Reflections on Fr. Alexander Men'
Pastor, teacher, martyr - such was Fr. Alexander Men'. As always with such figures, our first impulse is to recount his biography to the point that biography becomes vita, to draw attention to the context in which he labored (in this case, the late Soviet period of Russian history), to recount the personal characteristics that make him not just memorable but ever-memorable.
On the meaning of the THEOTOKOS
This term gives expression to the Incarnation of the Word and the deification of man in terms of the wondrous maternity of the Virgin Mary.
Church Year
It is widely taught that the engine of the Church years in the Orthodox catholic East is so-called cycle of Twelve Great Feasts, beginning with the Nativity of the Theotokos, September 8. But - if truth be told - this is simply a modern fiction.
