Interview with Bishop Jerome of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

The latest interview as part of our series of "Conversations with our Bishops" is now available for you to hear online or download. Bishop Jerome of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia offers his reflections on the Assembly.

"Conversations With Our Bishops" is a series of audio interviews of the Assembly's fifty-three member hierarchs by Archpriest Josiah Trenham (proïstamenos of St Andrew Church in Riverside, CA and director of "Patristic Nectar Publications") for the purpose of providing a broad swath of perspectives to the Church-at-large on the significance and work of the Assembly.

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Interview with Bishop Melchisedek of the Orthodox Church in America

The latest interview as part of our series of "Conversations with our Bishops" is now available for you to hear online or download. Bishop Melchisedek of the Orthodox Church in America offers his reflections on the Assembly.

"Conversations With Our Bishops" is a series of audio interviews of the Assembly's fifty-three member hierarchs by Archpriest Josiah Trenham (proïstamenos of St Andrew Church in Riverside, CA and director of "Patristic Nectar Publications") for the purpose of providing a broad swath of perspectives to the Church-at-large on the significance and work of the Assembly.

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Interview with Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA

The latest interview as part of our series of "Conversations with our Bishops" is now available for you to hear online or download. Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA offers his reflections on the Assembly.

"Conversations With Our Bishops" is a series of audio interviews of the Assembly's fifty-three member hierarchs by Archpriest Josiah Trenham (proïstamenos of St Andrew Church in Riverside, CA and director of "Patristic Nectar Publications") for the purpose of providing a broad swath of perspectives to the Church-at-large on the significance and work of the Assembly.

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Interview with Metropolitan Methodios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

The latest interview as part of our series of "Conversations with our Bishops" is now available for you to hear online or download. Metropolitan Methodios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America offers his reflections on the Assembly.

"Conversations With Our Bishops" is a series of audio interviews of the Assembly's fifty-three member hierarchs by Archpriest Josiah Trenham (proïstamenos of St Andrew Church in Riverside, CA and director of "Patristic Nectar Publications") for the purpose of providing a broad swath of perspectives to the Church-at-large on the significance and work of the Assembly.

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Interview with Metropolitan Joseph of the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church

The latest interview as part of our series of "Conversations with our Bishops" is now available for you to hear online or download. Metropolitan Joseph of the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church offers his reflections on the Assembly.

"Conversations With Our Bishops" is a series of audio interviews of the Assembly's fifty-three member hierarchs by Archpriest Josiah Trenham (proïstamenos of St Andrew Church in Riverside, CA and director of "Patristic Nectar Publications") for the purpose of providing a broad swath of perspectives to the Church-at-large on the significance and work of the Assembly.

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From Texas Baptist to Orthodox saint?

WASHINGTON BUREAU: Terry Mattingly's religion column for 8/31/11.
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 443-845-4394 (cell)
Wherever bishops travel, churches plan lavish banquets and other solemn tributes to honor their hierarchs.
Visitations by Archbishop Dmitri Royster of the Orthodox Church in America were different, since the faithful in the 14-state Diocese of the South knew that one memorable event would take care of itself. All they had to do was take their leader to a children's Sunday school class and let him answer questions.
During a 1999 visit to Knoxville, Tenn., the lanky Texan folded down onto a kid-sized chair and faced a circle of pre-school and elementary children. With his long white hair and flowing white beard, he resembled an icon of St. Nicholas -- as in St. Nicholas, the monk and 4th century bishop of Myra.
As snacks were served, a child asked if Dmitri liked his donuts plain or with sprinkles. With a straight face, the scholarly archbishop explained that he had theological reasons -- based on centuries of church tradition -- for preferring donuts with icing and sprinkles.
A parent in the back of the room whispered: "Here we go." Some of the children giggled, amused at the sight of the bemused bishop holding up a colorful pastry as if he was performing a ritual.
"In Orthodoxy, there are seasons in which we fast from many of the foods we love," he said. "When we fast, we should fast. But when we feast, we should truly feast and be thankful." Thus, he reasoned, with a smile, that donuts with sprinkles and icing were "more Orthodox"
than plain donuts.
Archbishop Dmitri made that Knoxville trip to ordain yet another priest in his diocese, which grew from a dozen parishes to 70 during his three decades. The 87-year-old missionary died last Sunday (Aug. 28) in his simple bungalow -- complete with leaky kitchen roof -- next
to Saint Seraphim Cathedral, the parish he founded in 1954. Parishioners were worried the upstairs floor might buckle under the weight of those praying around his deathbed.
The future archbishop was raised Southern Baptist in the town of Teague, Texas, before moving to Dallas. As teens, Royster and his sister became intrigued with the history of the major Christian holidays and began visiting a variety of churches, including an Orthodox parish. The services were completely in Greek, but they joined anyway -- decades before evangelical-to-Orthodox conversions became common.
During World War II the young Texan learned Japanese in order to interrogate prisoners of war, while serving on Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff. A gifted linguist, he later taught Greek and Spanish classes on the campus of Southern Methodist University. While training to serve in the OCA, which has Russian roots, he learned Old Russian and some modern Russian.
Early in his priesthood, the Dallas parish was so small that Dmitri helped his sister operate a restaurant to support the ministry, thus becoming a skilled chef who was famous for his hospitality and love of cooking for his flocks. During his years as a missionary bishop, driving back and forth from Dallas to Miami, monks in New Orleans saved him packages of his favorite chicory coffee and Hispanic parishioners offered bottles of homemade hot sauce, which he stashed in special slots in his Byzantine mitre's traveling case.
A pivotal moment in his career came just before the creation of the Diocese of the South. In 1970, then Bishop Dmitri was elected -- in a landslide -- as the OCA metropolitan, to lead the national hierarchy in Syosset, New York. But the ethnic Slavic core in the synod of bishops ignored the clergy vote and appointed one of its own.
Decades later, the Orthodox theologian Father Thomas Hopko described the impact of that election this way: "One could have gone to Syosset and become a metropolitan, or go to Dallas and become a saint."
The priest ordained in Tennessee on that Sunday back in 1999 shared this judgment, when reacting to the death of "Vladika" (in English, "master") Dmitri.
"There are a number of saints within Orthodox history who are given the title, 'Equal to the Apostles,' " noted Father J. Stephen Freeman of Oak Ridge. "I cannot rush beyond the church and declare a saint where the church has not done so, but I can think of no better description of the life and ministry of Vladika Dmitri here in the South than 'Equal to the Apostles.' "
Terry Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) directs the Washington Journalism
Center at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.

Turkey to return confiscated property

8/29/2011 - Ankara - Turkey's government is returning hundreds of properties confiscated from the country's Christian and Jewish minorities over the past 75 years in a gesture to religious groups who complain of discrimination that is also likely to thwart possible court rulings against the country.
A government decree published Saturday returns assets that once belonged to Greek, Armenian or Jewish trusts and makes provisions for the government to pay compensation for any confiscated property that has since been sold on.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was scheduled to announce the decision formally later Sunday when he hosts religious leaders and the heads of about 160 minority trusts, at a fast-breaking dinner for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, officials said.
The properties include former hospital, orphanage or school buildings and cemeteries. Their return is a key European Union demand and a series of court cases has also been filed against primarily Muslim Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights. Last year, the court ordered Turkey to return an orphanage to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.
Some properties were seized when they fell into disuse over the years. Others were confiscated after 1974 when Turkey ruled that non-Muslim trusts could not own new property in addition to those that were already registered in their names in 1936. The 1974 decision came around the time of a Turkish invasion of Cyprus that followed a coup attempt by supporters of union with Greece and relations with that country were at an all time low.
Erdogan's Islamic-rooted government seeking to promote religious freedoms has pledged to address the problems of the religious minorities. In the past few years, it amended laws to allow for the return of some of the properties, but restrictions remained and the issue on how to resolve properties that were sold on to third parties was left unsolved.
The decree overcomes those restrictions and helps scupper further court rulings.
"There was huge pressure from the European Court of Human Rights which has already ruled against Turkey," said Orhan Kemal Cengiz a human rights activist and lawyer who specializes in minority issues.
"It is nevertheless a very important development," he said. "With the return of properties and the compensations, the minority communities will be able to strengthen economically and their lives will be made easier."
The country's population of 74 million, mostly Muslim, includes an estimated 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 23,000 Jews and fewer than 2,500 Greek Orthodox Christians.
Religious minorities have often complained of discrimination in Turkey, which had a history of conflict with Greece and with Armenians who accuse Turkish authorities of trying to exterminate them early in the last century. Turkey says the mass killings at that time were the result of the chaos of war, rather than a systematic campaign of genocide. Few minority members have been able to hold top positions in politics, the military or the public service.
Turkey is also under intense pressure to reopen a seminary that trained generations of Greek Orthodox patriarchs. The Halki Theological School on Heybeliada Island, near Istanbul, was closed to new students in 1971 under a law that put religious and military training under state control. The school closed its doors in 1985, when the last five students graduated.
[Source: by Susan Fraser, Associated Press]

The Hill reports on 'Religious Freedom for Turkey?'

8/29/2011 - Washington, D.C. - The Hill newspaper has recently reported on 'Religious Freedom for Turkey?' written by Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Vice Chair and Nina Shea, Commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Ms. Prodromou was a speaker and panelist in the International Archon Religious Freedom Conference which took place mid-November 2010 in Brussels, Belgium. The conference theme was focused on "Religious Freedom: Turkey's Bridge to the European Union. Both authors traveled to Turkey in February 2011 as part of a USCIRF delegation. 
The Hill newspaper is written for and about the U.S. Congress, with a special focus on business and lobbying, political campaigns and other events on Capitol Hill. The newspaper features investigative reporting, profiles of lawmakers and aides, features describing the sociology and politics of the Hill.
The published article can be read in its entirety below.

Religious freedom for Turkey?
By Elizabeth H. Prodromou and Nina Shea (USCIRF)

8/26/2011 - The recent resignation of Turkey's military high command, along with reports that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will subordinate the military to civilian rule, could mark a new era for that nation. Sweeping constitutional changes, however, are still needed to ensure fundamental rights and avoid exchanging one form of repression for another. The United States should challenge Turkey's civilian leadership to make such long-overdue changes, especially regarding religious freedom, including for religious minorities.
While Turkey has long been a formal democracy, it has been a decidedly imperfect one. Since Kemal Ataturk founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923, his rigid state secularism has stifled religious freedom. Restrictions have hindered the majority Sunni Muslim community and have discriminated against and threatened religious minority communities, including Greek, Armenian, and Syriac Orthodox Churches; Catholic and Protestant Churches; the Jewish community; and the Alevis.
Constitutionally, the military was the protector of the secular state apparatus that engaged in or tolerated religious freedom violations. Indeed, the context for the recent military resignations was Erdogan's refusal to promote officers who allegedly plotted within Ergenekon, a clandestine ultranationalist group, to topple his Islamic-oriented government and commit violence against numerous faith communities and their houses of worship.

As the inheritor of this legacy, Erdogan and his AK Party have faced an uphill battle to deepen Turkey's democratic institutions and culture. Their moves to bolster civilian rule have positive implications for respecting international human rights norms, including religious freedom.
Indeed, the AKP government has widened the opening for public religious expression, which has helped Turkey's Sunni Muslim majority. Since 2007, imams have had some autonomy in drafting their sermons.  While the ban on religious dress in state institutions continues, last month, the Council of State overturned Turkey's high court ruling which had barred the wearing of headscarves during the Selection Examination for Academic Personnel and Graduate Studies. Enrollment in Imam-Hatip religious schools has expanded notably. Without a doubt, Sunni Islam flourishes.

When it comes to religious minorities, however, Turkey's record remains disappointing. 
To be sure, the AKP government has ushered in some improvements, including the addition of worship services allowed for a particular church, citizenship for the leaders of another, accurate national identity cards for converts, and continued engagement with Alevis. Yet, Turkey's widely publicized constitutional reform process currently omits any attention to religious freedom, thereby suggesting no systematic relief for Turkey's smallest minorities, such as Christians and Jews.
Turkey's Christian minority has dwindled to just 0.15 percent of the country. In the words of one church leader, it is an "endangered species." In past centuries, violence exacted a horrific toll on Turkey's Christians and their churches. This provides a frightening context and familiar continuity to a number of recent high-profile murders by ultranationalists.
Turkey's Jewish community also fears a reprise of past violence, such as the 2003 al Qaeda-linked Istanbul synagogue bombings.  Societal anti-Semitism has been fueled in recent years by Erdogan's rhetoric against Israel's activity in the Middle East and by negative portrayals in Turkey's state-run media. Today, however, it is the state's dense web of regulations that most threatens Turkey's religious minorities.
Religious communities are being strangled by legal restrictions on internal governance, education, houses of worship and wider property rights. It is difficult even to have a frank national discussion about their plight; those who have tried can face constitutional charges for insulting "Turkishness", as well as a broader climate of impunity.
One example of the oppressive regulatory climate is the meddling in internal governance, as seen in the interference in the election procedure for the acting Armenian Patriarch, as well as in the refusal to recognize the title of "ecumenical" of the Greek Orthodox Church's Ecumenical Patriarch and the inherited titles of Alevi leaders. 
Another is the government's refusal to allow non-Muslim clergy to be trained in Turkey. The military's shuttering in 1971 of the Greek Orthodox Theological School of Halki, once the educational center for global Orthodox Christianity, is a case in point.  Successive governments' policies have put at risk the very survival of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its Greek Orthodox flock.
A third example is the expropriation of land from the 1,600-year-old Mor Gabriel Monastery, the world's oldest Syriac Orthodox monastery. Last January, Turkey's Supreme Court granted its treasury parts of the monastery's territory. Besides impacting the church, such arbitrary state expropriations encourage acts of impunity against all religious minorities.
Finally, there is the status of the Alevis, the nation's largest religious minority. Turkey refuses legal recognition of Alevi meeting places (cemevi) as houses of worship, and has denied them construction permits.
These examples underscore how Turkey's religious minorities still lack full legal status and are deprived of full rights as citizens. To help remedy this injustice, the United States should urge Erdogan to fulfill his pledge to amend the military-drafted constitution of 1982 by making changes in line with religious freedom and the other human rights guarantees found in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Turkey ratified.  
By strengthening civilian control, Turkey has an opportunity to chart a clearer course toward greater freedom for all its citizens. It's time for the country's leaders to embrace constitutional reform, end impunity, protect religious diversity, and advance religious freedom for every citizen.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Demetrios make pilgrimage to Panagia Soumela in Pontos

NEW YORK – Monday August 15, the Feast of the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos, was a very special and spiritually uplifting day for His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America and the thousands of people, clergy and laity from all over the world, who participated in the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy in the historic monastery of Panagia Soumela near Trapezounta.
 
It was the second time for such a liturgy, since only last year (2010) on the same day and after 88 years of liturgical silence in Panagia Soumela, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided at the first historic liturgy following the permission given to the Ecumenical Patriarchate by the Turkish authorities.
 
This year, His All Holiness invited Archbishop Demetrios of America and two clergymen of Pontian ancestry from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Bishop Andonios of Phasiane, the Chancellor of the Archdiocese, and Archdeacon Panteleimon Papadopoulos, to take part in the pilgrimage to Panagia Soumela, which according to tradition was established, in 386 A.D. by the Athenian monks Barnabas and Sofronios on the steep cliffs of Mount Melas, south of the city of Trapezounta (Trabzon) and has been for 16 centuries the symbol of the Hellenism of Pontos.
 
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with Archbishop Demetrios of America and Metropolitan Barnabas of Neapolis and Stavropolis from the Thessaloniki area. Archdeacon Panteleimon Papadopoulos also took part in the liturgy.
Also present at the Liturgy were Metropolitans Ignatius of Dimitriados, Pavlos of Drama, Archbishop Panteleimon of Yaroslavl and Rostov, who led the Russian delegation and Bishop Andonios of Phasiane from the United States.
 
Many hundreds of pilgrims from Russia, Greece, Cyprus, Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Australia and America attended the liturgy inside the monastery and many more, who could not fit inside, were able to follow the liturgy through a giant screen outside of the monastery compound. The liturgy was broadcast live through the Greek television channel ET-3 and worldwide via satellite through ERT-World. It was covered widely by Turkish and international media.
 
His All Holiness answering questions for the Turkish network NTV and referring to properties of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, expressed his hope that “those properties that were taken illegally will be returned as soon as possible to their rightful owners,” and he said that if that does not happen “we will turn to the European Court.” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew also expressed sadness because the Theological School of Halki has not yet been allowed to re-open. “Halki has been closed for 40 years. Even though the Turkish government has given us hope, unfortunately it still remains closed,” said the Patriarch.
 
The next day, August 16, Patriarch Bartholomew accompanied by Archbishop Demetrios and the other clergymen visited the monastery of St. John the Baptist, (now in ruins) which is the oldest one in Pontos. It is known as the Vazelon Monastery, located in the village Matsouka, 40 kilometers south of Trabzon, it was first built in 270 A.D. His All Holiness also visited the nearby monastery of St. George which dates back to 752 A.D.
 
Photos of the pilgrimage can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/orthodoxnews/

Today's Zaman reports on 'What is Bartholomew grateful for?'

8/16/2011 - Today's Zaman newspaper recently reported in its 'Opinion' section on 'What is Bartholomew grateful for?' written by lawyer, human rights defender and newspaper columnist, Orhan Kemal Cengiz.  The article is written following the celebration of the second Divine Liturgy yesterday for the Feast of Dormition at Panagia Soumela Monastery in Trabzon.  The Turkish Government granted the Ecumenical Patriarchate the right to celebrate a service for the first time in 88 years, last August.
Mr. Cengiz was a speaker and panelist in the International Archon Religious Freedom Conference which took place mid-November 2010 in Brussels, Belgium.  The conference theme was focused on "Religious Freedom: Turkey's Bridge to the European Union."
Today's Zaman is one of two English-language dailies based in Turkey and reports on domestic and international coverage.  Mr. Cengiz's published article can be read in its entirety below.
What is Bartholomew grateful for?
By Orhan Kemal Cengiz
What each person may be grateful for can vary quite significantly; of course, some factors might contribute to your sense of gratitude quite dramatically.  
 Your level of optimism, your love and passion for others, whether you are a spiritual person and so on are all factors that may contribute to your feelings of thankfulness.
There are, however, important factors that may have a huge impact on your gratefulness, and this is the degree of your plight, your prior situation, the perspective of your thinking and whether there has been any level of improvement in these. The worse the conditions you were previously in will mean the brighter your new conditions will seem to you.
For someone in a concentration camp, for example, anything that resembles ordinary life would feel like a great privilege. After enduring inhumane conditions in a concentration camp, simple things like a clean toilet, hot meals and even a blanket can appear to be valuable contributions to one’s life.
As I read the recent speech by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in which he expressed his gratitude to the Turkish government for granting permission for the second religious ceremony at the Sümela Monastery, I couldn’t help having all these thoughts going through my mind. His Holiness did not use the exact word “gratefulness” in his speech, which he delivered on Monday, but you can sense it from the tone and wording of his speech.
Bartholomew thanked the government on the second occasion of a service at the Sumela Monastery in Trabzon. It is quite interesting to have a religious leader thank a government for allowing prayers at a religious building that actually belongs to his community, which he is only allowed to use on one single day each year.
When Bartholomew thanked the government, he was not only expressing gratefulness for this one small “favor” but for the general conditions which he must regard as quite a big improvement for his institution. This is exactly what reminds me that gratefulness of the survivors of concentration camps and that sense of gratefulness for ordinary favors.
I do not deny that there have been serious improvements in the general conditions of all minority groups in Turkey since the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power in 2002, but these are all relative. The prior conditions of minority groups, including the situation of the Patriarchate were so bad, that these new conditions would appear as a huge improvement for everyone.
The historical enemies of Patriarchate (including the spokesperson of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate, which was established with the funds of the Turkish deep state to fight non-Muslims in Turkey) are all in prison in connection with the Ergenekon case. Today the patriarchate may feel less and less threatened as a result. The government has also provided some “de facto” improvements for other areas related to the patriarchate’s practical running. The patriarchate may employ some “foreign” personnel with relatively low bureaucratic conditions; the government does allow “foreign” people become members of the “Holy Synod” and so on. The government “respects” the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in cases that are brought by the patriarchate.
But not a single “legal right” has been provided to the patriarchate. Its ecumenical status has not been recognized yet, its institutions are not given legal status, the Halki school has not yet been opened and there are no signals that it will be opened in the foreseeable future. There are so many other significant and urgent problems of the patriarchate that are waiting to be solved. The patriarchate has long been on the verge extinction, and this fact has not yet been changed.
Yes, the survivor of a concentration camp may have been given food, clothes and so on. But his conditions are still far from acceptable minimum civil standards. This government has long lost all its excuses to make the necessary improvements for the survival of this historical institution. Maybe it is high time for the patriarchate to demand concrete and legal steps from the government.