Eastern Orthodox Church

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic hosted a lunch for Serbian Patriarch Porfirije and the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church on Wednesday to discuss all fateful matters for the Serbs and Serbia, as well as looming difficulties in the international political arena, especially with regards to the Kosovo-Metohija issue.

"With His Holiness @patrijarh_porfirije and the bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, I discussed all matters of vital importance for our people and country, as well as the difficulties ahead on the international political level, especially regarding Kosovo and Metohija.

Orthodox Easter messages delivered by two senior clerics in North Macedonia and Serbia have sparked criticism, with Metropolitan Petar of the Prespa-Pelagonija eparchy of the Macedonian Orthodox Church causing particular outrage with his suggestion that gender equality is "blasphemous" and a "poisonous and perverted ideology" that threatens society.

BELGRADE - In his Easter message, Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church called on all believers to multiply their prayers for peace and for keeping Kosovo-Metohija a part of Serbia, and noted that "an indirect or direct, a de facto or de iure alienation of the province from the state of Serbia is unacceptable."

In the calendar of our Orthodox Church, today is Great Tuesday - a day for humility and sermon.

In church services, the last moral instructions of Jesus Christ are remembered.

In the folklore calendar, Great Tuesday is the day of ritual carrying of "silent" water by the maidens, which our ancestors used for communion and healing.

The spiritual head of the world's Orthodox Christians said on Wednesday that Russia's powerful Orthodox Church shared responsibility for the conflict in Ukraine but that he stood ready to help in Russia's postwar "spiritual regeneration".

Archbishop Elpidophoros of America paid tribute to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Monday, extolling his efforts for dialogue with the Orthodox Church.

On January 1, Bulgaria's Orthodox Church celebrates the Circumcision of the Lord. Circumcision is an Old Testament sacrament that began at the beginning of the second millennium before Christ. It was introduced by the forefather Abraham as a sign of the covenant between God and God's chosen people, but it also appears as a type of Holy Baptism.

A new dispute has occurred between the Russian and Ukrainian patriarchs in the southern province of Antalya as the citizens of both countries living in the city do not want to share the same churches.

Antalya, which hosts many migrants from both countries fleeing the Russia-Ukraine war, has also become one of the meeting areas of divisions within the Orthodox church.

Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos has sent a letter to Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy denouncing the ministry's move to desecrate one of Eastern Orthodoxy's most sacred shrines, the monastery of Soumela in Trebizond, Turkey, by granting permission to film a television ad with frenzied young people dancing as a DJ on screen plays music.