Eastern Orthodoxy

The ruling coalition in Austria has harmonized after several days of debate a package of reforms envisaging a ban on full-face Muslim veils in public places.

These public places include courts and schools.

In a beautiful photo-essay, British site Guardian shows off the unique beauties of Mount Athos, located on northern peninsula in Macedonia. The “Holy Mountain”, as it is known, has been the spiritual centre for Eastern Orthodox Christianity since the 8th Century AD, and consists of 20 monasteries and numerous sketes and approximately 2,000 monks.

The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece on Tuesday issued a statement saying that individuals dressed as clerics who have been appearing on Greek television channels and speaking in support of the nationalist political grouping Convention of Greeks, founded by self-proclaimed billionaire Artemis Sorras, are not priests in the eyes of the Church.

The legal brotherhood of monks in charge of the 1,000-year-old Esphigmenou Monastery in the self-governed monastic community of Mount Athos, near Thessaloniki, are demanding more than 3 million euros from the Greek state to compensate for damage wrought by some 100 fundamentalist monks who occupied the site in the 1970s and have remained there ever since.

His Eminence Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and All Scandinavia presided over the Divine Liturgy today at the St. Nicholas Hermitage in the northern Swedish city of Rättvik, followed by a memorial service for the hermitage’s founder, the ever-memorable Hieromonk Eusebios Vittis. Joining in the serves were the local Metropolis clergy and members of the local Church. The Very Rev. Fr.

His Eminence Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and All Scandinavia attended the opening session of the Hellenic Swedish Business Forum on Mon. Oct. 3, 2016 at the IVA Conference Center in Stockholm.

Church of Greece spokesman Haris Konidaris on Wednesday said Archbishop Ieronymos will not hold talks with Education Minister Nikos Filis on the issue of religious classes at schools.

Filis recently said that any consultation on the changes proposed by the left-led government will take place after the end of the current academic year.

Greek-American TV personality Maria Menounos has been at the side of her mother Litsa, since she was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Maria recently attended the liturgy at Saint Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church in Los Angeles and prayed for the recovery of her mother.

The success of the first Holy Great Council of the Orthodox Church in over 1,200 years, which is scheduled for June 16-17 on the Greek island of Crete, has been threatened by the Bulgarian Holy Synod, which decided to boycott the summit at the last moment.

After an extraordinary meeting on Monday, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople called on all autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches, including the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, to participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council which is scheduled to take place in Crete from June 16 to 26.