The Shepherd, April 2008
CONSTANTINOPLE-MOSCOW TALKS
DECR, the Department for External Church Relations (MP) reports that: “Delegations of the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Moscow held talks on 26 March 2008 in Zurich, Switzerland. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomaios of Constantinople, the Patriarchate of Constantinople was represented by Metropolitan John of Pergamon, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France and Archimandrite Bartholomeos (Samaras), deputy general secretary of the Patriarchate of Constantinople Holy Synod. The Moscow Patriarchate delegation, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia, included Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, and Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, DECR secretary for inter-Orthodox relations. The delegations discussed the church situation in Estonia and prospects for continuation of the Orthodox-Catholic theological dialogue. The discussion was summed up in a Memorandum.
KOSOVO
HERMANN KELLY in an article published on 7th March in the “Catholic Herald” warns that the West will regret its betrayal of the Serbs in Kosovo. It says: “The Serbs have been in Kosovo since the seventh century. It is the geographical cradle of their civilisation, attested to by the plethora of Christian monasteries and churches which dot its landscape. And what about the Serbs who lived here? They have fought for centuries to defend European and Christian civilisation. It was at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 that they fought (70,000 of them to the death) to keep the Islamic Ottoman Empire from rolling over the rest of Europe. The Serbian people have been a bulwark against Islamic expansion into Europe for many centuries. It was the Serbian people who opposed the aggression of Germany in the First World War and the rise of Nazism in World War II. They made British victories possible but what thanks do they now get for their efforts? Betrayal by the Western elites who care little for their struggle……”
CHURCH DESECRATED IN SINGAPORE
ARCHIMANDRITE DANIEL (Toyne) and parishioners of the Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Singapore (Œc.Patr.) report that in a dispute with their landlord over the lease they found their church locked against them on Friday 21st March. The next day a parishioner happened to notice that the church was being cleared of its holy things. By contacting other members of the faithful, they wee able to prevent these things being confiscated or lost, but the parish has lost its place of worship and the service schedule has naturally been interrupted. Fr Daniel has called a parish meeting for 6th April to consider the options now open to the congregation which has suffered such a desecration of its holy place. Please remember Fr Daniel and his flock in your prayers.
SAINT SERAPHIM'S, WALSINGHAM, SECURED
ON 5th/18th MARCH (the anniversary of the founding of our own Brotherhood), Sylvia Batchelor, a trustee of Saint Seraphim’s Trust, told us that they had that day managed to purchase the old railway station property at Little Walsingham, where in 1966 Fr Mark Meyrick (Archimandrite David) founded the Brotherhood of St Seraphim. Thus, glory to God, the Chapel will be preserved, to be kept, as Sylvia says, “for all Orthodox and all pilgrims.” The Trust has had to borrow a considerable sum of money to effect this, and donations would surely be appreciated - Address: St Seraphim’s Trust (registered charity No 1120335), Station Road, Little Walsingham, Norfolk NR22 6EB.
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