The Shepherd, June 2009
NEWS SECTION
FRAGRANT RELICS FOUND ON ANDROS
RECENTLY at the Monastery of Panagia Panachrandos on the Greek Island of Andros, contractors were called in to do some plumbing work. Their work necessitated their breaking into a crypt. They were met with a pervading fragrance, which filled the whole area for several days. They found among the relics of the fathers resting there, a skull which was exuding myron, and was the source of this fragrance. It is reported that one of the monks of the monastery, Fr Aetios, lit a large wax candle in front of the relic, before the crypt was sealed up again. When 28 hours later the crypt was opened the candle was not only still burning, but was still at its full height. It is also reported that one of the plumbers had a dream when the work was undertaken. He saw a monk who warned him that it was not necessary to undertake it, as there was already a source of water near the place where they were intending to pipe it. Later they dug at that spot, and indeed found a source of water. The church where the relic was discovered is built on the site where the wonder-working icon of the Panagia Panachrandos appeared many years ago. We are blessed to have a copy of this icon at the Brookwood Brotherhood. His Grace, Bishop Ambrose told us the following about the monastery itself: “I have visited this monastery. It was where the famous monk Christopher (Papoulakos) was exiled and died in the mid 19th cent; his head is there. Also, it was the abbot of this monastery who gave us the portions of the relics of Sts. Cyprian and Justina that we have here [Fili]. The monastery, if I remember, is a foundation of Alexios Komninos, and has a remarkable collection of relics, many given by the founder.”
ROCA JOINT MEETING
THE HIERARCHS, members of the the Higher Church Authority, and of the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad held a joint meeting at Voronezh on 20th and 21st May, n.s. The meeting was chaired by His Eminence Metropolitan Agafangel, the First Hierarch. In touching on the election of the new Patriarch of Moscow, the Metropolitan proposed the wise view: “We should express the traditional views of our predecessors and avoid apocryphal extremes, as well as comments infused with zealotry.” The meeting set up a Theological Committee, and dealt with a number of adminsitrative and pastoral concerns, including the establishment of monastic communities including one in Brazil, and the setting up of a centre in New York in a house which had been bequeathed to the Holy Trinity parish in Astoria.
ŒCUMENICAL PATRIARCH
APPEALS TO STRASBOURG
HIS ALL-HOLINESS, the Œcumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I has, according to Asia News, announced his intention to appeal to the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg over violations against the Orthodox community by Ankara’s Direction for Religious Foundations. The Patriarch informed the faithful in St George’s Parish, of this decision of the Synod. “We have and you have come here - he said - to celebrate this religious ceremony in a parish that is facing many difficulties. Unfortunately it is not alone. The problem is that this parish and its community, as is the case with many others of the Church of Constantinople, have been abusively declared mazbut (occupied) by the Direction for Religious Foundations. This means that we cannot claim any rights to the management of the properties of this community, nor proceed with the election of its administrative board. As a result of this we have no right to manage that which was left to us by our forefathers. The only thing we are allowed to carry out in these places are religious functions. Unfortunately this is fate of this parish and many other parishes of the Church of Constantinople”.… “In an attempt to put an end to these injustices which we are being subjected to, the Synod has reached a decision; to appeal firstly to the State Judiciary of Turkey, then, if all else should fail to the European Court in Strasbourg, following the example of the orphanage on Prince Buyukada Island, in the hopes that in this case too, justice will be done.” “We do not want,” he said, “special treatment, but neither can we allow our rights to be trampled on or our identity & the cultural heritage entrusted us by our forefathers be erased”.
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