THIS BRIEF NOTICE was posted on the internet on 10/6/07: “Protopresbyter Elias (W ̈¦n Z ̈«zh ̈ ̈ng in Chinese)[!] was a priest under the Archbishop of Shanghai, St John the Wonderworker.  He became rector of the Cathedral there in 1946 but have [sic] fled to Hong Kong when the Communists took power in 1949. Fr Elias was the oldest living Orthodox priest, who turned 110 on November 19th, 2006.  He had been living in San Francisco with his son Michael, an active member of the parish council at the Holy Virgin Cathedral [ROCOR] on Geary Blvd.  Memory eternal for the servant of God Protopresbyter Elias Wen who have [sic] fallen asleep in the Lord shortly before 3PM PDT on Saturday, June 9, 2007 at age of 110 years old.”  Fr. Elias was born in China in 1896.  At the age of seven, he converted to Orthodoxy at the Chinese Orthodox Mission in Peking.  Until the age of 100, as a priest Fr. Elias conducted all Sunday and holiday services, and sang on the kliros daily, morning and evening. 

ARCHBISHOP CHRYSOSTOMOS OF ETNA REPORTS “that Father Yakov Ferens, along with his Matushka Agnia and their family, as well as a contingent his flock, was officially received today (14/6/07), with the blessing of Metropolitan Cyprian, into our Exarchate in America. As I mentioned previously, Father Yakov, unable to accept in good conscience the union of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad with the Moscow Patriarchate, petitioned some time ago to enter in our jurisdiction.  Father Yakov subsequently resigned as pastor of the St. John Kronstadt Church in San Diego, California, and resolved to begin a small mission, also in San Diego, dedicated to St. Seraphim of Sarov and St John of Kronstadt.  The mission will worship in temporary facilities, until a Church can be built.  In an exemplary act of Christian conscience, he undertook this move without animosity, with appreciation to his former Bishop, and without judging those who hold views contrary to his own.  Father Yakov is an accomplished iconographer.  He served for some time in Jordanville, NY, and was a much-respected clergyman.”

On 22nd June it was also announced that Father Mark Burachek and 100 parishioners of the Our Lady of Kazan Russian Orthodox Church in Newark, N.J, had left the Synod of Metropolitan Lavr for similar reasons and placed themselves under the omophorion of Metropolitan Paul of Astoria of the Synod of Archbishop Chrysostomos II of the Genuine Othodox Christians of Greece. 

PRESIDENT Viktor Yushchenko met with the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew during his visit to Turkey, the press service of the head of state reported to “Novyi Region.”  In the course of their conversations they discussed, in particular, the idea of the creation of a “united local church,” an Orthodox church independent of the Moscow Patriarchate.  Details of the conversations are not revealed.  Nevertheless, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UPTsMP) has already expressed concern over the meetings in Istanbul and called the actions of President Yushchenko “interference in church affairs.” 

THE FIRST formal Islamic prayer site to operate in Athens since rule by the Ottomans ended more than 170 years ago opened in June this year.  Plans by Greece’s government to build a mosque for tens of thousands of Muslim immigrants living in the capital have stalled, so businessmen in Arab countries financed the downtown cultural centre.  Representatives of Muslim organizations in Europe attended along with representatives of the Iranian and Saudi Arabian embassies, senior imams from Muslim countries and a representative of Greece’s Orthodox Church (!).  Plans to build a mosque in Athens have been unpopular, because of their association with centuries of rule by the Ottoman Empire, which ended in 1833 after a long rebellion.  Some 97 percent of Greece’s native-born population of 11 million is baptized Orthodox Christian.  Last year, the government promised to spend $20 million for an Athens mosque by 2009.

THE AGM of FOMA was held on Saturday 9th June at St Anne’s College, Oxford, chaired by His Eminence Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia (ŒP).  In addition to the business of the society, there were two talks.  The first was given by His Grace Bishop Hilarion of Vienna (MP), who spoke very interestingly and insightfully about the Name-glorifiers within the Russian communities on Athos at the beginning of the last century and of their legacy within the Orthodox world toady.  In the afternoon, the speaker was Mr George Dalakouras, the current Governor of Mount Athos, who told us something of the contemporary situation on Athos and of his rôle in its life.  Frs Alexis and Niphon attended from our Brotherhood.