The Shepherd, September 2005
NEWS SECTION
NEW PATRIARCH CHOSEN
A NEW PRIMATE of the Church of Jerusalem was chosen on 22nd. August. Archbishop Theophilus of Mount Tabor was unanimously chosen as the 97th Patriarch of Jerusalem and all Palestine. Although Patriarch Theophilus is the 97th Patriarch there, he is 140th in the line of succession from the Apostle St James, the Brother of God, because for some time the Bishops of the Holy City were not accorded the rank of patriarch. His Beatitude was born in Greece in 1952 and entered the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre and enrolled in the Patriarchal School in 1964. He was tonsured a monk by Patriarch Benedictos in 1970 and named Theophilus. A few days later he was ordained hierodeacon, and in 1975 ordained priest. He then returned to Greece to study at the theology department of the University of Athens. Having been raised to the rank of archimandrite in 1978, in 1981, he came to England to study at Durham. From 1991-96 he was hegoumenos of the Monastery of St George the Trophy-Bearer in Cana of Galilee. He was consecrated as Archbishop of Mount Tabor in February this year. Although it is not known whether the various civil authorities have endorsed his election, His Beatitude has received greetings from many leading churchmen around the world, including our own Metropolitan Lavr. May he be able to bring a measure of peace and stability to the troubled Church of Jerusalem, and may the Lord God grant His Beatitude Many Years!
ANTIOCHIAN STAND
THE GENERAL CONVENTION of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America voted overwhelmingly, on 28th July this year, to leave the National Council of Churches. It was emphasised that this was not a temporary “suspension” of membership but a formal withdrawal. The clergy unanimously voted for this action, and their vote was followed by a similar unanimous vote by the lay delegates. When the decision was announced, the Convention broke into spontaneous and thunderous applause. Metropolitan Philip (Saliba), the ruling hierarch of the AOCANA, was reportedly outspoken in calling for his church to withdraw because of the “general liberalism” of the NCC.
ARCHBISHOP GAOLED AGAIN
HIS BEATITUDE, Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid and Metropolitan of Skopije has again been arrested and imprisoned. Three days after his arrest, the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church published an appeal, stating that the treatment of the Archbishop by the Macedonian authorities “represents not only the most blatant form of annulment of human rights upon which contemporary democratic society rests but also a literal negation of the Criminal Code of Macedonia and the local law on religious Communities and Groups.” The Synodal statement also made clear that Archbishop Jovan is in fact the head of the only canonical Orthodox Church on the territory of Macedonia. The so-called “Macedonian Orthodox Church” schismated from the Serbian Church under political and nationalistic pressure in Communist times and is not recognised by any other Orthodox Church. It is doubtless to protect its interests that the Macedonian authorities are harassing Archbishop Jovan. The Macedonian Helsinki Committee has condemned the imprisonment of the Archbishop and said that the state has acted contrary to the secular principles on which it was founded.
“JIHAD VIDEOS”
A VIOLENT VIDEO showing the murder of a Serbian soldier by self-confessed Bosnian mujahadeen, and their desecration of an Orthodox Church has come to light. Although the events shown in the footage relate to events in Western Bosnia in 1995, it is apparently one of a number of “Jihad Videos” which are circulating in the Balkans and in the West as an “inspiration” to terror cells and to raise funds for the terrorists. In the coverage of the desecration of the church, mujahadeen forces are shown entering the church, chanting and smiling, mocking the sacred things, breaking up the altar and vandalising the icons. One combatant is shown raising his rifle and firing at the Cross at the top of the iconostas. The slain soldier has been identified as 32 year-old Rade Rogic. He is shown being beaten in the face, while an interrogator pressures him to say “Allah is great.” The interrogator then tells the camera man to turn off his camera. Rogic is shown later, bloodied and lying face-down on some rocks, killed by his captors.
BRITISH CONVERT TONSURED
ON THE FRIDAY before the Great Feast of the Dormition, two rasophor nuns were tonsured as stavrophors by Archbishop Mark at the Gethsemane Convent near Jerusalem. Sisters Xenia and Vera were re-named Catherine nun and Brigid nun. Mother Brigid - (Olga Lord in the world) - is a British convert to Holy Orthodoxy and first joined the Russian Patriarchal parish in London before transferring to the Church Abroad. She has been in the Holy Land as a sister of the Convent which centres on the Church of St Mary Magdalene in the Garden of Gethsemane for a number of years and was named for St Brigid of Kildare (feastday: 1st/14th February).
KINGSTON ORDINATION
ARCHBISHOP GREGORIOS of Thyateira and Great Britain ordained Father Deacon Stavros Solomou to the priesthood on Sunday, 28th August n.s., at the Greek Orthodox Church of St George in Kingston-upon-Thames. Fr Stavros has been a close friend of our community for a number of years and often attends services here. Our congratulations to him and Presbytera Christina. May the Lord God bless their ministry in the Church and grant them Many Years! (It was, of course, at Kingston that St Edward was crowned King of England. May his prayers also help Fr Stavros.) 
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