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Tag: Orthodox Church

  • Converts are finding Eastern Orthodoxy online. The church wants to help them commune face-to-face

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    LOS ANGELES — Often when a potential convert walks through the doors of his church, one of the first things the Very Rev. Andreas Blom encourages them to do is give up the thing that brought them there.

    “You discovered Orthodoxy online. You learned about it online. Now you’re here, the internet is done,” he tells inquirers at Holy Theophany Orthodox Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “Now you have a priest. Now you have people. Now you need to wean yourself off that stuff and enter into this real community of faith.”

    Blom is not a Luddite advising congregants to go off the grid, but is instead responding to the explosion of Eastern Orthodox content online that is, at least in part, driving a surge of converts across the United States. Christian Orthodoxy is an embodied tradition that requires in-person participation, but the internet has given their message a reach not seen in centuries.

    Sometimes called America’s “best kept secret,” Orthodoxy is embraced by about 1% of U.S. adults, according to Pew Research Center. But a heightened online profile has led to two waves of converts since the pandemic, said Matthew Namee, executive director of the Orthodox Studies Institute.

    Young, single men are often cited as the driving force behind this trend. But Namee said preliminary data suggest the most recent influx of converts is more diverse, with many Black and Hispanic people, women and young families joining. Clergy report people coming from a host of religious backgrounds, from Islam to witchcraft, as well as different Christian traditions.

    Blom’s Holy Theophany launched a second church this year because their 250-capacity building was consistently overflowing, with dozens standing outside each week.

    “It’s almost full already,” he said of the new location. “And back at our church, again we have a bunch of people standing outside every Sunday. We just can’t keep up.”

    They’re already in talks to launch a third church.

    While some Orthodox content creators are priests, others have no formal ties to the church. They span ideological and political affiliations, with some leaning far right and others who are conventional religious conservatives on issues like marriage and abortion.

    “By and large, Orthodox Christians are not far right. It’s a minority group within a minority religious tradition,” said Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, who studies religion and politics at Northeastern University.

    Jonathan Pageau, a Canadian icon carver who teaches symbolism courses online, is among the most popular content creators with about 275,000 YouTube subscribers.

    “We have to see it as a kind of irony and something of a paradox. In some ways, you could say we’re using tools that aren’t completely appropriate,” he said of how the internet contrasts with Orthodoxy’s emphasis on in-person liturgy. “At the same time, one of the things that the internet offers is reach. And one of the things Orthodoxy hasn’t had in forever is reach.”

    Pageau, who converted in 2003, says he and other influencers stress the importance of in-person community to their followers.

    “We tell them to go to church,” he said. “You can’t live this in your mind online because it is distorting. When you go to church, you meet all kinds of people, people that are on all sides of the political aisle.”

    Abia Ailleen researched Orthodoxy online for six months before stepping inside Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles. The 28-year-old Latina, who was chrismated — or received into the faith — in April 2024, also sees a disconnect between Orthodoxy online and in the flesh.

    “People who come to Saint Sophia who are very rigid, who want to be perfect and holy based on what they’ve learned on the internet, a lot of the time Saint Sophia isn’t a place that they want to stay,” she said. “We really have cultivated a structure of humility, of making mistakes and of vulnerability.”

    To be sure, devout Orthodox do follow a robust program of prayer, fasting and other disciplines. Justin Braxton, a firefighter who converted a year and a half ago, likens some of Orthodoxy’s “strenuous” demands to exercise.

    “I dreaded leg day, but I would feel amazing afterwards. I feel like that’s the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is when you’re basically fulfilling carnal needs,” he said. “Joy is that feeling after that tough workout and saying, ‘Yeah, I did it.’”

    At the same time, priests often try to temper the yearnings of some converts for rules and structure.

    “They come to Orthodoxy and they find that yes, we have rules and we have structure. But within those rules and structure there’s a lot of fluidity,” said the Very Rev. Thomas Zain, dean of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York, and vicar general of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

    His church has seen an exponential increase in attendance, which began about two years ago. “I’ll get like 50 people at a Bible study or adult education class, where I used to get three or four or five,” he said.

    Zain, a descendant of Syrian immigrants who was born into the faith, is navigating the ideological diversity from which people are joining. “It’s breathed new life into the church, but it’s also challenging because you’re trying to mold them into one community with the old and the new,” he said.

    Part of what’s fueling the perception that only men are converting is that many influencers overlap with the so-called manosphere — content online that caters toward men grappling with their understanding of masculinity. Orthodoxy is often billed as an alternative or supplement to self-help advice for young men.

    “As a theologian, the idea that somehow masculinity — this particular way of thinking about masculinity — is inherent to Orthodox theology and teaching is I think just completely wrong,” said Aristotle Papanikolaou, cofounding director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. “There’s actually no logic to the idea that somehow I need to be masculine in this particular way in order to unite myself with God.”

    Though appealing to some, others believe these influencers distort their idea of Christianity. “It’s just not my cup of tea,” said Aaron Velasco, a 26-year-old filmmaker chrismated last year.

    And while Velasco did take an interest in some content creators, and appreciates Pageau’s demeanor and perspective, he thinks many of them preach an inflammatory version of the faith that doesn’t fit his current understanding of it.

    Many adherents say the broader church is more ideologically diverse than the rigid conservatism often found online.

    “Look at the institutional church. There is this huge hierarchy where women are not present. It’s hard to say that’s not a masculine image,” said Dina Zingaro, who is studying Orthodoxy at Harvard Divinity School and who was raised in the faith. “At the same time, there are so many counter-narratives in Orthodoxy that uproot this idea.”

    Church leaders have made few public responses, however some clergy are beginning to speak more about the magnitude of this influx and its accompanying challenges.

    “There are cases of extremism and fundamentalism,” said Metropolitan Saba, leader of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, during an address last month in Denver. “Many who are coming to the church today are psychologically, emotionally or socially wounded, which requires experienced and mature spiritual fathers and mothers.”

    Zingaro, who preaches regularly and teaches courses for Orthodox women on preaching, hopes church leadership will be more vocal.

    “Our response in my mind has not been strong enough,” Zingaro said. “There’s something that we’re doing that is making people think it’s OK to make these claims about Orthodoxy. We need to lift up the real spirit and the core of Orthodoxy, which is really the opposite of this rule-based male domination version.”

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    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • Pope Leo XIV opens first foreign trip with visit to Turkey

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    ANKARA — Pope Leo XIV arrived in Turkey on Thursday on his first foreign trip, fulfilling Pope Francis’ plans to mark an important Orthodox anniversary and bring a message of peace to the region at a crucial time in efforts to end the war in Ukraine and ease Mideast tensions.

    Leo’s charter plane landed at Ankara’s international airport.

    Later, he had a meeting planned with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a speech to the country’s diplomatic corps. He’ll then move late Thursday on to Istanbul for three days of ecumenical and interfaith meetings that will be followed by the Lebanese leg of his trip.

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

    VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV is heading to Turkey on Thursday on his first foreign trip, fulfilling the late Pope Francis’ plans to mark an important Orthodox anniversary and bring a message of peace to the region at a crucial time for efforts to end the war in Ukraine and ease Mideast tensions.

    Leo is arriving first in Ankara, where he has a meeting planned with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a speech to the country’s diplomatic corps. He’ll then move on to Istanbul for three days of ecumenical and interfaith meetings that will be followed by the Lebanese leg of his trip.

    Leo’s visit comes as Turkey, a country of more than 85 million people of predominantly Sunni Muslims, has cast itself as a key intermediary in peace negotiations for the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

    Ankara has hosted rounds of low-level talks between Russia and Ukraine and has offered to take part in the stabilization force in Gaza to help uphold the fragile ceasefire, engagements Leo may applaud in his arrival speech.

    Turkey’s growing military weight, as NATO’s largest army after the U.S., has been drawing Western leaders closer to Erdogan even as critics warn of his crackdown on the country’s main opposition party.

    Though support for Palestinians and an end to the war in Ukraine is widespread in Turkey, for Turks who face an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, owing to market turmoil induced by shake-ups in domestic politics, international politics is a secondary concern.

    That could explain why Leo’s visit has largely escaped the attention of many in Turkey, at least outside the country’s small Christian community.

    “I didn’t know he was coming. He is welcome,” said Sukran Celebi. “It would be good if he called for peace in the world, but I don’t think it will change anything.”

    Some said they thought the visit by history’s first American pope was about advancing the interests of the United States, or perhaps to press for the reopening of a Greek Orthodox religious seminary that has become a focal point in the push for religious freedoms in Turkey.

    “If the pope is visiting, that means America wants something from Turkey,” said Metin Erdem, a musical instruments shop owner in the touristic Galata district of Istanbul.

    The main impetus for Leo to travel to Turkey is to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Christianity’s first ecumenical council.

    Leo will pray with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, at the site of the 325 AD gathering, today’s Iznik in northwestern Turkey, and sign a joint declaration in a visible sign of Christian unity.

    Eastern and Western churches were united until the Great Schism of 1054, a divide precipitated largely by disagreements over the primacy of the pope.

    While the visit is timed for the important Catholic-Orthodox anniversary, it will also allow Leo to reinforce the church’s relations with Muslims. Leo is due to visit the Blue Mosque and preside over an interfaith meeting in Istanbul.

    Asgın Tunca, a Blue Mosque imam who will be receiving the pope, said the visit would help advance Christian-Muslim ties and dispel popular prejudices about Islam.

    “We want to reflect that image by showing the beauty of our religion through our hospitality — that is God’s command,” Tunca said.

    Since coming to power in 2002, Erdogan’s government has enacted reforms to improve the rights of religious groups, including opening places of worship and returning property that were confiscated.

    Still, some Christian groups face legal and bureaucratic problems when trying to register churches, according to a U.S. State Department report on religious freedoms.

    The Catholic Church, which counts around 33,000 members in Turkey, has no formal legal recognition in the country “and this is the source of many problems,” said the Rev. Paolo Pugliese, superior of the Capuchin Catholic friars in Turkey.

    “But the Catholic Church enjoys a rather notable importance because we have an international profile … and we have the pope holding our backs,” he said.

    One of the more delicate moments of Leo’s visit will come Sunday, when he visits the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Istanbul. The cathedral has hosted all popes who have visited Turkey since Paul VI, with the exception of Francis who visited Turkey in 2014 when its patriarch was sick.

    Francis visited him at the hospital, and a few months later he greatly angered Turkey in 2015 when he declared that the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was “the first genocide of the 20th century.” Turkey, which has long denied a genocide took place, recalled its ambassador to the Holy See in protest.

    Leo has tended to be far more prudent than Francis in his public comments, and using such terms on Turkish soil would spark a diplomatic incident. But the Vatican is also navigating a difficult moment in its ties with Armenia, after its interfaith overtures to Azerbaijan have been criticized.

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    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • Bulgarians bid farewell to Orthodox Patriarch Neophyte

    Bulgarians bid farewell to Orthodox Patriarch Neophyte

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    SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgarians lined the streets of Sofia on Saturday to bid farewell to the late Orthodox Patriarch Neophyte.

    The spiritual leader of Bulgaria’s Orthodox Christians died on Wednesday at the age of 78 after a long illness.

    Neophyte, who became patriarch in 2013, was the first elected head of the Bulgarian church after the fall of communism in 1989. His charisma as a modest and well-tempered leader won him respect among the faithful.

    Neophyte’s funeral drew religious and political leaders, as well as ordinary Bulgarians who recalled him fondly.

    The patriarch’s body, covered by a gold embroidered cloth, lay in the center of Sofia’s main Alexander Nevski Cathedral, while white-robed church elders led funeral prayers under the solemn sound of bells.

    Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, led the memorial service.

    Bartholomew is considered first among equals among Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, which gives him prominence but not the power of a Catholic pope. Large portions of the Eastern Orthodox world are self-governing under their own patriarchs.

    Orthodox Christianity is Bulgaria’s dominant religion, followed by some 85% of its 6.7 million people.

    “Neophyte will be remembered as an impeccable, flawless cleric, as a fosterer of Orthodoxy and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and as a man who called for unity and unification,” said the head of the National Assembly, Rossen Zhelyazkov.

    Following the memorial service, a funeral procession took Neophyte’s coffin to the St. Nedelya Cathedral, where his body was laid to rest.

    Packed along the sidewalks, people stood silently paying their respects as the procession went by. The coffin was placed on a black-draped gun carriage, with the church elders and senior government officials walking behind it to the mournful tunes of a military band.

    The Holy Synod of senior clergy will choose among its members an interim patriarch until a larger church council elects Neophyte’s successor within the next four months, church officials said.

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  • Anchorage’s oldest building, a Russian Orthodox church, gets new life in restoration project

    Anchorage’s oldest building, a Russian Orthodox church, gets new life in restoration project

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    EKLUTNA, Alaska — The Russian Orthodox church on the outskirts of Alaska’s biggest city is packed with treasures for the Christian faithful: religious icons gifted by Romanov czars, panels of oil paintings and jewel-studded incense burners. But outside the hand-hewn log sanctuary, dozens of miniature Alaska Native spirit houses sit by aging gravesites alongside Orthodox crosses poking from the cemetery grounds.

    The narrow church with white-framed windows near Anchorage is a vestige of Russia’s nearly 150-year attempt to colonize Alaska and the Indigenous people who lived here. But over time, St. Nicholas Church became an important touchstone for Alaska Natives as well. The church lies within the Alaska Native village of Eklutna, and many are buried there.

    Now, an extensive, three-year restoration project that began this month is bringing more attention to the tiny church that is a window into a complex, and often-forgotten, chapter of Alaska’s unique history.

    The Dena’ina Athabascan tribe supports the restoration and some tribal members turned out on a recent October day to watch the removal of the bell tower and to reminisce.

    “With the restoration of the church, we can now once again walk where our ancestors walked, pray where they prayed,” said Charlene Shaginaw, whose grandfather was the last traditional chief in Eklutna and who recalls wandering through the church and among the spirit houses as a young child. “With the rebirth of the old St. Nicholas Church, it will nourish our spirits and our souls.”

    The project is paid for by a $350,000 grant from the National Park Service. Preservationists hope it will spur further work not only to inventory the church’s religious icons but also the spirit houses in partnership with the tribe.

    “There’s a long history of the Dena’ina, in Eklutna in particular, taking care of the church and trying to maintain it,” said Aaron Leggett, president and chairman of the Native Village of Eklutna’s tribal council. “There aren’t that many Russian Orthodox followers (anymore), but it’s part of our heritage and we do want to see it preserved.”

    The presence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska is perhaps the most visible legacy of the Russia’s Alaskan odyssey, which began nearly three centuries ago when Peter the Great sent Danish mariner Vitus Bering to claim new territory east of Russia in 1725. Bering made landfall in Alaska in 1741 and soon Russian trappers flooded the area for its sea otter pelts, and clashed with the Aleuts who lived there.

    Russian settlements sprang up across Alaska, first in Unalaska in 1772 and then further north and east as the fur trading industry took hold. Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million in 1867 and Alaska became a U.S. state in 1959.

    The Russian Orthodox church was established in Alaska on Kodiak Island in 1794 and missionaries spread the faith, baptizing an estimated 18,000 Alaska Natives. Today, up to 50,000 Alaskans practice the Orthodox faith.

    Many Alaska geographic places still bear Russian names. Their language and traditions merged with Indigenous tribes over the decades and many Alaska Natives have Russian surnames after intermarriages.

    Experts estimate about 80 historic Orthodox churches exist across Alaska, but weather and time are taking a toll, making restoration efforts even more critical. There are 33 churches on the National Register of Historic Places and about a third of them need urgent restoration, said Russian Orthodox Sacred Sites in Alaska, which is dedicated to preserving the churches in the state.

    Better-preserved churches, some with iconic onion domes atop them, can be found in bigger cities including Anchorage, Unalaska, Kenai, and Sitka.

    Unique among them is the old Eklutna church, where graves incorporate religious conventions like Orthodox crosses, which have three cross beams with the lowest slanted, with the Dena’ina Athabascan tradition of building spirit homes above graves where the deceased person’s spirit can reside. Some are simple, but others have brightly painted roofs, gables and even chimneys. Vice President Richard Nixon and his family visited the cemetery and its spirit houses in 1958.

    “The Russians did not try to Russify the natives,” said the Rev. Deacon Thomas Rivas, the episcopal secretary to the Alaska Orthodox bishop. “They’re very much the inheritors of the faith and they’re the inheritors of the land, even though it was given to the church in stewardship.”

    A federal document says the compact church was built in 1870 but acknowledges it could be older because the style is less formal than other Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska from the late 19th century.

    Leggett, of the Eklutna’s tribal council, said for hundreds of years Indigenous people have moved back and forth across a body of water known as the Knik Arm, an offshoot of Cook Inlet.

    In the late 19th century, the entire village moved to its current location about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of downtown Anchorage because the other side of the inlet became overrun with trappers and gold miners.

    With the town came St. Nicholas Church.

    “My grandfather probably played a part in moving this building … using a boat going across the inlet,” said Gina Ondola, 79, who came to the bell tower removal ceremony and remembers attending the church for funerals and on holidays.

    “Those attending the church sang hymns in Russian,” she said. “The priest conducted the service in Russian, which very few understood.”

    The church’s role in daily village life has diminished over the years and attendance is low, Rivas said. The church has no full-time pastor, but it is a vibrant tourist destination.

    A new church in 1962 replaced the historic sanctuary, which is now closed for the restoration work. Stored inside are religious artifacts and icons and religious paintings done usually on wood depicting famous people and events from the Bible.

    The Russian Imperial Mission Society, which was founded by Romanov czars to support Orthodox mission work in Siberia and Alaska, gave the church many of the artifacts still kept there, Rivas said.

    The restoration project is intended to bring the building back to its most important period of significance, around the 1920s, historic architect Jobe Bernier said.

    “It still is important that it is a tourist site and tourist destination and an informative site,” he said. “However, its primary function is sacred and that’s important to all of us, even those of us that are not Russian Orthodox.”

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  • Angry Russia refuses to speak at UN meeting on its attacks on Ukraine’s key port city of Odesa.

    Angry Russia refuses to speak at UN meeting on its attacks on Ukraine’s key port city of Odesa.

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    UNITED NATIONS — In an escalation of Russia’s anger at Ukraine and its Western backers, Russia refused to speak at a U.N. Security Council meeting called to disuss Moscow’s recent devastating attacks on the key port of Odesa immediately following its refusal to extend the Black Sea grain deal.

    The confrontation began at the start of a council session called by Russia on the divided Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky ,protested that Britain, which holds the council presidency, was allowing only two briefers and Moscow wanted a third — Archbishop Gideon of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

    The Ukrainian government has cracked down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, supported Russian President Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine.

    Polyansky accused the UK of bias, censorship and obstruction for limiting the number of briefers.

    Deputy British ambassador James Kariuki responded that because of a tight time schedule to fit in two council meetings, the UK had offered a compromise to allow a third Russian briefer to submit a statement to the council, which he said was “not unreasonable.”

    Polyansky was not satisfied, and Kariuki then put Russia’s proposal to have the archbishop speak to a vote. Russia got support only from China and Brazil, with the 12 other council members abstaining.

    Polyansky called the council’s refusal to allow the archbishop to speak an “egregious” example of double standards on human rights and freedom of religion.

    As “a sign of protest,” he said, Russia wouldn’t speak in the Ukraine-backed council session called by Ukraine to take up the Odesa attacks.

    The meeting on the Orthodox Church then went ahead. The director of the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations, Nihal Saad, told the council that the division between Ukraine’s Orthodox bodies “has existed for decades.” But she said it has been exacerbated since the February 2022 Russian invasion and has “reverberated worldwide as Orthodox churches have struggled with how and whether to take sides.”

    Saad said the “heartbreaking” damage to Odesa’s historic church, the Transfiguration Cathedral, caused by a Russian missile strike Sunday was condemned by many, including the U.N. secretary-general. The cathedral is in Odesa’s historic city center that is a UNESCO world heritage site and had been largely spared since the beginning of the war.

    Saad lamented that it was one of 116 religious sites damaged since the invasion, according to a preliminary assessment by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

    In her briefing, Saad cited restrictions to freedom of religion by both Russia and Ukraine since the invasion, saying “the politicization of religion in the war in Ukraine fuels intercommunal tensions, stokes fear and triggers violence.”

    Polyansky called the devastation to the cathedral “a horrible tragedy” and reiterated Russia’s claim that the cathedral was damaged by a piece from Ukraine’s anti-air defenses — not a Russian missile. If a Russian missile targeted the cathedral, he said, “then there would be nothing left of the cathedral at all.”

    The Russian deputy ambassador left the council chamber at the end of the session.

    The council meeting that followed on the Russian attacks on Odesa came days after President Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime deal that enabled Ukraine to export more than 32,000 tons of foodstuff to many countries facing the threat of hunger.

    In addition to severely damaging the cathedral, the Russian attacks crippled significant parts of export facilities in Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk, and destroyed 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry.

    The council heard from 14 members, almost all condemning the damage to Odesa.

    U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that “Russia is hell-bent on preventing Ukrainian grain from reaching global markets” and that “the world is paying the price for Russia’s barbaric attacks.”

    She accused Russia of “weaponizing grain” and cynically using Russian-produced grain as leverage to win the support of other countries.

    Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, the last speaker, told the council that Russian missiles, including anti-ship missiles, hit 29 historical and cultural landmarks in Odesa.

    He said Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports, destruction of their infrastructure, obstruction of grain exports, and intimidation of foreign merchant vessels should be considered an attack on freedom of navigation.

    “These actions also aim at eliminating a market competitor, deliberately raising world food prices and making a profit at the expense of the millions of people around the world who will suffer,” Kyslytsya said.

    A junior Russian diplomat sat in Russia’s chair during the Odesa session and left the chamber when it ended — never having uttered a word.

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  • Ukrainians celebrate Palm Sunday in church marred by dispute

    Ukrainians celebrate Palm Sunday in church marred by dispute

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Willow branches in hand, Ukrainians marked Palm Sunday in the country’s most revered Orthodox site that has been at the heart of a religious dispute playing out in parallel with Russia’s war on Ukraine.

    Dozens of worshippers filled the grand Refectory Church of Anthony and Theodosius located inside the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastic complex. Many more waited outside in the sprawling courtyard and observed the service there.

    The occasion marks the first significant religious service to be held in the complex following the March 29 eviction order issued by the Ukrainian government against Orthodox monks residing in the monastery over their alleged links with Russia. The monks had refused to leave the premises before the eviction deadline.

    Sunday’s service was peaceful with some police presence by the entrances of the complex.

    The site, which is known in English as the Monastery of the Caves, contains a church, monastic and museum buildings. It’s oldest parts date back to the dawn of Christianity a millennium ago.

    It is owned by the Ukrainian government and the state agency overseeing the property notified the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in March that it was terminating their lease. The move comes amid a wider crackdown on the UOC over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader Patriarch Kirill has supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    After the service, Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the pro-Kyiv Orthodox Church of Ukraine, blessed worshipers outside the church doors with holy water.

    Worshippers welcomed the eviction order.

    “I am very glad that this is finally happening, that the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is cleared of Moscow roots and it is renewed and comes to life,” said Yulia Sencuk, speaking outside the church. “By these very events we are more likely to bring our victory closer.”

    Palm Sunday marks the last Sunday before Easter and signals the start of a holy week of prayer and reflections for Christians. The day celebrates Jesus Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, where it is believed he was welcomed with palm fronds on the road. Orthodox churches use different reference dates to calculate when Easter occurs, which can be up to four weeks later than the holiday marked by other branches of Christianity.

    Instead of holding the symbolic palms, many held willow branches on Sunday in keeping with tradition in Ukraine.

    Personnel of Ukraine’s Armed Forces were present, along with civilians, to mark the occasion in the church.

    “It’s a very important holiday for me because it’s our tradition, and it’s about our peace, our independence, our belief in God, in peace, in our … victory,” said Irina, a servicewoman in attendance. She spoke on the condition her last name not be disclosed, in keeping with army protocols.

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  • Tensions on the rise at revered Kyiv monastery complex

    Tensions on the rise at revered Kyiv monastery complex

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    KYIV, Ukraine — The courtyards of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra have been busy with more than just the usual worshippers, going to and from its churches in the sprawling monastic complex that is Ukraine’s most revered Orthodox site.

    Also busy Friday were people in civilian clothes, loading cars with plasma televisions, furniture and other items from the buildings — helping the resident monks remove belongings of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, or UOC, before a threatened government eviction on March 29.

    There also were police officers checking the cars to make sure no one was removing items that belong to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra preserve, which oversees the complex.

    The Russian invasion of Ukraine is reverberating here in a struggle for control of the Lavra, known in English as the Monastery of the Caves. The complex contains church, monastic and museum buildings; its oldest parts date back to the dawn of Christianity here a millennium ago.

    The dispute is part of a wider religious conflict playing out in parallel with the war.

    The government of Ukraine has already been cracking down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its historic ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leader, Patriarch Kirill, has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the invasion of Ukraine.

    The parliament is considering a “draft law on making it impossible to operate in Ukraine religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation” — which could impact the UOC, depending on how it’s interpreted.

    The UOC has insisted that it’s loyal to Ukraine, has denounced the Russian invasion from the start and has even declared its independence from Moscow.

    But Ukrainian security agencies have claimed that some in the Ukrainian church have maintained close ties with Moscow. They’ve raided numerous holy sites of the church and later posted photos of rubles, Russian passports and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch as proof that some church officials have been loyal to Russia.

    The raids started after a Nov. 12 service at the Pechersk Lavra complex, where a Ukrainian Orthodox priest was filmed talking about the “awakening” of Russia.

    The Ukrainian government has said the Lavra, including a UOC seminary and offices, is a hub of “Russian world” propaganda — an ideology touting Moscow’s political and spiritual hegemony over neighboring Slavic lands such as Ukraine.

    The government also has sanctioned the Lavra’s abbot for alleged pro-Moscow activities. It already allowed the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, or OCU, to use one of the Lavra’s churches for a Christmas service.

    But now it’s ordering the Ukrainian Orthodox Church out of the premises entirely.

    The stakes are high. The complex has been called the “pearl of Ukraine” and the “Vatican” of Ukrainian Orthodoxy.

    The site is owned by the government, and the agency overseeing the property notified the UOC earlier this month that as of March 29, it was terminating the lease allowing the free use of religious buildings on the property. The government claims that the monks violated their lease by making alterations to the historic site and other technical infractions.

    “There are many new buildings there, and this is a UNESCO site, which do not have relevant documents and permits. The legality of such new buildings also raises legitimate questions,” Ukraine’s minister of culture, Oleksandr Tkachenko, said on Ukrainian television. “The state must manage what belongs to it.”

    The monks of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church dispute this, saying these claims are a pretext, and they refuse to leave.

    Still, they’re moving out what possessions they can in preparation for a possible forcible eviction.

    “We understand that we will not be given the opportunity to function properly and therefore we need to remove certain things and prevent their destruction,” said Metropolitan Clement, the head of the UOC press office.

    Earlier, the monks said they won’t leave Lavra under any circumstances.

    Metropolitan Clement, in an interview with The Associated Press, said lawyers for the UOC appealed to the Ministry of Culture to provide documents explaining its reasons for breaking the agreement.

    However, according to Clement, the ministry informed them that such documents won’t be provided, because they have been marked for official use, as if they are classified.

    The government’s eviction order doesn’t explicitly say the monastery could be turned over to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

    But that church’s leader, Metropolitan Epiphany, issued a statement directed at the Lavra monks, indicating knowledge of changes to come.

    The eviction won’t put an end to monastery worship and ministry at the complex, he said.

    Metropolitan Epiphany said services will continue and be conducted in their ancient Slavic language along with modern Ukrainian.

    “The current affairs of the monastery will be managed by those who know the traditions and life of the monastery … and who have not tarnished themselves with devotion to the ‘Russian world,’” the metropolitan said.

    Epiphany claimed that the UOC is a “tool of hybrid aggression against Ukraine.”

    Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture sought to offer similar assurances that Lavra’s monastic life would continue.

    The Kremlin, however, cites the termination of the UOC’s lease as further proof that Russia’s actions over the past year in Ukraine are justified — claiming that Russia is defending a beleaguered Orthodox population.

    Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church who backed Moscow’s invasion last year, has asked Pope Francis and other religious leaders to intervene in the Lavra controversy.

    The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been ultimately loyal to the Moscow patriarch since the 17th century, though it has had broad autonomy and has strongly denounced the Russian invasion.

    The independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine received formal recognition in 2019 from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who has the top position of honor in Orthodoxy but not the universal power of a pope. Kirill hasn’t recognized the OCU as legitimate.

    The UOC itself declared full independence from Moscow last year. But the OCU and its supporters say that the UOC retains strong ties and sympathies to Moscow.

    The changes in the works at the Lavra received mixed reactions from frequent visitors who were at the complex on Friday.

    For Oleksandr, 32, who refused to be identified with his last name, it was upsetting. He said that the UOC is clearly connected to Russia, but he personally hadn’t heard any church propaganda, and he plans to attend UOC services elsewhere.

    But the changes were welcomed by Oksana Naumenko, who has been working for years in the academy located in the Lavra complex. She said it fulfilled one of her lifelong dreams of having the singing and prayer at Lavra happen in the Ukrainian language.

    “It is very large-scale and global event in our history. It is possible that not everyone realizes this,” she said. “But perhaps our children will know at what price our religion and language are being acquired.”

    ___

    Peter Smith contributed to this report from Pittsburgh.

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    Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

    ___

    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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  • Some Ukrainians move Christmas to detach again from Russia

    Some Ukrainians move Christmas to detach again from Russia

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    BOBRYTSIA, Ukraine — Ukrainians usually celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, as do the Russians. But not this year, or at least not all of them.

    Some Orthodox Ukrainians have decided to observe Christmas on Dec. 25, like many Christians around the world. Yes, this has to do with the war, and yes, they have the blessing of their local church.

    The idea of commemorating the birth of Jesus in December was considered radical in Ukraine until recently, but Russia’s invasion changed many hearts and minds.

    In October, the leadership of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is not aligned with the Russian church and one of two branches of Orthodox Christianity in the country, agreed to allow faithful to celebrate on Dec. 25.

    The choice of dates has clear political and religious overtones in a nation with rival Orthodox churches and where slight revisions to rituals can carry potent meaning in a culture war that runs parallel to the shooting war.

    For some people, changing dates represents a separation from Russia, its culture, and religion. People in a village on the outskirts of Kyiv voted recently to move up their Christmas observance.

    “What began on Feb. 24, the full-scale invasion, is an awakening and an understanding that we can no longer be part of the Russian world,” Olena Paliy, a 33-year-old Bobrytsia resident, said.

    The Russian Orthodox Church, which claims sovereignty over Orthodoxy in Ukraine, and some other Eastern Orthodox churches continue to use the ancient Julian calendar. Christmas falls 13 days later on that calendar,, or Jan. 7, than it does on the Gregorian calendar used by most church and secular groups.

    The Catholic Church first adopted the modern, more astronomically precise Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, and Protestants and some Orthodox churches have since aligned their own calendars for purposes of calculating Christmas.

    The Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine decreed in October that local church rectors could choose the date along with their communities, saying the decision followed years of discussion but also resulted from the circumstances of the war.

    In Bobrytsia, some members of the faith promoted the change within the local church, which recently transitioned to being part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, with no ties to Russia. When a vote was taken last week, 200 out of 204 people said yes to adopting Dec. 25 as the new day to celebrate Christmas.

    “This is a big step because never in our history have we had the same dates of celebration of Christmas in Ukraine with the whole Christian world. All the time we were separated,” said Roman Ivanenko, a local official in Bobrytsia, and one of the promoters of the change. With the switch, he said, they are “breaking this connection” with the Russians.

    “The church is Ukrainian, and the holidays are Ukrainian,” said Oleg Shkula, a member of the volunteer territorial defense force in the district that includes the village. For him, his church doesn’t have to be linked to “darkness and gloom and with the anti-christ, which Russia is today.”

    In 2019, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, granted complete independence, or autocephaly, to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Ukrainians who favored recognition for a national church in tandem with Ukraine’s political independence from the former Soviet Union had long sought such approval.

    The Russian Orthodox Church and its leader, Patriarch Kirill, fiercely protested the move, saying Ukraine was not under the jurisdiction of Bartholomew.

    The other major branch of Orthodoxy in the country, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, remained loyal to Moscow until the outbreak of war. It declared independence in May, though it remains under government scrutiny. That church has traditionally celebrated Christmas on Jan. 7.

    ————

    Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. The Associated Press religion correspondent, Peter Smith, contributed from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • Scrutiny of Ukraine church draws praise, fear of overreach

    Scrutiny of Ukraine church draws praise, fear of overreach

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    KYIV, Ukraine — After its searches of holy sites belonging to Ukraine’s historic Orthodox church, the nation’s security agency posted photos of evidence it recovered — including rubles, Russian passports and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch.

    Supporters and detractors of the church debate whether such items are innocuous — or increase suspicions the church is a nest of pro-Russian propaganda and intelligence-gathering.

    What’s unambiguous are other photos shared by the agency, known as the SBU, posted as recently as Wednesday — some showing an armed Ukrainian officer standing outside a church building, others showing brawny, camouflaged officers questioning clerics in long beards and cassocks.

    They illustrate the increased pressure the Ukrainian government is putting on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with its centuries-old ties to Moscow, as the brutal Russian invasion slogs into the 10th month of a war that has had religious dimensions from the start.

    President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday announced measures primarily targeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is one of two major Orthodox churches in Ukraine following a 2019 schism. Even though the UOC declared independence from Moscow in May, such a declaration is easier spoken than accomplished amid the complexities of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Besides, many Ukrainians don’t believe it’s really free from Moscow.

    Zelenskyy called for legislation that would forbid “religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation to operate in Ukraine.”

    He also wants a review of the “canonical” connection between the UOC and the Moscow Patriarchate — the center of the Russian Orthodox Church – and of the status of the revered, millennium-old Pechersk-Lavra monastery in Kyiv, now government-owned but largely used by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The government also placed sanctions on its abbot, another wealthy churchman and several bishops in Russia or Russian-held parts of Ukraine.

    “We will ensure, in particular, spiritual independence,” Zelenskyy said. “We will never allow anyone to build an empire inside the Ukrainian soul.”

    The matter is testing whether the young republic can survive Russia’s attacks — and as a pluralistic state respecting freedom of conscience. It also raises the stakes as the two rival Orthodox churches vie for the loyalties of the nation’s majority Orthodox population and for church properties.

    Prominent Ukrainian Orthodox Church leaders say it has loyally supported Ukraine from the start of the war and that a government crackdown will only hand a propaganda coup to the Russians, who claim to be defending Ukraine’s Orthodox against persecution.

    “It is national suicide when they slander and try to ‘ban’ a part of their own people,” said the Rev. Mykolay Danylevich, who has often served as a Ukrainian Orthodox Church spokesman.

    But a bishop in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine — the similarly named rival church, with no ties to Moscow — supported Zelensky’s measures.

    “Maybe it is hard psychologically that this is happening now in monasteries and temples,” said Metropolitan Oleksandr of the Transfiguration of Jesus Orthodox Cathedral in Kyiv. He spoke to The Associated Press by candlelight as portraits of church elders looked on, amid controlled power outages.

    “But I think it is better that there will be searches than some people who help guide enemy missiles.”

    The Biden administration says it supports Ukraine’s self-defense while expecting it to comply with international law on protecting freedom of religion.

    The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has been loyal to the Moscow patriarch since the 17th century.

    In 2019, the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine received recognition from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. But Moscow’s and most other Orthodox patriarchs refused to accept that designation.

    Russia’s February invasion underscored the alliance between President Vladimir Putin and Moscow Patriarch Kirill, who said Russia was defending Ukrainians from Western liberalism and its “gay parades.”

    From the start, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church denounced the invasion and such justifications, backing Ukraine. In May, the church declared its own “self-sufficiency and independence” from Moscow.

    While that sounds definitive, the church didn’t declare itself “autocephalous” — the Orthodox gold standard of independence. That was in part to maintain ties with other countries’ Orthodox churches that hadn’t agreed to such a status. The UOC did give Moscow a liturgical cold shoulder by dropping the commemoration of Kirill as its leader in public worship and blessing its own sacramental oil rather than use Moscow’s supply.

    These acts represent “an enormous step” in the Orthodox world even if they seem arcane, said Elizabeth Prodromou, a fellow for Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

    Even so, some see the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as still aligned with Moscow and the “Russian world” concept of political and spiritual unity of Russians, Ukrainians and Belarussians.

    “What the people want is for the church to make very clear who they are, who they are for,” said Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun, a Ukraine native and professor of ecclesiology, international relations and ecumenism at Sankt Ignatios College, University College Stockholm.

    Ukraine’s counter-intelligence service, known as the SBU, searched the landmark Pechersk Lavra complex last month, citing an incident in which “songs praising the ‘Russian world’ were sung.”

    The SBU said it searched 350 religious sites across Ukraine last month and more this week. It alleged the searches yielded pro-Russian materials, and accused a bishop of pro-Russia messaging. On Wednesday, it reported that a UOC priest from Lysychansk was sentenced to 12 years for tipping off Russian invaders to Ukrainian troop positions.

    While the evidence shows some within the UOC remain pro-Moscow, the church also has publicly disagreed with Kirill’s position, Prodromou said.

    Any enforcement actions need to be transparent and respect the religious liberty guaranteed in Ukraine’s constitution, said Prodromou, a former vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

    Even if there are pro-Russian elements in the church, “it still raises the question of what is to be done and whether this is a prudent step by the Ukrainian government,” she said, noting that in pluralistic Ukraine, a reduction of religious liberty for one group would be worrying for others.

    “This is not only an Orthodox question. Other communities will be watching: Protestants, Greek Catholics, Jews, Muslims” as well as the OCU.

    The UOC is being squeezed by all sides – from Russians claiming the church as their own to Ukrainians who see the OCU as Ukraine’s true church, said John Burgess, a Pittsburgh Theological Seminary professor and author of “Holy Rus’: The Rebirth of Orthodoxy in the New Russia.”

    Zelenskyy, too, is in a tight spot, Burgess said: “There’s such anti-Russian sentiment that (with) anything that can be tainted as somehow pro-Russian, he gets a lot of pressure to do something about it.”

    But Prodromou says treating the entire UOC as disloyal “would be a mistake based on the empirical evidence and would also be imprudent because it would undermine the possibility of full reconciliation” between the two Orthodox churches.

    ———

    Smith reported from Pittsburgh.

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    Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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