Orthodox Beacon is going to take a break in posting for a while. During our hiatus, we recommend that our readers visit www.aoiusa.org/blog/ to find the latest news and opinions about events in American Orthodoxy.

[SOUTH CANAAN, PA | OCA]  —  Some of the countless treasures of Saint Tikhon’s Monastery here, including relics of Saints Silouan, Raphael, John Maximovitch, Barbara, Tikhon of Moscow (with his panagia), Innocent Veniaminov (with his handwritten Gospel Book), Alexis Toth, and Nikolai of Zicha and a relic of the True and Precious Life-Giving Cross will visit the Denver area June 4 through 6, 2010.

Igumen Sergius, Abbot of Saint Tikhon’s Monastery, and a member of the Monastery Brotherhood will be present at the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and Vespers in the following places, at which the faithful will be anointed and prayers for healing will be offered.

Saturday morning, June 5  —  Divine Liturgy at Archangel Michael Greek Orthodox Church, Colorado Springs, CO.

Saturday evening, June 5  —  Vespers at Saint Herman Church [OCA], Littleton, CO.

Sunday morning, June 6  —  Divine Liturgy at Saint Antiochian Orthodox Church, Arvada, CO.

Please contact local parish schedules for exact service times.

Source: www.oca.org/news/2172

[WASHINGTON, DC | OCA]  —  Saint Nicholas Cathedral here invites all Orthodox parishes in the US to add the names, ranks, and photographs of their US military veterans to the newly established Orthodox Veterans Memorial Webpage, an expression of the cathedral’s ongoing commitment to pray for departed Orthodox Christians.

“Our chaplains serve Orthodox of all jurisdictions and as such our War Memorial will honor all Orthodox whose names have been submitted to be honored,” wrote his Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, in a letter to the faithful and friends of the cathedral. “We must never forget their sacrifice and those who came before who have, as Abraham Lincoln so eloquently stated in his Gettysburg Address, ‘given their last full measure of devotion.’”

Read full article at: www.oca.org/news/2173

Dear to God,

Christ is in our midst! By the grace of God we have completed our First Episcopal Assembly, chaired by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North America and attended by 57 of the 65 Hierarchs of North and Central America. He is truly a gracious, loving and patient man and certainly a gift to our Church in North America. May God grant him good health and many years!

Recommendations were made to separate Mexico and Central America from our Episcopal Assembly as their needs linguistically and culturally are quite different. Hopefully, Mexico and Central America will be absorbed into the Episcopal Assembly of South America. Likewise the Bishops of Canada asked to form their own Episcopal Assembly and both requests will be forwarded to the Ecumenical Patriarch per the procedures out-lined in the Chambésy Documents.

The agencies of SCOBA were received by the new assembly which considers itself the successor of SCOBA. Monthly updates to a data base will assist in identifying Canonical Bishops, Priests, Deacons and Parishes. Joint Committees have been identified to ad-dress the common needs of the Orthodox Church here in the United States which will assist us in uniform articulation, discipline and expression of the One Orthodox Faith.

When building a new house, the most difficult aspect can be assessing the soil and digging deep down to find the bedrock upon which to lay a strong foundation. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios commented that when one looks at a beautiful building, one rarely considers the effort that went into creating a sufficient foundation for the building. By the grace of God we hope we have begun to lay an unyielding foundation upon which to bring the living stones, the faithful in Christ from our various jurisdictions, for the building up of a beautiful Church in North America to the Glory of God. May the All-Holy Spirit direct and guide our Hierarchs as they seek to do Lord’s will.

Your unworthy father in Christ,

+ Mark, Bishop of Toledo and the Diocese of the Midwest

Source: www.antiochian.org/node/23095

(Interfax) — Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople thinks it necessary to advance convening of the All-Orthodox Council with the participation of all local Orthodox Churches.

“We decided to facilitate the process of convening the holy and great Council of all Orthodox Churches,” Patriarch Bartholomew said in an interview to Vesti 24 TV which was recorded Sunday in the Constantinovsky Palace in Strelna near St. Petersburg.

He referred to the Council as one of the major objectives for the Constantinople Church and stated that the Council and its outcomes would “have the greatest impact on the entire Orthodox world.”

According to him, the event’s agenda “has been already set up and is well-known to the Orthodox community,” it covers ten major points, including the principles of autocephaly and autonomy of the Orthodox Churches, challenges of fasting, and a set of issues related to diptych (the order of mentioning Churches during service - IF.)

“Our Orthodox Church continuously seeks to keep up with the times avoiding to give up anything of its teaching, but at the same time, respond to the spirit of the time helping believers to stand up to the current real world,” Patriarch Bartholomew said.

The preliminary work to convene the Council was started as far back as 1960s. The All-Orthodox Council is preceded with the meetings of All-Orthodox Pre-Council Conference and Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Commission. The Council shall decide the problems which have been accumulating within several centuries, from the time of the last 7th Ecumenical Council, which should be addressed by the entire Church.

www.interfax-religion.com/print.php?act=news&id=7320

[SOUTH CANAAN, PA | OCA] — His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, President of Saint Tikhon’s Seminary here, presided at the school’s 68th annual Commencement Exercises on Saturday, May 29, 2010.

Over thirty graduate from St. Tikhon’s Seminary More than 30 degrees were conferred on a graduating class that included many newly ordained priests and deacons representing numerous dioceses across four jurisdictions.

Of the degrees awarded, the most notable was that of the degree of Doctor of Divinity, Honoris Causa, bestowed on His Grace, Bishop Joseph of Los Angeles and the West of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America by the Faculty and Seminary Board of Trustees of St Tikhon’s. In delivering the commencement address, Bishop Joseph exhorted the class with profound words concerning the pursuit of true theology as that which is rooted in a life of prayer.

Also addressing the graduates were His Grace, Bishop Tikhon of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, seminary Rector, and His Grace, Bishop Michael of New York and New Jersey, the seminary’s Dean.

The Commencement Exercises were followed by the celebration of the Resurrectional Vigil in the Monastery Church of Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk.

Source: www.oca.org/news/2171

by Stan Shinn

In today’s Episcopal Assembly of all American canonical Orthodox bishops, Archbishop Demetrios challenged the fifty-plus bishops present to resolve several pastoral matters. Aside from making a clear call to move beyond phyletism (which Archbishop Demetrios calls ‘jurisdictionalism’), Archbishop Demetrios calls for a resolution of pastoral matters which include disparity in the ways the jurisdictions handle converts, marriages, funerals as well as the issue of bishops who receive suspended or deposed clergy from other jurisdictions. Here are more specifics on what Archbishop Demetrios calls out :

(1)  Some jurisdictions receive persons from roman Catholic and certain Protestant bodies into Holy Orthodoxy by baptism and chrismation, some by chrismation alone, and some merely by confession of faith.

(2) Some jurisdictions receive Roman Catholic clergy converting to Holy Orthodoxy merely by vesting, while others ordain.

(3) Some jurisdictions recognize all marriages performed outside Holy Orthodoxy as being real marriages (though certainly not sacramental) whether performed for an Orthodox or non-Orthodox, while others recognize no marriages performed outside Holy Orthodoxy whether performed for an Orthodox or a non-Orthodox.

(4) Some Orthodox jurisdictions bury suicides under certain circumstances, while others forbid the burial of suicides under all circumstances.

(5) Some jurisdictions bury a person who was cremated with all funeral rites in the church temple, others permit only Trisagion Prayers of Mercy in the funeral home, and some forbid any prayers anywhere for a person who was cremated.

(6) Some jurisdictions recognize civil divorce as complete and sufficient for ecclesiastical purposes, while others do not recognize civil divorce at all and insist on Ecclesiastical Courts.

(7) Some jurisdictions have in the past accepted clergy suspended or even deposed by other jurisdictions. source

Read more at http://edit.goarch.org/news/addressassembly/view

Editor’s Note: This news is significant because the 2012 Pan-Orthodox Council will have on its main agenda the unification of orthodox jurisdictions in countries such as the United States. This is history in the making.

___

Vienna Greek-Orthodox Archbishop Michael Staikos, the Church’s Exarch for Central Europe, will visit Moscow on Pentecost, 24 May, it was announced Thursday. He will accompany Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaios I.

Staikos has said he is confident that the pan-Orthodox Council, which has been in the planning stages for years, will finally take place in 2012 or 2013.

Staikos told Catholic press agency Kathpress that relations between Moscow and Constantinople (Istanbul) have improved significantly since new Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill’s recent visit to Istanbul.

Staikos said Bartholomaios’ upcoming visit to Moscow is an attempt to improve intra-Orthodox relations.

http://www.austriantimes.at/?id=23347&print=1

[GOA, Atlanta] —   The Archdiocesan Council of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America convened for its regular spring meeting May 6-7 in Atlanta, under the chairmanship of Archbishop Demetrios of America. The two-day meeting of the Council took place in the Atlanta Marriott Marquis Hotel, where the 40th Clergy-Laity Congress is scheduled to convene July 4-8 of this year.

Archbishop Demetrios spoke of two important upcoming events, first the Assembly of Orthodox Canonical Bishops in North and Central America under his chairmanship as the Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which will convene in New York May 26-28 and second the 40th Clergy-Laity Congress. He urged the Archdiocesan Council members to encourage and assist the parishes of the Archdiocese to participate in the Clergy-Laity Congress in greater numbers than before. He said that all parishes of the Archdiocese should participate. The invitation as offered in the Gospel of John by Philip to Nathanael “Come and See,” (John 1:46) which is the theme of this year’s Congress, is a continuation of the theme of the last Congress “Gather My People to my Home” and is an invitation to which our parishes should respond first. The Archbishop using St. Paul’s advice urged everyone to “make the most of their time,” be vigilant and alert because as St. Paul says “the days are evil” and require an energetic and positive attitude.
Mr. Michael Jaharis, the vice-president of the Archdiocesan Council, shared his thoughts and observations on the progress of the Archdiocese and reiterated the need for one hundred percent participation in the upcoming Congress. At a later point Mr. Jaharis spoke on the efforts of strengthening the Youth, supporting the Archdiocese youth camps and his particular conviction on this matter as demonstrated by the activities of “Faith: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism.”

In his closing remarks to the members, Archbishop Demetrios stressed the importance and value he places in the programs to strengthen the Youth of the Archdiocese. He also said that in the present universal circumstances we have an increased responsibility to keep and protect and share our faith and our universal Hellenic heritage.

Source: www.goarch.org/news/ac-meeting-05072010

[New Jersey, OCA] — On Saturday, May 8, 2010, Archimandrite Michael [Dahulich] was consecrated as Bishop of New York and New Jersey at Saints Peter and Paul Church here.

Presiding at the consecration Divine Liturgy was His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, and other members of the Holy Synod of Bishops.

On the evening of May 7, Great Vespers with Bishop-elect Michael’s formal Nomination was celebrated.

Over 600 attended Saturday’s consecration banquet.

On Sunday, Bishop Michael will celebrate the Divine Liturgy at Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral, 59 East Second Street, New York, NY at 9:30 a.m.

Additional information and photographs will be posted as they become available.

May God grant Bishop Michael many years of fruitful archpastoral ministry!

Source: www.oca.org/news/2147