Orthodox Church

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

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law moving the official Christmas Day holiday to Dec. 25 to “abandon Russian heritage”.

Russia struck the Ukranian Black Sea city of Odesa again on Sunday, leaving one dead, dozens injured and a historic cathedral badly damaged.

More than 100 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been released as part of a major Easter exchange with Russia, a top official said Sunday.

Russian and Ukrainian forces battled at close range in forest near the Donbas town of Kremina over Orthodox Christmas, according to British intelligence.

Russian officials have denounced the Ukrainian government as “enemies of Christ and the Orthodox faith” over security service raids on churches accused of links to Moscow.

ROME — Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic has cancelled EuroPride events scheduled to be celebrated in Belgrade in September, following massive street protests.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Pope Francis was heckled by an elderly Greek Orthodox priest on Saturday as he arrived for a meeting with the head of the country’s Orthodox Church, evidence of the lingering distrust between some Orthodox and Catholics centuries after Christianity was cleaved in half.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has marked the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks by saying that it proved “Christian civilisation” must be defended at all times, and vowing to stop mass migration from facilitating further terror.

(AP) — Bosnian authorities on Saturday demolished a Serbian Orthodox church that was illegally built on land owned by a Bosniak woman, a move that comes after a 20-year legal battle that saw the case reach the European Court of Human Rights.

Greek far-left Antifa anarchists are said to have been behind the placement of a banner outside the  Metropolis of Piraeus this week, calling on the church to obey the government’s Wuhan virus lockdown.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – The leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Irinej, who often criticized Western policies toward Serbia and urged close relations with Slavic ally Russia, has died after testing positive for the coronavirus, the church said Friday. He was 90.

JERUSALEM (AP) – A small group of Christian clerics celebrated the Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Saturday as the coronavirus pandemic prevented worshippers from taking part in the ancient and mysterious ritual.

The Orthodox Church of Cyprus has rejected a government ordinance banning gatherings of over 75 people, saying it would continue to hold its divine liturgy as usual for all who desire to participate.

The former papal nuncio to the United States, who has alleged the existence of a “gay mafia” among the bishops and clergy of the Catholic Church, says Pope Francis “himself” is “provoking” a schism because of his support for the Amazon Synod in Rome next month.

Contents: Russian Orthodox Church asks world leaders to protect it from Ukrainian persecution; Military tensions between Ukraine and Russia are increasing

Contents: Constantinople grants Ukrainian Orthodox Church independence, causing historic split with Russia; Russia says that Constantinople’s decision is ‘catastrophic’

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) – Two days of voting on a constitutional amendment that would make it harder to legalise same-sex marriage have gotten started in Romania.

MOSCOW (AP) – Vladimir Putin says the adoption of Christianity more than 1,000 years ago in territory that later became Russia marked the starting point for forming the Russian nation itself.

MOSCOW (AP) – Four gunmen attacked a Russian Orthodox church in the mostly Muslim Russian province of Chechnya on Saturday but were killed by security forces in a clash that also left two policemen and a churchgoer dead. The attack underscored security challenges in Russia as it prepares to host the World Cup next month.