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5th Sunday of Great Lent - April 21 - St. Mary of Egypt - 9:10 am - Hours and Divine Liturgy of St. Basil. Church School. Coffee Hour

5:00 pm - St. Andrew's Brotherhood Lenten Vespers at Christ the Savior Orthodox Church (OCA), Ballston Spa, NY

Wednesday - April 24 - 10:00 am - Baptism of Brandon Wright - 6:00 pm - Presanctified Liturgy

Thursday - April 25 - 11:00 am - Presbyters Council Meeting

Lazarus Saturday - April 27 - 9:10 am - Hours and Divine Liturgy of St. John - 5:30 pm - Vigil for Palm Sunday with Blessing of Loaves and Blessing of pussy willows and palms

Entrance of Our Lord into Jerusalem - Palm Sunday - 9:10 am - Hours and Divine Liturgy of St. John. Blessing of pussy willows and palms.

5:00 pm - St. Andrew's Brotherhood Lenten Vespers at New Skete, Cambridge

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UKRAINE TARGETS PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW

Ukraine’s KGB successor targets Russian church leader

The country’s security service believes Patriarch Kirill has spread “propaganda” supporting Moscow’s military campaign

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has designated Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, as a suspect in a criminal case related to his alleged active support of Moscow’s military operation against Kiev.

In a statement on Saturday, the agency said that together with the Prosecutor General’s Office it had gathered evidence against the religious leader and accused him of “promoting the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and denying the war crimes.”

The SBU claimed that Kirill “is a member of the inner circle of Russia’s top military and political leadership,” adding that he uses Orthodox communities both at home and in Ukraine “to spread propaganda.”

In total, according to the security service, the primate could face three criminal charges, including encroachment on Ukraine’s territorial integrity, “justification” and “glorification” of Russia’s actions in the conflict, as well as “planning, preparation, initiation, and waging an aggressive war.”

On February 24, 2022, the day Russia started its military operation, Kirill urged both sides to do their best to avoid civilian casualties, while arguing that centuries-old ties between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples would allow them to overcome the political schism.

A month later, he declared that Russia had “entered a struggle of not physical, but metaphysical significance.” He has also blasted both the Ukrainian government and its Western backers for “sabotaging” Russian efforts to resolve the conflict in Donbass since 2014, when hostilities first erupted in the region.

In September, the patriarch opined that “Russia faces the main task of emerging victorious from the struggle that has been unleashed by the forces of evil” while calling for the “mobilization” of all of Russian society.

Kirill has been placed under sanctions by Ukraine and a number of Western countries. The Russian Orthodox Church has denounced the restrictions, suggesting that they only play into the hands of those who “see the escalation of the conflict and the drift away from peace as an important goal.”

The investigation targeting the Russian church leader comes as the SBU, along with other Ukrainian government agencies, continues an unprecedented crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), suspecting it of being a Russian tool despite it severing ties with Moscow shortly after the start of the conflict. Ukrainian officials have seized a number of UOC churches and turned them over to the Kiev-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) which is considered schismatic by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Source: RT News

RUSSIAN CHURCH RESPONDS TO PAPAL DOCUMENT ON BLESSING HOMOSEXUAL COUPLES, FIDUCIA SUPPLICANS

Moscow, March 26, 2024

Photo: npr.by

The Russian Orthodox Church published a document yesterday, March 25, responding to the Roman Catholic Church’s controversial Fiducia Supplicans document, which speaks of the possibility of blessing homosexual couples.

The Russian Church’s document, “On the Orthodox Attitude to the New Practice of Blessing ‘Couples in Irregular Situations and Same-sex Couples’ in the Roman Catholic Church,” was developed by the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission, headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Budapest.

According to the new document, “the ideas expressed in Fiducia Supplicans declaration represent a significant deviation from Christian moral teaching and require theological analysis.”

While “proclaiming fidelity to the Christian understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage and the practice of blessings,” the Catholic document “actually postulates a sharp departure from this fidelity.”

“In the context of the processes taking place in the Christian community, this document can be perceived as a step towards the full recognition by the Roman Catholic Church of ‘same-sex unions’ as a norm, which has already happened in a number of Protestant communities,” the Synodal Commission notes.

“All believers, including those with homosexual aspirations, need pastoral care. However, this pastoral care must not be aimed at legitimizing a sinful lifestyle, but at healing the soul of the suffering,” the Russian Church document states.

It concludes:

Despite the fact that the Fiducia Supplicans declaration is an internal document of the Roman Catholic Church, the Russian Orthodox Church considers it its duty to respond to such radical innovations that reject the divinely revealed norms of Christian morality. The Church, with maternal love and condescension accepting every individual sinner asking for its blessing, cannot bless ‘same-sex couples’ in any form, since this would mean the actual consent of the Church to a union that is sinful in nature.

Source: orthochristan.com

SANCTIONS DON'T FRIGHTEN ME ~ PATRIARCH KIRILL OF MOSCOW

Sanctions don’t frighten me – Russian Christian leader

Patriarch Kirill has dismissed restrictions imposed on him by some EU member states

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, has said he will not be intimidated by travel bans imposed by several EU nations. The restrictions are part of wider Western sanctions on Russia in response to its military operation in Ukraine.

“They’ve made the Patriarch persona non grata in Europe. Why? It’s because the Patriarch is spiritually leading the nation, leading the church that has taken a different civilizational path of development,” Kirill said during a service in Moscow.

“Perhaps, they have barred the Patriarch from traveling abroad because we represent a strong alternative [to the West]. As if they can threaten me with that.”

Several countries, including Britain, Lithuania, Estonia, and the Czech Republic, have blacklisted Kirill since the fighting between Russia and Ukraine broke out in February 2022. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky cited “his frequent public remarks supporting the war in Ukraine, justifying atrocities committed by Russian troops there” as reasons for the travel ban.

The EU stopped short of imposing bloc-wide restrictions on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church after Hungary blocked the move, calling it a “hostage policy” and citing religious freedom.

Kirill has repeatedly spoken in support of the Russian army, saying Russian soldiers in Ukraine are fighting “for our national values.” He argued that foreign powers target Russia because it is a “country of believers,” with the majority of people being devout Christians, as opposed to the West where people “are losing faith.”

Vladimir Legoyda, the head of the church’s press service, called the travel bans “counterproductive.” He stated that “no sanctions can force the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to change or abandon his opinion.”

Source: RT News

CANONICAL UKRAINIAN SYNOD CALLS ON PARLIAMENT NOT TO PASS LAW THAT WOULD BAN THE CHURCH

Kiev, April 11, 2024

The Holy Synod of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church held its first session of 2024 yesterday at the primatial residence at St. Panteleimon Monastery in Kiev.

The current situation with the violation of the right to freedom of religion of the faithful and organizations of the UOC was discussed, and it was decided to inform the Local Orthodox Churches, foreign countries, and international human rights organizations about the ongoing persecution, reports the Information-Education Department of the UOC.

The Synod also reiterated the Church’s administrative independence and that since 1990, its administrative center has been located in Kiev.

The Synod also adopted the text of a statement, emphasizing

that hierarchs, priests, and laymen of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are subjected to criminal prosecution on trumped-up charges. Churches and other property are taken away, and religious communities are unlawfully re-registered into the newly-formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Nearly a thousand and a half churches have already been seized to date. Local self-governments take unlawful decisions to ban the use of property by religious organizations of our Church.

The Synod also called on the Ukrainian Parliament not to pass draft law No. 8371, which aims, “under the pretext of protecting national security,” to completely ban the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church on the federal level.

Deputies voted in favor of the bill in its first reading in October, though it must pass a second reading to enter into law, and this second reading has been delayed several times.

The Synod notes that such a law would incite religious enmity and intolerance and infringe upon the principle of the autonomy of a religious community.

The Synod also elected a new vicar bishop for the Kiev Metropolis and a new vicar bishop for the Odessa Diocese.

Source: Orthochristian.com

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