Some good news

Communion restored between Antioch and Jerusalem

Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem is Supplying the Chrism for Charles III Coronation

Interesting to say the least. 

Details

On the ethno-colonialism of the Jerusalem Patriarchate

See this excellent post at Notes on Arab Orthodoxy.

Antioch severs communion with Jerusalem

It's been widely reported, but the official communique from the Holy Synod can now be found here.

Romania and the Patriarchate of Jerusalem restore communion

Details can be found on Byzantine Texas. Glory to God!

Here we go again...

Antioch withdraws from Episcopal Assemblies and threatens schism with Jerusalem.

See here and here.

Concelebrated Patriarchal Liturgy

His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III and the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Assumption Moscow Kremlin on the Feast of Sts. Kyrill and Methodius Enlighteners of the Slavs.

Romanian Church Reconciles with Jerusalem Patriarchate

A schism that should never have been and which makes us look silly if not downright petty has been resolved, praise God. See here for details.

A Rare Concelebrated Hierarchical Night LIturgy

November 11 2012 Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia concelebrates with Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem in the Church of the Resurrection.

Some Important Church News

Via Byzantine Texas

First the OCA has issued a ruling on the allegations against bishop Matthias of the Diocese of the Midwest. Read that here.

Secondly, ROCOR's magnificent monastery and seminary in Jordanville New York is in serious financial trouble. Please read the report here and help if you can spare some money.

Third the government of Israel has seized the bank account of the Orthodox Patriarchate in a dispute over water bills! It goes without saying that this is creating major financial problems. Read the story here.

OK the Romanians are wrong

I have been waiting to get the other side of the story in the ecclesial hissy fit between the Jerusalem Patriarchate and the Romanian Orthodox Church (see here) before drawing any conclusions.  That now appears to have been offered, and I have to say it does not look good for the Romanians (see Byzantine Texas for the details).  The whole thing is rather wordy and it wanders a lot.  But buried in the text is their argument in a single sentences.

“Due to pastoral-missionary reasons one can make derogation from the canons, because the canons are not dogmas, but pastoral rules.

This is of course absolutely true. It is called economy or oikonomia. Bishops can indeed suspend some church disciplines for a good reason... WITHIN THEIR JURISDICTION. 

Look I am no canon lawyer (do we even have such a thing?). But even I know you can't announce you are suspending the law in a place where you have no jurisdiction. No Romanian bishop has jurisdiction in the JP's territory, unless the JP's Synod says so, and clearly they haven't.  Neither can all of the Romanian bishops together suspend church law in a place where they have no jurisdiction.

That is the bottom line.  Everything else is just word games.  The Romanian Church is simply wrong here.  They need to man up and admit they overstepped their authority, apologize and ask politely for permission to establish a representation parish for the benefit of Romanian pilgrims.  That should solve the problem.

Jerusalem Patriarchate severs communion with Romanian Orthodox Church

Mystagogy reports...

The Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem met on Monday 9 May 2011 regarding the resolution of the anti-canonical actions of the Patriarchate of Romania, which has built a church and hostel in Jericho without their permission.

The Holy Synod of Jerusalem, after an in-depth investigation, regretably decided to sever communion with the Patriarchate of Romania and crossed Patriarch Daniel out of the dyptychs.

In the 1990's during the days of Patriarch Diodoros of Jerusalem and Teoctist of Romania a church and hostel was being built by Romanians in Jericho without permission from the Jerusalem Patriarchate. The Patriarchate of Jerusalem protested these actions, but the Romanian Church continued the unlicensed building project, and today the church is even functioning liturgically.

It should be noted that despite the interruption of ecclesiastical communion, Romanian pilgrims are welcomed to visit the Holy Land and the Monasteries of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

HT: Dr. Tighe

Some quick points...

• The original source for this is Greek.  I'm not saying that the report is in anyway inaccurate, just bear in mind that we are only getting one side of the story right now.
• It is not at all unusual for autocephalous churches to have "representation" parishes in the canonical territory of other churches to serve their own nationals and also act as a sort of ecclesiastical embassy.  The Russian Church has some in the United States with the full agreement of the OCA and I understand that there are some in Constantinople with the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.  There is also an OCA  representation parish in Moscow.
• This however is allegedly being done without the permission of the JP.  If true, that is a no-no and a potentially serious breach of church canons.
• These sorts of ecclesialogical hissy fits are not all that unusual.  Every now and then one church will do something stupid or deliberately step on the toes of one of the others and the result is a (usually) short lived mini-schism.  There was one between the Russian Church and the EP some years ago.  It was short lived, though I hasten to note that relations between Moscow and the EP have occasionally been strained in recent times.
• Finally it sounds like the JP is wisely limiting this to clergy concelebration for now and have indicated that they are not excommunicating all Romanians in their territory.

Ousted patriarch behind locked doors in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM -- Six years ago, Irineos I was the patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem with about 100,000 followers. Today, he sits behind locked doors in his Old City apartment, claiming he has been imprisoned by the successor who ousted him in a dispute over sale of church land to Israelis.

The only way Irineos could speak to The Associated Press Thursday was through a wireless microphone hoisted at the end of a rope to his roof - in the same black shopping bag supporters use nightly to deliver him groceries.

Reporters who tried to gain access to Irineos through the compound's massive metal door were denied entry by church guards peering out through a crack.

"They allow nobody out and nobody in to visit me," said Irineos. "They are afraid of the people because I'm loved by the people, and I love the people," he said into the AP microphone, peering over the edge of his roof.

It is a harsh comedown for a man who ruled his flock for four years as a revered spiritual figure.

Irineos said his successor, Theofilos III, will not allow attorneys, doctors or visitors to enter the home he has lived in for almost 40 years, which sits inside a large church-owned complex. He said he's been detained for three years over his refusal to concede the patriarchate.

Theofilos replaced Irineos in 2005 after allegations he sold church property to Israelis seeking to expand the Jewish presence in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim for the capital of a future state.

Read the rest here.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem: The Eastern Churches need liturgical revolution

Somehow I missed this, but it's significant.

Via Rorate Caeli:

One peculiarity of the Middle East is the large number of sui iuris Eastern Churches that have taken root here: the Melkites, Syrians, Maronites, Copts, Armenians and Chaldeans. These churches need to live their liturgical and linguistic particularity on the one hand, and a greater communion among themselves on the other. Currently, this communion leaves something to be desired. They also need pastoral and liturgical renewal. The Latin Church went through this change at the Second Vatican Council, which revolutionized its liturgy and ecclesiology and gave it a new openness to the world. The Eastern Churches are in need of a similar revolution so that they might be able to adapt and modernize and thus better meet the needs of their congregations today...

...60. The Liturgy promises to be an area of regular collaboration between Catholics and Orthodox. Many desire a liturgical renewal which is grounded in Tradition and cognisant of modern sensitivities and current spiritual and pastoral needs. As far as possible, such work needs to be collaborative undertaking.

Read the rest here. The comments are interesting. Not surprisingly a lot of the Trad Catholics are obsessing about the use of dead languages for the liturgy and are missing the point. It's not the language... it's the Language that matters.

As for liturgical collaboration with the Orthodox; I have no idea what planet these people are from, but I hope the weather is nice. The last time I checked the Jerusalem Patriarchate (the real one) does not even accept Latin baptisms. If they think they are going to score points with us by suggesting "liturgical collaboration" and that we do a Novus Ordo on the ancient liturgy of the Church then the Vatican needs to start drug testing its bishops.

“The Church is conservative by nature, as it maintains the apostolic belief. If we want to pass the belief from one generation to another for centuries, the belief must be intact. Any reform damaging the belief, traditions and values is called heresy.”

-Patriarch Kyril of Moscow and all the Russia's