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10.19.11
News From Around the Orthodox World
• Boston, MA
Bishop Nikon has had successful surgery for his stomach aneursym but will not be attending this weekend's Diocese of New England diocesan assembly. According to sources he does, however, plan to attend the All American Council at the end of the month in Seattle.
• Damascus, Syria
The Antiochian Archdiocese and the Patriarchate in Damascus have confirmed the date and location for the consecration of the three newly-elected American Auxiliary Bishops. Bishop-Elect John (Abdalah) – Auxiliary Bishop for Worcester and New England, Bishop-Elect Anthony (Michaels) – Auxiliary Bishop for Toledo and the Midwest,
and Bishop-Elect Nicholas (Ozone) – Auxiliary Bishop for Brooklyn and assisting the Metropolitan in Englewood, NJ will be consecrated on Sunday December 11, 2011 at the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand in Lebanon.
The Archdiocese had originally announced the consecrations would take place in "either Syria or Lebanon", despite the unrest in the former state, where according to the UN, over 3,000 people have died in continuing anti-government protests. Several Antiochian priests have visited Syria recently and downplayed the reports of unrest. You can read one such report here.
The delegation will meet in Paris, France on Thursday December 8, and will travel together to Lebanon. They will return some time after Tuesday December 13.
• Moscow, Russia
The Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate, which convened in Moscow on
Wednesday October 5, established 13 "new" dioceses. The new dioceses will appear in Kazakhstan and also in the Irkutsk,
Orenburg, Ryazan and Saratov regions, in Khabarovsk Territory and the
Republic of Tyva. The "new dioceses" were actually re-established in the same places where dioceses had previously existed prior to the 1917 Revolution. Ten new Metropolitanates, however, were established in Mordovia, Primorje, Sverdlovsk, Rostov, Orenburg, Ryazan,
Saratov, and Irkutsk regions,as well as in the Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk
Territories.
• Helsinki, Finland
The Inter-parliamentary Orthodox Association (IAO) an
international inter-parliamentary fellowship for Orthodox Christians, held a conference in Helsinki on 18 October, on the theme "Development of Church - State Relations in the Light of the Apostle Paul and Eastern Orthodox Tradition."
Member parlimentarians came from
Greece, Cyprus, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Albania and Latvia, in addition to the one Orthodox member of
Finland's parliament.
The I.A.O. is a political organization founded by the Greek
Parliament in 1993. I.A.O. representatives now come from 20 European countries. Representatives are designated by the
Presidents of their respective Parliaments to be members of their national delegations. Five non-European
countries also participate in the group. The aim is to encourage communication and trust, to discuss current political events and social
trends, and the latter from a specficially Orthodox Christian perspective.
-Mark Stokoe
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