Archimandrite Chrysostom Onyekakeyah Project Coordinator for Mission & Outreach Development Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America 6/15/22 The soul of America is pained by injustice. It is...
Read MoreAboutHealing in the Breach of American Societal Crisis: Why Racial Reconciliation Matters to Orthodox Christianity in America »

The entire world is witnessing Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine – unprovoked, unwarranted, and illegally. He targets civilians and hospitals, adults and children alike, in great acts of cowardice. He risks the lives of young Russian men, marching them openly in an attempt to terrorize the global community into a third world war. Propaganda out of Russia streams like a raging river, pulling at phantom threads of false justification. All the while Putin continues to pull at one thread in particular: religion. He and his co-pilot, Patriarch Kirill, are endeavoring to hijack Orthodox Christianity for their anti-Christian agenda.
Read MoreAboutThe Hijacking of Religion by Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill »

1918 and 2020, Race, Faith, and America’s Response to Epidemics By Rev. Samuel Davis, rector of St. Simon the Cyrene Orthodox Mission in Somerset, NJ (Orthodox Church in America) In May 2019, I...
Read MoreAboutThe Pioneer who dared to brave the Spanish Flu and Racism »

There are undoubtedly many striking parallels between the ecological crisis and the current pandemic. In many ways, however, the greatest threat to our planet at this time is actually not the novel coronavirus, but the urgency of climate change.
Read MoreAboutCOVID-19 AND CLIMATE CHANGE Living with and Learning from a Pandemic »

Body of Christ By Presvytera Melanie DiStefano In 2002 I was blessed to participate in an OCMC short-term mission trip to Chevogere, Kenya. It was an intensely life-changing experience. Our team...
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Love is free and it multiplies the more you share it. It doesn’t run out unless you squander it or measure it. Love doesn’t say, “You’re perfect just the way you are,” but rather “I love you and...
Read MoreAboutMusings on 1 Corinthians 13, Today… »

In light of recent tragic acts of racism and brutality — including the heinous execution of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, the murder of a black man simply for jogging in Georgia, and the weaponizing of the police against a black man in New York City, I humbly offer this blog entry, taken from a speech I presented in October 2019, which highlights racism and the Orthodox Christian Church in the USA today.
Read MoreAboutRacism and Orthodox Christianity in America: A Modern Commentary »

In January 2020, the Ecumenical Patriarchate approved a social document crafted by a theological commission that was charged with formulating general parameters and guiding principles for the role of the Orthodox Church as well as the responsibility of Orthodox Christians in the modern world.
Read MoreAboutTOWARD A SOCIAL ETHOS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH A New Document of the Ecumenical Patriarchate »

Rev. Dr. Nicolas Kazarian* New York City is still the epicenter of the pandemic and people continue to “shelter in place.” Our churches remain closed. However, parishes of the Greek Orthodox...
Read MoreAboutOrthodox Perspective on the Ministry of the Church Online »

By Presvytera Melanie DiStefano In my peripheral vision I noticed 5-year-old Gabriel looking in my son’s direction during Divine Liturgy. He was curiously studying some behavior that I could not...
Read MoreAboutThank Full »

The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was established on June 21st, 1946 to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. The Commission, supported by UN Women, establishes multi-year...
Read MoreAboutWomen Who Bloom: The Intersection of CSW63 & Women in the Church »

Never has such a sensitive question agitated the religious landscape of Europe, and of the world at large, as this: how is humanity saved? In this debate, which in the 16th century deeply marked the religious and political scene of the European continent by opening the bloody chapter of the wars of religion, Orthodox Christianity has been little exposed for various reasons.
Read MoreAboutOrthodox view on the Lutheran-Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification »

As you may all know, in 1989, then Patriarch Demetrios proclaimed September 1 as the annual day of prayer for the Care of Creation.  Since 1991, Patriarch Bartholomew has focused on the...
Read MoreAboutThe Environment and the Greek Orthodox Church »

Imagine your country, the place you’ve lived your entire life, has been so effected by climate-driven disasters, such as extreme floods resulting in dangerous landslides, that not only is infrastructure ruined but it has become impossible to yield crops. Your livelihood has been destroyed and you have no way to provide food for your family.
Read MoreAboutThe Principle of Non-refoulement in the Context of Migration »

Locally and internationally, debates regarding best practices to save the world’s diminishing clean water supply swell between two main camps: those who support the human right to water and those who promote privatization. Realizing the complexity of the issue, this blog intends only to provide a very boiled-down overview of each position as well as resources on the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese’s work on the topic.
Read MoreAboutWater We Doing!? »

Photo credit: St. Paul Pioneer Press   At the center of my Sundays since the mid-90s has been the act of praising and thanking God (for almost fifteen years now, in Eastern Orthodox...
Read MoreAboutFaith and Football »

On November 8th, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America (the Assembly) and the Standing Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches (SCOOCH) held the Tenth Annual...
Read MoreAboutInterfaith Dialogue: A Call to Respond to Millions on the Move »

Until the recent rise of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) to political prominence, Turkey’s secular Kemalist order had for decades remained largely...
Read MoreAbout“Hagia Sophia: Turkey’s Neo-Ottoman Icon” »

It is no small irony that across the globe the edifice and image most widely associated with Turkey, Istanbul, and even perhaps Islam, is a sixth-century Orthodox Christian church—the magisterial...
Read MoreAbout“Hagia Sophia: Turkey’s Ottoman Icon” »

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis issue first ever Joint Statement on World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
Read MoreAboutPrayers for our Planet: World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation »

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese hosts annual Ecumenical Officers' Retreat.
Read MoreAboutThe Ecumenical Way »

  Imagine you’re sitting at home on a peaceful Wednesday evening, relaxing after a long day at your medical practice. Your children are working on their homework and your husband grades his...
Read MoreAboutTrapped Between War and Nationalism: the Precarious Situation of Millions on the Move »

Learn how the world is trying to eradicate poverty and safeguard the planet.
Read MoreAboutMDGs, SDGs, and HLPF: What does it all mean? »

On June 22, the Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations of the Archdiocese participated in the UN’s Department of Public Information season-ending briefing, where members...
Read MoreAboutRecapping the Season-Ending Briefing: Our Recent Work at the UN »

On June 23, 2017, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGO) assembled at the United Nations for a multi-stakeholder hearing on the review of the global plan of action to combat trafficking in persons.
Read MoreAboutReaching Across Borders to Stop Human Trafficking »