38 locals were baptized on Saturday, June 13, in the new parish of the Moscow Patriarchate’s African Exarchate in the village of Tomboe, Niassa Province.
The parish was established in 1975 at the initiative of a group of Romanian emigrants who petitioned the Romanian Patriarchate to appoint young theologian Tudor Alexandru—then a doctoral student in theology at Heidelberg—as their priest.
Under the practice, families who were married in the Church could have their third and subsequent children baptized at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Tbilisi, with the Patriarch himself serving as Godfather.
The program, dubbed the Gaza Christians Aid Package, runs from June through December 2026 and focuses on Gaza City and the surrounding region.
The brethren are being driven from the Lavra, churches are being closed—as was done with the Life-Giving Spring and other churches. People dance in the churches, shoot all manner of unseemly videos, cook food—instead of prayer, instead of unifying Divine power.
The Transfiguration church is not the first UOC property to face demolition in Ukraine. In April 2023, a UOC church in Lvov was demolished by backhoe. In May 2024, the Sts. Vladimir and Olga-Tithes Church—which stood on the site of the oldest church in Kiev—was torn down under cover of night.
The wonderworking and myrrh-streaming Hawaiian Iveron Icon of the Mother of God visited Saipan last week, where the island’s small Orthodox Christian community venerated it amid ongoing recovery from Super Typhoon Sinlaku.
The move comes amid broader EU efforts to expand its sanctions regime in relation to the war in Ukraine. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has also been proposed for EU sanctions, though the bloc has not yet imposed them.
The Sacrament was celebrated by Fr. Christos Sitoé, rector of the Holy Trinity Parish in Maputo, who was traveling through communities of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa in the northern part of the country.
A Shahed drone struck the altar section of the St. Stephen’s chapel, igniting a fire on the roof of the Holy Dormition Cathedral.
The Orthodox Churches of Bulgaria and Romania spoke out against Pride events in their capitals this week, with His Holiness Bulgarian Patriarch Daniil personally leading a family march through Sofia’s streets.
The measure has been extended for two months, until August 11, with the next hearing scheduled for June 30.
Archbishop Stefan offered generous words of welcome to the pilgrims, including a brief reflection on the history of the Macedonian Orthodox Church and the apostolic roots of Christianity in the region.
The Supreme Court ruled that while the law involves “serious interference with freedom of religion and association,” it can be interpreted narrowly and applied in a manner consistent with the constitution.
The wave of Orthodox conversions across the United States has also reached to the Hawaiian Islands, where a Russian Orthodox parish has baptized more than 100 people in the past year and currently has dozens of catechumens.
Their conversation centered on securing the right to worship and preserving the sanctity of holy sites for people of all faiths, in keeping with the deep spiritual and historical roots of the region’s Christian community.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service has warned that the European Union is pressing Armenia to sever its religious ties with Moscow as a condition of EU integration.
On Monday, June 1, Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Parish in St. Louis, Illinois, solemnly observed the second day of its patronal feast with a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy marking the feast of Pentecost.
The report draws on the OCA’s own published Pastoral Changes records from 2010 to the present, offering the most detailed picture yet of clergy supply and demand across the jurisdiction.
Following the thousands of Baptisms celebrated at parishes across America during Holy Week, many parishes have also been reporting mass Baptisms celebrated on the feast of Pentecost.
