5/30/2016
Evagelos Sotiropoulos
Unity the Focus of Holy and Great Council Opening Session; Patriarch Irinej of Serbia Calls All Orthodox Churches to Participate
On May 29, the Orthodox Church remembers the Fall of Constantinople, the Queen of Cities, in 1453. Named after Saint Constantine the Great, Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire (330-1453). Although Byzantium’s vast power spanned 11 centuries, its story is often held hidden.
The indispensable building block for Christian unity is in matters of faith. Do Orthodox Christians not pray, in every Divine Liturgy, for the unity of the faith and for the communion of the Holy Spirit? Unity of the faith gives birth to communion in the sacraments - including baptism, and at the Lord’s Table above all.
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A martyr is not one who chooses to die; rather, it is when one involuntarily - but without hesitation - suffers torment at the hands of others because of a public declaration or confession of faith, that they genuinely receive the crown of martyrdom.
