Public Orthodoxy

“In Greek Let Us Pray”: Mission, Language, and Australian Orthodoxy

The perennial issue of liturgical language has once again taken center stage following the recent comments of Archbishop Makarios of Australia on the primacy of Greek in the Church’s liturgical worship. As a faithful member of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia and convert of 22 years, I welcome His Eminence’s comments for having generated robust discussion and an opportunity for reflection on some of the underlying factors that accompany the issue....

"In Greek Let Us Pray": Mission, Language, and Australian Orthodoxy The perennial issue of liturgical language has once again taken center stage following the recent comments of Archbishop Makarios of Australia on the primacy of Greek in the Church’s liturgical worship. As a faithful member of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia and convert of 22 years, I welcome Hi...

Сучасні виклики, що стоять перед Православною Церквою, чи загроза нового розколу?

Коли ми говоримо про сучасні виклики чи загрозу розколу, такі теми часто звучать або надто узагальнено, або, навпаки, стають джерелом емоційного занепокоєння. Проте історичний досвід Церкви вчить нас, що криза не є ні новим, ні незвичайним явищем. Церква завжди існувала в епіцентрі напруги, протистоянь і вирішальних поворотних моментів. Однак не кожна криза переростає у розкол. Тому наша мета полягає не в тому, щоб запропонувати повний перелік сучасних викликів чи онтологічне визначення розколу, а радше в тому, щоб поміркувати над певною еклезіологічною динамікою таким чином, щоб ми могли розпізнати, чи стикаємося ми з викликом, чи вже наближаємося до реальної небезпеки розколу....

Сучасні виклики, що стоять перед Православною Церквою, чи загроза нового розколу? Коли ми говоримо про сучасні виклики чи загрозу розколу, такі теми часто звучать або надто узагальнено, або, навпаки, стають джерелом емоційного занепокоєння. Прот....

Contemporary Challenges Facing the Orthodox Church or the Threat of a New Schism?

When we speak of contemporary challenges or the threat of schism, such themes often sound either overly generalized or, conversely, become sources of emotional anxiety. Yet the historical experience of the Church teaches us that crisis is neither new nor unusual. The Church has always existed at the heart of tension, confrontation, and decisive turning points. However, not every crisis becomes a schism....

Contemporary Challenges Facing the Orthodox Church or the Threat of a New Schism? When we speak of contemporary challenges or the threat of schism, such themes often sound either overly generalized or, conversely, become sources of emotional anxiety. Yet the historical experience of the Church teaches us that crisis is neither new nor unusual. The Church has always existed at the...

Fr. Barouyr Shernezian on His Holiness Aram I's "In Search of Self-Understanding"

An Inner Journey Toward Self-Understanding The Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia, one of the two Catholicosates of the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, is headquartered in Lebanon today as a direct consequence of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Originally based in Sis, in historic Cilicia (modern-day Kozan in Eastern Turkey), the Ca...

https://publicorthodoxy.org/2026/05/29/joyful-sorrow/

“Jesus came back from death not in a blaze of glory, but more like a candle flame in the dark, flickering first in this place, then in that place, then in no place at all.”

Frederick Buechner’s image names something the Church knows in her bones, especially in the long hush of Holy Saturday and the first trembling light of Pascha: resurrection is not spectacle. It is presence. It is not the intoxication of conquest, but the quiet overthrow of death by a love that refuses to stop being love.

Charmolýpē (“Joyful Sorrow”) as the Antidote to Triumphalism “Jesus came back from death not in a blaze of glory, but more like a candle flame in the dark, flickering first in this place, then in that place, then in no place at all.” Frederick Buechner’s image names something the Church knows in her bones, especially in the long hush of Holy Saturday an...

Spirituality That is Resolutely Earthbound

In an age of rapid consumption, artificial intelligence, and reactionary (and often online) “Orthobroism,” there has been an increase in Orthodox discourse on the need for a more explicitly embodied and ecological spirituality. It is a perennial human question to ask what constitutes the meaning of our existence and reflect on how various responses to the same question prompt diverse modes of ethical systems and relational spiritualities....

Spirituality That is Resolutely Earthbound In an age of rapid consumption, artificial intelligence, and reactionary (and often online) “Orthobroism,” there has been an increase in Orthodox discourse on the need for a more explicitly embodied and ecological spirituality. It is a perennial human question to ask what constitutes the meaning...

Is the Truth an Antinomy? Metropolitan Mark and the Limits of Religious Tolerance

For the first time, the Russian anti-war diaspora is calling on a European government to hold a high-ranking hierarch of the Moscow Patriarchate accountable for his public support of the war in Ukraine. The target of the petition is Metropolitan Mark (Golovkov), appointed as Exarch of Western Europe by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on March 12, 2026....

Is the Truth an Antinomy? Metropolitan Mark and the Limits of Religious Tolerance For the first time, the Russian anti-war diaspora is calling on a European government to hold a high-ranking hierarch of the Moscow Patriarchate accountable for his public support of the war in Ukraine. The target of the petition is Metropolitan Mark (Golovkov), appointed as Exarch of Western Europe...

Marriage, the LGBTQ Controversy, and the Need for Conciliar Discussion

Editor's Note: This essay is the second in a series. Read part one. Current Orthodox pastoral attitudes and canonical practice regarding marriage are, on more than one point, paradoxical. The most troubling paradox is the difficulty of reconciling the Church’s idealized doctrine of the unique, indissoluble marriage bond with the canonical tolerance of three marriages for divorced Orthodox faithful....

Marriage, the LGBTQ Controversy, and the Need for Conciliar Discussion: Theological "Commonplaces" and the Conciliar Tradition (Part Two) Editor’s Note: This essay is the second in a series. Read part one. Current Orthodox pastoral attitudes and canonical practice regarding marriage are, on more than one point, paradoxical. The most troubling paradox is the difficulty of reconciling the Church’s idealized doctrine of the unique, i...

"When Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew told Bob Simon of 60 Minutes in 2009 that he feels “crucified” in Turkey, he was not merely expressing personal anguish; he was articulating a theological reality."

Why the Ecumenical Patriarchate Must Remain in Constantinople When Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew told Bob Simon of 60 Minutes in 2009 that he feels “crucified” in Turkey, he was not merely expressing personal anguish; he was articulating a theological reality. The Patriarchate’s vulnerability in Istanbul is not a weakness to be escaped; it is the very...

Fr. Seraphim Rose and ROCOR’s Ecclesiological Trap

"The decision to move toward Fr. Seraphim’s glorification forces ROCOR to confront the inner logic of his own ecclesiology—and it is precisely here that the Synod may already have stepped into a trap."

Canonization and the Act of Betrayal: Fr. Seraphim Rose and ROCOR’s Ecclesiological Trap The opening of the canonization process for Fr. Seraphim Rose (1934–1982) has become one of the most discussed Orthodox news stories of the past few days. Many voices have already rejoiced that Americans will now have their own American‑born saint. In Munich, in early May 2026, the Council of Bi...