THE STANDING CONFERENCE OF THE ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES & THE STANDING
CONFERENCE OF THE CANONICAL ORTHODOX BISHOPS IN THE AMERICAS

Cordially invite the public to the eighth annual

Orthodox Prayer Service & Reception
For the United Nations Community

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Six-thirty in the evening

GUEST SPEAKER

His Excellency Ambassador Negash Kebret Botora Permanent Representative of
the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the United Nations

HOMILIST

His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Barsamian Primate, Diocese of the Armenian
Church of America (Eastern)

MASTER OF CEREMONIES

Mr. Raffi V. Balian
Legate's Committee, Diocese of the Armenian Church (Eastern)

630 Second Avenue (corner of 34th Street) New York City

A reception will follow in the Haik & Alice Kavookjian Auditorium

For more information, please call Maral at the Diocesan Center -
212.686.0710

EASTERN ORTHODOX LEADERS RECOMMIT THEMSELVES TO DIALOGUE

Patriarchs, primates and representatives of Eastern Orthodox churches
recommitted themselves to overcome intra-Orthodox conflicts as well as to
continue theological dialogues with Christians from other confessions at a
10-12 October meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.

"Overcoming the internal conflicts of the Orthodox Church through the
surrendering of nationalistic, ethnic and ideological extremes of the past"
is a requisite for the "word of Orthodoxy [to] have a necessary impact on
the contemporary world," reads a message issued at the end of the meeting.

The message also affirms the participants' "desire to continue, despite any
difficulties, the theological dialogues with other Christians, as well as
the interreligious dialogues, especially with Judaism and Islam".

Fourteen patriarchs, primates and representatives of Eastern Orthodox
churches gathered in the Phanar, the see of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople. The meeting took place at the invitation and under the
presidency of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew - the "first among us,"
according to the message.

"This has been an extremely important event in the life of the Orthodox
church," said the World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary
Georges Lemopoulos. "The message, calling mainly for inter-orthodox unity
and collaboration, and spelling out an 'Orthodox agenda' as a witness to the
world, has a significant ecumenical dimension and will certainly impact the
work of the ecumenical movement," added Lemopoulos, an Orthodox layman from
the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Addressing some of the issues making headlines these days, the message
linked the current financial crisis to "manic profiteering" and "corrupt
financial activity", while calling for a "viable economy" able to combine
"efficacy with justice and social solidarity".

Regarding the conflict between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway South
Ossetia region, the Orthodox leaders commended both Orthodox churches for
"their fraternal cooperation" and hoped that their "efforts will contribute
to overcoming the tragic consequences of military operations and [to] the
swift reconcilement of the peoples".

The meeting's message condemns the "unjust inequality" in the sharing of
"the goods of Creation" by "individuals, or even peoples" as a consequence
of "nationalistic, ethnic, ideological and religious" divisions. The results
are wanton: billions of people deprived of basic goods; mass migration;
nationalistic, religious and social discrimination and conflicts; and
destruction of the natural environment and the entire ecosystem.

As Orthodox Christians "share responsibility for the contemporary crisis of
this planet," they also have "a major obligation to contribute to overcoming
the divisions of the world," the message states.

Participants at the gathering welcomed "the proposal by the Ecumenical
Patriarchate to convene Pan-Orthodox Consultations within the coming year"
in order to address jurisdictional and other issues that have "arisen from
historical circumstances and pastoral requirements, such as in the so-called
Orthodox Diaspora".

The Orthodox leaders also welcomed "the continuation of preparations for the
Holy and Great Council". Preparations towards a major conciliar event of the
Orthodox churches took place at the end of the seventies and in the eighties
but slowed down when changes in Eastern Europe created new pastoral needs
and ecclesial challenges within the Orthodox world.

The message has been signed by the patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria,
Antioch, Jerusalem and Moscow, the primates of the churches of Cyprus,
Greece, Poland, Albania, and the Czech Lands and Slovakia, as well as
representatives of the churches of Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia.

Full text of the Message of the Primates of the Eastern Orthodox Churches:
http://www.ec-patr.org/docdisplay.php?lang=en&id=995&tla=en

Orthodox Concelebration in Zurich, Switzerland

On September 11th, 2008, the commemoration day of the martyrs St.Felix, Regula and Exuperantius ten Orthodox Churches held a concelebration in prayer for the sixth time.

The participating churches were the Russian, Greek, Serbian, Romanian, Armenian, Indian, Syrian, Coptic, Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches. The latter three also celebrated their new year on this occasion.

Videos of the Prayer Service have been added to youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TewahedoCH