News

Plans are now well in hand for the Second LOI consultation which will again be held in Albania at the invitation of His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios.  This year we expect around 55 Orthodox and Evangelical leaders to gather for a week in September. Invitations went out last month and already a good number of people […]

One of the participants at the 2013 LOI Consultation has returned to Albania to discuss the rights of Christians with the President of the country. The Ambassador for Human Rights of the World Evangelical Alliance and Director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom, Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, presented the concerns of Christians in a one-hour meeting […]

One of the key note speakers from the 2013 Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative Consultation, Dr. Brad Nassif,  has an interesting article in the current edition of Christianity Today. He writes about the theological convoversy concerning the Filioque, which has divided the Church for over 1,500 years. Reflecting on his grandmother’s recipe for hummus he suggests that this issue […]

The Ecumenical Patriarch said today he hoped for a continuing exchange of Orthodox and Anglican students to aid the two Churches’ relationship. His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was speaking today during his welcome of the Anglican Communion’s spiritual head Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. He said, “In the past, the rapprochement between our two Churches […]

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will visit His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul today (13 January 2014). Archbishop Justin is from an Evangelical background (having worshipped for several years at Holy Trinity, Brompton, home of the Alpha Course).  Responding warmly to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s invitation to visit he noted the important contributions His […]

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki have announced a very interesting three week summer school for 2014 under the title “Learning about Orthodox Theology, past and present”.  It will take place from 23 June to 12 July 2014 and will be taught in English. Full details can be seen here  Summer School

Recently we heard from Pam Dandre in Ukraine who tells us her own story about Evangelicals and Orthodox working together in mission. She writes about a recent conversation with a friend who is Protestant-turned-Orthodox and will soon be a missionary in Mongolia. Pam writes, “We have been dialoguing about some of the doctrines and traditions within […]

Dr. Paul Fiddes and Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili (Baptists from the UK and Georgia respectively) have recently published an interesting article on “A dialogue between the Orthodox Church of Georgia and the ‘Evangelical Christian-Baptists’ of Georgia (1979-1980) with its wider Baptist context” in the International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church.  This dialogue was […]

Sir John Tavener, the internationally acclaimed Orthodox composer, died today aged 69. Tavener was best known for his religious music, and joined the Russian Orthodox Church in 1977. His Orthodox faith and the rituals of the church exerted a huge influence on his work. He was however much appreciated by Christians from other traditions and his […]

The Lebanese National News Agency is reporting that two Syrian bishops who were abducted in April this year have been location although it may take time to negotiate their release. Brigadier General Abbas Ibrahim, Lebanese General Security Chief, revealed that he received information concerning the location of the two kidnapped Syrian bishops, Archbishop Bolous Yazigi […]

Regnum books have just published a compendium of articles on Orthodox Mission in their Edinburgh 2010 series. Orthodox Perspectives on Mission is both a humble tribute to some great Orthodox theologians, who in the past have provided substantial contribution to contemporary missiological and ecumenical discussions, and an Orthodox input to the recent 2013 Busan WCC General […]

In a video message shown at the opening of the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Busan, South Korea, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, called on Christians to “pray for the peace of the whole world and for the unity of all”. More than 2,000 participants from […]