The Orthodox Church in Ukraine

For those who read German and want (in addition to the landmark study of Nicholas Denysenko, interviewed here) a new book to understand the ongoing developments and difficulties in the newly autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, see this recent study: Orthodoxe Kirche in Der Ukraine - Wohin?: Dokumente Zur Debatte Um Die Autokephalie (Aschendorff Verlag, 2019), 156pp.

About this book the publisher tells us this:

In der Ukraine bestanden seit langer Zeit verschiedene Orthodoxe Kirchen, die sich gegenseitig nicht anerkannten. Am 6. Januar 2019 unterzeichnete Patriarch Bartholomaus von Konstantinopel eine Urkunde (Tomos) fur eine neu gegrundete "Orthodoxe Kirche der Ukraine" und verlieh ihr Autokephalie, d.h. Unabhangigkeit und das Recht zur Selbstverwaltung. Nur ein Teil der orthodoxen Bischofe der Ukraine schloss sich dieser Kirche an. Wo befindet sich durch die jungsten Entwicklungen die Orthodoxe Kirche in der Ukraine? In einer neu erlangten Einheit und Unabhangigkeit? auf einem "Minenfeld", wie Erzbischof Anastasios von Albanien sagt? in einer schlimmeren Spaltung als vor der Gewahrung der Autokephalie? Dieser Band ermoglicht eine Urteilsbildung durch deutsche Ubersetzungen kirchlich relevanter Dokumente, beginnend mit dem "Tomos der Autokephalie" bis hin zur Verwerfung des Tomos durch einen seiner Adressaten. Eine Einleitung und Kommentierungen machen die Dokumente auch fur ein breiteres interessiertes Publikum verstandlich. Die Dokumentation deckt Fragen auf - vor allem nach dem Wesen und der Leitung der Kirche -, die auch das kirchliche Leben im Westen betreffen.

Bartholomew's Authorized Biography

I confess that I am not indifferent to the author of this forthcoming biography of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew insofar as John Chryssavgis asked me last year to write a chapter for a book that he edited and has just appeared in print, about which more soonest. He has always been very gracious to me over the years in a number of other capacities. He is the author of numerous other well-received books, and if the forthcoming biography (set for release early October) is at his usual standards, it will be a major accomplishment indeed. Thus I greatly look forward to reading John Chryssavgis, Bartholomew: Apostle and Visionary (Thomas Nelson, 2016), 272pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

The Orthodox Church, that great beacon of the East, now boasts 300 million members worldwide. In one of the most remarkable tenures of the patriarchate it has been more than twenty-five years since Bartholomew first accepted this ministerial position, which is considered “first among equals” of all Orthodox leaders around the world. He is viewed by many to be a strong, humble leader who is well-loved across a wide variety of political and religious boundaries.

With unfettered access to church files, Bartholomew’s personal notes, and the patriarch himself, author John Chryssavgis has woven together a picture of a man who has longed to serve God, the Church, and the world his entire life. Through personal and institutional challenges, Bartholomew continues to strive toward unity within the Orthodox community and build bridge to others. It is a task that can be as daunting as it is important. This book removes the veil that some may have placed upon this joyful man of God who is anything but mysterious, as evidenced by the heartfelt contributions to the book from world dignitaries, influencers, and religious leaders:

Pope Francis and Ecology: Late to the Party?

Far be it from me to try to steal some of the thunder of Pope Francis, but he has plenty of thunder to spare and is generous enough not to begrudge such efforts. I will therefore venture to suggest, amidst the increasing media hoopla over his encyclical on ecology--to be released tomorrow--that what he says is almost certainly going to be far from revolutionary or even very original in some respects. (This is as it should be for, as Fr. John Hunwicke rightly and repeatedly says, the job of the pope is to be a remora or a breakwater against innovation.) By that I mean that other Christian leaders, pre-eminent among them the Ecumenical ("Green") Patriarch Bartholomew, have been writing on ecological themes for decades, a fact that seems to have been acknowledged by the pope in having Met. John Zizioulas be one of the people involved with the official presentation of the encyclical on Thursday--and a fact, moreover, acknowledged in the text if the leaked draft's footnotes are anything to go by. Though one should not expect the dim and highly selective cheerleaders in the media to know this history of Eastern Christian theologizing about ecology, I drew attention to such Eastern Christian publications most recently in 2015. For earlier publications, see here but also here in 2014, and in 2011 here. (None of this, nota bene, is to gainsay what the pope will say, which deserves careful and respectful attention.)

In addition, for those seeking practical advice, His All-Holiness Bartholomew has written a preface to Greening the Orthodox Parish: A Handbook for Christian Ecological Practice.

Other Orthodox scholars have written on the topic, including Elizabeth Theokritoff, Living in God's Creation: Orthodox Perspectives on Ecology (SVS Press, 2009), 266pp.

The Orthodox scholar John Chryssavgiss has also edited a hefty collection, Toward an Ecology of Transfiguration: Orthodox Christian Perspectives on Environment, Nature, and Creation (Fordham University Press, 2013), 508pp.

Chryssavgiss also authored an informative piece here on how the Ecumenical Patriarch came to be know as the "Green Patriarch." And he edited another important collection: In the World, Yet Not of the World: Social and Global Initiatives of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Pope Francis, moreover, is not the only pope to write on these issues. Environmental issues began appearing, in their modern form, on the papal radar as far back as Paul VI in the 1960s. Much more recently, the unjustly maligned Pope Benedict XVI also addressed them, and a recent collection of his writings on the topic published by Our Sunday Visitor is very helpful here: The Environment.

The Ecumenical Patriarch Ecumenically Analyzed

Set for release in late May is a collection of essays from non-Orthodox Christians looking at the impact of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew* on relations between Orthodoxy and both Protestant and Catholic traditions: William Rusch, ed., The Witness of Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch (Eerdmans, May 2013), 160pp.

About this book we are told:

In this volume several theologians from different Christian traditions examine how Bartholomew I as Ecumenical Patriarch has influenced the contemporary European scene, the various dialogues between Orthodox churches and Reformed and Roman Catholic churches, the ongoing work of the World Council of Churches, and the modern ecumenical movement.

These essays, largely from non-Orthodox authors, paint a portrait of the Ecumenical Patriarch that has been often overlooked in Western circles — as a deeply Orthodox leader who wishes to relate Orthodoxy to the modern world and to have it make its contribution to the unity of Christians. 

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*A minor point of protocol: It is absurd that everyone insists on referring to him as "Bartholomew I," i.e., 'the first' even though that is never done until there is a second. E.g., in 1978, Albino Luciani, upon his election as bishop of Rome, was simply and rightly styled "Pope John Paul" and only after his death, and his successor took that same name, could he logically and correctly be called "Pope John Paul I."