Orthodox Catholic Church

Turkey's top religious official backs reopening of Halki Seminary 'in principle'

No religious minority group in Turkey should have to look abroad to educate its religious clerics, Directorate General of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) head Mehmet Görmez said on Feb. 28, expressing lukewarm support for the reopening of the Halki Seminary.

Last Byzantine church in Ankara close to disappearing

The Orthodox church of Saint Clement, which was built at least 1,000 years ago in Ankara and is the only Byzantine-era structure in the city, has almost disappeared among office buildings The only structure from the Byzantine era in Ankara, the Saint Clement Church, is about to disappear amid the city's continuing urban sprawl. 

A message of peace from ?zmir

It was an emotional celebration by a congregation of a few hundred of Orthodox Christians who gathered last Saturday, Feb. 6, in the recently restored 19th century church of Voukolos (the Shepherd) in the old neighborhood of Fournaradika (the Bakers' district). It is the only Christian Orthodox church still standing in Izmir.

Ecumenical Patriarch to chair meeting of Orthodox Church Primates in Geneva

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has called a meeting – Synaxis – of the heads of Orthodox Churches around the world at the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy, Geneva from January 21 until January 28, the Ecumenical Patriarchate announced.

Holy Synod refuses to sanction cremation

The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece on Thursday repeated its refusal to sanction the practice of cremation, in an announcement issued on Thursday.

“The Holy Synod refuses [to accept] that it is dignified for the deceased to be burned in a furnace,” it said after a meeting chaired by Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos.

Turkey's Chief Ombudsman gives green light to payment of priests' salaries by state

The Chief Ombudsman's Office of Turkey has given the green light to the Directorate General of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) to pay priests' salaries, upon an appeal by Nazaret Ozsahakyan, the head of Boyac?köy Surp Yerits Mangants Armenian Church Foundation.

Epiphany Day in Greece

Epiphany Day, also known as Theofania or Fota, is celebrated across Greece each year on January 6 commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist, according to the Orthodox Church and the banishing of the mischievous Kalikantzaroi back to the hollow earth, according to popular belief.

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