scholarly journals From the Ivory Tower to the Grass Roots: Ending Orthodox Oppression of Evangelicals, and Beginning Grassroots Fellowship

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 601
Author(s):  
George Hancock-Stefan ◽  
SaraGrace Stefan
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Christian Love ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Eastern Orthodox Church

When considering the relationship between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Church, can we both celebrate progress towards unity, while acknowledging where growth must still occur? Dr. George Hancock-Stefan, who fled the oppressive communist regime of Yugoslavia with the rest of his Baptist family, now frequently returns to Eastern Europe to explore topics of modern theology. During these travels, he has recognized a concerning trend: the religious unity and interfaith fellowship celebrated in Western academia does not reach the Eastern European local level. This is primarily due to the fact that Orthodoxy is a top to bottom institution, and nothing happens at the local level unless approved by the top. This lack of religious unity and cooperation at the local level is also due to the fact that the Eastern Orthodox Church claims a national Christian monopoly and the presence of Evangelicals is considered an invasion. In this article, Dr. Hancock-Stefan unpacks the history of the spiritual revivals that took place in various Eastern Orthodox Churches in the 19th–20th centuries, as well as the policies established by the national patriarchs after the fall of communism that are now jeopardizing the relationship between Orthodox and Evangelicals. By addressing this friction with candor and Christian love, this article pleads for the Orthodox Church to relinquish its monopoly and hopes that both Orthodox and Evangelicals will start considering each other to be brothers and sisters in Christ.

scholarly journals The new Ukrainian Autocephalous Church and its image in the ecumenical space

2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iuliu-Marius Morariu
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Local Churches ◽  
Neutral State ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Eastern Orthodox Church

An important moment in the recent history of the Eastern Orthodox Church was for sure the recognition granted to the Ukrainian Orthodoxy by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople with the Tomos of autocephaly (2019). Praised by some Orthodox churches and damned by other, it was preceded by some attempts of negotiation initiated by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and by a few meetings between the representatives of the aforementioned institution, Russian Patriarchate and the Ukrainian local churches that was later recognised by Constantinople and by a Schism between the Constantinople and Moscow. At the same time, it divided the local Orthodox churches between the ones who sustain one or the other side or prefer to remain in a neutral state and determined later meetings like the one from Amman in Jordan (2020), between leaders and representatives of the Orthodox Church. Conscious of the relevance of the event and its potential consequences, we have tried here to see how it was reflected in the ecumenical space. Therefore, we have proceeded to the investigation of the journals from the ecumenical area that spoke about it, and we analysed the way how they saw it and emphasised the main elements that have raised their interest. Together with the ecclesiastical challenges, we found that they were also interested in this problem not only for its theological meaning but also because of its geopolitical relevance. The research, based on the literature investigated, therefore presents the Ukrainian problem and its image in the ecumenical space.Contribution: The research investigates how the image of the Eastern Orthodox Church changed in the ecumenical space after the foundation of the New Ukrainian Church and the debates that followed inside of the Orthodox space in this context. It is linked with the scope of the journal due to the fact that investigates a topic relevant for the ecumenical area and presents a topic that can contribute in the future to the change of the relationships with different churches with the Orthodox one.

Ideological Attempts to Build a Sustainable Program of Ecodomical Decommunistization in Post-1989 Romania by Promoting the Notion of National Identity

2018 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-156
Author(s):  
Corneliu C. Simuț
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Political System ◽  
Ethnic Origin ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Constructive Process ◽  
Religious Convictions ◽  
The Way ◽  
Eastern Orthodox Church

In December 1989, Communism died in Romania—if not as mentality, it surely met its demise as a political system which had dominated almost every aspect of life in the country for over four decades. Thus, at least in theory, an ideological vacuum was created and concrete steps towards filling it with different values and convictions were supposed to be taken as early as possible. The Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church seized the opportunity and initiated a series of measures which eventually created a distinct perception about what culture, ethnicity, and religion were supposed to mean for whoever identified himself as Romanian. This paper investigates these ideological attempts to decontaminate Romania of its former Communist mentalities by resorting to the concept of ecodomy seen as ‘constructive process’ and the way it can be applied to how the Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church dealt with culture, ethnicity, and religion. In the end, it will be demonstrated that while decommunistization was supposed to be constructive and positive, it proved to be so only for the Romanians whose national identity was defined by their adherence to the Romanian Eastern Orthodox Church and its perspective on culture, ethnicity, and religion. For all other Romanian citizens, however, decommunistization was a process of ‘negative ecodomy’ because their cultural ideas, ethnic origin, or religious convictions were perceived as non-Romanian and non-Orthodox. In attempting to reach decommunistization therefore, the Romanian majority still tends to be xenophobic and even anti-Muslim, as plainly demonstrated by the Bucharest mosque scandal which rocked the country in the summer of 2015.

Die Bundeswehr und die Belgischen Streitkräfte in Deutschland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Springer
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Military Training ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
History Of ◽  
Military Training Areas ◽  
The Military ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Peak Phase ◽  
East West

This study is dedicated to the regional history of the East-West conflict on the basis of the relationship between the Germany military and the Belgian armed forces stationed in Germany. The central question it addresses is which factors were largely responsible for the interdependence between actors and institutions of both armies. In addition to analysing the limited time of the peak phase of Belgian military deployment in the Federal Republic 1946–1990, the book concentrates regionally on the military training areas of Vogelsang in the Eifel and the Wahner Heide near Cologne as military contact zones. For this purpose, the author evaluates unpublished archival sources at the local level for the first time.

scholarly journals The authority of the ecumenical patriarch in the Orthodox Church: A historico-canonical analysis

2010 ◽  
pp. 301-322
Author(s):  
Vasilije Vranic
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Canon Law ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Exact Role ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Right

During the 20th century, the exact role and the scope of jurisdictional authority of the Ecumenical Patriarch was an object of attention of both theologians and historians. The problem of defining the Patriarch was reactualized through the intensification of conciliar negotiations of Orthodox Churches. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that the pretensions of the Ecumenical Patriarch for universal jurisdiction over the entire Orthodox Diaspora, and the pretensions for the right of final arbitration in the ecclesial matters of the entire Orthodox communion, do not have a support in the Orthodox Ecclesiology. This will be argued in a historical analysis of the relevant prescriptions of the Eastern Orthodox Canon Law, which will be placed into the context of the history of the Christian Church, primarily of the Patristic period, since there disciplines play a vital role in the Orthodox understanding of Ecclesiological Tradition.

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