Greek Fire Brigades Continue to Fight Fire Near Mount Athos

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On Friday, the press service of the Holy Community of Mount Athos reported that, for the second day in a row, about a hundred firemen continued their efforts to extinguish a raging wildfire near Mount Athos. Three airplanes and four helicopters are part of the elements deployed to put out the blaze. According to recent reports, firemen managed to confine the flames to an area near the small tourist resort of Ouranoupoli. In a statement issued by the fire service on Thursday, it indicated that the conflagration endangered Ouranoupoli, not Mount Athos. Authorities ordered the elderly and families with children to leave the affected locale immediately. Severe fires broke out in pine forests in northern Greece on Thursday. High temperatures exceeding 40 degrees (104 degrees Fahrenheit) only exacerbated the situation.

10 August 2012

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=46958

Moldovan Prime Minister Filat and Transnistrian President Shevchuk to go to Mount Athos to Pray and Discuss Political Issues

Transnistrian President Yevgeni Shevchuk (1968- ) and Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat (1969- )

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So, they met at a Julio Iglesias concert…

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And at another featuring Lara Fabian… they DO have good taste in music, these two…

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On Sunday morning, Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat and Transnistrian President Yevgeni Shevchuk flew in a private plane to Greece, where they’re going to visit Mount Athos. Sources told Interfax that Metropolitan Vladimir Kantaryan of Chișinău and all Moldova accompanied them to the airport. Igor Volnitchi, the Press Secretary for the Moldovan Prime Minister, informed Interfax, “The leaders of Moldova and Transnistria flew to Mount Athos on a private visit, to pray together at the ancient monasteries”. He said that during this trip, Filat and Shevchuk would also discuss “a possible settlement of the Transnistrian conflict and other topics of mutual interest”. Previously, Filat and Shevchuk met informally on several occasions, at football matches in Tiraspol, as well as concerts by Lara Fabian and Julio Iglesias in Chișinău.

16 July 2012

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=46397

JP was at a Meeting of the Oxford British Charitable and Educational Society “Friends of Mount Athos” in Oxford

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Metropolitan Kallistos Ware chaired a meeting of the British charitable educational trust “Friends of Mount Athos” in Oxford, which supports the well-being of the monasteries of Mount Athos and gives assistance to those making pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain. Metropolitan Jonas Paffhausen, First Hierarch of the OCA, attended the meeting, as he’s a member of the society. Metropolitan Jonas participated in a session with a talk on Monasticism in the American Context. Other papers presented during the annual meeting were The Monk and the Lady: Theophanes the Cretan’s Iconography of the Annunciation and Athos, by Fr Maximos, a monk of Simonopetra Monastery, and Georgia on My Mind: An Illustrated Presentation on the Monasteries of Georgia by Peter Lea. After the event, Metropolitan Jonas, with the blessing of the Patriarch Bartholomew Archontonis of Constantinople visited the Patriarchal Stavropegial Monastery of St John the Baptist in Tolleshunt Knights (Maldon District. Essex. England) UK, founded in 1959 by Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov, a follower of Fr Silouan Antonov of Mount Athos. Metropolitan Jonas spent several days in prayerful solitude in the monastery, the according to the OCA official website.

19 June 2012

Sedmitza.ru

http://www.sedmitza.ru/news/2997043.html

Editor’s Note:

An MP priest friend of mine simply commented, “Birds of a feather”. We all know how dotty and doddering Kallistos Ware has become. For an Orthodox “theologian”, his views on female ordination are… well, singular. Note well that Fathausen didn’t meet with Archbishop Yelisei Ganaba, the MP hierarch in the UK, or with Archbishop Gregorios Theocharous, the Greek ruling bishop. He just spent some time at Fr Sophoney’s (that’s his name amongst waggish elements at the Centre) “monastery”… the place has a reputation for coldness and inhospitality. Indeed, a person known to me went there, and they didn’t even offer them a glass of tea. That’s NOT in the good ol’ time Russian monastic tradition, to be sure.

If JP were a “friend” of Mount Athos, he’d clean house at SVS, as SVS hates monasticism and laughed at the Holy Mountain at the instigation of the Jesuit Uniate poseur Bob Taft (no lie… it was on an “Ancient Faith Radio” podcast… and AFR didn’t condemn the laughter… fancy that). However, he hasn’t and he won’t. Interestingly enough, Kallistos Ware is one of SVS’ fave “theologians”… they agree with his “interesting” views on female ordination, amongst other things.

In any case, this was nothing but a set of pompous pseudo-intellectuals presenting “papers”… the older I get, the less patience I have with such time-wasting pretence. I read about it on the OCA website, and decided to say nothing until I read about it in the Russian press… it took five days. Note well that JP got no official reception amongst the Archdiocese of Thyateira or the Diocese of Sourozh. As for sitting around listening to “papers”, I’d rather feed the cats or bake a loaf of bread… that’s doing something useful, at least…

BMD                  

18 June 2012. Another Sane Voice Weighs In on the Ephraimites

Elder Ephraim of Philotheou (1927- ) with followers

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A long-standing friend weighed in with this intel:

I know Fr Ephraim and I believe him to be an excellent man. However, as so often happens, I also believe that many of the “Ephraimites” are rather nasty. In other words, the poor man’s a prisoner of these nutjobs. We must distinguish between Fr Ephraim and his self-appointed followers.

Firstly, this sounds like a great deal of good sense. Fr Ephraim’s in his eighties, which means that he’s not as robust as he once was. Other sources tell me that he’s sharp as a tack mentally, but frail physically. You see, one of the reasons that I post as I do is to provoke responses from my “cabinet”. This is NOT a solitary enterprise, for if it were, it’d be doomed to failure. To return to the point, it’s very true that hieromonks from Ephraimite monasteries have caused great upset amongst believers. However… I’ve received just as many communications stating firmly that Fr Ephraim isn’t involved personally. This is much like what happened in the years just prior to Vladyki Laurus‘ death at Jordanville. There were parties there that used Vladyki’s physical frailty as a “cover” for their own ambitions and power games. Here’s the sad part… a good elder or hierarch CAN be dragged under by the actions of crook subordinates. I hope that the GOAA investigation uncovers the truth and cuts out the cancer. The future of Elder Ephraim’s name depends on it.

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Monday 18 June 2012

Albany NY