Greece

The rift between the Orthodox Churches became official on Monday after the Moscow Patriarchate's decision not to participate in the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Churches that begins Thursday on Crete. The Russian Orthodox Church asked for the...

The Holy and Great Synod, the Panorthodox Council of all Orthodox Churches, will commence on Friday in Crete showing that there is a chasm between the Churches of Greece and Russia. The Extraordinary Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided...

The Russian foundation calls on the Mount Athos monastic community, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow and the heads of Christian Orthodox Churches to defend Abbot Ephraim. The Vatopedi Monastery believes that the lawsuit against their Father Superior...

The Greek language survived almost 400 years of Ottoman rule due to the Greek Orthodox Church, which protected and taught the language.

The story of Father Dimitrios, the monk who turned out to be a spy for the British Intelligence Service in pre-World War II Greece

The Church of Greece decided on Saturday to recognize the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), making it the first of the Eastern Orthodox churches to take such a step. Formal recognition will take place on October 19 in Thessaloniki,...

US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt said on Tuesday there is evidence of Russian efforts to undermine Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Pyatt said that "we’ve seen evidence of this kind of manipulation of information in Greece. We’ve seen Russian efforts in...

The Orthodox Church of Russia has issued a decision prohibiting Russian pilgrims from visiting Mount Athos in Greece. This order follows the recent interruption of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. Russian church...

Moscow is asking Athens to clarify the Greek authorities' reported refusal to grant visas to Russian Orthodox clerics, Russia's Foreign Ministry representative Maria Zakharova has said. Some Russian priests have claimed that the Greek authorities have denied them a visa without...

Russian Orthodox priests are complaining they are unable to obtain Schengen visas for EU travel through Greek missions as relations between Athens and Moscow worsen and churches divide over the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In a report carried by the BBC's Russian-language...

Controversy continues to surround the issue of two Russian diplomatic staff ordered out of  Greece this week. In an article run by Russian news agency Tass, Igor Pshenichnikov of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies said the decision had been made...

Two Russian diplomats were ordered by the Greek ministry of Foreign Affairs to leave the country accusing them of intrusion into domestic affairs and illegal acts, Greek media report. Daily Kathimerini says that Athens is accusing the Russian diplomats of...

On Sunday the leaders of Orthodox churches from around the world met in Crete for the Pan-Orthodox Council, the first gathering of its kind in over a millennium. The leaders held mass in the city of Heraklion on the Greek island...

Although the Russian Orthodox Church will not participate in the meetings for the Pan-Orthodox Council, the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has sent a message of encouragement to the Orthodox leaders who have gathered in Crete. Patriarch Kirill wrote that the disputes among Orthodox churches...

Presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church commences today (Friday) at the Orthodox Academy of Crete. Conspicuous in his absence is Russian Patriarch Cyril, after the leader of Russia's Orthodox Church decided...