Weekly News

This week’s review opens with the funeral of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia, laid to rest at the historic Sioni Cathedral on 22 March in the presence of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Patriarch Daniel of Bulgaria, and Metropolitan Tikhon of the OCA — a rare gathering of Orthodox primates. The formal succession process is now underway, with Metropolitan Shio Mujiri as frontrunner.
As Holy Week approaches, Orthodox Christians worldwide are watching the Holy Land with growing anxiety. Israeli police have confirmed that no permission will be granted for the annual Holy Light ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Greece’s Foreign Ministry is developing emergency contingency plans.
On the night of 24–25 March, a Russian drone strike damaged the 17th-century Bernardine Church and Monastery in Lviv — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — destroying four stained-glass windows in one of the largest aerial assaults since 2022. Meanwhile at the Phanar, Patriarch Bartholomew celebrated the 1,400th anniversary of the Akathist Hymn, describing it as “a majestic ode to freedom.”
Also this week: the disputed election of a new head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church — Kyiv Patriarchate; a Chatham House analysis documenting alleged Russian Orthodox recruitment networks in Kenya; and a Public Orthodoxy essay on artificial intelligence and Orthodox theology.

A week of mourning across the Orthodox world: Georgia lost its beloved Patriarch Ilia II, who led the Georgian Church for nearly half a century, while Ukraine bade farewell to the controversial Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv, who died at 97 after decades of struggle for ecclesiastical independence from Moscow.
Meanwhile, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem remains closed as the Iran-Israel conflict continues — raising anxious questions about whether Easter services will take place at Christianity’s holiest site. And in Armenia, the confrontation between the government and the Armenian Apostolic Church has drawn a formal rebuke from the World Council of Churches, as clergy face detention and the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin comes under pressure.
Elsewhere: Patriarch Bartholomew attended an iftar dinner with Turkey’s President Erdoğan in Ankara; the Romanian Patriarch received the new U.S. Ambassador in Bucharest; a Chatham House report detailed how the Russian Orthodox Church is recruiting for the war in Ukraine; and an international conference at Holy Cross in Boston honored the late Archbishop Anastasios of Albania, pioneer of Orthodox mission in Africa.
The full review covers Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches across every continent, with sections on ecumenical dialogue, emerging trends, and new academic publications.