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.