ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

Exarchate of Parishes of Russian
Tradition in Western Europe

THE MESSENGER
Journal of the Episcopal Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland

FIRST ISSUE: February 2007

The first issue has already been sent to e-subscribers, and postal copies will go out over the next few days. Click here to subscribe on line for email or printed copies.

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CONTENTS
Issue Number 1, February 2007

Editorial
Bishop Basil of Amphipolis: The Church as the Mystical Body of Christ   In this article, based on a talk given in 2005, Bishop Basil explores the nature and vocation of the Church in the light of the theology of Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor. He argues that the Church by its very nature can expect to find itself in tension with the darkness that surrounds it. At the same time its vocation is to spread light in the darkness, the light of Christ that is made present to us in the Divine Liturgy.
The Episcopal Vicariate and the Exarchate of Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe         The Episcopal Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland was formed in the summer of 2006 after Bishop Basil of Amphipolis was received by a unanimous decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople ......
Archimandrite Grigorios Papathomas: Our ‘Post-Ecclesiological’ Age   Archimandrite Girgorios Papathomas is Professor of Canon Law and Dean of the St Sergius Theological Institute in Paris. In this article, first published by the Orthodox Church of Estonia, he argues that we live in a post-ecclesiological age due to our loss of sense of the local church belonging in a particular place. He also analyses the ways in which overlapping ’co-territorial’ Churches define themselves by use of particular rites (Catholic), by confession (Protestant), or, in the case of the Orthodox, by ethnic origin. It has been somewhat edited for publication in this journal.
News:       Istanbul: Meeting of Pope Benedict XVI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Nicosia: A new Primate for the Church of Cyprus Paris/Moscow: Celebrations of the memory of Anna Politkovskaia France: Further attempt to gain possession of the Cathedral at Nice Great Britain: First conference of the Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland Albania: Consecration of three new bishops Germany: Further meeting between Moscow Patriarchate and ROCOR
Book Review: Helen Waddell, The Desert Fathers, London, Constable 1936

If you would like to submit a contribution to future issues of The Messenger, please email us:  journal@exarchate-uk.org, or write to the Editor at 94a Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6JT.

The Messenger is published quarterly by the Episcopal Vicariate of Great Britain and Ireland

Editor: Bishop Basil of Amphipolis
Editorial Committee: Archpriest Alexander Fostiropoulos,
Protodeacon Peter Scorer, Gillian Crow,
Dr Mary Cunningham, Jessica Rose (Managing Editor)