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What Percentage Of Americans Believe That We Are Living In The 'End Times'?
BY MICHAEL SNYDER/END OF THE AMERICAN DREAM APRIL 12, 2022

There has been so much going on in the world lately, and that has sparked a tremendous amount of chatter about the "end times". What the Bible has to say about the days just before the return of Jesus Christ to this planet is being discussed all over the Internet, and millions upon millions of people are searching for answers regarding the crazy events that are happening all over the globe.

Of course the mainstream media would have us think that only those on the outer fringes of society believe that these are the "end times", but a brand new survey that was just released suggests otherwise.

The Joshua Fund commissioned a survey that asked respondents to answer some very specific questions about current events. Surprisingly, it turns out that a substantial portion of the population actually believes that events happening in the world today are directly related to Bible prophecy.

For example, this was the very first question that the survey asked...

Do you agree or disagree that Russia's invasion of Ukraine - which has ignited the biggest land war in Europe since World War II - is one of the signs that Jesus spoke of in the Bible when He warned that there would be "wars and rumors of wars" in the "last days" before His return?

Before I reveal the results, I would like for you to guess what percentage of Americans answered this question affirmatively.

Do you think that it would be 10 percent? Maybe 20 percent? If you can believe it, nearly 40 percent of those that took the survey responded affirmatively...Nearly 4-in-10 Americans (39.8%) said that they agree that the invasion is a sign of Biblical prophecy coming to pass and of the "last days." Nearly the same number - 40.3% - said they disagree. Meanwhile, 19.9% said they don't know.

I was floored when I saw those numbers.

Even though the percentage of Americans that identify as Christians has been steadily declining for many years, 40 percent of Americans currently believe that we are in the period of "wars and rumors of wars" that is described in Matthew 24.

Wow. Of course the war that we are witnessing is not just a war between Ukraine and Russia. In reality, it is a proxy war between the United States and Russia.

The U.S. has been pouring billions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment into Ukraine, it has been giving the Ukrainians real-time intelligence regarding the position of Russian forces, and we have just learned that Ukrainian troops are actually being flown to the United States to be trained.

I realize that last part may be hard for you to believe, but U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin just admitted that this is happening on his Twitter account...

"This morning, I had the pleasure of speaking with Ukrainian troops training in the U.S. who are returning home to Ukraine today. Their bravery and skill are amazing. I made clear the U.S. will continue to provide them with the assistance they need."

I am extremely concerned about where all of this is heading, because proxy wars have a way of evolving into real wars.

Getting back to the survey, this is the second question that respondents were asked...

Do you agree or disagree that the COVID pandemic that has caused more than six million deaths worldwide is one of the signs that Jesus spoke of in the Bible when He warned that there would be severe "plagues" in the "last days" before His return?

I would think that this question would have gotten a lower percentage of affirmative responses, but instead it was actually a little bit higher...Fully 4-in-10 Americans (40.1%) agreed that the COVID pandemic is a sign of Biblical prophecy coming to pass and of the "last days." Some 41.1% said they disagree. And 18.7% said they don't know.

To answer either of the first two questions positively, one would be required to believe that we are in the "last days" before the return of Jesus Christ.

So that seems to indicate that at least 40 percent of the U.S. population believes that these are the "end times". That is a sizable chuck on the total population of this country. But of course the mainstream media will continue to treat us like we are a bunch of nuts. Meanwhile, global events continue to move in ways that we have been anticipating for a very long time.

For example, a major war could erupt in the Middle East at literally any moment. Tensions continue to rise, and the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Israel has already conducted over 400 airstrikes against enemy targets since 2017...

The Israeli military says it has carried out more than 400 airstrikes in Syria and other parts of the Middle East since 2017 as part of a wide-ranging campaign targeting Iran and its allies, offering its fullest picture yet of its undeclared war with Tehran.

Over the past week, there has been a series of extremely violent protests inside Israel itself, and there is a tremendous amount of concern that these protests could potentially spark something larger.

And on Saturday something happened that should deeply horrify all of us...

Palestinian rioters vandalized Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday night amid clashes with the IDF, setting fire to the site, damaging the gravestone, a chandelier hanging above it, a water tank and an electricity closet.

The vandalism came amid the second night of arrest raids made by Israeli security forces in the West Bank, following a deadly terrorist attack on Thursday night on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv that claimed three lives.

Desecrating tombs should be off limits for everyone, and that is especially true when it comes to a major historical figure such as Joseph.

I don't even have the words to describe how vile and how far over the line this act of terror was.

I really hope that Israel immediately secures that area with troops and makes sure that no more damage to the tomb is ever done again.

There is so much evil in our world today, and it is getting worse with each passing day.

And even though such a high percentage of Americans believe that we are living in the "end times", another survey has found that the American people are less engaged with the Bible than ever before...

Americans are less engaged with the Bible and are less likely to say the Bible influences their lifestyle than in previous years, the American Bible Society (ABS) said in its 2022 State of the Bible report.

Scripture engagement is down 21% from 2021. Only 49 million Americans fit the ABS criteria of scripture engaged in 2022, down from 64 million in 2021 and 71 million in 2020.

Isn't that sad?

Meanwhile, survey after survey has shown that the American people continue to become more socially liberal. Here is just one example...

Nearly two-thirds of adults in the United States say they would be comfortable if their child came out as lesbian, gay or bisexual, according to a new survey, but only half would be comfortable with having a transgender or nonbinary child.

The poll released Thursday by The Trevor Project, a nonprofit group focused on suicide prevention and mental health for LGBTQ and questioning youth, analyzed overall knowledge, understanding and comfort regarding sexual orientation and gender identity among U.S. adults.

For almost 2,000 years, the Bible has been warning us about the times that we are now living in.

And even though much of the population can see this, the country continues to push God away.

That is a huge mistake, because the times ahead of us are going to be extremely challenging, and during those times we will need God more than ever.

Now more than ever before it is essential that Christians know what the Bible says about the End Times. We highly recommend the extensive 10hr DVD series "Decoding The Future" on the Book of Revelation with some of today's top Bible Prophecy scholars. Available from

Prophecy News Watch here.
https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5308

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How the Russia-Ukraine war is tangled with religion

Divisions in Orthodox Christian movements aligned with either Kyiv or Moscow are rooted in centuries of history, but both sides are striving to maintain a message of unity By PETER SMITH28 February 2022, 2:18 pm

AP — Ukraine’s tangled political history with Russia has its counterpart in the religious landscape, with Ukraine’s majority Orthodox Christian population divided between an independent-minded group based in Kyiv and another loyal to its patriarch in Moscow. But while there have been appeals to religious nationalism in both Russia and Ukraine, religious loyalty doesn’t mirror political fealty amid Ukraine’s fight for survival. Even though Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his invasion of Ukraine in part as a defense of the Moscow-oriented Orthodox church, leaders of both Ukrainian Orthodox factions are fiercely denouncing the Russian invasion, as is Ukraine’s significant Catholic minority. “With prayer on our lips, with love for God, for Ukraine, for our neighbors, we fight against evil – and we will see victory,” vowed Metropolitan Epifany, head of the Kyiv-based Orthodox Church of Ukraine. “Forget mutual quarrels and misunderstandings and… unite with love for God and our Motherland,” said Metropolitan Onufry, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is under the Orthodox patriarch of Moscow but has broad autonomy.

Even that seemingly united front is complicated. A day after posting Onufry’s message on Thursday, his church’s website began publishing reports claiming its churches and people are being attacked, blaming one attack on the representatives of the rival church. The division between Ukraine’s Orthodox bodies has reverberated worldwide in recent years as Orthodox churches have struggled with how and whether to take sides. Some US Orthodox hope they can put such conflicts aside and unite to try to end the war, while also fearing the war could exacerbate the split. What is the religious landscape of Ukraine? Surveys estimate a large majority of Ukraine’s population is Orthodox, with a significant minority of Ukrainian Catholics who worship with a Byzantine liturgy similar to that of the Orthodox but are loyal to the pope. The population includes smaller percentages of Protestants, Jews and Muslims. Ukraine and Russia are divided by a common history, both religiously and politically. They trace their ancestry to the medieval kingdom of Kievan Rus, whose 10th century Prince Vladimir (Volodymyr in Ukrainian) rejected paganism, was baptized in Crimea and adopted Orthodoxy as the official religion. In 2014, Putin cited that history in justifying his seizure of Crimea, a land he called “sacred” to Russia. While Putin says Russia is the true heir to Rus, Ukrainians say their modern state has a distinct pedigree and that Moscow didn’t emerge as a power until centuries later. That tension persists in Orthodox relations.

Orthodox churches have historically been organized along national lines, with patriarchs having autonomy in their territories while bound by a common faith. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is considered first among equals but, unlike a Catholic pope, doesn’t have universal jurisdiction. Who governs Ukraine’s Orthodox churches today? That depends how to interpret events of more than 300 years ago. With Russia growing in strength and the Constantinople church weakened under Ottoman rule, the Ecumenical Patriarch in 1686 delegated to the Patriarch of Moscow the authority to ordain the metropolitan (top bishop) of Kyiv. The Russian Orthodox Church says that was a permanent transfer. The Ecumenical Patriarch says it was temporary. For the past century, independent-minded Ukrainian Orthodox have formed separate churches which lacked formal recognition until 2019, when current Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew recognized the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as independent of the Moscow patriarch — who fiercely protested the move as illegitimate. The situation in Ukraine was murkier on the ground. Many monasteries and parishes remain under Moscow’s patriarch, though exact statistics are difficult to find, said John Burgess, author of “Holy Rus’: The Rebirth of Orthodoxy in the New Russia.” On the village level, many people may not even know about their parish’s alignment, Burgess said. Does this schism reflect the political split between the two countries? Yes, though it’s complicated.

Ukraine’s former president, Petro Poroshenko, drew a direct link: “The independence of our church is part of our pro-European and pro-Ukrainian policies,” he said in 2018. But current President Volodymr Zelensky, who is Jewish, has not put the same emphasis on religious nationalism. On Saturday, he said he had spoken to both Orthodox leaders as well as top Catholic, Muslim and Jewish representatives. “All leaders pray for the souls of the defenders who gave their lives for Ukraine and for our unity and victory. And that’s very important,” he said. Putin has tried to capitalize on the issue. In his February 21 speech seeking to justify the imminent invasion of Ukraine with a distorted historical narrative, Putin claimed without proof that Kyiv was preparing for the “destruction” of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. But the reaction of the Metropolitan Onufry, who compared the war to the “sin of Cain,” the biblical character who murdered his brother, indicates that even the Moscow-oriented church has a strong sense of Ukrainian national identity. By comparison, Moscow Patriarch Kirill has called for peace but has not laid blame for the invasion. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate has long had extensive autonomy. Plus, it’s increasingly Ukrainian in character. “Regardless of church affiliation… you have a lot of new clergy who grew up in independent Ukraine,” said Alexei Krindatch, national coordinator of the US Census of Orthodox Christian Churches. “Their political preferences are not necessarily correlated with the formal jurisdictions of their parishes,” said Krindatch, who grew up in the former Soviet Union.

Where do the Catholics fit in? Ukrainian Catholics are based mainly in western Ukraine. They emerged in 1596 when some Orthodox Ukrainians, then under the rule of the Catholic-dominated Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, submitted to the authority of the pope under an agreement that allowed them to keep distinctive practices such as their Byzantine liturgy and married priests. Orthodox leaders have long denounced such agreements as Catholic and foreign encroachment on their flocks. Ukrainian Catholics have an especially strong history of resistance to persecution under czars and communists. “Every time Russia takes over Ukraine, (the) Ukrainian Catholic Church is destroyed,” said Mariana Karapinka, head of communications for the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. Ukrainian Catholics were severely repressed by the Soviets, with several leaders martyred. Many Ukrainian Catholics continued to worship underground, and the church has rebounded strongly since the end of communism. With that kind of history, Ukrainian Catholics may have a strong reason to resist another takeover by Moscow. But they’re not alone, Karapinka said. “Ukrainian Catholics were not the only group persecuted by the Soviets,” she said. “So many groups have reason to resist.” Recent popes have tried to thaw relations with the Russian Orthodox Church even while defending the rights of Ukrainian and other Eastern Rite Catholics.

But after the Russian invasion, Pope Francis visited the Russian Embassy on Friday to personally “express his concern about the war,” the Vatican said, in an extraordinary papal gesture that has no recent precedent. How has the Orthodox schism reverberated beyond Ukraine? The Russian Orthodox Church decided to “break the Eucharistic communion” with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 2018 as he moved to recognize an independent church in Ukraine. That means members of Moscow- and Constantinople-affiliated churches can’t take communion at the other’s churches. The disputes have spread to Eastern Orthodox churches in Africa, where the Russian Orthodox have recognized a separate set of churches after Africa’s patriarch recognized the Ukraine church’s independence. But many other churches have sought to avoid the fray. In the US, with multiple Orthodox jurisdictions, most groups still cooperate and worship with each other. The war may provide a point of unity among US churches but may further test relations, said the Very Rev. Alexander Rentel, chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America, which has Russian roots but is now independent of Moscow. “This split that took place in world Orthodoxy was a difficult event for the Orthodox Church to process,” he said. “Now it’s only going to become more difficult because of this war.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-the-russia-ukraine-war-is-tangled-with-religion/

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Top Russian cleric accused of 'moral crimes' by fellow Orthodox leaders for sanctioning invasion of Ukraine
Alexander Nazaryan
·Senior White House Correspondent
April 11, 2022·6

WASHINGTON — Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, has been a loyal ally of President Vladimir Putin for years. But his vociferous support of the invasion of Ukraine has drawn strong rebukes from religious leaders who say he has forsaken Christian teachings by supporting the Kremlin’s destructive campaign.

In his most recent Sunday sermon, delivered at the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos in Moscow, Kirill told worshippers to respect official power — a message seemingly intended to bolster a military campaign that has gone badly for Russia. Once called “the politicking patriarch,” Kirill was enthroned in 2009 and is closely associated within Russia with the current political regime.

“May the Lord help us all in this difficult time for our Fatherland to unite, including around the authorities,”

Kirill said in the sermon. He hoped that the Russian people would maintain “the ability to repel external and internal enemies.” Kirill has been a vociferous and consistent supporter of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, despite the fact that the vast majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Orthodox. On Sunday, nearly 300 leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church signed a letter accusing Kirill of “moral crimes” for his endorsement of the unprovoked attack on Ukraine, which has killed thousands of civilians.

Our position is fully consistent with the Gospel and the church tradition,” the Ukrainian clergymen wrote. “Defending the homeland from the enemy is one of the main Christian virtues.”

Many Christian leaders in the West have denounced the invasion, including Pope Francis and members of Kirill’s own church. Most Russian clergy, however, share Kirill’s views. Metropolitan Mitrofan of Murmansk said the invasion of Ukraine was a battle against “the Antichrist.”

Mitrofan also said the Orthodox Church in Ukraine is “not a real church,” in reference to the schism between the Ukrainian and Russian churches three years ago, angering both Putin and Kirill.

Long suspected of having once been an agent of the KGB — the Soviet era security service that frequently singled out religious dissidents — Kirill is a symbol of the resurgence of the Orthodox Church under Putin, who has used religion to bolster his nationalistic, anti-Western vision. In 2013, Kirill decried same-sex marriage as “a very dangerous sign of the apocalypse.” Four years later, he criticized Western Europe for the “grave mistake” of straying from Christianity.

Although Russian society has become increasingly religious since the fall of the Soviet Union, which officially embraced atheism, Kirill has not wholly escaped scrutiny. In 2012, a photograph of him wearing a $40,000 watch was airbrushed to remove the timepiece, leading to widespread derision and mockery. Two years ago, he was seen wearing a watch costing $16,000, this time without apparent concern for public backlash.

When Putin decided to launch an invasion of Ukraine in late February — in what he described as an effort to “de-Nazify” the country’s government, which is led by a Jewish president — Kirill told members of the armed forces that they were on “the correct path.” He also alluded to threats mounting “on the borders of our Fatherland,” an obvious reference to Ukraine and its Western allies.

A sovereign nation since 1991, Ukraine has sought to chart a course distinct from its Soviet legacy. Kyiv’s desire for autonomy has always been viewed as an affront by Putin, who first invaded Ukraine in 2014. He invaded again eight years later, expecting an easy victory, only to face protests at home and condemnation abroad.

Kirill remains a key ally for an increasingly embattled Kremlin. “The Russian Orthodox Church's moral blessing of this war has been years in the making,” Russia expert Samuel Ramani of Oxford University said earlier this month. While few have been surprised by Kirill’s loyalty to Putin, his seeming lack of concern for the plight of ordinary Ukrainians has renewed criticism of his tenure.

Though he has made generic calls for peace, the 75-year-old bishop has also made no secret of his true sympathies. “We have entered into a struggle that has not a physical, but a metaphysical significance,” Kirill said in early March.

In a widely condemned sermon earlier this month, Kirill struck out against the West while envisioning the same fictitious unity of Slavic peoples that Putin has invoked and Ukrainians have rejected.

“Today the word ‘independence’ is often applied to almost all countries of the world,” Kirill said on the same day that much of the world was encountering the images of slaughtered civilians in Bucha. “But this is wrong, because most of the countries of the world are now under the colossal influence of one force, which today, unfortunately, opposes the force of our people.”

The April 3 sermon was delivered at the main cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces. Kirill did not name the malevolent force he had in mind, but Putin has blamed the United States for engineering Ukraine’s successful resistance to Russia.

“We are a peace-loving country and a very peace-loving, long-suffering people who suffered from wars like few other European nations,” Kirill went on to say.

“We have no desire for war or for doing something that could harm others. But we have been so educated by our entire history that we love our Fatherland and will be ready to defend it in the way that only Russians can defend their country.”

The April 3 sermon led to a rebuke from a leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in the United States. “From the words and actions of Patriarch Kirill, we can conclude he has made the same bargain with Putin and his cronies. This is, indeed, a sad moment for our church, and the whole world is watching,” Archbishop Elpidophoros said in a speech the following day.

Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, called for the World Council of Churches to eject Russia after the April 3 sermon.

“The riot act has to be read,” Williams said in an interview with the BBC.

“When a Church is actively supporting a war of aggression, failing to condemn nakedly obvious breaches in any kind of ethical conduct in wartime, then other churches have the right to raise the question and challenge it — to say, unless you can say something effective about this, something recognizably Christian, we have to look again at your membership.”

Present at the sermon Kirill delivered on Sunday were several representatives of Norilsk Nickel, the mining giant that helped construct the church where service took place. The corporation is helmed by Vladimir Potanin, an oligarch close to Putin.

https://news.yahoo.com/top-russian-cleric-accused-of-crimes-by-fellow-orthodox-leaders-for-sanctioning-invasion-of-ukraine-182606573.html

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Global Food Crisis By End Of Year May Be Inevitable
BY MICHAEL SNYDER/END OF THE AMERICAN DREAM MARCH 25, 2022

When I started warning of an emerging global food crisis a number of months ago, many out there assumed that I must be exaggerating things. Sadly, I was not exaggerating one bit. The soaring price of fertilizer, extreme global weather patterns, shocking crop failures and an epic global supply chain crisis had combined to create a "perfect storm" even before the war in Ukraine began. Of course the war has made things far worse, because Russia and Ukraine collectively account for about 30 percent of all worldwide wheat exports under normal conditions. For a while, the mainstream media and our leaders in Washington were in denial about what was happening, but now everyone is finally admitting the truth. In fact, at this point even the Biden administration is conceding that a global food crisis is here...

The White House confirmed Monday they expect certain parts of the world to suffer a food shortage as an effect of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. "We do anticipate that higher energy fertilizer, wheat, and corn prices could impact the price of growing and purchasing critical food supplies for countries around the world," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday. I am glad that the White House is talking about this.

Hopefully it will get a lot more people to understand the seriousness of the crisis that we are now facing. According to Psaki, the poorest parts of the planet are expected to be affected the most... She said food shortages were not expected to hit the United States, but rather countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. This is what I have always said. Those at the bottom of the economic food chain will be hit the hardest at first. But we will feel a lot of pain too. One of the primary factors that is causing this new global food crisis is the price of fertilizer. This is something that Glenn Beck commented on during one of his shows this week... "Now, the bigger problems are fertilizer and energy. The energy price to run the tractors, to run the trucks, to run everything else. And the price of phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. Those are the three major things we use to make fertilizer ... this is causing so much stress on the farmers that farmers all around the world are not planting their fields. They are reducing the acreage, because without fertilizer, you're not growing much. So why plant all those fields?" Glenn continued. "So far, the price of corn has doubled. Soybeans and wheat are skyrocketing. The strategic food reserves, in some parts of the world, are now opening," he warned. "We'd better have perfect weather all over the world, because if things continue the way they are and don't turn around quickly, hundreds of millions of people will experience famine by the end of the year."

Beck is entirely correct that conditions at the end of the year will be worse than conditions at the beginning of the year. At this point, we are still eating food that was grown last year. By the end of the year, we will primarily be eating food that was grown this year, and this year a lot less food will be grown than originally anticipated. The head of the UN World Food program, David Beasley, is telling us that what we are facing is unlike anything that we have seen since World War II... "Ukraine has only compounded a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe," said David M. Beasley, the executive director of the World Food Program, the United Nations agency that feeds 125 million people a day. "There is no precedent even close to this since World War II." Beasley has no idea how we are going to be able to feed everyone. In fact, he is warning that his agency will soon be forced to make some very harsh choices... The World Food Program's costs have already increased by $71 million a month, enough to cut daily rations for 3.8 million people. "We'll be taking food from the hungry to give to the starving," Mr. Beasley said. Reading that should chill you to your core. But here in the United States, most will not start paying attention until it starts to affect them personally.

The good news is that nobody in the U.S. is currently facing starvation, but without a doubt the cost of food is going up. For example, just check out what has been happening to lunch prices... As of March 1, the average price of wraps is up 18 percent, sandwiches are up 14 percent, salads are up 11 percent and burgers are up 8 percent over last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from payments company Square. Menu prices at restaurants overall have seen the highest increase since 1981, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with prices skyrocketing in major cities, including San Francisco, Seattle, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas. Needless to say, this is just the beginning. Like I said, we are still eating what has been previously harvested. By this time next year, things are going to look completely different. If you want to be ahead of the curve, I would recommend stocking up at your local grocery stores while you still can. I know that food prices may seem high now, but the truth is that they are never going to be lower than this ever again. So take advantage of these food prices while they are still reasonable. There has not been a global famine in any of our lifetimes, and so we don't know what that would look like.

But Glenn Beck is warning that "hundreds of millions of people will experience famine by the end of the year". Hopefully he is wrong about that. But what if he isn't? Originally published at End Of The American Dream

https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5278

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Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill's support for Putin's Ukraine war has fractured his church
Peter Weber, Senior editor
Tue, April 19, 2022, 3:29 AM·2 min read

Russia's war in Ukraine is also something of a holy war. Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has long been a key ideological ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and at least tacit supporter of his military adventures. But his public support for Putin's bloody war in Ukraine has proved too much for many Orthodox Christians, especially the Ukrainians who fall under the authority of Kirill's Moscow Patriarchate.

Ukraine's Orthodox Christians were under the episcopal authority of Moscow from 1686 until 2019, when Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople — the first among equals of the 15 Eastern Orthodox patriarchs — granted Kyiv's request for independence. "More than half Ukraine's parishes rejected the decision and stayed under Moscow's jurisdiction," The New York Times reports, but Putin's invasion — and Kirill's support for it — changed that.

About half of Ukraine's 45 Orthodox dioceses have stopped mentioning Patriarch Kirill during prayers, a "de facto" cleaving from Moscow's authority, according to Russian religious scholar Sergei Chapnin at Fordham University. "How can you accept prayers for the patriarch who is blessing the soldiers trying to kill your son?" asked Andreas Loudaros, editor of Athens-based Orthodoxia.info.

Hundreds of Ukrainian Orthodox clergy have signed a petition from Archpriest Andriy Pinchuk accusing Kirill of committing "moral crimes by blessing the war against Ukraine" and asking global Orthodox leaders to sanction their Russian colleague for "heresy" in a rare church tribunal.

"By all accounts, a serious cleavage in the church appears inevitable, but the course of the war will determine its depth and the scar tissue left behind," the Times reports. And the rending isn't just in Ukraine.

Russian Orthodox–aligned churches in Northern Italy and Amsterdam have formally severed ties to the Moscow Patriarchate, many U.S. parishioners are switching churches, and Orthodox seminarians in France asked their bishop to break with Kirill. Orthodox priests in Russia have been fined or fired for criticizing the war.

The head of the Orthodox Church in Lithuania, Metropolitan Innokenty, "strongly" condemned "Russia's war against Ukraine," called for "greater church independence" from Moscow, and called Patriarch Kirill's "political statements about the war" his "personal opinion."

Kirill "should not have identified so much with President Putin and even called Russia's war against Ukraine 'sacred,'" Patriarch Bartholomew recently told a group of students. "It is damaging to the prestige of the whole of Orthodoxy because Orthodoxy doesn't support war, violence, terrorism," he told reporters.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-orthodox-patriarch-kirills-support-072928201.html

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By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Assistant Editor
CP ENTERTAINMENT | MONDAY, APRIL 04, 2022

Leigh Allyn-Baker is becoming increasingly concerned about the content Hollywood is marketing to children, which she believes is undeniably “foul-intentioned.”

“The two main companies … that kind of trickle down and own everything, including our media, see an opportunity to indoctrinate children at a very young age for political purposes,” the actress told The Christian Post. “That's what I think is happening. It's to shape a world that moves away from the nuclear family in a Christian home. It really is a foul intention.”

The continued attacks on Christianity, the 50-year-old actress said, sparked a passion inside of her to fight for positive, uplifting content and “not compromise” her beliefs for the sake of her career.

“I've really been very vocal recently about how I see the direction that Hollywood is going. I feel that there is an attack on Christianity, and that makes me really want to be vocal about my faith. I feel that there must be freedom for religion for us to continue to worship in our faith the way that we want to do it. I'm just not going to partake in any of this nonsense anymore.”

Baker speaks from experience. A seasoned actress known for her roles on "Charmed," "Will & Grace" and the Disney Channel sitcom "Good Luck Charlie," the wife and mother revealed she felt pressure to perform in “sexually compromising roles” — something she refused to do.

“It was really nothing more than porn. And I just wasn't going to do it. It was disgusting to me,” she said.

“I've been offered roles … that are very laden with lust and sexuality. And it's something I don't want my kids to see. I'm not going to do it. That doesn't mean that I won't do things that have more adult subjects that aren't geared for kids, but I'm just not going to compromise who I am for a career. I'm just not going to do it.”

Now, the actress, who with her family recently relocated from Los Angeles to Nashville, is starring in the family-friendly comedy “Family Camp,” a film she says reflects her values and beliefs.

According to the film's synopsis, the family experiences an unplanned adventure after their pastor "encourages the congregation to sign up for a week away at family camp." It's there that "Grace believes she's found the perfect cure for her imperfect clan — even if they'd all rather be anywhere but rustic Camp Katokwah.”

A Message from Insured Nation

“I'm not going to if (the movie) it doesn't speak to my heart, has a good message and supports a Christian voice. At this point in my career, I'm not interested,” Baker said. “I just see the way the world is going. It used to be, ‘Well, this is not a bad movie, and it's got a good message, so I'll do that.’ But now, it's even further than that. Now, I look deeply at the message and the contents and the subject. And if it's not aligned with my values, I'm just not going to compromise.”

The film, from Roadside Attractions, K-LOVE Films and Provident Films, also stars Tommy Woodard and Eddie James of the comedy duo The Skit Guys. It will debut in cinemas nationwide on May 13.

Rated PG, Baker said she was drawn to the film because of how funny the script was — “I'd never seen a Christian comedy before” — she said, and how it treated Christianity respectfully without proselytizing.

“There's a lot of rumors about Christianity and Jesus … that just aren't true,” she said. “I just think that it's really important to invite people to the table. The great thing about this is that this movie isn't convincing someone to be a Christian. It's not pushing a religion on someone; it's not beating them over the head with it. At the end of the day, this is a really good, funny movie that everybody will enjoy, no matter what your faith.”

Comedy, she said, is a great way to break down barriers in an increasingly divided society.

“When these faith-based movies are made, a lot of time they're setting the table for people who are already there ready to eat,” she contended. “But we need to set some empty places at the table and invite others to come and join. And I feel that comedy does that. It's not laughing at God, doesn't laugh at Jesus; it's us as humans laughing at ourselves and the foibles that we make, and the crazy walk that we take on this path and how many mistakes we make.”

“Family Camp” promises to be “a laugh-out-loud comedy that is sure to touch the hearts and tickle the funny bones of every family member from 8 to 80.”

Baker said she’s “excited” to participate in quality faith-based films, adding: “I'm excited to see Christians using their talents and making good movies because you can make a Christian movie all day long, but if it's not a good movie, people are not going to see it. People are going to mock it.”

The environment on the set of "Family Camp" was wildly different from what she saw and experienced in Hollywood too. Baker shared that filmmakers prayed for her and made her feel “loved” and “safe."

“This is a good group of people, and a talented group of people and a wise group of people as far as business development goes. So I really hope that people get out there and support this."

Last week, leaked video footage showed a Disney official bragging about “adding queerness” to children’s programming. The company recently vowed online that "50% of regular and recurring characters across Disney General Entertainment scripted content will come from underrepresented groups" by 2022, including more LGBT characters.

Earlier this year, Disney Plus, a "family” branded streaming service, started featuring content for mature audiences, including explicit sex scenes and a strip club scene.

In light of these trends, Baker challenged Christians to support faith-based entertainment, stressing that “this is time for Christians to realize this is where your voice can be heard:

They're going to hear it in the box office.”

“I feel that it's important to just have everyone stand firm in their faith,” she emphasized. “It's very important that Christians stand up for all religious freedom too. Let’s not forget why this country was founded. It was a group of people escaping tyranny … so people left and let their faith lead them. That's why this is a free Republic and we need to keep it that way. But people are buckling to fear. Churches are buckling to fear. And this is not the time to buckle. This is the time to stand strong in your faith.”

Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/family-camp-actress-talks-combating-darkness-through-film.html

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Prophecy Pros podcasters help Christians understand End Times, eschatology in new book
By Nicole Alcindor, CP Reporter
CP CHURCH & MINISTRIES | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2022

Prophecy Pros podcasters Todd Hampson and Jeff Kinley, known for their thoughtful, biblically-sound views on hot-button issues like the End Times, have released a book detailing the answers to 100 questions on the foundations of biblical eschatology.

The book, titled The Illustrated Guide to Tough Questions About the End Times, was written based on information shared on their podcast.
The two podcasters told The Christian Post they conducted extensive research to answer the questions, combing through biblical history and difficult passages of Scripture.

“Todd and I, through Harvest House Publishers, started a podcast called the Prophecy Pros and it just blew up, just like reaching hundreds of countries, hundreds of thousands of downloads. We said, 'We need to get this in book form to people,’” Kinley, a bestselling author and speaker, said.

“We took a lot of the basic tenets of eschatology — the study of the End Times — and put those into a format of 10 major questions, or 10 major categories, and then we had 10 questions underneath this, and basically, it added up to 100 questions,” Kinley added.

The book features charts and illustrations to help readers understand the content discussed within its pages, according to Hampson, who is an author, illustrator and animation producer.

“I spent a lot of the time in all my books drawing things that make the concept more simple,” said Hampson.

“We find that most people are visual learners. They love to see easy-to-understand charts and sometimes comical things and other visual elements that we put in there that just draw the reader in and make it a little more accessible. It’s an intimidating topic, so we wanted to make it as easy as possible for anyone to understand,” he continued.

The duo shared that they receive a slew of email inquiries from podcast listeners asking them to break down difficult topics such as the Rapture, the Second Coming, prophecy and more.

Such questions, they said, are nothing new to the Body of Christ.

“Even in the first century, you’ve got the apostle Paul writing several epistles, because the believers were confused about where they were on God’s timetable," Kinley contended. "So, particularly in 2nd Thessalonians, you've got disciples [where] it says their faith was disturbed and shaken and were upset about it because false teachers had come into the Church."

The Prophecy Pros break down the questions they receive into terminology that is easily digestible for the average Chrsitian, helping them read through books like Revelations and Daniel.

“How to discern the times with all that’s going on in the world now, that’s a really pertinent question,” said Kinley. “Believers and unbelievers alike are saying, 'Is this the end of the world? What’s going to happen and does God say anything about this?’ And so, we are pointing them to Scripture to help them out with that.”

“There’s an apologetic nature to it as well. We point to all the Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled literally. So that’s a great apologetic to tell that only God can tell history in advance and have it happen exactly as He said it’s going to happen,” Hampson added.

The two authors said they believe that every biblical prophecy will happen in ways that the human mind will be able to eventually comprehend.
“Personally, me coming to Christ, one of the key things was looking at the apologetic Bible fulfilled prophecy,” Hampson recounted. “I thought that the Bible was a book of fairytales. I believed in evolution, all the nine yards. [I] grew up unchurched.”

He said that as a teen, he attended a Christian school where his art teacher also was his Bible instructor. His Bible instructor took the time to explain to him why the Bible could be seen as believable, which he said sparked his interest in reading more. The teacher, Hampson said, helped shape his understanding, and he begin viewing the Bible as a “supernatural book.”

“[That teacher] kind of took a liking to me, and really realized I was that unchurched kid in school. And he really went out of his way to show me: ‘No, you can trust the Bible because look at these hundreds of fulfilled Bible prophecies fulfilled in history,’” Hampson recalled, adding that that sparked in him a love for eschatology.

Hampson and Kinley agreed that Bible prophecy is an endless topic that humans have only just “scratched the surface” of uncovering because there’s a lot more to learn.

Typically, Kinley said, many people will use news headlines as a template by looking for something in the Bible that matches the stories. This can lead to speculation and sensationalism when it comes to prophesy, he said.

"People try to set dates of when Jesus is coming back,” Kinley said. “We want to reject all that and say, ‘What does the Bible really say?’ We tell people to first know your Bible, and then, once you know the Bible, you’re able to read the times that are around you."

Once a person is more familiarized with what the Bible has to say on eschatology, Kinley said, they will be less frightened by current events, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kinley said it's common for people to jump to conclusions about what prophecies are being fulfilled from those world happenings, but stressed that he and Hampson do not believe anyone, including themselves, should make certain predictions on End Times.

“We tell people to obviously go to trusted sources that you know. But, the Scripture is really the bedrock of what we say you should study on this thing,” Kinley said.

“I think this really gives people a sense of clarity in the fog. It gives them a sense of confidence that this is coming from God’s Word. And it gives them hope. To me, that’s the most important thing that people need right now, is a sense of hope that’s found in Christ and the confidence that’s found in the Scriptures,” he added.

Hampson stressed that readers need to "let Scripture speak" instead of pouring their own thoughts into it.

“Jesus Himself said, ‘No man knows the day or the hour.’ So, why do people keep picking date after date? After a while, it’s almost like the chicken little syndrome. We have been hearing about this forever,” he added.

Oftentimes, Hampson said, the Church tends to ignore the topic of eschatology. Though certain passages of the Bible can be difficult or scary, he said it's not helpful for Christians to avoid reading the book of Revelation, for example.

“Unfortunately, the Church at large has thrown the baby out with the bathwater and they are missing part of the Bible. God could have ended the Bible any way He wanted to, and there’s a book of prophecy about our glorious future and how it’s all going to end and it just gives hope and joy,” Hampson said.

“No one would go to their favorite movie and walk out before the ending. But, that’s what a lot of believers are doing when they skip reading the last book of the Bible. The entire Bible is one narrative. It’s all tied together. It’s all pointing in that direction. So, why would people read the whole narrative and just skip the ending. It really doesn’t make sense,” he said.

The devil has done a “great job” at trying to get people’s eyes off of reading the entire Bible and gaining insight into the foundations of Scripture, according to Hampson.

“What everyone wants to know is their origins and why they are the way they are, and where are we going, what’s our destiny and what does God have for us and what is our glorious future, the culmination of all the promises of our salvation?” Hampson said.

When addressing the idea of false teachers, which tends to be an issue when dealing with the topic of eschatology, Kinley pointed to 1 John 4:1.

“We are to ‘test the spirits to see if they are from God,’” he said quoting the Scripture. “As you read through the New Testament and even the Old Testament, what we find is that people were able to calibrate whether or not somebody was a true prophet, whether or not their prophecy actually came true,” Kinley said.

“And when it comes to the New Testament, God tells us to be discerning. He tells us to be aware. In fact, most of Paul’s epistles were written because believers were believing incorrect doctrine brought on by false teachers,” he added.

Studying the New Testament and finding out about the Scriptures is vital, Kinley noted, in order for a Christian to avoid being led astray by false teachers.

The best way to do that is to really be familiar with the Bible and to get into the Word,” he said. “The more we’re literate with the Scriptures, the more we have that confidence and we find that we get in the Word and the Word gets in us.”

Leah Klett contributed to this report.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/prophecy-pros-new-book-shares-answers-to-eschatology-questions.html

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BY PNW STAFF JANUARY 11, 2022

Pastor Aaron Musser of St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Logan Square in Chicago recently dressed in full drag for the Sunday service, wearing a long white dress emblazoned with a golden cross on its chest, a long blonde wig, and full makeup in order to lead the children's message.

The pastor began the message by calling the children up to the front to sit with him and asked if they'd ever seen a drag queen before.

The kids responded in the negative.

"I have an awesome story to share with you today," Musser said. "I am also a boy most of the time when I'm here, but today, I'm a girl."

His message to the children was clearly not your typical children's Bible story, but an agenda to indoctrinate vulnerable children with his Queer Theology.

Musser's actions while shocking to some are part of a long established trend of LGBT activists that have infiltrated the church, including it's leadership. At the forefront of this push has been the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) which has taken more steps to promote Queer & Progressive Theology than possibly any other denomination.

In September of last year it appointed it's first openly transgender bishop, The Rev. Megan Rohrer to lead one of the church's synods, which means she will have direct leadership over 200 congregations.

With her appointment it was announced that the bishop should be addressed with the pronouns "they/their".

Rohr was the first transgender person to be ordained by the ELCA in 2006 and now makes "history", the pro-LGBT group Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries said. "We anticipate the day when all queer ministry leaders will be called to ministry settings without hindrance or barrier and will be affirmed in their God-given calls".

According to this group, there are already over 400 queer ministers in the ELCA at this point.

The ELCA is known for its strong theological shift in the last 15 years towards an "inclusive" theology, except when it comes to Israel.

Last year the Danish Bible Society, which is also run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church, came under heavy fire for the Danish "translation" of the Bible that virtually wipes out "Israel" from the New Testament.

In the Greek New Testament, the word "Israel" occurs more than 60 times. However, it is found only once in the new Danish version called Bibelen 2020. That's right, just once. And that one occurrence is a direct quote from an Old Testament verse. Otherwise, "Israel" is gone.

The reason for this, the society argues, is that Christian readers must not connect "Israel" in the New Testament with the nation of Israel today. The ELCA has long promoted the idea of "replacement theology", also called supersessionism, which essentially teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God's plan. Adherents of replacement theology believe the Jews are no longer God's chosen people, and God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. The presiding "bishop" of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, The Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, has also expressed her belief that although Hell may exist, it is entirely empty because "God doesn't give up on those who reject Him."

Two years ago, over 30,000 ELCA teenagers attended the ELCA's national youth gathering. Popular ELCA pastor Nadia Bolz-Webber (who loves to swear during her sermons and tells her congregants that there is nothing wrong with porn) led the students to say after her "I renounce the lie that queerness is anything other than beauty".

At the youth gathering an 11-year-old boy who thinks he is a girl was put on stage to promote transgenderism.

This past summer the ELCA in convention passed an interfaith resolution stating that we do not know what God thinks of non-Christian religions. A delegate got to the microphone to offer an amendment, saying that we do know because John 14:6 says that Jesus is the only way of salvation. His amendment was voted down by 97 percent.

The church also raised some red flags with its promotion of praying by addressing God as "Mother" instead of Father on its official Facebook page as well as via
Twitter:
"Mother God, you have fed us with the nourishment of your spiritual food. Raise us up into salvation and rid us of our bitterness, so that we may share the sweetness of your holy word with all the world," the ELCA tweeted as part of their #Bread4theday series of Twitter posts.

The tweet has gotten a fair amount of negative attention. Hans Fiene, a conservative pastor who oversees the popular Lutheran Satire YouTube channel, responded with a simple message to people who still value Biblical literacy:

"Leave the ELCA," he succinctly replied when retweeting the ELCA post.

Thankfully many have headed his call. The ELCA had over five million members when it was first launched in 1988. It currently has 3.3 million members and its decline has been accelerating as it continues to adopt many unbiblical practices.

The scriptures warn against associating with such people as fellow believers; "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away....ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" 2 Timothy 3:5-7

Sadly, the ELCA are not alone in their Queer Agenda push and many other churches are following suit.

Last month the Anglican Church in Canada introduced a new liturgy full in transgender ideology which supports and outlines the blessing and affirmation of gender transitions.

The liturgy text endorses people physically changing their genders and even says it honors God.

"Taking steps physically or spiritually to manifest our gender identity more fully is to participate in God's commandment to tend and love all that God has made," a deacon is supposed to say.

The presider also asks for God's blessing for "the gender transition process."

There is even a special prayer for the surgery part of transitioning.

Not to be outdone Anglicans in the UK have been promoting their alternative for Baptism for those who have transitioned.

The "Renaming Ceremony" seizes on the theme of "rebirth" and the tradition of conferring a name in Christian Initiation. "Change of name" is treated as tantamount to change of sex.

The idea being that there are "echoes in the Bible" of such a practice, as when Abram became Abraham, Sarai Sarah, Jacob Israel, and Saul Paul. None of them apparently noticed that Abram did not become Sarah nor Jacob Rachel.

In the "Renaming Ceremony," the name-change is justified because it "is a recognition of a pre-existing truth that has been obscured." Transgender ideology puts huge weight upon the culture, but, in this instance, the "pre-existing truth" is not "male and female God created them" but some hidden, self-discovered reality which even God has been apparently complicit in obscuring.

Clothes are also important to the Renaming Ceremony. The rubric provides that candidates are to be dressed in gender neutral clothing but bearing symbols of their birth gender. Symbols of their birth gender are then put under a cloth and a kind of a baptismal candle is then extinguished. Symbols of their newly assumed "gender" (wherever it happens to be among the fifty shades) will then be taken up and a new candle lit.

In a true baptismal rite, a candle is lit as a symbol of "the light of Christ." The lighting and extinguishing of candles in the "Renaming" ceremony (associated with some kind of putting on and taking off of "genders") is more symbolic than they realize.

Those choosing to adopt such ideologies have traded the light of Christ for a false gospel and a false light that will eventually lead only to darkness.
https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5154

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In Orthodoxy There Is Schism Between Moscow and Constantinople. But Rome Doesn’t Know Whose Side to Take
By Sandro Magister

Sandro Magister is an Italian author and journalist for both L'Esspresso and Chiesa. He is considered among the world's foremost "Vaticanistas", the group of highly-respected and expert observers of the Catholic Church, the papacy, and the inner workings of the Vatican.

Right when the rumors are swirling about the place and date of the much-vaunted new meeting between Pope Francis and the Orthodox patriarch of Moscow, Kirill - now projected, with Kazakhstan out of the running, for the Hungarian abbey of Pannonhalma - relations between Catholicism and Orthodoxy are in reality paralyzed.

The serious trouble for Francis comes from what is happening within the Orthodox world. Where Kirill is in open conflict, on the brink of schism, with two of the historic patriarchates of the East, those of Constantinople and Alexandria, the former particularly close to Rome.

What has infuriated Kirill to the point of breaking Eucharistic communion with ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew was the latter’s decision, formalized on January 6 2019, to recognize the autonomy from Moscow of the newly formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine, governed by Metropolitan Epiphanius.

The patriarchate of Moscow immediately condemned this recognition as illegitimate. Moscow considers the Ukrainian Church as part of itself, as it always has, and in fact a substantial portion of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, with Metropolitan Onufriy, continues to be subject to the patriarchate of Moscow. While on the contrary Bartholomew, as ecumenical patriarch and “primus inter partes” in the Orthodox world as a whole, maintains he has the authority to erect “autocephalous” Churches, which govern themselves, and is acting accordingly.

If to this are added the state of war between Russia and Ukraine and the very close link between Kirill and Russian president Vladimir Putin, one can understand how radical the clash between the two patriarchates is, which ultimately consists in the Moscow patriarch’s refusal to attribute to the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople that primatial authority which he claims.

Emboldened by its numerical and political influence in the field of Orthodoxy, Moscow immediately cautioned all the other Orthodox Churches not to recognize the new Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Only the Churches of Greece and Cyprus, most closely linked to Constantinople, did so. But now that the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria “and of all Africa” Theodore II has done the same, Moscow has reacted as no one had expected. *

The first signal dates back to December 2019, when the patriarchate of Moscow took from the patriarchate of Alexandria and joined to itself six African parishes, entrusted to Russian missionaries.

In Orthodoxy, each patriarchate has authority over its own canonical territory, in which no other patriarchate can interfere, and Africa belongs by ancient tradition to the patriarchate of Alexandria.

But in Moscow they have broken with this very tradition, invading another’s camp, thereby doing to others what they have never tolerated for themselves. Last December 29 the synod of the Russian patriarchate established its own exarchate for Africa, with two dioceses: the first based in Cairo and with jurisdiction over the northern part of the continent, the second based in South Africa, for the southern part. The two dioceses have been supplied with 102 priests, who have switched from the patriarchate of Alexandria to obedience to Moscow.

The new exarchate has its headquarters not in Africa but in Moscow, and has been entrusted to Archbishop Leonid of Vladikavkaz, with the title of exarch of Africa.

The reaction from Alexandria was immediate. On December 30 Patriarch Theodore II expressed his “deepest sorrow at the synodal decision of the Russian Patriarchate to establish an Exarchate within the normal limits of the jurisdiction of the Ancient Church of Alexandria.” And he announced that the affront would be discussed at “an upcoming session of the Synod of the Patriarchate” at which the “relevant decisions will be taken”: that is, at the session already convened on January 10 in order to proceed also with the appointment of the successor of the deceased metropolitan of Kampala and all Uganda, Jonah Lwanga, a personality of prestige and of exemplary spirituality, an African pillar of the Alexandrian patriarchate.

In a statement issued on January 12 at the end of the synodal session, the patriarchate of Alexandria denounced “the pestilential confusion” created by the Russian Church among “the children in Christ whom we have begotten,” the African faithful, and announced “the faithful and immediate application of ecclesiastical sanctions, prescribed by the divine and holy canons, to transgressors,” without however making it clear if such sanctions will include the rupture of Eucharistic communion with the Russian Church.

But the aims of the patriarchate of Moscow are not restricted to Africa, it also wants to strike elsewhere and higher. In an interview with the Novosti agency, the powerful Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, president of the external relations department of the Moscow patriarchate, said that also in Turkey the Russian Church could do what it is doing in Africa, because “we cannot deny pastoral care to the Orthodox faithful in the situation when the Patriarch of Constantinople has taken the side of the schism.”

It cannot therefore be ruled out that Moscow will soon proceed to establish its own parishes in Turkey as well, that is, in the canonical territory of the patriarchate of Constantinople. But there is more. In the same interview cited above, Metropolitan Hilarion stated that only “the conciliar wisdom of the Church can heal the schism in the world Orthodox community.” Enigmatic words that evoke the convening of a summit between the heads of the Orthodox Churches, of the type held for the first time in Amman, Jordan, on February 26 2020.

In reality, the heads of only a few Churches met in Amman, those closest to the patriarchate of Moscow. And it was Kirill who called the shots.

Kirill evoked the schism of 1054 between Constantinople and Rome to immediately add that, today, after a millennium, Orthodoxy is again faced with a schism that also has its roots in a different vision of “primacy.”

Without ever naming the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople but referring to him in a transparent way, Kirill singled out none other than Bartholomew as the culprit of the new schism, because by availing himself of his title of “primus inter pares” he presumes to decide on his own for all, without accepting “a system of conciliar control over the actions of the primatial see.”

In Amman, Kirill enunciated six points as matters of discussion to which a future summit should be dedicated, all six aimed at scaling down the powers of the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople.

And this is precisely the goal that the Moscow patriarchate wants to reach. After spoiling, with its absence, the pan-Orthodox council convened by Bartholomew in Crete in 2016 after sixty years of tormented preparation, Kirill now wants be the one to govern the future summit aimed at disarming of all primatial authority his “schismatic” rival of Constantinople.

The first meeting between Pope Francis and Kirill (see photo) took place at the Havana airport on February 12 2016, four months before the failed pan-Orthodox council. The second meeting between the two, if and when it takes place, could herald a definitive rupture in the camp of Orthodoxy.

But already today, between Moscow and Constantinople, it is not easy for Rome to find the right path.

http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/2022/01/13/in-orthodoxy-there-is-schism-between-moscow-and-constantinople-but-rome-doesn%E2%80%99t-know-whose-side-to-take/