Leadership and Contributors
Blessing from Patriarch Bartholomeus
To His Beatitude +AMVROSIJ
Primate and Metropolitan Archbishop
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
in the United States
To our dear Son in the Lord Jesus Christ!
We wish to acknowledge the spiritual efforts and ministerial works of the UAOC in the USA and all the work you have personally done, as Primate of the Joint Synod of the former Exarchate of North America of the Venerable and Ancient Patriarchate of Alexandria.
From our Sacred Centre, we entreat our Lord to bless you, and to help us all to enact the common vision we share, and which was best articulated by our Lord before His Passion, "that all may be one, so that the world may believe that You sent me" (John 17:21).
THEREFORE, from the Great Church of Constantinople and the Apostolic See of St. Andrew
We wish to impart to Your Beatitude and to all the Clergy and Faithful our Paternal Apostolic Blessing.
At the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the 12th of September 2024
Respectfully yours,
BARTHOLOMEW
Archbishop of Constantinople +New Rome
Metropolitan Archbishop +Amvrosij
His Beatitude has extensive leadership in the Eastern and Western Church. He is a Defender of the Papal throne and is a Canon Lawyer.
The Archbishop is reaching out to various scholars and theologians who are also defending the papal throne and is applying his knowledge and experience in working for Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary for this particular time in history that he has been trained for.
His Beatitude received the monastic Great Schema on the Holy Mountain, Mount Athos, as foretold by Archbishop St. John Maximovitch, who had tonsured him a Riassaphore monk.
Archbishop +Amvrosij has over 80 priests throughout the world and continues to assist the Church in bringing VALID Sacraments to every corner of the world.
Graduate of the John XXIII Institute for Eastern Christian Studies at Fordham University and have doctoral degrees in Theology and in Psychology.
Orthodox Faculty Member:
His Eminence Metropolitan +MICHAEL (Kirkland)
Metropolitan Archbishop +Kirkland has written a book called: Being Catholic ...that All May Be One!
The Orthodox Church has had no liturgical reform. It maintains a richly beautiful liturgical tradition with many customs dating back to Apostolic times, including fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, receiving Communion on an empty stomach, ancient liturgical prayers and chants, frequent sacramental confession, standing or kneeling during services instead of sitting, and baptism by full immersion.
In the Orthodox Church there is no universal liturgical language (such as Latin in the Roman Catholic Church); it has always been our tradition to pray in the local language. Orthodoxy does not deny the ancient practices of married Deacons, Priests and Bishops - and - the ministry of Deaconesses, while also valuing and encouraging celibacy for those who are called to the monastic life (cf. St. Matthew 19 : 10–12).
Rector
Chorbishop +Joel Cycenas was ordained by Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Ratzinger) at the Basilica of St. Peter at the Vatican to the order of deacon. Cycenas completed his studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (the Angelicum), Rome, Italy and his pastoral and priestly formation at the Pontifical North American College under the leadership of Timothy Cardinal Dolan.
Joel Cycenas was ordained as a priest in 2000 by his
Excellency Archbishop Harry J. Flynn. After serving in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in parishes and schools as pastor, associate pastor and chaplain, Cycenas personally asked to leave the ministry and was laicized (2010) and in good standings. In 2015 Cycenas was married and now has two children.
In 2019 Cycenas was received into the Orthodox Greek Catholic Church established by Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj. This is the Orthodox Greek Catholic Metropolia Province of North and South America and dependencies. In 2021 on the feast day of St. Joseph, Father Cycenas was elevated to Archpriest.
Archpriest +Cycenas was elevated to Chorbishop on the Feast Day of St. Michael in 2023 with valid ordination and consecration. Chorbishop +Cycenas was appointed as the Rector of the Institute for Eastern Christian Studies on the Feast Day of Mary Mother of God in 2024.