Dr. Robert Moynihan

    On April 29, I received a note from the widow of my late friend, Dmitry Khafizov. (see my Letter #18, 2021, Friday, April 23: Farewell Dmitry) ***     Dmitry died on April 21 in Kazan, Russia, at the age of 57.     He was well-known in Kazan and throughout Russia as a man who had spent many [...]

    The Orthodox world celebrates Easter this year on Sunday, May 2, in three days. We wish a blessed, holy Easter to all, and include here below reflections on the meaning and importance of Easter.     As the Orthodox Easter draws near, in the light of Christian faith, in the light of the proclamation of the Resurrection, it [...]

    Three images related to a possible Russia-Ukraine Summit meeting in Rome with Pope Francis, in the near future, to discuss the tense situation in the Donbass region of Ukraine. Top, Pope Francis, 84, with Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, 68, and Vladimir Zelensky, President of Ukraine, 46, in the background. In the second photo, Zelensky [...]

Two images of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, the top one taken in 1981 when he was about 35 (taken at a conference on nuclear weapons and disarmament in Amsterdam, Holland), the second one taken recently. Kirill has been the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church for 12 years, since February 1, 2009, when he succeeded [...]

    “You will not be like the hired hand, who flees before dangers because he is unconcerned for the flock.” —Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, in Gibraltar yesterday, where Parolin consecrated as a new archbishop Gibraltar native Mark Miles, 53, during Parolin's homily at the Mass (on the photo above, Parolin places his hands on Miles's [...]

    From the heart of Russia     Today I write to tell you about Dmitry Khafizov.     Dmitry was a man with a large heart, and a larger soul.     A mighty bear of a man... a good and noble man... from the very heart of Russia, from Kazan in Tartarstan... a Christian believer of Russian Orthodox faith... a [...]

    First, a birthday, belatedly. Yesterday, April 21, the city of Rome celebrated its birthday.     Rome was founded, tradition holds, on April 21 in the year 753 B.C. by the twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, in the place where they had been suckled by a she-wolf. (link)     So, let us wish Rome a happy 2,774th birthday, even [...]

    "The true Church is now eclipsed." —Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, 80, in a declaration he released today. In the declaration, Viganò, who continues to live quietly in hiding, comments on an upcoming May 6-8 conference to be held in the Vatican (link) on the use of stem cells in medical treatments (link), hosted by a Vatican [...]

    I received today a little note written in connection with the death on April 9 at the age of 100 of Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.     The note contains a recollection written by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, the head of the External Relations Department of the Russian Orthodox Church centered in [...]