International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) has received two grants from the United States Government to significantly expand its ongoing work to help Lebanon recover from the war. A grant of $3.46 million has been awarded to IOCC by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for the repair and development of 154 public schools in southern Lebanon, the Beqaa valley, and Mount Lebanon. A $1.7 million extension grant from the U.S. Government’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) will expand IOCC’s current program to help returnees rebuild their lives in southern Lebanon and southern Beirut. Read more...

THE ANNUAL MEETING OF OTSA will be held at St Vladimir's Seminary, June 12-14, 2007. Check the website www.svots.edu for directions to St Vladimir’s. Members are reminded that this year’s conference dovetails with the Fordham/Villanova Conference “Orthodox Readings of Augustine,” June 14-16. Read more...

With only one percent of the national budget spent on healthcare in Albania, and with 25% of the population living below the poverty level, IOCC’s recent shipment of medical supplies valued at over $435,000 is welcome aid indeed. Read more...

The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, meeting at Saint Paul’s College in Washington, DC, from October 26 to 28, 2006, has issued a statement on the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey. After reviewing briefly the history of previous meetings between Popes and Ecumenical Patriarchs, the statement concludes with a prayer “that the meeting of the Pope and Ecumenical Patriarch will contribute to the unity of the churches and to the reconciliation of all peoples.” Read more...

We urge all members of the entertainment industry to avoid the misuse of Christian symbols, especially of the Cross, through traditional media outlets such as, television, radio, film or print, but also through DVDs, the internet, computer games, iPods, and the like. Read more...

We express our sincere concern over the ever-increasing acts of violence that have been perpetrated in the schools of this nation. We call upon all civil and religious leaders to address this evil that has caused these tragic incidents. Read more...

Christ has come for the life of the world; through the Cross joy has come into all the world. We have a responsibility to bear witness to this life in Christ and to this joy. Read more...

We are writing at this time because we know that you care deeply about the well-being of your children, and it is precisely your children who may pay the highest price and become victims of the uncontrolled availability of all that is now technologically available on the internet. Read more...

The Hierarchs of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) have declared unanimously their outrage concerning the imprisonment of Archbishop Jovan of Ochrid by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Read more...

We, the hierarchs of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), reflecting on the continuing Middle East crisis, wish to express our concern and pain with regard to the violence and threats of violence in the Middle East. Read more...