ORANGE — A securities broker who allegedly stole millions of dollars in investments from members of St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on 32 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering, the U.S. attorney’s office said Wednesday. Gregory P. Loles, 51, of Easton, has […]

Belgrade – The divided Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) came under further pressure Friday from a renegade bishop, who occupied a Kosovo monastery on Friday and performed a service in defiance of the church’s orders, local media reported. In February, the SPC forced Bishop Artemije into retirement, stripping him of authority over the Kosovo eparchy because […]

Dear Friends Today’s media report that Vladika Artemije has returned to Kosovo and Metohija and served Liturgy at the Duboki Potok Monastery. As I indicated in my message of November 12, Vladika had written to his brother Bishops on October 13 stating the canonical basis for his authority over the Eparchy of Ras and Prizren […]

Washington In connection with the suspension of His Grace, Bishop ARTEMIJE, from supervision of his Eparchy, allegations have been made to the effect that funds allocated for other purposes (variously reported as earmarked for humanitarian relief or for repair of churches) instead were used to pay for lobbying service by two firms with which I […]

Serbia’s powerful Orthodox Church has filed criminal charges against the defrocked Bishop Artemije, the former leader of the church in Kosovo, in a scandal that has rocked the institution. Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said that his Ministry delivered charges filed by the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) against Artemije to the prosecutor’s office on Saturday. […]

ZUBIN POTOK — Retired Bishop Artemije served liturgy at a SPC monastery in Kosovo today, despite the Holy Synod’s decision to prohibit him from performing his priest duties. About 50 monks and believers who support him arrived to the Duboki Potok monastery during the night and this morning. During Friday, Artemije’s followers also occupied the […]

BELGRADE — The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) decided Friday to defrock retired Bishop Artemije. Earlier in the day, the bishop, who was forced into retirement earlier this year because of a financial scandal involving his associates, was declared by the Synod to be in open schism with the Church. […]

BELGRADE, Serbia – The Serbian Orthodox Church stripped a former Kosovo bishop of his ranks on Friday after he tried to regain control over monasteries and openly challenged the church leadership. The church said in a statement that it made “this very hard and painful decision” because its former bishop, Artemije, openly broke the church […]

An Astoria church whose loss of a jewel-clad “weeping icon” thrust it into the public eye more than two years ago is back in the spotlight, charged by its insurance company with fraud. In denying the $ 1.2-million claim by St. Irene Chrysovalantou Greek Orthodox Monastery, the Cigna Insurance Co. said the church produced fraudulent […]

First there were mysterious tears, then brazen theft, followed by a seemingly miraculous return. Now, the Icon of St. Irene, a 1919 portrait that brought worldwide attention to two Greek Orthodox churches-one in Chicago and another in Queens, New York-has become the subject of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit. The litigation pits the New York church, the […]