(source) One of the little known facts of True Orthodoxy is the rich, complicated and strange history of Orthodoxy in Italy. Since the 1970’s (no relation to a certain Roman Catholic Council that caused a massive defection of the faithful, probably) there have been multiple traditional Orthodox groups forming parishes throughout Italy (some of whom have been covered on this website), and last Sunday, the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing women, a hierarchical Divine Liturgy was held in Rome, presided over Metropolitan Ambrose of Methone. The priest, jokingly referred to in the article as His Holiness, Fr Sergey Semyonov, hosted the Metropolitan to a well-attended service.
Based on a text seen in the pictures at least some of the service was likely in Romanian and the service was well attended. A certain Jorge Mario Bergoglio was not in attendance, for fairly obvious reasons.
So if you’ve been concerned that you can’t find a True Orthodox Church near you, search just a little bit harder to see if there’s a community around you– and just remember that in the heart of Rome itself, there are True Orthodox Christians praying at a local temple, so all is not lost.
