Today is the feast of St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter and the patron of Constantinople and thus the Christian East. Often the union of East and West is represented by the icon of the two brother-apostles – who represent Rome and Constantinople – embracing:

In the spirit of today’s feast, here are two Eastern-related news items:

Patriarch’s meeting with Pope getting nearer – Metropolitan Hilarion

Moscow, November 26, Interfax – The meeting between the Moscow Patriarch and the Pope is getting nearer each day, the Russian Orthodox Church said.

“Each day brings us closer to this meeting between the Pope and Patriarch,” head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, told journalists in Moscow.

“Right now we are not prepared to make known the date, nor are we engaged in any concrete preparations for the meeting, but we are certainly getting closer to it. It is a calendar and astronomical fact,” he said.

The work carried out by the Russian Church with the Catholic Church is aimed “improving the general climate and achieving a higher level of mutual understanding,” he added.

This is great news. We have seen rumors for years that this meeting would take place, but now it looks like it might really happen. Let us pray for unity!

Also, many Catholics who frequent blogs do not know any good Eastern Christian blogs – but now there is a solution to that problem: the Eastern Christian New Media Awards! They have just announced their 2010 winners, so I recommend going there to find the best in the Eastern Christian blogosphere.

St. Andrew, pray for us!