Free Republic

CAIRO (AFP) – Every night in the run-up to Christmas thousands of Egypt's Coptic Christians have been gathering in a Cairo suburb eager for a glimpse of a vision that has given hope to their marginalised community. It is three hours past midnight in Al-Warrak, a poor working class neighbourhood of the Egyptian capital, and a 10,000-strong crowd is silently staring at the sky. Then the appearance of a mysterious light over the church tower jolts the gathering into a frenzy of cries and ululations. It is the apparition of the Virgin Mary, they say. Thousands have been coming nightly...

†BARTHOLOMEW By God’s Grace Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church Grace, peace and mercy from the Savior Christ Born in Bethlehem Beloved concelebrants and blessed children in the Lord, Heaven and earth have united Through the birth of Christ. Today, God has appeared on earth, And man has ascended to heaven. (Christmas Hymn) The distance and separation between God and humanity resulting from sin has been abolished with the assumption of the entire human nature by the Only-Begotten Son and Pre-eternal Word of God. It was God’s good will – that is to...