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This is a hopeful sign! I'm not sure exactly what it portends, but it's cause for hope. Evidence of "possible cooperation" between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church continues between Rome and Moscow. And the playing filed on which they meet remains the struggle for the affirmation of the Christian roots of Europe "threatened by secularism. The latest episode that gives hope for a real climate of greater proximity between the two Churches, is the presentation (today in Rome) of "Europe Spiritual Homeland", a bilingual volume in Italian and Russian collecting the speeches that Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI...

This Jerusalem Post article is sure to raise eyebrows, and perhaps tempers, among Jews, Catholics, and anyone else who thinks it's wrong and ugly to spit at someone because of his religious beliefs. This report says that Catholic and Orthodox priests and religious are regularly assaulted by Orthodox Jews who spit at them in a show of contempt. . . .

Reported by Interfax of Russia in Moscow On November 25, an unusual sacred procession took place when the Virgin Mary Icon known as the "Sign" (see below) flew around the Earth 176 times. On September 30 the spaceship Soyuz TMA 16 which had a mission to bring the icon to the International Space Station was driven from the Baikonur cosmodrome, the representative of the Galaxy studying centre initiated the project told Interfax-Religion on Wednesday. The sacred procession was finished on October 11. The icon, after circling the earth for over a week,  was delivered back on the "Soyz TMA 14 spaceship. The icon of the Virgin Mary "The...

More than 150,000 people have so far signed the Manhattan Declaration, just a week after the document was unveiled. And one of the document's drafters, Chuck Colson, hopes the number will soon reach a million so that Christians would put America on notice that they will not compromise their faith, no matter what. Leaders from the evangelical, Orthodox and Catholic traditions released "The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" last week to stand firm on what they consider the three most foundational issues in society – the sanctity of life, the historic understanding of marriage, and religious liberty. It...

Top Stories for Thursday, December 3rd, 2009:     Photo by Gene Slaske St. Joseph’s Church, Mason City, Iowa Orthodox “Manhattan Declaration” Catches Fire By DEXTER DUGGANHere’s a break with the past that Barack Obama should have made, but instead as president he chose to continue the culture war that radical leftists ignited beginning in the 1960s.For all his reputation as an appeaser of foreign terrorists and dictatorial socialists, the battle strategy of Obama against U. S. social stability keeps orthodox believers wide awake and on guard.Believers know they’re in a deadly fight, not only for moral values as Obama...

Moscow, November 26, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has supported Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's opposition to the idea of banning crucifixes from Italian public schools. "Italy and other European countries' Christian heritage must not be a subject of scrutiny at European rights agencies," Patriarch Kirill said in a letter to Berlusconi, posted on the Moscow Patriarchate's official website. Patriarch Kirill was commenting on a ruling, passed by the European Court of Human Rights on November 3, on a lawsuit, filed by an Italian mother, who claimed that crucifixes at public schools is a violation of...

In the various Christian traditions Marian doctrine and devotion take shape in manifold and diverse ways. Since the Second Vatican Council the Church has striven to promote a new and more careful study of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the mystery of Christ and of the Church; to encourage theological faculties in the pursuit of knowledge, research, and piety with regard to Mary of Nazareth. The Mother of the Lord is understood as a "datum of revelation" and a "maternal presence" always operative in the life of the Church. [1] The history of theological reflection witnesses...

The Manhattan Declaration is a 4,732-word statement signed by a movement of Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders who are collaborating around moral issues of great concern. Its 125+ signers affirm the sanctity of human life, marriage as defined by the union of one man and one woman, and religious liberty and freedom of conscience. The Manhattan Declaration endorses civil disobedience under certain circumstances. The Manhattan Declaration will be publicly released at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009.

Conservative Christian leaders unveiled a declaration Friday calling on Christians not to comply with rules and laws forcing them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other ideals that go against their religious doctrines. The declaration urges Christians to practice civil disobedience to defend their convictions, even though some signers of the document backed away from the strong language. The Catholic Archbishop of Washington, Donald W. Wuerl, was among the first signers of the Manhattan Declaration. He appeared at a news conference in the District on Friday to announce it, even as the Church was considering a city-proposed compromise on its...

A Russian Orthodox priest, Fr. Daniel Sysoyev, who carried out missionary work among immigrants from ex-Soviet republics, many of them Muslims, received over a dozen death threats before his murder on Thursday, a Russian paper said. Fr. Daniel of St. Thomas Church in Moscow foresaw his death, writing in his internet diary that he had received telephone threats from Muslims. Fr. Daniel’s evening ‘talks’ for inquirers included several especially designed for Muslims.

Washington D.C., Nov 20, 2009 / 06:21 am (CNA).- An unprecedented coalition of prominent Christian clergy, ministry leaders, and scholars has crafted a 4,700-word declaration addressing the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty. The declaration issues “a clarion call” to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not “under any circumstance” abandon their Christian consciences. The statement,  called “the Manhattan Declaration,” has been signed by more than 125 Catholic, Evangelical Christian, and Orthodox leaders, and will be made fully public at a noon press conference in the National Press Club in...

ROME, November 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Poland's president, Lech Kaczynski and the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Church have both hit out at a decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) attempting to ban the display of crucifixes in Italian public schools. At the same time, a general revolt against the ruling in municipalities all over Italy has been started by public officials, who are now ordering the display of crucifixes in schools, and levelling fines for non-compliance. The November 3rd ECHR ruling, made in response to a complaint by an Italian secularist campaigner, said that the display...

Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev, the Russian Orthodox Church’s top official for relations with other churches, has been busy this past week putting his revived church’s stamp on the world Christian scene. Over the weekend, he urged Catholics and Orthodox to join forces to defend their traditional version of Christianity. His comments, made during a visit to Paris to inaugurate his Church’s first seminary outside of Russia, come only days after positive remarks he made last week about how the Vatican and Moscow were slowly moving towards a meeting between Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill and Pope Benedict. Also last week, Hilarion indicated the...

He that dwells in the help of the Highest, shall sojourn under the shelter of the God of heaven. He shall say to the Lord, Thou art my helper and my refuge: my God; I will hope in him. For he shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunters...

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Pavle has died. He was 95. Pavle, who has led the church since 1990, has been hospitalized for months. He had heart and lung problems. The church said he died Sunday morning. A respected theologian and linguist also known for personal humility and modesty, Pavle took over the church leadership just as the collapse of communism ended years of state policy of repressing religion. He had headed the church during the turbulent years of the Balkan wars in the 1990s and the collapse of former President Slobodan Milosevic’s regime in 2000. Bishop...

Mile and Ella Kosanovic left St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church more than $1 million through their trust after they passed away. MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (CBS) ― In these tough economic times, imagine learning your church has been given more than $1 million. Well, that's the reality for a place of worship in Merrillville, Indiana. CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports on the unexpected windfall. "It's definitely confirmation for their true love, for God, our holy church and for this parish of St. Sava," said Rev. Marko Matic of St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in Merrillville, Indiana. Rev. Matic is talking about...

BELGRADE, Serbia — Patriarch Pavle, who led Serbia's Christian Orthodox Church through its post-Communist revival and called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, died Sunday. He was 95. There have been reports of an internal struggle over who would succeed Pavle, a respected theologian and linguist known for personal humility and modesty. The favorite is influential Bishop Amfilohije, a hard-liner known for his anti-Western and ultra-nationalist stands. The seven-million member church said its highest body, the Holy Synod, could announce Monday when Pavle's successor will be chosen. At least 40 days must pass after Pavle's...

The Russian Orthodox clergy is threatening to cut ties with Germany’s Protestants for electing a divorced woman, Margot Käßmann, as the head of their church. Dialogue between the churches, which has been strong and steady for the past 50 years, was no longer possible because of Käßmann’s election, said Rev. Georgy Zavershinsky, spokesman for the Russian church’s office of external relations in Moscow.

Russian Monasticism After Communism Interview With Orthodox Monk on Old and New Challenges By Antonio Gaspari ROME, NOV. 5, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Having survived Soviet Communism, Russian Orthodox monasticism now faces the new threat of secularization as it passes through a period of testing that only time can heal. Father Petr Mescerinov expressed these ideas as he discussed with ZENIT the new and enduring challenges of Russian monasticism. The hegumen (a title similar to abbot) of the St. Daniil Monastery of Moscow was in Italy for a conference on Eastern and Western monasticism. Father Mescerinov is vice-director of the Center for...

Writings of the Fathers of the Church  Alexander of Alexandria (Saint)   - Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius Alexander of Lycopolis   - Of the Manicheans Ambrose (340-397) (Saint) (Doctor)   - On the Christian Faith (De fide)   - On the Holy Spirit   - On the Mysteries   - On Repentance   - On the Duties of the Clergy   - Concerning Virgins   - Concerning Widows   - On the Death of Satyrus   - Memorial of Symmachus   - Sermon against Auxentius   - Letters Aphrahat/Aphraates (c. 280-367)   - Demonstrations Archelaus   - Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes Aristides the Philosopher   - The Apology Arnobius   - Against the Heathen Athanasius (Saint) (Doctor)   - Against the Heathen   - On the Incarnation...

In my homilies to you over the years, I’ve often spoke of our Catholic Faith, and sometimes of our Byzantine Tradition; but I have rarely spoken of the particular Church to which we belong, and of it’s history in Eastern Europe. Our Metropolitan Church is located entirely in the United States; and, the further you travel outside of Pennsylvania, the less you see of any ethnic identity among the members of our parishes; but, as you know, the ancestors of our Church’s original members came from an Orthodox Church which came into union with Rome in 1646 at the Union...

A Trunk or Treat is a Halloween event that is often church or community-sponsored. People gather and park their cars in a large parking lot. They open their trunks or the backs of their vehicles and decorate them. Then they pass out candy from their trunks. The event provides a safe family environment for trick or treaters.... (see pictures!)

The hits just keep on coming, while you wait in line, Gitmo detainees will have their vaccines delivered,...these are the fools running our country...(Story here)

Bishop John Broadhurst London, England, Oct 26, 2009 / 05:13 pm (CNA).-  Members of the traditionalist Anglican group Forward in Faith recently concluded their annual gathering, which was dedicated to discussing Pope Benedict's overture to Anglicans. The general impression left by the conference was the “Anglican experiment is over,” a mood that was reinforced by Bishop John Hind officially announcing he is ready to become Catholic.The 2009 National Assembly of Forward in Faith was held in the Emmanuel Centre, Westminster, London, October 23-24. The Assembly was originally scheduled before the Vatican announced its unprecedented move, but the issue dominated...

The Jewel of Celibacy by Dr. Jeff Mirus, October 23, 2009 Phil Lawler is undoubtedly correct that the rule of celibacy will not be relaxed for Catholics of the Roman Rite when married Anglican priests begin to appear under a new Catholic ordinariate. He may also be correct that Eastern Rite churches will gradually permit more of their married clergy to serve in the West as we become accustomed to married clergy through a growing familiarity with our Anglo-Catholic brethren. (See The Anglicans and the Eastern Churches.) But the official policies of the Roman Rite and the Eastern Rite churches...

April 20, 2005 newly elected Pope Benedict XVI gave his message at the end of a Mass he had concelebrated with the members of the College of Cardinals. He signaled his mission: “Nourished and sustained by the Eucharist, Catholics cannot but feel encouraged to strive for the full unity for which Christ expressed so ardent a hope in the Upper Room. The Successor of Peter knows that he must make himself especially responsible for his Divine Master's supreme aspiration. Indeed, he is entrusted with the task of strengthening his brethren (cf. Luke 22: 32). With full awareness, therefore, at the...

Pope Benedict has sure gotten the ball rolling and it seems others want to get into the ecumenical action! Thanks to A Catholic Knight on this one: A Bulgarian Orthodox prelate told Benedict XVI of his desire for unity, and his commitment to accelerate communion with the Catholic Church. At the end of Wednesday's general audience, Bishop Tichon, head of the diocese for Central and Western Europe of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria, stated to the Pope, "We must find unity as soon as possible and finally celebrate together," L'Osservatore Romano reported. "People don't understand our divisions and our discussions," the...

Tbilisi, October 13, Interfax - Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia deplored the secession of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia. At a meeting in Tbilisi with the primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), Metropolitan Jonah of All America and Canada, Ilia insisted that Georgia's territorial integrity be restored. There is no peace in the Caucasus, the Georgian Patriarch said. The Georgian Patriarchate told Interfax an OCA delegation had come to Georgia with Jonah, who is on a six-days visit to the Caucasus nation. Ilia briefed Jonah and his delegation on the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia....

Beijing, October 14, Interfax - An Orthodox church was consecrated on the territory of the Russian embassy in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, on 13 October 2009. It is dedicated to the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the consecration was celebrated by Bishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Secretariat for Russian Orthodox Church institutions abroad. According to a report from the Parish of the Assumption to the DECR communication service, the celebration was attended by the embassy official and staff as...

There is a storm brewing and this storm shall not stop or deviate from its path and the name of this storm is " Righteousness " " for my name's sake " ! My name is on my priests as a placard upon their foreheads and I shall not be defamed ! Therefore now I shall work my outstretched arm over the nations to perform this " My Will ", for The Father has said "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased !" . So watch now as I " well up " in my children yeah...

Prison Terms Upheld for Two Christians in Ethiopia Judge rejects appeal of evangelists said to be falsely accused of offering money, gifts. NAIROBI, Kenya, September 25 (CDN) — An Ethiopian court on Monday (Sept. 21) threw out an appeal by two evangelists said to be falsely accused of offering money and gifts to people to convert to Christianity, thus upholding their six-month prison sentences. Temesgen Alemayehu and Tigist Welde Amanuel of Wengel Lealem church in Addis Ababa went to Debiretabor, Amhara state, to plant a church in July. After a week in the area, according to area Christian sources, their...

In an unusual move, a group of influential Orthodox Jewish leaders wrote a letter urging American rabbis to speak during this year’s High Holidays on the importance of ethical living, in response to some recent high-profile arrests of Jews, including two New Jersey rabbis in July. In the letter sent to about 2,000 rabbis nationwide, the leaders of Yeshiva University, the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America cited "the recent scenes of religious Jews being led off in handcuffs, charged with corruption, money laundering, and even organ trafficking.”

August 5, 2008 SOLZHENITSYN…HE TRIED TO WARN US By: Pastor Bill Randles ”“Wisdom cries out loud in the streets, she raises her voice in the squares…" Proverbs 1:20 Harvard’s motto is “Veritas”. Many of you have already found out, and others will find out in the course of their lives, that truth eludes us if we do not concentrate our attention totally on its pursuit. But even while it eludes us, the illusion of knowing it still lingers and leads to many misunderstandings. (From Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 Harvard address “A World Split Apart”) Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a Nobel Prize winning author, Soviet...

The text of the film “The fall of an empire—the Lesson of Byzantium” Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) Russian winter landscape. A church. A snowstorm. Narrator. Hello. In 1453, the Byzantine Empire fell. Let us now take a look at how this happened. Islamic chant weaves into the gusts of freezing wind. Instanbul. The muezzin continues his prayer, amplified by a loudspeaker. The noise of a market place in a Middle Eastern city. Turkish conversation. Narrator. This city was once called Constantinople; six centuries ago it was the capital city of what was without exaggeration one of the greatest civilizations in world...

St. Augustine of Hippo Rome, Italy, Sep 4, 2009 / 10:08 am (CNA).- In a letter he sent Thursday to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity,  Pope Benedict XVI has underscored that the teachings of St. Augustine are a path seeking unity with the Orthodox. The message from the Pope was sent to Cardinal Kasper as the 11th Inter-Christian Symposium gathered in Rome. The meeting was organized by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical University Antonianum and the Aristotle Orthodox Theological Faculty of Thessalonica.In his message, the Holy Father expressed his gratitude...

2009-08-19 200 Years Since Sweden Loses Finland2009 ManeuversExactly 200 years have passed since the last military battle was fought on Swedish soil - bloody clashes between Sweden and Russia. The outcome? A defeated Sweden cut in two – loosing its Finnish eastern half, and fearing attacks from European rivals wiping Sweden off the map. The battles were fierce and numerous -– with field artillery and ship's cannons booming from the shorelines and islands of the southern archipelago up through Finland and to the Swedish northeastern coast - above Umeå – to the small northern towns of Ratar and Sävar where...

I was taken by the desire to share some further brief thoughts from the Christian East, picking up from our consideration of last week on the holy Icon and the depth of theological meaning to be found there in its various regards. I turned to a set of books published as part of the Cistercian Studies series, The Spirituality of the Christian East by Tomas Spidlik, SJ. I began with a consideration of various paragraphs and sections, but I determined to simply instead present a few very brief quotations from those books, that might serve as a point of some...

The ongoing de-Christianization of Kosovo continues and unlike the past frenzy of the anti-Serbian mass media in the West, we mainly have a deadly silence about the reality of Kosovo and the continuing Albanianization of this land. However, how is it “just” and “moral” to persecute minorities and to alienate them from mainstream society; and then to illegally recognize this land without the full consensus of the international community? How ironic it is that the same United States of America and the United Kingdom, two nations who were in the forefront of covertly manipulating the mass media; remain mainly silent...

The Monthly » December 2006 - January 2007, No. 19 » The Nation Reviewed | Dec 2006 - Jan 2007 Contra Mundum Kate Holden A paean in an arcane language derived from ancient Egyptian and Greek; a ceremonial procession of men in Byzantine beards and robes; a supper table laid with platters of pizza and fried rice; a sermon aided by PowerPoint slides above a Madonna icon outlined in blue sequins; the spiritual wisdom of the Desert Fathers. Welcome to a Friday night Coptic service in a northern Melbourne suburb. There is something splendidly venerable about an institution such as...

Review: How the Byzantines Saved Europe Posted by JOHN COURETAS on MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2009 The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Edited by Elizabeth Jeffreys, John Haldon, Robin Cormack. Oxford University Press (2008)Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin. Princeton University Press (2008) Ask the average college student to identify the 1,100 year old empire that was, at various points in its history, the political, commercial, artistic and ecclesiastical center of Europe and, indeed, was responsible for the very survival and flourishing of what we know today as Europe and you’re not likely to get the...

Good morning! My Son-In-Law called me last night and told me a neat story about (him) losing his work ID ( a fireable offense), praying for the first time in 2 years because of that, seeing a brief glimpse of something about the Moravian church, then finding his badge. Of course there's more to it but I'm sparing you. :) He also reported feeling completely re-energized and touched by the Hand of God -this would be a GREAT time for an 'AMEN!"- and "on fire and alive" despite having a rough weekend almost no sleep. Anyway, he asked about the...

Kirill's Visit Exposes Dangers in Moscow-Kiev Ties By SOPHIA KISHKOVSKY Published: August 6, 2009 MOSCOW — Wittingly or not, a just-completed 10-day visit to Ukraine by Kirill I, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has exposed the dangers lurking in relations between Russia and Ukraine, the two most populous nations to emerge from the breakup of the Soviet Union. It was Kirill’s first trip to Ukraine since he was elected patriarch in January. The visit opened on July 27 with an affirmation of Russian-Ukrainian brotherhood in Kiev, regarded as the cradle of Russian Orthodoxy. Prince Vladimir adopted Orthodoxy from...

Only One Queen in Poland: Protest Madonna Written by TFP.org    Tuesday, August 4, 2009 When it was announced that American pop-singer Madonna would be performing in Warsaw’s Bemowo Airport on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the American TFP joined the firestorm of protest sweeping Poland. Madonna "Sticky & Sweet" tour is causing a stir because August 15 is not just any Catholic feast day or Polish national holiday. It is the day when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims arrive at the foot of Our Lady of Czestochowa shrine at Jasna Gora...

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE CONCERNING THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST THUS FAR, I have tried, as perhaps you have observed, to furnish you with four kinds of spiritual weapons, and the methods by which they may be profitably employed; it remains to present to you the invaluable aids to be derived from the Holy Eucharist in subduing the enemies of perfection and salvation. As this sublime Sacrament towers above the others in dignity and efficacy, it is the most terrible of all weapons to the infernal powers. The methods previously treated have no force but through the merits of Jesus...

July 27 Spiritual Bouquet: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. St. John 14:23 SAINT PANTALEON of NICOMEDIAPhysician and Martyr(†303) Saint Pantaleon was born in Nicomedia of a pagan father and a Christian mother, who died while her son was still a child. He was among the court physicians of the Emperor Galerius Maximianus. Deceived by hearing the false maxims of the world applauded, he was without religion when God decided to rescue his soul from its unhappy darkness....

I ran across this real cool video series on YouTube showing the return of the relics of the two great Saints, John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian back to Constantinople. There is also some good historical info in them as well, although it is admittedly in favor of the Orthodox position. I put all four parts in order so you don't have to go searching for each part. Each video is like 7 minutes so it is not too long. For some reason the videos are cut off on it. But you can hit the full screen button to view...

A Few Texts From Saint Cyril of Jerusalem on the Eucharist I ran across these texts by St Cyril of Jerusalem in his Catechetical Lectures regarding the Eucharist. Recently some "Reformed" Protestants have used his writings to try and support their heresy of Sola Scriptura. In reading the texts in full context, I found no evidence of this whatsoever. In doing this research I ran across these texts pertaining to the Eucharist. Let me ask this simple question. Without applying any sophistry to the texts, who does St. Cyril appear to be in line with concerning Eucharistic doctrine? The...

Mary Magdalen Mary Magdalen was so called either from Magdala near Tiberias, on the west shore of Galilee, or possibly from a Talmudic expression meaning "curling women's hair," which the Talmud explains as of an adulteress. In the New Testament she is mentioned among the women who accompanied Christ and ministered to Him (Luke 8:2-3), where it is also said that seven devils had been cast out of her (Mark 16:9). She is next named as standing at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:40; Matthew 27:56; John 19:25; Luke 23:49). She saw Christ laid in the tomb, and she...

MOSCOW, July 7 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. President Barack Obama met the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on Tuesday, the second day of his three-day visit to the Russian capital. "Dialogue between our countries' Christians is very important, as the two nations should be friends," Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia told Obama. "Both the American and Russian nations have the same Christian system of values. We are the most religious countries," he said. The Russian patriarch also wished Obama success in his post, saying that many people in Russia linked him with the development of Russian-U.S. relations....

Religious Jews have rioted in Jerusalem on the Jewish Sabbath for the second straight week. Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews took to the streets of Jerusalem, throwing stones and scuffling with police. The demonstrators were protesting the opening of a parking lot on the Sabbath to accommodate an influx of Israeli visitors from around the country to Jerusalem's Old City. Jewish religious law forbids driving on the Sabbath and the Orthodox accuse the secular government and public at large of desecrating the biblical holy day of rest. Some demonstrators chanted that "Sabbath desecrators will die." Riots first erupted last month when...