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Before the NATO bombing, the witness was unaware of conflicts in his village or the surrounding area, and there were indeed no Serb residents in Bela Crkva. At about 3.30 on the morning of the 25th of March, he woke to the sight and sound of 12 green VJ tanks coming from Orahovac, stopping by the mosque in his village. He gathered his family and other relations, immediate family and other relations, and led them to a hiding place in a field on the edge of the village where some 200 other villagers were also gathered. And from this position,...

A 1st century Church ministering to a 21st century people, providing continuity, authenticity, and stability. What's New MainCalendarChurch DirectionsChurch GrowthChurch HistoryHeavenly HumorInteresting SitesMinistry GroupsMonastic MusingsParish Life UpdateResource CenterSayings of the FathersService TimesStrange ThingsTestimoniesYour First VisitWho Are We?Who Was St. Herman? Webmasters: Subdeacon Brian Vincent LehrReader Joseph Friesen Church Growth and Evangelism The purpose of this section is to bring together what I feel are some of the best resources available on the subject of Church Growth and Evangelism for the Orthodox Church. Since there are very few books and publications written on this subject from an Orthodox perspective, most...

Era of the Big Fire Is Kindled at West's DoorsSat Jun 22, 3:08 PM ETBy TIMOTHY EGAN The New York Times This article was reported by Timothy Egan, Michael Janofsky, Andrew C. Revkin and James Sterngold and written by Mr. Egan. • Era of the Big Fire Is Kindled at West's Doors • Novices to Face Champions in Topsy-Turvy World Cup • For the latest breaking news, visit NYTimes.com • Get DealBook, a daily email digest of corporate finance newsDealBook. Search NYTimes.com: WINTHROP, Wash., June 22 — The fires came early this year to the West, chasing people out...

ABCNEWS.com Poll Finds Most Support Individuals' Right to Own Guns Americans overwhelmingly agree with the Justice Department's new position that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of citizens to own guns. But most also favor some restrictions on that right After hearing the Second Amendment verbatim, 73 percent in an ABCNEWS.com poll said it guarantees the right to individual gun ownership. Twenty percent said, instead, that it only guarantees the right of states to maintain militias — the government's longstanding position until the Justice Department reversed it in a U.S. Supreme Court brief last week. Full story and charts here

Orthodox Mission Mission in the Archdiocese of Johannesburg and Pretoria On 18 March 2001 His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim was enthroned as the new Archbishop of Johannesburg to replace the late Metropolitan Ioannis, who reposed in the Lord in October 2000. One of his first acts as Archbishop was to open and speak at the first Orthodox missiological conference held in South Africa, a joint venture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, with the support of several other bodies. We welcome His Eminence and look forward to more news of mission acvtivity in...

Written: Sunday, October 19 1997. Posted: Tuesday, December 02 1997. Section: Articles. Topic: General. Article summary:   Orthodox Christianity, whose roots lie in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Russia, is booming in America. And converts like Byers are a big reason why. ORTHODOX CHURCH SEES GROWTH, PAINS By Diego Ribadeneira, Globe Staff Page: B1 Section: Metro Boston Globe SUNDAY, October 19, 1997 It was the last place Ruth Byers, a lifelong Methodist, ever thought she'd be, inside a Greek Orthodox Church, the smell of incense in the air, the walls adorned with Byzantine icons and the congregants chanting a...

Hundreds of Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters are clandestine guests of the Pakistani military and reside in its barracks in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir while many of its senior leaders live in the country's large cities and towns, according to Indian officials and intelligence analysts. They say US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was apparently referring to this when he said during his visit to New Delhi last week that Al-Qaeda fighters - many of them apparently Pakistanis -- were operating near the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan. "I do not have hard evidence of precisely how many or who or...

Communication Minister Reuven Rivlin said that he would not object if cable stations request to remove BBC and CNN from the basic broadcasting package, for economic reasons or due to viewers' requests, Israel Radio reported Sunday. Rivlin said that the satellite broadcaster YES is planning to submit a request to the Cable and Satellite TV Council to cease airing the BBC. Rivlin told Israel Radio that if the request is submitted, BBC officials would be called for a hearing on the matter, and his ministry won't object to removing the station from the basic package, and offering it only as...

Special Reports from the Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches 3 - 14 December 1998, Harare, Zimbabwe Harare liturgy marks growth of Orthodox Church in Africa ENI-98-0556 By Andrei Zolotov Harare, 7 December (ENI)--A highly unusual Orthodox liturgy was held in Harare's Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity on Sunday 6 December, bringing together - around the altar - representatives of 13 of the world's 15 Eastern Orthodox Churches. Many of the Orthodox clergy are in Harare for the eighth assembly of the World Council of Churches. Sunday's service, intended as a sign of Orthodox unity...

June 22, 2002 - Late Evening Report MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (AP) _ A hospitalized drifter sought for questioning in the disappearance of a teenager in Utah was alert and talking with investigators Saturday. Bret Michael Edmunds, 26, was cooperating with investigators, said FBI spokesman Kevin Eaton. Salt Lake City police sought Edmunds for questioning in connection with the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her family's home June 5. Wanted for QuestioningBret Michael Edmunds 6"2' 235 lbs. 1997 green Saturn Considered Dangerous "He's talking to us. He's not telling us, 'go away, I want a lawyer,"' Eaton said. But investigators won't...

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin flies to next week's summit of the G8 group of industrialised nations in Canada aiming to prove Russia has a bigger world role to play than merely supporting Washington's war on terrorism.Putin will attend nearly all events at the June 27-28 summit at Kananaskis in the Rocky Mountains, underscoring what Russian officials say is vast progress in 10 years of post-Soviet change and a remarkable turnaround from a 1998 economic collapse.The Kremlin leader, visibly proud that the body is now named G8 to reflect Russia's full-fledged membership, will seek his partners' help to secure...

The Australian sharemarket is set for another hit tomorrow after Wall Street fell again yesterday in the steepest first-half slump since 1970. Our market dropped to an eight-month low on Friday in the wake of global sharemarket declines. Australian stockbrokers said investors selling off stocks to gain tax credits before the end of the financial year were also weighing down the local market. The fifth successive week of falls on Wall Street has seen the market value of US shares decline by $US1,520 billion ($2,645billion) this year, according to the Wilshire 5000 Total Market index. The Dow Jones industrial index...

WASHINGTON, June 21 (UPI) -- Recall the brouhaha about military absentee ballots in Florida during the contentious aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. However, the disenfranchisement of overseas military personnel is not limited to Florida, and it did not begin in 2000. Military personnel have often been disenfranchised for as long as they have been permitted to vote at all. The problem is most severe for those personnel who serve at sea or at isolated overseas duty stations, where mail service is slow and intermittent. Significant progress has been made however. The fiscal year 2002 National Defense Authorization Act contains...

Sunday June 23, 7:17 AMIsrael shows signs of planning long-term West Bank re-occupation Israel's re-occupation of West Bank cities, codenamed "Determined Path", showed signs of turning into a long-term affair, drawing harsh condemnation from the Palestinian leadership. As the Israeli army maintained its grip on six out of eight Palestinian self-rule cities, a senior official said Israeli civil administrative rule for the territories might follow. Defense ministry director Amos Yaron told Israeli public radio that "if the outcome of the operations underway is a long-term presence of the army on the ground, and if (the army) must answer the needs...

Cherie Blair, Tony Blair's wife this week explained that she can understand suicide bombers. Wouldn't it be nice if as many people as possible were given the opportunity to tell Ms. Blair their opinion of her comments? Below is her personal email. cheriebooth@matrixlaw.co.uk

Naifeh Optimistic About Income Tax Vote Reporter: Chris Bundgaard An income tax vote looms for state lawmakers next week as they try to reach an agreement on how to balance the state budget. With a constitutional deadline in nine days, the House speaker now thinks he can pick up enough votes for his state income tax plan. During his weekly news conference, House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh left no doubt about his commitment to a flat income tax and its chances of passing next week. "See if we can't pick up necessary 3-4 votes that we need, and [I'm] optimistic that...

A Close Asteroid FlybyBy David Tytell Hurtling out of the “blind spot” between the Sun and crescent Moon , asteroid 2002 MN skimmed about 120,000 kilometers above the Earth’s surface during the early hours of Friday, June 14th. Nobody saw it until three days later, despite the fact that it penetrated to within 30 percent of the Earth-Moon distance. The trajectory is labeled at 0 hours Universal Time on successive dates.   S&T illustration: Steven Simpson     June 19, 2002 | On June 17th, astronomers from the Lincoln Laboratory Near Earth Asteroid Research project (LINEAR) discovered a new Earth-crossing...

I would support reparations for descendants of slaves if the payment would be a direct transfer to qualified individuals of millions and millions of government owned land. Think about it. The black Americans could then truly receive their "40 acres" --- minus the mule. I propose only using BLM, Forest Service and other properties. There'd be no use to go after Yosemite - yet. However, would it not be delicious irony to seriously put this forward into a political debate before the American public? What better to way to show the hypocrisy of the left by setting two of their...

A good time was had by all at a cocktail reception for New York Governor George Pataki at the Malibu, CA home of David Horowitz. FReepers TwoStep and broomhilda were there. Thank you TwoStep for letting me know about the event. Talk show hosts with whom I talked: Michael Reagan, Peter Ford, George Putnam, Ray Briem, and Tammy Bruce. I recalled with Tammy one of my favorite all time radio moments when she finally announced "I hate Bill and Hillary Clinton." She acknowledged that Clinton is a rapist. I had a chance to chat with Chris Ruddy and Jim Hirsen...