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Webmaster note: The following passage is from Saint John’s monumental work, the Fount of Knowledge, part two entitled Heresies in Epitome: How They Began and Whence They Drew Their Origin. It is usually just cited as Heresies. The translator’s introduction points out that Fount of Knowledge is one of the most “important single works produced in the Greek patristic period,…offering as it does an extensive and lucid synthesis of the Greek theological science of the whole period. It is the first great Summa of theology to appear in either the East or the West.” Saint John (+ 749) is considered...

"US Latinas seek answers in Islam," heralds a recent feature article in The Christian Science Monitor (December 27). "Some young US Latinas say Islam offers women more respect," reports the paper's contributor Christine Armario. She quotes a head-scarved immigrant convert as saying that Muslim men "don't look at you like a sex object." According to Ms. Armario's account, "Many of the Latina converts say that their belief that women are treated better in Islam was a significant factor in converting." The report mentions in passing the skepticism that these conversions sometimes elicit in the Latino community, but then goes on...

According to Cardinal Kasper VATICAN CITY, JULY 4, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The international theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches will resume in the fall, says Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The resumption of the dialogue was one of the proposals Benedict XVI made to the delegation of the ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, during its visit to Rome last week. In statements Saturday on Vatican Radio, Cardinal Kasper confirmed that the delegation communicated "officially that in the fall we will be able to take up again the international dialogue with all...

This an excerpt is from Against False Union by Dr. Alexander Kalomiros (Seattle, WA: St. Nectarios Press, 1990 [1967]), pp. 53-55 as posted on www.orthodoxinfo.com /small> XXVIII. ECCLESIOLOGY The commotion about union of the churches makes evident the ignorance existing as much among the circles of the simple faithful as among the theologians as to what the Church is. They understand the catholicity of the Church as a legal cohesion, as an interdependence regulated by some code. For them the Church is an organization with laws and regulations like the organizations of nations. Bishops, like civil servants, are distinguished as...

BARI, Italy (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI visited the eastern port of Bari on his first papal trip Sunday and pledged to make healing the 1,000-year-old rift with the Orthodox church a "fundamental" commitment of his papacy. Benedict made the pledge in a city closely tied to the Orthodox church. Bari, on Italy's Adriatic coast, is considered a "bridge" between East and West and is home to the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra, a 4th-Century saint who is one of the most popular in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. Benedict referred to Bari as a "land of...

A talk delivered at the Annual Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America, St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, San Diego, California, February 28, 2003 Offenses as Blessings If looked at in the right way, the offences that come to us are actually blessings in disguise. They offer us an opportunity to forgive and thus receive God's blessings and Grace. As St. Ignatius Brianchaninov affirms, "All the sorrows and sufferings caused us by other people never come to us except with God's permission for our essential good. If these sorrows and troubles were not absolutely necessary for us, God...

This is a series of a speech delivered at the Annual Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America, St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, San Diego, California, February 28, 2003 by Hiermonk Damascene. It deals with a topic that is very relevant for the Lenten Season, a reflection on our tendency to resent and to resist forgiveness. Resentment and Forgiveness, Part 3 5. Watchfulness and Prayer The Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers affirm that, as we pray for spiritual healing from passions like anger and resentment, we must also practice constant watchfulness or attention over our thoughts. Christ...

Note: this is a continuation of the previous post under the same title in which the malady of anger and resentment was outlined, and Part 2 offers the first step in the healing process. This post is dedicated to the spirit of Great Lent and as an exposition of the Orthodox phronema (mindset) on theological issues. A talk delivered at the Annual Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America, St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, San Diego, California, February 28, 2003. Resentment and Forgiveness -- Part 2 by Hieromonk Damascene 4. Forgiveness Having looked at the malady of anger,...

(These are the first three chapters of this 7-chapter work which I deemed appropriate for this period of Great Lent, in hopes that it will help us all reflect and contemplate these issues, while at the same time revealing the Orthodox mindset) A talk delivered at the Annual Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America, St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, San Diego, California, February 28, 2003.1. The Misuse of the Incensive Power Since we are approaching Forgiveness Sunday, I've chosen, with the blessing of His Grace Bishop Longin, to speak on the subject of Anger, Judgment, and Resentment,...

The murder of a United Nations policeman in Kosovo last week was committed by ethnic Albanians who posed as Serbs in an effort to cast their bitter rivals as villains, the Telegraph has learned.

Comment Email Julia Pascal@Sibenik Monday July 14, 2003 The Guardian I take my actors to the Sibenik International Children's Theatre Festival. 0n the idyllic Croatian coast, we pass burned-out Serbian villages. This is a clear message to any Serbs planning return. We are to perform The Golem. This Yiddish Frankenstein story comes from medieval Prague and, in my version, the monster created to defend ghettoised Jews from Catholics, is a metaphor for the conflict between self-defence and violence. Most importantly, it is about minority culture. The contradiction between what we are presenting and what we are seeing soon becomes apparent....

Biljana Plavsic , the former president of the Republic of Srpska, was sentenced today by the Hague Tribunal to 11 years. At the end of the last year, Ms Plavsic, has pleaded guilty to charges of persecution of Bosnian Muslims and Croats. Passing the sentence, the tribunal took into account her confession of guilt, remorse, her behavior after the war, voluntary surrender, and her age. However, Judge May said that the sentence was lenient for someone like Biljana Plavsic.

<p>THE HAGUE, Netherlands --Serbian ultra-nationalist leader Vojislav Seselj has declined to plead at The Hague to war crimes charges, echoing the defiance of his former ally Slobodan Milosevic.</p> <p>Seselj, a burly nationalist who came second in last December's Serbian presidential election, said he wanted to exercise his right to delay his plea by up to 30 days to allow clarification of terms in the indictment that he said he did not understand.</p>

This is a summary of a Vechernye novosti (Evening news) article of January 11, 2003 titled "Svaka ptitsa u svom yatu" (every bird in its flock), by Dragitsa P. Vel'kovich. The article describes in detail the results of the latest Serbian census conducted in April 2002. The census was conducted without Kosovo. It included Serbia proper and Voyvodina, Serbia's northern province. Without Kosovo, Serbia's total population at of April 2002 -- 7,498.001Serbs -- 6.2 million, up by 2.5% since 1991. Serbs now make up 82,86% of the republic's population.Montenegrins -- 0.92%, down 41.4% compared to 1991, mostly because more Montenegrins...

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - Serbia's justice minister has demanded the top U.N. war crimes prosecutor resign, accusing her in an open letter Sunday of being biased against Serbs. Justice Minister Vladan Batic said Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has indicted only Serbs in her investigation of the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo despite "abundant proof" that ethnic Albanians also committed atrocities. Del Ponte "must apply same standards for all potential suspects, regardless of their ethnicity," Batic said in the public letter. "It would be fair that you to resign. Somebody else in your place would ensure that justice be served and that Serb...

Serbia's voters fail a second time to elect president BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) — Serbian presidential elections failed Sunday for a second time because of low turnout, independent observers say. The Center for Free Elections and Democracy, an independent group of observers, said turnout was around 45%, about the same as when the vote failed in October because of the required 50% voter turnout. The rest of the article

Questions raised over government plans to crackdown on those who glory in the country's fascist past. By Drago Hedl in Osijek (BCR No 386, 28-Nov-02) Moves by Ivica Racan's centre-left government to outlaw iconography glorifying Croatia's Second World War fascists are seen in many quarters as a cynical attempt to smooth Croatia's passage into the European Union Draft laws will soon be presented to the Croatian parliament forbidding the display of symbols of the Ustasa, the pro-Nazi movement that governed Croatia under Axis protection from 1941 to 1945. The proposed legislation is being presented as an attempt to combat a...

Dispute over harmonisation of customs duties frustrates efforts to establish new union between Serbia and Montenegro By Zoran Radulovic in Podgorica (BCR No 386, 28-Nov-02) Linking Serbia and Montenegro into a new federation has suddenly proved more difficult than anybody first thought. The big problem is the harmonisation of customs taxes - a task that seemed simple enough until ministers met to discuss the matter at the beginning of November. At that point, it became obvious that raising duties to the levels imposed by Serbia would damage Montenegro's imports and leave it vulnerable to smugglers. On the other hand, Serbia's...

The ongoing battle between the country's two most powerful men may lead to another constitutional crisis By Zeljko Cvijanovic in Belgrade (BCR No 386, 28-Nov-02) The increasingly bitter feud between Serbian premier Zoran Djindjic and Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica is threatening to scupper a presidential election rerun next month. Analysts fear that the December 8 ballot, repeated after September's poll was declared void after a poor turnout, may suffer a similar fate if the prime minister does not throw his weight behind Kostunica's bid for power. This is causing great anxiety among politicians and observers alike, as if the new...

NEW YORK, Nov. 22 (JTA) — A Holocaust exhibit at a prestigious art museum in Zagreb is being hailed as a major step forward in Croatia’s willingness to deal honestly with its World War II history. Croatian President Stepan Mesic recently inaugurated the exhibit, entitled “The Courage to Remember,” at the capital’s Mimara Art Museum. “This is not an exhibition for historians, but one for those who want to revise history,” Mesic said in a speech at the opening. “This is not an exhibition for those who know but for those who do not know, and even more so for...