Free Republic

On Islam and the War in Iraq By Cathy Gillentine Texas City Sun Published May 30, 2004 Does it seem to you that the Democratic Party leadership in our country seems perfectly willing to lose a war in order to win an election? And yet all they have to offer us in the way of a presidential candidate is that Kerry guy. Amazing. We all know that things didn’t go as planned in Iraq. Should our leadership have known? Probably yes. But who can fathom the minds of the (extremist) Muslim peoples. They believe we are “the Great Satan” and...

<p>This is one of those rare years when Christians of the Eastern and Western communions will celebrate Easter on the same Sunday. For those of us who--in quixotic moments--blow upon the gray embers of our hopes for a reunited Church, this is always an especially happy occasion. We may not all be entering into the mysteries of Christ's death and resurrection as one, but at least this year we are doing it at the same time.</p>

Orthodox Christians in Chechnya ready for Easter celebrations 10.04.2004, 14.00 GROZNY, April 10 (Itar-Tass) - The Orthodox Christians in Chechnya are getting ready to celebrate the Radiant Resurrection of Christ on Sunday. A source at the military commandant’s office of the Chechen Republic told Itar-Tass on Saturday that charitable events had been held in all parts of Grozny on Friday. The military handed out baking, Easter cakes, vegetable oil and tea to the Chechen residents. The district administration chiefs in Grozny rendered material assistance to needy citizens. According to official statistics, Grozny has nearly 15,000 ethnic Russians. Similar charitable events...

A new book has been published in Jerusalem entitled Witness in the Holy Land by Dr. Maria C. Khoury author of the popular book "Christina Goes to Church." Dr. Khoury, the author of seven church books, has made efforts in the last decade to produce children’s Orthodox literature that preserves and documents precious traditions, values and the rich symbolism of the Chrsitian faith. This new book is the first book geared for adult readers, especially young adults that might have an interest in knowing more about the dwindling Christian community in the Holy Land and what life is like under...

HAVANA (AP) - Communist Cuba, once officially atheist, is rolling out the red carpet for the spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians - and even built the Byzantine cathedral he was consecrating on Sunday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, head of the Greek Orthodox church and leader of the world's 14 Orthodox patriarchs, was to consecrate the St. Nicholas cathedral in Old Havana during an hours-long ceremony in liturgical Greek beginning Sunday morning. It was unclear why President Fidel Castro agreed to finance the church's construction, but Cuban authorities have been trying to demonstrate that the communist government...

HAVANA - The spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians will honor Fidel Castro with the church's Order of St. Andrew the Apostle during his visit next week, event organizers said Friday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will present the honor to thank Castro for his government's construction of the church's new St. Nicholas Cathedral, to be consecrated by the patriarch on Jan. 25, regional church leaders told a news conference. Bartholomew will be the first Orthodox Christian patriarch ever to visit Latin America, said Metropolitan Athenagoras of Panama and Central America, equivalent of archbishop for a region that includes...

<p>Christmas is not over.</p> <p>Not for millions of people across America, including 20,000 in Pittsburgh -- Serbian, Russian and Ukrainian -- who celebrate Orthodox Christmas.</p> <p>Today is the day.</p> <p>Many kicked the celebrations into high gear yesterday -- Christmas Eve -- by streaming into gilded sanctuaries for liturgies, choir music and Byzantine melodies.</p>

Diplomatic Missteps The State Department works for the American Left in Macedonia. It is a beautiful country to be sure, but the small Balkan nation of Macedonia has some big problems. As it works to satisfy cumbersome requirements for integrating into NATO and the EU, Macedonia continues to experience high unemployment and a staggering trade deficit. It has fallen victim to the eastern European criminal network active in trafficking women and children into prostitution. Both its majority and minority political parties are trying to balance national unity with ethnic recognition. It is a ticking time bomb for ethnic violence that...

The first Orthodox Christian church dedicated to Saint Nikolaos, will open in Havana, Cuba on January 25, 2004, 44 years after the Cuban revolution in the presence of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Cuban leader Fidel Castro. The construction of the church, which was founded on January 10, 2002 at a UNESCO property, was entirely funded by the Cuban government. Archimandrite Timotheos from the Metropolis of Panama, who is of Cuban origin, stated that the Mayor of Havana citing Fidel Castro's views had said that Havana in order to be a historic city should have an Orthodox church because Orthodoxy is...

ISTANBUL - The archbishop of Canterbury on Tuesday visited a synagogue bombed in Istanbul last weekend, condemning the act as an attack on "every Muslim, Jew and Christian." Rowan Williams, leader of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, was in Istanbul for a visit with the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians. "This is a heartbreaking sight," he said outside the Neve Shalom synagogue. "In a place where the relationship between Muslims, Jews and Christians is one of cooperation and goodwill, an attack on a synagogue is an attack on every Muslim, Jew and Christian." Williams said brought with him...

<p>MOSCOW — The Russian Orthodox Church has unfrocked a priest for "marrying" two homosexual men, purportedly in return for a $475 bribe to ignore a ban on same-sex "weddings."</p> <p>Denis Gogolyev and Mikhail Morozov, who live in Nizhny Novgorod, 280 miles east of Moscow, took part in a hastily arranged ceremony this week.</p>

Posted on Sat, Aug. 30, 2003 Orthodox Christian bishops oppose same-sex unions By Kevin Eckstrom Religion News Service The nation's Orthodox Christian bishops, voicing "deep concern" over efforts to sanction gay marriage, said this week that they "cannot and will not bless same-sex unions." The bishops, representing more than 5 million Christians in the nine major Orthodox churches in North America, said "marriage is necessarily monogamous and heterosexual." "Today, however, this divine purpose is increasingly questioned, challenged or denied, even within some faith communities, as social and political pressures work to normalize, legalize and even sanctify same-sex unions," the bishops...

Turkey's European Drive Give Hope To Orthodox By BRIAN MURPHY Published on 7/11/2003 Athens, Greece — At a site of Orthodox Christian study for more than 1,000 years, desks are kept dusted and ancient manuscripts carefully preserved. There is everything except students. The Halki Theological School — on an island off Istanbul — was closed in 1971 by Turkish authorities in a huge blow to the spiritual heart of Orthodoxy. Without the seminary, the Orthodox are denied a center for theological study and clerical training in what was the ancient Byzantine capital. Some fear this could one day leave them...

Indian Christians create new home in America By ERNIE GARCIA THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: November 9, 2002) YONKERS — With just 45 enrolled members, St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Palisade Avenue strives for a family feeling. For Yesupatham Jeremiah, the parish literally is his family. "All my brothers and sisters, and my wife's brothers and sister, came here, so we have about eight families," said Jeremiah, president of the vestry at St. Paul's, a predominantly Indian-American congregation. Throughout Yonkers, as well as Westchester and Rockland counties, Indian Christians gather to worship each weekend in small congregations, some so tightly...

FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF SERBIAN RETURN TO THEIR HOMES CELEBRATED IN OSOJANE August 15, 2002Metohija*, a land both holy and 'cursed'. *Metohija (from Gr. metohia - monastery lands) - traditional Serb name for the western part of today's UN adminstered Province of Kosovo, between Pec and Istok in the north and Prizren in the south. Out of 2,000 pre-war inhabitants today there are approximately 250 well-protected returnees, including 55 children, living in Osojane - About 60 people are still living in prefabricated tent-huts covered with nylon tarp By Radmila Loncar "You were most courageous and we know that bravery always bears...