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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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KIEV/NOVOLUHANSKE, Ukraine (Reuters) - Fighting in eastern Ukraine has escalated to the worst level in months, officials monitoring the conflict said on Tuesday, after the shelling of a frontline village wounded eight civilians and destroyed or damaged dozens of homes.
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“A light to lighten the Gentiles”
Letter of Patriarch Emeritus Gregorios III
For the Christmas Feast 2017
Dear Friends
This is the first letter since my renunciation of patriarchal service. I drafted these basic ideas in early November during a visit to Palermo, capital of Sicily, where, at the Pontifical Theology Faculty for all Sicily’s dioceses, I gave the inaugural address for the academic year 2017-18. I added some other ideas while attending and speaking at a congress on the topic of Christian Persecution Today held at the Schönblick Conference Centre, near Stuttgart (Germany). On both occasions I highlighted the presence and role of Christians in the East and the importance of peace for that.
On 16 November at Istanbul airport, during a long wait to return to Beirut, I started writing the first pages. For me, Istanbul means Constantinople, New Rome, capital of Orthodoxy and capital of the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire - until its fall in 1453
At the time of writing the present, it is almost eighty-five years since I entered this world in my dear home-town of Daraya (today destroyed by war), where Saul-Paul saw the light of the risen Christ. With the sixtieth anniversary of my priestly ordination (1959) already on the horizon, I have served some forty-three years, first as patriarchal vicar in Jerusalem, then as bishop and latterly as patriarch (1974-2017).
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Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate
Ain Traz, Aley, Lebanon
December 2017
Good Wishes for Christmas
and the New Year 2018
Dear Friends
This year’s festive greetings are inspired by my pilgrim visit to the Holy Land in October 2017, after a seventeen-year absence and twenty-six-year service.
You were in my prayers, especially at the Church of the Resurrection and that of the Nativity at Bethlehem and in the other holy places that I visited.
My prayer for you is one of thanks to the Saviour and to you, because you have been my companions along my priestly, episcopal and patriarchal road, through your love, generosity and friendship. Those were fruitful years of service, with projects to the glory of God and for the welfare of my sons and daughters! In reflecting on the course of my priestly, episcopal and patriarchal life (lasting fifty-eight years) I have discovered that projects occurred annually, meaning that there were altogether fifty-eight such!
Thanks to the Saviour and to you for this abundant harvest. God and your love have filled my life with fruitfulness and dedication.
With these feelings, I wish you a Merry Christmas, after my retirement from patriarchal service! Please continue to accompany me with your prayers and love.
I repeat my favourite saying: I love you!
Merry Christmas!
Happy and Holy 2018!
+Gregorios III
Patriarch of Love, Reconciliation and Peace!
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CWN - The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church has created a new diocese to minister to Christians who have fled discrimination and violence in Egypt and now live in northern France.
Another diocese, created in 2015, ministers to the Coptic Orthodox faithful who live in Switzerland and southern France.
Emigration from Egypt to France, where an estimated 100,000 members of the Coptic Orthodox Church now live, began in the 1960s during the rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser and intensified in the years following the Arab Spring (2011).
The Coptic Orthodox Church ceased to be in full communion with the Apostolic See following the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451).
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CWN - The Moscow Patriarchate’s chief ecumenical officer praised a non-sectarian class in religions in Russia’s schools and called for the course’s extension beyond fourth grade.
“If our children do not know religious teachings, they can involuntarily become an easy prey for terrorists,” Metropolitan Hilarion, the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations, said in an interview with Ekaterina Gracheva of the television station Russia-24.
“We must always remember that terrorism cannot be motivated by religion,” he continued, though “there are people who cover their criminal acts with religious rhetoric.”
After stating that Orthodox children should learn about Islam, and Muslim children should learn about Orthodoxy, the prelate criticized the “anti-religious ideology which is always gaining more ground in the West,” where “the revolution of man against God is in substance propagated and encouraged” in “a variety of modes and images.”
First, said Metropolitan Hilarion, comes the rejection of God, or the idea that one can choose or not choose to believe in God; then comes the idea that one can choose one’s gender, rather than accepting one’s God-given sex as male or female.
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risu.org.ua - I would be careful in evaluating the events that took place in our country, and there were a lot of them. Obviously, the pessimists may say that everything was bad, and optimists – that everything was good. The persons related to power will say that the authorities worked brilliantly, and the opposition - that the current government was working absolutely bad. However, the truth is somewhere in the middle. I think that maybe it's too early for us to summarize the results. We may only soon be aware of the meaning and significance of our history and all that happened to us this year.
This was stated by the Patriarch of the UGCC Svyatoslav on the air of the "Open Church" interactive program, as he was speaking about the results of the passing year, and the most important events – the achievements and losses that took place in Ukraine and the Church, reports the Department of Information of the UGCC.
The Head of the Church is convinced that sometimes, in order for a good cause or reform to bring a good fruit, the time is required.
In his opinion, one of the global reforms that Ukrainians need urgently is the fight against corruption. However, the Head of the Church, despite everything, remains a passionate optimizer. For the patriotism of the people of the “gray zone” who survived the occupation, the liberation, and their desire to live in the new Ukrainian state is inspirational.
In the life of the Church, there were also many no less interesting and important events that left a great trace for the faithful.
“Of all the events in the life of the Church, I would mention, first of all, the following three. First of all, this year we witnessed the rise of a very interesting figure. It was the year of the 125th anniversary of the birth of Patriarch Iosyp Slipyy. In general, celebrating the anniversary, we tried to acquaint Ukraine with this person. It was a good opportunity to get to know the invincible prisoner, the witness of Christ, and on the other hand – a great Ukrainian, a great fighter for the dignity of his people. The figure of Iosyp the Blind does not allow us to fold our hands, but to go forward,” the Head of the UGCC noted.
Patriarch Sviatoslav called the 150th anniversary of canonization of the holy martyr Jeosafat Kuntsevych, a martyr for the unity of the Church, the second important event of 2017.
“This year, on June 25, in the Vatican, in the Basilica of St Peter, we received a special privilege from the Pope – to serve on the papal throne, which is located on the grave of St. Peter the Apostle. Such a privilege is rarely given because it is the exclusive right of the Pope to perform the Divine Liturgy on this throne. The Basilica of the Apostle Peter is the largest Christian temple of the world and we have filled it with the faithful to the maximum. This celebration in Rome showed how strong our Church is, how big Ukraine is,” said the prime minister.
And the third event will forever make into in history - May 31, 2017, the day of departure for the eternity of the Primate of our Church, the moral authority of Ukraine – His Beatitude Lubomyr (Husar).
“We really have been suffering a great loss caused by pain by this day. His Beatitude Lubomyr is the kobzar of modern Ukrainian thought, song and spirit, which left us as an inheritance the whole civilization of peace and love, all that we need during the war,” the Head of the UGCC stressed.
As the Head of the UGCC noted, the task of preserving the great heritage of His Beatitude Lubomyr – love and peace – was first caught up by Ukrainian students who created the entire movement “Generation of Lubomyr”.
- Iraq bishop recalls his abduction from Baghdad in new book
- Patriarch Raï: the US move on Jerusalem "slap in the face of the Christians of the East". Islam-Christian summit tomorrow in Bkerkè
- Latin Patriarchate: “Jerusalem is a treasure of all humanity that cannot be reduced to a territorial dispute and political sovereignty”
- Melkite Patriarch Youssef reconsecrates the Holy Table at the Cathedral in Homs, Syria