Christian world

Abbes Maria of Asten, the Netherlands, reposes in the Lord

On June 24, 2016, the highly respected abbess and founder of the Nativity of the Mother of God Convent in Asten, The Netherlands (near Eindhoven) reposed peacefully in the Lord after a long bout with cancer. The funeral service was held on Tuesday, June 28.

Mother Maria was born in The Hague, Netherlands on June 13, 1944. She converted to Orthodox Christianity from the Dutch Reformed Church in 1961, and became a novice in the St. John the Forerunner Convent in The Hague in 1965. After several years in a Serbian Monastery where she was a spiritual child of St. Justin Popovic, Mother Maria entered a monastery in Greece, where she lived for ten years and received the monastic tonsure. After receiving a theological education in Thessaloniki, Mother Maria was invited back to Holland to engender Orthodox monastic life, and in 1986 she returned, soon founded the convent in the southern, rural part of Holland known as the Peel. Seven sisters survive Mother Maria at her convent.

Coptic Christian Priest killed in ‘hail of bullets’ outside Egyptian Church

A Coptic Christian priest has been killed in “a hail of bullets” outside The Church of the Martyr of St George in Sinai, Egypt. While details remain vague at this stage, it’s reported that Raphael Musa was shot dead while returning from prayers outside El-Arish, according to a spokesman.

World’s first illustrated Christian Bible discovered at Ethiopian monastery

The world’s earliest illustrated Christian book has been saved by a British charity which located it at a remote Ethiopian monastery.

The incredible Garima Gospels are named after a monk who arrived in the African country in the fifth century and is said to have copied them out in just one day. Beautifully illustrated, the colours are still vivid and thanks to the Ethiopian Heritage Fund have been conserved.

A new church for Christian refugees from the Nineveh Plain was inaugurated in Ankawa

The new, large church inaugurated on Monday, June 27 by Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I in Ankawa, a Christian-majority suburb of the city of Erbil, where many Christians fled their villages in the Nineveh Plain in front of the offensive of the self-styled Islamic state militias (Daesh) found shelter, is dedicated to Mary Mother of Perpetual Help (as the icon donated by Pope Pius IX to the Redemptorist Fathers exactly 150 years ago, in 1866).

‘Fanatic’ Muslim mob torches 80 Christian homes in Egypt over church rumour

The Muslim mob, which were described as “fanatic” by a terrified witness, began wreaking havoc at a Christian-owned building which was under construction.

The crowd believed it was set to be turned into a Christian church and took umbrage, setting fire to the building and other nearby Christian properties.

Hagia Sophia to Turn to Mosque During Muslim Ramadan

The morning prayer from the Koran was read at Hagia Sophia in Istanbul on the first day of Muslim Ramadan, Monday, June 6, in the presence of Turkey’s general secretary of religious affairs.