News

Celebrating the New Year in a War Zone

Except for going to church services all the population of Sierra Leone was instructed to stay home during the Christmas and New Year holidays. We are currently under a semi – lockdown mode for the Festive Season. No restaurants, no sporting events, no public celebrations, no wedding receptions, no street celebrations, all shops must close on weekdays by 6.00 PM, by noon of Saturdays and no trading on Sundays . Even church services were restricted – they were to be held during the day and only up to 5.00 PM. New Year Church Service was forbidden. Indeed the army and patrol volunteers are still out in force to ensure these decrees. Violators face the full weight of the law. Add to that list of prohibition, school, college or university attendance.

Huge turnout as pope urges Filipinos to reject corruption

Pope Francis called Friday for authorities to reject the corruption that has plagued this Asian nation for decades and urged them to instead work to end its "scandalous" poverty as he brought his message of social justice to Filipinos who cheered him wildly at every turn.

Syrian Religious Leaders Denounce Violence

 Minister of Religious Endowments “Awqaf” Mohammad Abdul-Sattar al-Sayyed stressed that whoever legitimizes the killing, terrorism and massacres has nothing to do with the heavenly messages, morals or human values.

Resurrection of Orthodoxy in South Sudan

With the grace of God, the prayer and blessing of His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Saturday 10 January 2015, saw the laying of the foundation stone By His Eminence Narkissos Metropolitan of Nubia, of the first Missionary Centre in South Sudan, the most newly established state of the world, a highly suffering country which has been plagued by civil war for more than 30 years, with very few periods of ceasefire.

Greek Orthodox expanding the faith in UAE

Greek Orthodox Christians are building a church in Mussaffah to accommodate the hundreds of worshippers living in the capital.

In addition to the 700 Abu Dhabi families registered with the church, Father Stephanos Neaimeh believed there were 300 to 400 more unregistered families in the emirate.

“The Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church isn’t very big,” said the Lebanon native. “It fits about 300 worshippers, sitting and standing. Sunday and Friday masses are usually full and we have 700 families, so we don’t have much space. We sometimes use the salon upstairs with a screen and we place chairs outside too. During Easter and Christmas we never have space.”

In Sri Lanka, Pope calls for truth over violent past

Pope Francis called on Sri Lanka to uncover the truth of what happened during its bloody civil war as part of a healing process between religious communities, as he arrived in Colombo a few days after the island's wartime leaders were voted out.