News

Patriarch Kirill on four years as Patriarch: a lot has been done, a lot remains to do

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia served a liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on the fourth anniversary of his enthronement as patriarch.

“These four years were full of so many events that would be enough for forty years and even more,” the Patriarch said after the liturgy.

A lot was done by the entire church during his tenure as Patriarch.

“We are not summing up the results and we are not making any joyful reports on what we have done. We realize with humility that a lot has not been done yet. But we thank the Lord for these four years, for the joys and sorrows, but above all for the mercy that our Lord, the head of our Church, has given all of us,” Patriarch Kirill said.

The famous Orthodox monastery in Turkey will be converted into a mosque?

Greek church news agency “Amen” reported from Istanbul, which is located where the famous in the history of Orthodoxy Studion monastery goes from the Ministry of Culture of Turkey’s General Directorate of subordination Awqaf (religious property) and will be transformed from a branch of the museum “Hagia Sophia” in the existing mosque.

Studion monastery, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was founded in Constantinople in the middle of V century Patrick studio. The monastery played a prominent role in the history of Byzantine culture and spirituality. In the second half of the VII – VIII centuries of the first half of the monastery became a stronghold and center ikonopochitateley against heretics iconoclasts.

Parallels and Reminders: Beside Serbian Holy sites and cemeteries in Kosovo Albanian extremists desecrated the old Jewish cemetery in 2011

Parallels and reminders

Editorial comment as a memorial prayer at the desecrated tombstone of Jelica Stevanovic, the mother of Fr. Atanasije of Decani Monastery.

Looking at the scenes of vandalism at the Orthodox cemeteries from Prilužje to Prizren, including those which are deeply overgrown with weeds and covered with garbage and rubbish, any normal person would ask the question – What kind of society this is and in which direction it is going when such vandalisms are becoming a part of everyday life. It is true that a number of old Serbian churches and cemeteries have survived until our own days in Kosovo, indicating that old Albanians and Ottomans, regardless of their known lack of affinity to Christians, were not systematically destroying their shrines and desecrating their graves. According to the codes of the Albanian society from those times desecration of graves was considered a cowardice because the dead could not defend themselves. After all, even for those who did not believe the Koran which teaches that the harassment of the deceased is a sin, a superstitios fear of desecrating cemeteries is a powerful deterrent.

Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation visiting Australia

Dear friends in Australia and New Zealand, we are very happy to have a chance to see you again this year! We are coming to Melbourne and Sydney this weekend. Many of you joined our team last year and helped us to improve lives of refugees in Serbia. This year we will present results that we have jointly achieved in 2012. We invite you to join us at several events that will be organized during our stay in Australia and support our continuous efforts to change reality in Serbia.

Christianity ‘Close to Extinction’ in Middle East

The study warns that Christians suffer greater hostility across the world than any other religious group.

And it claims politicians have been “blind” to the extent of violence faced by Christians in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The most common threat to Christians abroad is militant Islam, it says, claiming that oppression in Muslim countries is often ignored because of a fear that criticism will be seen as “racism”.

NSW Community Forum for the Inner West