Georgian parliament to consider bill on insulting religious sensibilities, Georgian Church supports it
27. April 2018 - 14:08
The Georgian parliament will soon consider a bill that would introduce criminal penalties for insulting religious sensibilities. A representative of the Georgian Orthodox Church has stated that the patriarchate supports the bill. “I … am ready to join these discussions,” said parliamentary Chairperson Irakli Kobakhidze. “The committee will make a definite decision, after which this question will be examined in a plenary format,” Kobakhidze told reporters, according to RIA-Novosti. The parliamentary Committee for the protection of human rights decided to establish an ad hoc working group to study and amend the bill in detail.
6th-century St. Andrew the First-Called mosaic stolen in 1970s returns to Cyprus
27. April 2018 - 13:36
A rare sacred treasure has found its way back to the Orthodox island nation of Cyprus after four decades. A mosaic of Apostle St. Andrew the First-Called, dated to the 6th century, was stolen from a looted church in Cyprus’ breakaway north in the 1970s, but now has been returned, bringing spiritual joy to the Cypriot faithful. His Eminence Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus, who made the announcement about the icon, stated that the artistry that went into the icon and its rarity make it a symbol of Cyprus’ “stolen heritage,” reports the Romanian Orthodox Church’s Basilica News Agency.
Another 1,000 children baptized by Patriarch Ilia of Georgia
26. April 2018 - 13:07
The Georgian people have again expressed their great love of and trust in His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia, bringing more than 1,000 children to be baptized and become the primate’s Godchildren in a mass ceremony.
Conservation and Rescue Interventions in the Church of St. Athanasius
25. April 2018 - 10:47
The monastery church of St. Athanasius in Leshnica, Saranda, is the only one that has survived from the entire monastery complex. It holds special worship, historical and cultural values and it belongs to the Orthodox spiritual heritage. During last spring, a major part of the building structure collapsed causing serious problems. Because of the fact that this church is a "cultural monument under state protection", every kind of maintenance or intervention work from the local Orthodox community is prohibited. Its abandonment and the lack of urgent interventions in solving the roof problems, or consolidating its foundations, has brought severe damage to the building especially after landslides and earthquakes.
The completion of the restoration project at the Holy Monastery of St. John the Baptist by the River Jordan
21. April 2018 - 22:46
On Tuesday April 4/17, 2018, there was a ceremony at the Holy Monastery of St. John the Baptist, by the West Bank of the River Jordan, on the occasion of the completion of the restoration project, after the damage the Monastery suffered during the six-day war in 1967.
The restoration project of the Church and its adjacent rooms was undertaken with the architectural advice and work of the Architect of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Mr. Theodosios Mitropoulos, the supervision of the Master of Ceremonies Archimandrite Bartholomew and the funding of the Hegoumen of the Monastery of Sarantarion Mount, Fr. Gerasimos. Today the project was concluded with the installation of water and electricity supply with the permission and co-operation of the Israeli Army of Civilian Administration.
