[ditty_news_ticker id="27897"] April, 2013 - Orthodox Christian Laity
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Monthly Archives: April, 2013

Source: International Middle East Media Center by Saed Bannoura – IMEMC News Sunday evening April 28, 2013, a group of extremist Israeli settlers burnt a land that belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church in Wadi Hilweh, in Silwan town, in occupied East Jerusalem. The Wadi Hilweh Information Center reported that dozens of extremist Israeli settlers and soldiers gathered in the area, and that the armed settlers went on to burn the church land. On Saturday, three Palestinians, member of the Al-Maghribi family, in Sheikh Jarrah, were injured after the settlers burnt the family’s land near their home, and the fire…

Source: Oinos Consulting by Fr. Frank Marangos, D. Min., Ed. D. “I have learnt through bitter experience the supreme lesson to conserve my anger. As heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so, anger controlled can be transmuted into a power that can move the world.”  – Mahatma Gandhi The deadly percussion of two homemade bombs shook the finish line of the Boston Marathon on our nation’s April 15th celebration of Patriots’ Day.  Fragments retrieved from the anniversary of the first skirmish in America’s war for independence suggest that the malevolent devices were each constructed from a six-litre pressure-cooker packed with gunpowder, a…

Source: Preachers Institute The Paschal fast of Holy Week1 is the most ancient part of the Great Fast.2 It is already well attested by the second century, in conjunction with the rites of Christian initiation through baptism. At first spanning one or two days, the fast lengthened to four and then to a full six already by the third century. With the conversion of Constantine, the ensuing flood of people desiring to enter the Faith and imperial interest in holy places, the fourth century witnessed tremendous development in ritual for Holy Week. This evolutionary process continued in the middle ages and shows…

Source: Albawaba Sunday is the Orthodox Palm Sunday, celebrating when Jesus returned to the city of Jerusalem. The day is known as  Shaa’nineh in Arabic and is one of most important dates in the Orthodox religious calendar. The event enables families to come together celebrate mass, and the day is traditionally a familiar affair and an excuse to cook up a good feast and is well celebrated across the Levant nations of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and beyond. Palm Sunday also starts the Holy Week, the run up to Easter. The Middle East though, long associated with Muslims, has…

Source: Aljazeera The appeal comes after a Christian group retracted its claim that the clerics had been freed. Pope Francis has called for the release of two Syrian bishops kidnapped by gunmen near Aleppo, after a Christian group appeared to retract its claim that the clerics had been freed. Aleppo’s Greek Orthodox Bishop Boulos Yaziji and Syriac Orthodox Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim were kidnapped on Monday by armed men en route from the Turkish border. Speaking to an audience of around 100,000 at the Vatican on Wednesday, Francis said there were “contradictory reports” about the fate of the bishops and asked…

Source: Orthodox Christian Fellowship by Jennifer Nahas, OCF Executive Director OCF, IOCC and the GOA Metropolis of Boston held an open discussion for young adults and college students about the recent events in Boston.  Bishop John and OCF board member and IOCC first responder, Fr Peter Preble led the discussion; they were  joined by Fr. Patrick Tishel, and other local clergy and chaplains. OCF students were at the finish line and along the route at the time of the bombs went off.  Many passed by the exact location of the bombs.  Some saw suffering they had to come to terms…

Source: Russia Today The Organization of Islamic Cooperation joined in on Saturday calling for the “unconditional” release of two Christian bishops held captive in Syria. This follows similar statements from the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches. Ekmeledin Ihsanoglu, the OIC secretary general, condemned the kidnapping of Aleppo’s Greek Orthodox Bishop, Boulos Yaziji, and the Syrian Orthodox Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim. The two were abducted last Monday by armed men while they were travelling to Aleppo from a town on the Turkish border where they were carrying out “humanitarian work.” The OIC statement urged for their “immediate and unconditional release because such…

Source: The Sacramento Bee By Royal Family of Serbia [BELGRADE, Serbia] His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander together with his family would like to inform the public that the process of exhumation and repatriation of his grandmother Queen Maria’s remains is in the last stage thanks to the gracious permission of Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II, Dean of Windsor, Anglican Church, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia. HM Queen Maria’s remains will be transferred from the Royal Burial Ground in Frogmore, Windsor Castle, to the St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in London on…

Grace, Mercy and Peace from God, and from us our fatherly love and hierarchal blessing. CHRIST IS RISEN! “We believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with him; Christ, as we know, having been raised from the dead, will never die again. Death has no power over him anymore. When he died, he died, once for all, to sin, so His life now is life in God; and in that way, you too must consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6: 8-11). Dearly Beloved: You heard these select…

Source: International Orthodox Christian Charities Baltimore, MD (IOCC) — International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) announced the establishment of the Katherine Valone “St. Photini” Water Program to advance projects that provide safe, healthy and reliable water resources to communities in need in Africa. The $1.5 million gift, the largest single private donation in the history of IOCC, was a bequest from the late Katherine Valone, a retired Chicago schoolteacher with a lifelong desire to provide clean water to the people of Africa. His Eminence, Metropolitan Nikitas and Victoria Anderson, great niece of IOCC benefactor, Katherine Valone, presented the gift to IOCC…

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