Source: The Christian Science Monitor Russia may lack much of a political opposition. But our reporter found evidence of community-level democracy, as citizens push back against land grabs by the Russian Orthodox Church. By Fred Weir Correspondent [MOSCOW] On a recent Sunday in Torfyanka Park, in a densely populated suburb near the northern edge of Moscow, a familiar ritual of confrontation is taking place. The sun shines in this small patch of greenery with a circular pond at its heart. Dozens of people have gathered at a fenced compound that houses a 24-hour guard station and a large wooden cross,…
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Source: The Washington Post By Ruth Eglash Beside a nondescript stretch of highway linking Bethlehem to Jerusalem, there’s a large shiny rock and a cluster of olive trees. This place, called Kathisma or “seat” in Greek, is said to be where the Virgin Mary rested and drank from a well, not long before giving birth in a stable to Jesus. The only clue to that history is the ruins of a Byzantine church, with a vibrant mosaic floor peeking through mud and smashed beer bottles. And while the ruins themselves remain in the hands of the Greek Orthodox Church, all the…
Source: HAARETZ One activist who called for ouster of Theophilos III of Jerusalem was barred from a town in northern Israel ahead of patriarch’s visit by Jack Khoury In an unusual step, the police prohibited a member of Israel’s Greek Orthodox community from entering a town in Israel’s north last week, ahead of the Sunday’s visit to the town by the church’s patriarch, after the man called for the leader’s ouster. Police issued a restraining order against Ghassan Munair last Thursday, barring him from the town of Kafr Reineh in the Galilee for one week over “suspicions of endangering public…