Source: International Orthodox Christian Charities Abeer, a 31-year-old Palestinian-Jordanian, volunteers with IOCC in Jordan, supporting some of our programs there for people with impairments and disabilities. She’s now volunteered with IOCC for six years. Abeer’s story reflects her determination and resilience. She was diagnosed at age 12 with macular edema, a disease that causes blurred vision, and visual disabilities run in her family. But Abeer worked hard in school and, with support from her parents and her school principal (who printed books for her in larger font so she could read more easily), she graduated from high school with distinction. She…
Browsing: Middle East
Source: Public Orthodoxy Michael G. Azar Associate Professor of Theology/Religious Studies at the University of Scranton In his fight against those in Gaza whom he called “human animals,” the Israeli defense minister on October 8 vowed to act “accordingly” by cutting off fuel, food, water, and electricity to the impoverished strip of land. With this explicit policy of collective punishment (which has gotten even more collective and punishing in the last month), residential neighborhoods and marketplaces became immediate targets. Israel’s military dropped 6,000 bombs in the first six days of the war with “damage, not accuracy” as its goal. In those first few days, the neighborhood…
Source: Orthodox Christianity BUDAPEST – Patriarch John X of Antioch and the heads of several other Christian churches in the Middle East met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orband in Budapest on Wednesday, October 30 to discuss the ongoing persecution and ways to protect the suffering Christian communities in the Middle East. The meeting, which was organized by Prime Minster Orban, was also attended by Patriarch Mar Ignatius Ephraim II of the Syriac church, Melkite Patriarch Youssef I AbsI of Antioch and All the East, Alexandria and Jerusalem, and Syro-Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and all…
Source: The Atlantic by EMMA GREEN PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEXANDRA ROSE HOWLAND AND ELAINE CROMIE See the extensive photos here An ancient faith is disappearing from the lands in which it first took root. At stake is not just a religious community, but the fate of pluralism in the region. The call came in 2014, shortly after Easter. Four years earlier, Catrin Almako’s family had applied for special visas to the United States. Catrin’s husband, Evan, had cut hair for the U.S. military during the early years of its occupation of Iraq. Now a staffer from the International Organization for Migration…
Source: Orthodox Christianity Jerusalem, May 9, 2019 His Holiness Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem has expressed gratitude to His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al-Hussein on behalf of himself, the members of the Holy Synod, the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, and the clergy and members of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem for his continuing care for the holy sites of Jerusalem, including his recent personal donation towards the restoration of the Holy Sepulchre, reports the Jordan News Agency. The donation comes two years after the completion of the restoration of the edicule over the Lord’s Tomb, which was also carried…
Source: Orthodox Synaxis The recent letter of Patriarch Bartholomew to Archbishop Anastasios of Albania is a remarkably revealing document, not only for its candid expression of the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s ecclesiology, but also for the insight it gives into the patriarchate’s internal discourse and the historical touchstones of its self-understanding. It is striking that most of the examples and quotations that the letter cites to illustrate the “Throne of Constantine[‘s …] universally recognized hallowed and dread responsibilities that transcend borders” date from the Ottoman period, to a degree that one might be tempted to suggest that the “Throne of Mehmet” might be…
via Public Orthodoxy Michael G. Azar Amid the growth of Islamist persecution in the last few years, a variety of think tanks and politicians have sought to bring the plight of Christians in the Middle East to the forefront of American politics. Amid such fervor, Israeli leaders have also claimed their role in the defense of Christians. Prime Minister Netanyahu recently told a Jerusalem gathering of over 180 Christian media representatives that Israel is the protector of the Christian people and “the only place in the Middle East” where Christians have “the freedom to worship as they please.” Together, he explained,…
Source: Aleteia John Burger Fr. Fadi Iskander becomes priest in Erbil, home to many Christians who fled persecution in northern Iraq A man whose priest-father was killed by terrorists a dozen years ago was ordained a priest by the same bishop who ordained his father. Fadi Iskander became a priest of the Syriac Orthodox Church on Sunday in Ankawa, a suburb of Erbil, inhabited mostly by Christians, according to Fides news agency. Fr. Iskander is the son of Fr. Boulos Iskander Behnam, a Syriac Orthodox priest killed in 2006 in Mosul. He became a priest in 1989, by the hands of Bishop Gregorios…
Source: CBC Tattoos have long been how Christians mark their spiritual journey to Holy City Derek Stoffel · CBC News A mother and her daughter from rural Indiana walked through the narrow alleyways of Jerusalem’s fabled Old City recently, gazing up at the wooden crosses and rosaries hanging from shop stalls. What to take home? They decided ultimately on another way to mark their pilgrimage to the Holy City: tattoos. A day later, Karen Andrews and her daughter Jamie both had blue Ichthys fish — the Christian symbol linked to Jesus — stencilled on their wrists. “All my life I thought about tattoos, and I thought…
Source: Fordham University Though Syriac Christianity is one of the oldest Christian cultures, many people in the West are unaware of its existence and unfamiliar with its traditions. If we recognize, however, that some of Syriac Christianity’s most important ancient centers—Nineveh, Babylon, and Beroea—are today’s Mosul, Baghdad, and Aleppo, we get a better understanding of how it is imperiled by today’s violent conflicts. Now, some of the most beautiful and sophisticated Syriac manuscripts of the ancient world are at risk of being lost forever, said one of the world’s leading experts on Syriac texts. Columba Stewart, O.S.B., professor of theology…
Source: Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University Monday, February 6, 2017 6 p.m., Lincoln Center Campus South Lounge Lowenstein Building Plaza Level 113 West 60th Street, New YorkLecture by Columba Stewart, O.S.B., professor of theology and executive director of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library at St. John’s University, Collegeville, MinnesotaIntroduction by Gerald Blaszczak, S.J. Register Now Syriac Christians have a manuscript heritage that is among the richest in the Christian world. But they are also one of the most vulnerable minorities in the Middle East. This lecture will cover the significance of Syriac Christianity as a counterpoint to…
Source: MercatorNet A Syrian Catholic patriarch describes the campaign to drive Christians from their homelands Ignatius Youssef III Younan The Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church of Antioch, Ignatius Joseph III Younan, recently addressed the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic group, at its annual conference. Here is a slightly abridged text of his passionate speech about Christianity in the Middle East. ***** I would like first of all to apologize if I become too emotional. Because I’m not talking about theories based on socio-political and religious-historical analysis of the tense relations between Islam and Christianity. My intention is to raise…