Source: The Australian by JULIAN SWALLOW Is this funding fair? HINDMARSH MP Steve Georganas has defended a $5 million grant to a local Greek Orthodox church affected by aircraft noise. Mr Georganas said the grant to the St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Thebarton to install soundproofing, which was announced in last night’s Federal Budget, was not “pork barrelling” ahead of the upcoming federal election. “`This was a program put in place … by the former Howard government in 2000-01, and we’re just continuing the program.” The church is currently in Mr Georganas’ marginal electorate of Hindmarsh, but following a redistribution…
Browsing: Orthodox Church
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: Albuquerque Journal By Andrew Estocin / Albuquerque resident on Mon, Apr 15, 2013 Easter is a distant memory for most New Mexicans. Look down the aisle of your local store and one finds only a clearance bin of damaged Easter bunnies mixed in with threads of plastic green grass. Yellow marshmallow Peeps are an endangered species on the candy aisle. Meanwhile, greeting card companies remind us repeatedly that Mother’s Day, graduation and Cinco de Mayo are just around the corner. However, for New Mexico’s 4,000-plus Orthodox Christians preparations for Easter, more commonly known as Pascha, are in full swing. Traditional foods…
Source: FARS News Agency TEHRAN (FNA)- Palestinian residents organized a sit-in in front of the Red Cross encouraging detainees on hunger strike and in solidarity with the loss of detainee Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh. erusalem figures and families of detainees participated in the demonstration. Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna said that “we are in the heart of Jerusalem expressing solidarity with all our detainees, especially our Hebron people who lost detainee Maysara, the Palestinian Maan news agency reported. “This sit-in is to tell them that we don’t forget them and we reject Israeli brutality against detainees.” Thousands of mourners on Thursday attended…
Source: France 24 (AFP) Cyprus’s wealthy Orthodox Church stands to lose more than 100 million euros in the bailout deal reached with international creditors early Monday, its leader Archbishop Chrysostomos said. “The capital owned by the Church, which was over 100 million euros, has been lost,” the archbishop told reporters. “There will be many difficulties, some will lose their jobs, the hungry will be multiplied and the Church has to take care of people,” he added. The church has substantial shareholdings on the island, including in the banks at the centre of the drastic financial sector cuts imposed by the…
By Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse Source: Catholic Online Pope Francis is faithful to moral tradition and also appears to be courageous (these days there is no faithfulness without courage). He understands the moral crisis in Christendom and appears to be as committed to the restoration of the Christian foundations of culture as his predecessors were. This portends a good future for Orthodox-Catholic relations and will hopefully make more Orthodox aware of the grave crisis facing us. NAPLES, FL. (Catholic Online) – Several weeks ago I spent a weekend with Catholic and Orthodox scholars in a colloquium titled “Liberty, Society, and…
Source: CBS News [NICOSIA, CYPRUS] The head of Cyprus’ influential Orthodox church, Archbishop Chrysostomos II, says he will put the church’s assets at the country’s disposal to help pull it out of a financial crisis, after lawmakers rejected a plan to seize up to 10 percent of people’s bank deposits to secure an international bailout. Speaking after meeting President Nicos Anastasiades Wednesday, Chrysostomos said the church was willing to mortgage its assets to invest in government bonds. The church has considerable wealth, including property, stakes in a bank and a brewery. Tuesday’s rejection of the deposit tax has left the…
Source: The Sofia Globe Bulgarian Orthodox Church Patriarch Neofit is to lead a “prayer for the reconciliation of the Bulgarian people” on March 10 in response to the current turbulent social, political and economic situation facing the country, the Holy Synod said. Neofit was elected Patriarch on February 24, taking office amid a series of nationwide protests and political upheaval as Bulgaria heads for early national parliamentary elections on May 12. Of Bulgaria’s population of 7.3 million, according to the February 2011 census, 76 per cent declared themselves to be Orthodox Christians. The Holy Synod said that all “Orthodox Christians…
Source: Virtueonline The Time Is Now by Fr. Victor E. Novak Special to Virtueonline ONE HOLY CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH For the first millennium of Christianity there was only one Church. Denominationalism as we know it today did not exist. The Church was one. No matter where a Christian lived, whether in Jerusalem, Antioch, Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, Gaul, Britain, Ireland, Russia, Africa, or anywhere else, everyone belonged to the same Church and believed the same thing. The Church was known as the “Catholic” Church, and we find that word in use to describe the Church as early as AD…
Source: RIA Novosti MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) – More than 82,000 Moscow residents bathed in icy cold water to mark the Epiphany early Saturday, as air temperature in the Russian capital stood at minus 13 degrees Celsius (+ 8.6 Fahrenheit), a spokesman for the Emergency Ministry’s Moscow branch said Saturday. Epiphany, also known as Theophany, is one of the Great Feasts, marking the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist in the Jordan River and the beginning of his ministry. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the holiday on January 19, in line with the Julian calendar. Honoring an…
Source: MYSTAGOGY By Professor Ioannes Fountoulis On January 6th our Church celebrates the great despotic feast of “Theophany” or “Epiphany” or “Holy Lights”. The forefeast begins the day after New Years, January 2nd. In this preparatory period is found the “Sunday Before the Lights”. This fits into the functional forefeast preparation. In the Gospel reading from the Divine Liturgy on this Sunday we hear: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” from the prologue of the Gospel of Mark, who narrates the appearance of John the Forerunner in the Jordan desert, preaching and prophesying about…
Source: Orthodox Church in America WASHINGTON, DC [OCA] On Friday, January 25, 2013—the eve of the enthronement of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon at Saint Nicholas Cathedral here—Orthodox Christians from across the country will gather in the US capital for the annual March for Life. The members of the Orthodox Church in America’s Holy Synod of Bishops will join Metropolitan Tikhon, students from Saint Tikhon’s Seminary, South Canaan, PA and Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, Crestwood, NY, and clergy and faithful from the region and beyond for the march. According to Archpriest John Kowalczyk, a pro-life activist and co-founder of the Orthodox presence…