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Last Updated: 17 February 2015

CWN - Melkite Catholics in Rome have organized a photo exhibit to draw attention to the plight of Syria’s embattled Christians.

The exhibit, on display near the Melkite basilica of St. Mary in Cosmedin, includes before-and-after photos from Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, and other sites in Syria. The collection of photos show the devastation of the country, with a special focus on the destruction of artworks and archeological sites.

Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, the Melkite vicar for Jerusalem, told an audience at the opening of the exhibit that Syria was “once a bridge between the West and the Arab world, a place of cohabitation for religions, turned from paradise to a real hell.”

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Last Updated: 17 February 2015

CWN - A Syrian archbishop reports that his people feel “forgotten, neglected, and betrayed by the West.”

Archbishop Boutros Marayati, who leads the Armenian Catholic community in Aleppo, said that the Christians remaining in the Syrian city are living with shortages of water, heat, electricity, fuel, and medical care. Two-thirds of the city’s Armenian Catholics have fled, seeking security elsewhere, the archbishop told an audience in Rome during a visit there, and those who remain are pessimistic about the future.

Archbishop Marayati said that some hope remains for Aleppo, because of appeals for aid and because of the strong cooperation among the city’s remaining residents. He reported that “everything that is done is done between the Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants, and with moderate Muslims. Everything that happens now - at least as concerns the part that is still there - is cooperation, a collaboration, ecumenical and interfaith solidarity.''

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Last Updated: 17 February 2015

CWN - The bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church have called upon the international community to “liberate the occupied territories” of Iraq from the Islamic State.

Meeting in Baghdad, the Synod of the Chaldean Church urged the governments of Iraq and Kurdistan to provide support for refugee families. They urged international leaders to roll back the gains of the Islamic State and to “put in place the necessary measures to protect Christians and other Iraqis, so they all return to their homes and live in safety and with dignity.”

The bishops also attempted to ease a dispute that has broken out regarding the Chaldean eparchy of St. Peter, in California, regarding some priests and religious who are serving there after having left Iraq without formal permission from their superiors. The Synod urged the Chaldean community in California to “stick to the basics of their faith, to remain faithful to their Chaldean Church and to give priority to wisdom and love.”

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Last Updated: 17 February 2015

(30 November 2014 - 2 February 2016)
in Damascus

On 29 November 2014, Patriarch Gregorios III of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, opened the Year of Consecrated Life in Damascus with a prayer service shared by all the capital’s Catholic Churches and religious communities, in the presence of the city’s  clergy, monks and nuns. The patriarch delivered a talk on this occasion.

For the Feast of the Meeting of Our Lord God and Saviour in the Temple, called Hypapante in Churches of the Byzantine Greek tradition, on Monday 2 February 2015, His Beatitude presided at a Divine Liturgy in the parish church of St. Cyril in the Qasaa’ district of Damascus. 

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Last Updated: 17 February 2015

by Patriarch Gregorios III

This beautifully illustrated small book is an English translation of reflections on liturgical renewal by Patriarch Gregorios III, primate of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and new liturgical texts for prayers for various feast-days of the liturgical year.

Copies of the book, priced $15.00 USD, can be purchased on line from Eastern Christian Publications. (See link below.)

https://secure.webvalence.com/ecommerce/kiosk.lasso?merchant=ecpubs&kiosk=books&set=new

“We are delighted to welcome the appearance of this English language booklet containing a number of important texts documenting the work of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission over the last half-century in reforming and animating the liturgy.

Appearing for the first time in English are two Patriarchal Decrees: our edict dated 15 February, 2005, finalising the process of these liturgical reforms after the publication of the liturgical books, and one issued in 1991 by my predecessor of blessed memory, Maximos V, validating the work of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission and encouraging unity around the proposed liturgical reforms.

There follows our essay on the Renewal of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, describing the pioneering work of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission, together with an English language text of antiphons composed by the commission, suitable for use in our Melkite Church.”

Patriarch Gregorios III

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Last Updated: 06 February 2015

CWN - As pro-Russian separatists battle Ukrainian troops for the control of eastern Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church called upon the faithful “to become guardian angels who day and night pray for the Ukrainian army.”

“Let us pray for those affected and left without home, for the wounded and those in captivity, who die of hunger and cold,” said Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk. “I urge all our Church to relentless prayer for Ukraine.”