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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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The Patriarchate’s relief work
His Beatitude Patriarch Gregorios III Laham heads the Relief Committee assisted by his General Auxiliary, Bishop Joseph Absi and General Steward Father Maher Mansour. The committee is composed of a warehouse manager, treasurer, accountant and buyers together with a number of young people available on request besides other volunteers.
The Patriarchate seeks to meet the need of Syrians currently displaced by the violence prevailing in many parts of Syria. Many have fled to Damascus in search of security and assistance. The number of families receiving assistance is now about four thousand. This number is expected to continue increasing for the foreseeable future.
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Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III has launched an initiative entitled, Light a Candle for Hope and Peace in Syria.
He has appealed to all the faithful of the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate and all believers throughout the world, including social institutions and humanitarian associations, to light each evening a candle in their homes and offices, and say a prayer for the peace of Syria and the region.
Pray for the peace of Syria.
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CWN - Egyptian Muslim leaders have reacted strongly against online threats to the Coptic Christian community as Christmas approached, the Fides news service reports.
Islamic militants have posted messages encouraging attacks on Christian churches, particularly in regions where their influence is strongest. The online messages have also vowed reprisals against any Muslims who help Christians to celebrate the Christmas season.
In response Amna Nosseir, dean of the faculty of Islamic Studies at the prestigious Al Azhar University, has issued his own statement condemning the threats, saying that they betray the true nature of Islam. He urged Muslims to join with Christians in protecting churches from attacks.
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CWN - A leading Russian Orthodox official told reporters that Christians in the Middle East are undergoing what is “effectively genocide” and that “only Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church are speaking about this tragedy out loud.”
“The so-called Arab Spring, which has lasted for several years, has led to the violation of principal interreligious and interethnic balances that have been taking shape in the Middle East for many centuries,” said Metropolitan Hilarion, the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate.
“Today radical and extremist forces have been rearing their heads and, cloaking themselves with religious slogans, commit hideous crimes: they kill people, cut off their heads, defile holy sites, destroy churches,” he added, according to an Interfax report.
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From Gregorios III, servant of Jesus Christ,
by the grace of God, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem,
to our brother bishops, members of our Holy Synod,
and all our children in Christ Jesus, clergy and people, called to be saints with
“all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours;
grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
(1 Corinthians 1: 2-3)
“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.” (Luke 2: 29)
The Incarnation as Meeting
“For mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” (Luke 2: 30-32)
Thus exclaims the righteous Elder Simeon, when he takes in his arms the Lord of the universe at the close of the celebrations relating to the Nativity of Christ. Sometimes called the Presentation of the Lord, in the Greek tradition this feast is known as the Hypapante, meaning the Meeting of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Temple: it is primarily the meeting of God and man.
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CWN - The Daily Mail has published a photographic overview of life in an Iraqi refugee camp.
The camp’s Christian inhabitants fled the advance of the Islamic State, and the overview includes several pictures that pay tribute to the refugees’ prayer and devotion.
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