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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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agensir.it - As part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, tomorrow, Thursday 18th January, in the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Sarajevo, the cardinal of Sarajevo Vinko Puljic will officiate an ecumenical prayer in the presence of the Orthodox Metropolitan of the Bosnian capital, Hrizostom (the highest rank in the Orthodox Church of Bosnia Herzegovina, which is under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church). The Orthodox leader will give the sermon. The prayer will also be attended by the Orthodox priests of Sarajevo. Catholics will reciprocate the visit on January 25th in the Orthodox Cathedral of the “Most Holy Mother of God”, where a prayer for peace will be held and the sermon will be given by cardinal Puljic. The meeting will be followed by a moment of fraternal communion between the Catholic and Orthodox delegations. On January 20th, the usual ecumenical concert will be played by the Christians of Sarajevo in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. They will include: the “Concordia” choir of the Orthodox Cathedral, the “Josip Stadler” choir of the Catholic Cathedral, and Evangelical and Baptist delegates. According to the latest census (2013), Sarajevo has a population of 275,524, 222,457 of whom are Bosnians (Muslim), 13,604 Croatians (Catholic), and 10,422 Serbians (Orthodox). There are also three small Protestant communities: Evangelical Church, Christian Baptist Church, and Advent Christian Church.
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New tensions between Ukrainian and pro-Russian nationalists, among the faithful of the Kiev Autonomous Patriarchate and Orthodox of obedience to the Moscow Patriarchate. The spark: the refusal of an Orthodox church in Moscow to officiate the funeral of a child who died in an accident, because he was baptized "a heretic" in the Church of Kiev. Monks of the two Churches blocked at the Kiev caves. Mutual violence towards sacred buildings.
Moscow (AsiaNews) - Another cause of conflict between Churches has exploded in Ukraine, that is to say among the supporters of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church with a national character, and those who believe that Orthodoxy is the Russia’s only instrument to affirm its influence on the Ukrainian population. Outbreaks of this new dispute have erupted in the capital Kiev, in Odessa and in the area beyond the Dnieper.
Some seemingly independent episodes, occurring in different parts of the country, are considered the metastasis of a single problem, which dates back to the attempts of the Moscow Patriarchate to act as a mediator in the political strife between Ukraine and Russia.
On January 11 the Ukrainian security services searched the headquarters of the "Orthodox Union of Radomir". Firearms and weapons were found together with anti-Ukrainian propaganda materials. The prosecutor has not only investigated the members of the association, but also some representatives of the eparchy of Beyond Dnepr (Zaporozhe) of the Ukrainian Church of Muscovite obedience, on charges of violent actions to foment religious hatred. The military established special security measures to safeguard the churches in the area dependent on the Kiev Patriarchate, objects of the attacks.
Child denied funeral because "heretical"
The spark that has ignited the conflict took place in the early days of 2018, when a priest of the Moscow church refused to celebrate the funeral of a child who died tragically in an accident, due to his "heretical" baptism in the church in Kiev. The pro-Russian metropolitan of Zaporozhe, Luka (Kovalenko) defended the priest giving rise to grievances and threats began. Some activists, with a flashmob, filled the church with a mountain of toys; on January 7 some of them were brutally beaten by members of the "Radomir".
These events triggered an escalation of mutual accusations, threats and violence on both sides and in several Ukrainian cities. On the night of January 10 the church of the Holy Protection in Chernomorsk in the Odessa region was ransacked and desecrated, and similar acts of hooliganism were directed on January 12 against the church of Our Lady of Kazan, at the Academy of Medicine in Kiev .
Moscow Churches, "Kgb offices"
On January 9 Ukrainian nationalists covered several Russian churches with offensive stickers, describing churches as "masked KGB offices". Some young people from the Ukrainian "Common League" broke into a liturgical celebration in the Trinity Cathedral of the city of Dnepr, posting the video on the internet. In the meantime, the " toys protest " spread, placing blood marked toys and garlands in churches and squares spread. The most resounding demonstration took place at the walls of the Lavra of the Kiev Caves (see photo), the "mother of monasticism" of ancient Rus', where since January 8 various nationalist groups have tried to prevent access to the sacred convent, in which there are monks of both jurisdictions, to the cry "get the KGB out of the Caves!". The superior of the Lavra, Metropolitan Pavel (Lebed), came out to try to pacify the demonstrators, obtaining however the opposite effect: in the heat of the discussion, the metropolitan began to cry out that "the Crimea was never Ukrainian" , further igniting the minds of the nationalists, and also provoking the grievances of the Ukrainian government.
The "war of the bleeding child" threatens to erase all trace of the successes in the mediation between the parties obtained by the Moscow Patriarchate, which on January 4 through its Ukrainian representative, Metropolitan Onufrij of Kiev, had obtained the agreement for an exchange of 10 prisoners Russians and Ukrainians in the eastern territories, extending the agreements already reached in December, when hundreds of hostages had been exchanged. The agreement was signed last December 25 in Moscow, between Patriarch Kirill himself and some Ukrainian political leaders. The Russian Patriarch had emphatically stated that "it is here that there is our flock, our people. No one is as afflicted as the Orthodox Church, when a brother raises his hand against his brother! " Without renewing the accusations against the Ukrainian rulers, Kirill recalled the decisive role of the Church in the pacification of the parties in conflict.
The Ukrainian nationalists were only waiting for the opportunity to prove the falsity of the good intentions of the Patriarch of Moscow, and the intolerance of the Dnieper priests gave them an excellent motivation. The road towards peace between the two Churches in Ukraine is still long, despite the many letters and initiatives of the two patriarchs Kirill and Filaret.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-two-Churches-in-Ukraine-and-the-bleeding-child-42871.html
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EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian security officials say gunmen have shot dead a Christian man in the turbulent north of the Sinai Peninsula, the latest attack to target members of the country's Christian minority.
The officials said three masked gunmen carried out the attack and identified the victim as 35-year-old Bassem Attallah.
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churchinneed.org - GUNMEN attacked worshippers leaving a Coptic Orthodox church on the southern outskirts of Cairo on Dec. 29, 2017. Subsequently claimed by ISIS, the assault—which took place some 10 minutes after the conclusion of Mass at St. Mina Church—killed nine people. One of the victims was a young mother of 32, Nermeen Sadiq. Her 13-year-old daughter Nesma Wael was at her side when she was shot. Nesma gave the following account of her mother’s death:
“After Mass ended, I left the church with my cousin and my mother. My mom wore a cross around her neck, and all three of us were not wearing veils. In poorer neighborhoods, Muslim women often wear veils so they are distinguished from Christian women.
“As we turned into a side street, we saw someone on a motorcycle heading toward the church. The next thing we knew, the man crashed his bike after hitting a pothole. My mother ran up to him to help, reassuring him, as she said: “In the name of the Jesus Christ, are you okay?” He got up quickly and in a blink of an eye he opened fire on us with an automatic weapon he pulled out from under his vest.
“As soon as my cousin and I saw the weapon, we hid behind mom, who shouted at us to run away; the terrorist first shot her in the arm, while she was trying to protect us; as we ran away, she fell down and could not escape with us. The distance between us and the terrorist when he first took out his machine gun was no more than a few feet. My cousin and I ran into a small supermarket, where the sales girl hid us behind a refrigerator; from our hiding spot, we watched the attacker looking for us. When he couldn’t find us he turned to mom again and fired more shots at her.
“All this happened in few minutes. After the gunman left, we ran to my mother, who was laying face down in the street, drenched in blood. Many people had gathered, but they all refused to touch my mom, to turn her over, even though she was still alive. I kept screaming for someone to help me, but no one did. I called my father, but he did not pick up; I reached my uncle, who came right away.
“An ambulance pulled up, but the emergency workers refused to move mama into the ambulance until they got permission from the security officials who our out in the streets, hunting for the terrorist, as well as another shooter who had attacked people in front of the church.
“A gun battle erupted, and people fled. My cousin, my uncle and I stayed with my mother. She looked at me, saying: “Do not be afraid, I’m with you. Obey your father and take care of your sister.
“My mother remained laying in the street for about an hour. After the shooting stopped, I went back to the church to fetch my younger sister Karen, who is eight. I took her home and told my father what had happened. I remembered my mom had told me to take care of my sister—at that moment my heart told me she would go to heaven, but my mind could not believe yet that she was dead. I told my father that my mother had not died yet.
“When I returned to the church to pick up my sister—who had remained in church because the service for children had not finished yet—I saw three people I knew laying in pools of blood in front of the church; I knew they had been killed.
“My dad later told me that by the time mom was taken into the ambulance she had died. In the end, the ambulance workers did not go to the hospital, but to the police station to file a police report; then she was taken to the morgue. I believe she died because she was left bleeding for an hour—I blame not only the terrorist but also the emergency workers and the police officer, because they neglected her.
“Today, I do not walk the streets alone anymore. My father always goes with me anywhere. Despite the pain inside my heart—I miss my mother desperately—I am happy because she is a martyr and I don’t feel afraid of the terrorists anymore. I was with her at the time of the attack and did not even get injured: it was God’s will to specifically choose her to go to the heaven.
“I do not want to leave my country, but I certainly want to find a better chance to live and study, especially since our financial situation isn’t good. When you don’t know what to do with your children, when they get tired of reading books and walking along the street, the only way out for you to relax from your children is to put your boys and girls on the website to play y8 online games on your computer or any gadget. My dad, Wael Nadi, who is 35, works as a driver, but he has no regular work; my mother provided the main source of income for our family; she was a nurse at Cairo Kidney Center for kidneys. I hope to become a doctor of nephrology; that was my mom’s dream for me.
“This is my message to all the persecuted people around the world: ‘Do not be afraid! Our lives are in God’s hands God and we have to adhere to our faith.’”
Nesma’s family, along with other poor families whose breadwinners were killed that day, is waiting for financial compensation from the government. Almost three weeks after the attack, nothing has happened yet.
—Engy Magdy
https://www.churchinneed.org/cairo-blood-flows-coptic-church/
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Asmara (Agenzia Fides) - "In Eritrea, the regime has begun to persecute religious confessions and, in particular, the Catholic Church. The objective is clear: to try to prevent its influence on society: not by prohibiting worship, but social activities". This is the alarm launched by Mussie Zerai, a priest of the eparchy of Asmara, for years a chaplain of the Eritreans in Europe and active in saving migrants in danger in the Mediterranean. «Since 1995 - explains the religious to Fides - there has been a law in force in the country according to which the State wants to carry out all social activities. Therefore, the latter cannot be carried out by private or even by religious institutions. So far, the law has been applied in a bland manner and has not seriously affected the network of services offered by Christians and Muslims. In the last few months, however, there has been an acceleration».
Public officials have decreed the closure of five Catholic clinics in various cities. The minor seminary (which served both the diocese and the religious congregations) was closed in Asmara. Also several schools of the Orthodox Church and Muslim organizations had to close their doors. The closure of an Islamic institute, at the end of last October unleashed the harsh protests of the students.
"Beyond the economic damage to individual religious confessions - continues abba Mussie – those who pay a high price is the population who no longer has serious and efficient structures to turn to. In Xorona, for example, they closed the only dispensary in operation that was run by Catholics. In Dekemhare and Mendefera, the authorities have banned the activity of Catholic medical centres by stating that they were a duplication of state ones. In reality, public facilities do not work: they do not have medicines, they cannot operate because they do not have suitable equipment and often not even electricity".
But what is the reaction of the population? "To rebel is not easy", explains the priest. "The Muslim uprising was stopped with weapons. And there were many dead and wounded. Last month, seven thousand young call-ups joined and, together, called for a meeting with President Isayas Afeworki to denounce the harassment of their officers. The president received them and listened to them. At the end of the talks the boys were taken to a concentration camp near Nakfa and, as a punishment, were left outdoors, under the scorching sun, with very little food and water. Many fell ill. After the parents’ protests, the regime said that it will send them to the barracks to finish the naja. But under what conditions?". (EC) (Agenzia Fides, 12/01/2018)
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custodia.org - After welcoming Orthodox Church leaders for greetings on the occasion of the Catholic Christmas celebrations in December, the Franciscan friars of the Custody visited the Orthodox Church communities for Christmas according to the Julian calendar. On the morning of January 9. the sound of the Kawas’ sticks were heard several times to announce the arrival of the Franciscan delegation. The honorary guards of the Custody, in fact, precede the friars’ procession every time they go somewhere for an official visit.
As is customary, in addition to the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Patton, and the Vicar of the Custody, Fr. Dobromir Jasztal, there were other friars, including several seminarians from St. Savior international Seminary. For all of them, every year, exchanging greetings with their brothers in the Orthodox churches is a unique experience of sharing that unites them as Christians, despite their many differences.
The visit to the Greek Orthodox in the early hours of the morning was accompanied by a cordial and fraternal atmosphere. The Custos of the Holy Land expressed his feelings of gratitude for the mutual cooperation that allows them to work together in the most important shrines, such as the Holy Sepulcher and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Fr. Patton also spoke about the event that during the first days of January, involved the Greek Patriarch Theophilus III, who was harshly protested by a group of Greek-Orthodox Palestinian Christians, during his entrance into Bethlehem for the Christmas celebrations. “I want to express my closeness and solidarity to His Beatitude, Patriarch Theophilus,” said Br. Patton. “We reject, condemn and cannot accept any kind of violence against his person.” Patriarch Theophilus III thanked [them] for the solidarity shown to him and he spoke about other positive opportunities for the two communities to come together in the course of the year.
With the friars of the Coptic Church, the Franciscan friars shared a beautiful moment by exchanging their well wishes and listening to stories from Egypt, of which the Coptic Church is the official church. Mons. Anba Antonius, the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, spoke about the persecutions of Christians in Egypt, thanks to the translation by Br. Ibrahim Faltas, the head of the Terra Santa Schools. The Patriarch also spoke about the meaning of Christmas and the new year that just began, hoping that it will be “a year of good and peace for humanity.” The Vicar of the Custody, Fr. Dobromir Jasztal, brought the wishes of the Franciscans and also those of the Custos, who could not be present at the gathering: “These visits are not part of the protocol, but the result of the desire to share what we believe together.”
During the visit to the Syriac community, the Custodial Vicar recalled the tensions in the Middle East and expressed his closeness to the large community of Syriacs who are still suffering today in Syria. This was echoed by the Syrian Patriarch, Mons. Swerios Malki Mourad, who said he was happy to be able to share the joy of Christmas with the Franciscans. He also expressed solidarity with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch for the protests, because he claimed to have been in a similar situation in the past: “We must pray for the faithful to listen to the heads of the Churches.” With the representatives of the Ethiopian Church, the Franciscans exchanged Christmas greetings immediately after leaving the Syriacs. Fr. Dobromir reiterated that what drives these visits is the desire to share the joy of Christmas. In his speech, Mons. Aba Embakob, of the Orthodox Ethiopian Patriarchate, highlighted the beauty of Jesus’ humble birth and thanked the Franciscan friars for their visit.
Coffee, liqueurs and chocolates followed each meeting, in the spirit of sharing that unites the friars in faith for this celebration.
Beatrice Guarrera