News
Byzcath.org News provides news focusing on the Christian East from varous sources and offers links to other sites dedicated to providing the news about the Church.
Churches and organizations that provide news about the Eastern Churches are invited to submit their news stories to us for publication here (use the contact page for submission)..
Materials from the Vatican Information Service, Zenit, CWNews.com and other sources are published here with permission of their owners but may not be republished further without the permission of their original publishers. Please visit these sites to obtain additional general news about the Church. In addition to these sources EWTN News also provides a good general news summary.
Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
- Details
CWN - The spokesman for Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s confederation of relief and development agencies, described the situation in east Aleppo as “post-apocalyptic” and “beyond human imagination.”
Patrick Nicholson told Vatican Radio that 1.8 million people in the Syrian city lack water and that the situation is particularly bleak in east Aleppo, which until recently was controlled by rebel forces.
References:
- Details
ugcc.org.ua - Your presence demonstrates that resurrection of catholic education isn’t a case of Church merely. It’s a festivity and joy of the Universal Church entirely. His Holiness Pope Francis, who during this war has called UGCC “his favourite daughter” many times, rejoices together with us. And you affirm it always through your servicing.
Head and Father of UGCC His Beatitude Sviatoslav said, addressing to Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, Apostolic nuncio to Ukraine after the Divine Liturgy at Dominican Church in Lviv, January 28. The Liturgy was celebrated on occasion of 25th anniversary of establishing the first Greek catholic school in Ukraine – Sheptytsky Gymnasium.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav expressed his gratitude for “Pope Francis’s support of people who suffer in Ukraine”. “You, being his messenger, reach even those places, which our bishops cannot reach, so to fulfil their pastoral service. Parishes of Lugansk and Donetsk which we are obliged to care for, have finally been reached with a hand of Church owing to your visits”, His Beatitude Sviatoslav said.
Further on Head of Church thanking Apostolic nuncio, added: “We bring a testimony of son’s love and devotedness to His Holiness Pope Francis, a unity sealed by blood of our martyrs and confessors of our Church in XX century. Believe me, neither political affairs nor geopolitical game of the unity would ever be able to break it. So may God bless you in your mission, sending His Holy Spirit upon you”.
UGCC Department for Information
- Details
CWN - Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary has granted funds to the nation’s Russian Orthodox diocese to complete the reconstruction of the cathedral in Budapest, which was badly damaged in World War II.
The Hungarian government has also granted funds for the construction of a new Russian Orthodox church in Hévíz, a small town known for its spas.
References:
- Details
CWN - Some 600,000 Romanians took to the streets to protest a law that would have weakened penalties for corruption. Following seven days of protests, the government repealed the measure.
Amid the protests, the patriarchate of the Romanian Orthodox Church stated that “the fight against corruption must go on, and the offenders must be prosecuted, because theft and fraud morally and materially debase society.”
The nation of 21.6 million is 82% Orthodox, 6% Protestant, and 4% Catholic.
References:
- Details
CWN - Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Raphael Louis Sako has said that there is no need for either foreign troops or sectarian militia groups to protect Christians in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains region, recently liberated from the grasp of the Islamic State.
The Iraqi prelate, who has argued against Western involvement in the region, said that an international presence might be temporarily helpful, in encouraging Christians to return to their homes. But he argued that “foreign bullying” could become a danger if troops remained in place, and that militia groups identifying themselves as Christian would deepen sectarian problems.
References:
- Details
ugcc.org.ua - Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church His Beatitude Sviatoslav will attend the reburial of the remains of auxiliary bishop of Mukachevo Ivan (Marhitych) , that will be held on February 4, 2017 in the temple of the Holy Virgin in the Borzhavska village Vynohradiv district Zakarpattya region.
According to the Internet edition "Tribune," Bishop Ivan is buried in St. Mary's Church, which was built on his initiative and his efforts. Until his body rested in an underground room of the temple, but there was a problem with excessive humidity. So renovated the temple in the sanctuary have arranged a special sarcophagus, which find their final rest the remains of the bishop, and he will have convenient access to the believers.
Bishop Ivan (Marhitych) was born February 4, 1921 in the Borzhavska village (Vynohradiv district). In rural schools he took part of the "Plast", and later - Youth UNO.
Already as a student of the Uzhhorod seminary he was arrested by the Hungarian authorities with other young people on Zakarpattya desire to connect to an independent Ukraine. He was released through the efforts of Bishop of Mukachevo Ivan (Stoika).
In 1946 he graduated the seminary and were served in the Vynohradiv and Rakhiv. In 1951 he was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison and 5 years of defeat in the civil law. However, the future Bishop was released after Stalin's death. He returned to his native village, where he worked on the farm illegally and served.
He was ordained a bishop on September 10, 1987. From 1991 he was called St. Pope John Paul II auxiliary Bishop of Mukachevo. Bishop Ivan (Marhitych) advocated the unity of Mukachevo Greek Catholic diocese with UGCC and participated in the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC.
Bishop Ivan (Marhitych) died during the dedication of the throne of the church in the Pylypets village on September 7, 2003. During his sacrificial labor and proximity to the native people he got from the people called “national bishop”.
Department of Information UGCC