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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad greets Pope Benedict XVI on the occasion of his 80th
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Pope Benedict XVI
Your Holiness,
Please accept my cordial greetings on the occasion of your 80th birthday, a prominent day in your life that you celebrate today, which is shining with paschal joy of the Risen Christ.
All Christians know and respect you as a consistent defender of Christian values, a talented theologian, and a wise Primate of the Roman Catholic Church.
Your Holiness’ attitude to many vibrant issues of modern times and your vision of the necessity of ‘coming back to the sources’ – all these naturally moves our Churches’ positions closer together and makes proclamation of Christian values bring forth good and beneficial fruit. St. Paul the Apostle said that our speech and our preaching should be ‘not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.’ (1 Corinthians 2.4).
May our Lord give you strong health and abundant spiritual strength that you need so much in your high ministry.
With love in the Risen Christ,
Kirill
Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad
Chairman
Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate
Source: www.mospat.ru
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RISU.org.ua 13.04.2007, [15:41] // Church-state relations //
Kyiv – The bringing of the Holy Fire from Jerusalem throughout Ukraine has been manipulated politically. So reads the statement of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), released by orthodox.org.ua on 12 April 2007. Both receiving and spreading the blessed fire is the prerogative of the church and priests, reads the statement.
The representatives of the UOC-MP state that “by bringing the blessed fire to Ukraine, the cathedral church of the head of the Kyivan church has become a ‘hostage’ to the manipulative game of politicians with the holy item, and the ancient cathedral of the Kyivan metropolitans has been turned into a theatrical stage for TV broadcast. Its aim is to deceive the Ukrainian people by a virtual church unification by politicians interested in such ‘union.’”
According to the representatives of the UOC-MP, the presence of the head or a representative of the UOC-MP is “inexpedient at the ceremony of meeting the fire at St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv, since Roman and Greek Catholics, who are indifferent to this holy item, participate, as they use every chance not to receive it in Jerusalem. Another reason that makes [our] presence impossible, according to the UOC-MP, is the participation of representatives of the [Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate] UOC-KP.”
“The [UOC-MP] is able to provide their faithful with the blessed fire of Holy Saturday from the hands of the patriarch of Jerusalem, as has been done for many years,” reads the text of the statement.
RISU note: In recent weeks, civil authorities have been bringing the fire originally brought from Jerusalem to various cities throughout Ukraine and they have been greeted by various religious and civic representatives.
Source and previous related RISU news:
• http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;15063/
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RISU.org.ua 13.04.2007, [15:44] // UGCC //
Kyiv – On 11 April 2007 at the Kyiv residence of Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar), head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), the first general meeting of the Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC with the participation of Patriarch Lubomyr and hierarchs of the UGCC was conducted. The key task of the meeting was to outline ways to establish more efficient cooperation within the curia.
“For the last 200 years the church’s center was located in [western Ukrainian] Lviv,” noted Patriarch Lubomyr. “This was an important time for strengthening our church. But, thank God, the situation has changed and we have had the chance to return to Kyiv, where we used to be earlier. Not all crucial church structures were transferred to Kyiv and there was no need to bring them here. It is necessary to give good thought to what we need to have in Kyiv and what should be left in Lviv.”
Source: http://www.ugcc.org.ua/ukr/press-releases/article;5032/
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The Italian publishing house, Rizzoli, entrusted by the Vatican Publishing House with the sale of the rights of the book throughout the world, today released a press communique stating that "'Jesus of Nazareth' is the first part of a two-volume work examining Jesus' public life from His Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration."
"On the one hand," the communique continues, "this is a pastoral narrative ... offering an introduction to the principles of Christianity. ... On the other, the text is an essay that maintains the strict academic discipline that distinguish the writings and talks of the theologian Joseph Ratzinger.
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After reiterating his best wishes for Easter to the faithful, Benedict XVI spoke of Jesus' various appearances following His resurrection. "Also for us," he said, "they represent an invitation to enter more deeply into the Easter message ... and to follow the spiritual itinerary of the people who met Christ and recognized Him in those first days."
The Pope then recalled how St. John and St. Peter, after Mary had given them the news of the resurrection, had run to the tomb each trying to arrive there first, and he highlighted how for the Fathers of the Church this race towards the empty tomb represented "the one form of legitimate competition between believers: zeal in the search for Christ." Referring to Mary Magdalene, the Holy Father pointed out how she recognized Jesus "when He called her by her name."
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Before the Marian prayer, the Pope mentioned "the unspeakable joy" of Mary Magdalene and the women to whom Jesus appeared on the morning of His resurrection, and he recalled how, "full of enthusiasm, they ran to tell the disciples.
"To us too today," the Pope added, "just as to those women who remained next to Jesus during the Passion, the Risen One tells us not to be afraid to become messengers announcing His resurrection. Those who encounter the Risen Jesus and meekly entrust themselves to Him have nothing to fear. This is the message that Christians are called to spread to the ends of the earth. Christian faith arises not from the acceptance of a doctrine but from the meeting with a Person, with Christ Who died and rose again.
"In our daily lives, there are many occasions in which to communicate this faith of ours to others in a simple and confident way. And it is more than ever vital for the men and women of our time to know and meet Jesus and, thanks also to our own example, to let themselves be conquered by Him."
The Pope concluded by calling upon the Virgin Mary to sustain "faith in the resurrection in each one of us, and to make us messengers of the hope and love of the Risen Christ."
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