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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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Good wishes for a happy feast!
Eid ul-Adha
12 September 2016 AD/ 10 Dhul Hijjah 1437 AH
In the Middle East, it is a thing of beauty to see feasts of faith becoming feasts for the children of faith. Indeed, our Muslim and Christian feasts are common feasts: this was and always will be so in our Eastern countries.
Thus blessed Eid ul-Adha unites us through the story of Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son. That is why Abraham is called our father in faith, as he is one “with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself.1” The story is a lesson for us all, since God, having called upon Abraham to sacrifice his son, then required him to spare his life, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad.” (Genesis 22: 12 cf. Surah As-Saffat 37: 105) This divine revelation in Scripture was a lesson aimed at abolishing child sacrifice as an expression of faith in God. This passage calls on us all rather to form a united front to defend life, which is a divine gift to mankind. That is why Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10: 10) God says, “I desired mercy and not sacrifice.” (Hosea 6: 6) As in the venerable Qur’an, God is “merciful and compassionate.”
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risu.org.ua - Former Presidents of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk and Victor Yushchenko were negotiating with the Ecumenical Patriarch on Ukrainian church issue, and the possible granting of autocephaly.
Recently, Ukrainian media have reported that the first and third presidents of Ukraine visited Constantinople and met with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to discuss religious issues.
The press service of BBC Ukraine confirmed information about Leonid Kravchuk’s visit but refused to disclose its details.
This is not the first visit of the former presidents to Patriarch Bartholomew to address the church issue. For the first time the two presidents’churchmission was reported in August 2015 by the Greek religious news agency Romfea, which highlights the life of the churches subordinated to the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Then the ex-presidents and the Patriarch Bartholomew talked throughout two hours“about the political situation and ecclesiastical crisis in Ukraine.”
In 2015, Leonid Kravchuk and Viktor Yushchenko told the Patriarch that they see "the role of the Mother Church in addressing the ecclesial schism in Ukraine.”
In late August 2016, yet another similar mission of Yushchenko andKravchuk was carried out.
“The visit took place indded, I confirm this," said Leonid Kravchuk’ assistant Oksana Sibirtseva to BBC Ukraine.
However, she noted that Leonid Kravchuk cannot give any comments on the trip, being on vacation. She stressed it was a private visit
A spokesman for the UOC-KP Bishop Yevstratii (Zorya) in an interview with BBC Ukraine called "correct" the strategy of negotiation participants not to disclose details of the talks, “not to play up to Russia and not give it too much information.”
He assured that he is familiar with the specific details of the visit of Yushchenkoand Kravchuk.
“I know that the president handed over to the Patriarch five thousand signatures of Ukrainian intelligentsia application for granting autocephalous status to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine,” said Archbishop Yevstratii.
He recalled that the president traveled to Turkey a year ago, but this time the circumstances have changed through the formal appeal of the Verkhovna Rada regarding autocephaly.
"This is done in order that Ecumenical Patriarch saw that this initiative does not come from the President or the Council but from all groups of the population,” the hierarch.
Religious expert and member of the parliamentary committee on culture and spirituality Victor Yelenskyy stresses that the Church in Ukraine is separated from the state, and therefore it is logical that these visits are private.
"It is normal when public figures without official status get involved. But they have significant social and political weight,” said the expert. However, henotes that one should not expect prompt solution fromPatrairch Bartholomew because he fears the split with Moscow.
“Ecumenical Patriarch in difficult situations, he cannot quickly make a decision on Ukraine. He fears a split in the Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church demarche,” said the expert.
Victor Yelenskyy reminds that in 1996 the Church in Estonia received autocephalous status through restoration of Constantinople’sTomos of 1926.
It followed by the breakup in the relations between Moscow and Constantinople for two years.
Subsequently a compromise was reachedso that in Estonia two canonical Orthodox Churches coexist - the one subordinate to Constantinople and another one to Moscow, and the parishes may choose where they belong.
In recent years the issue of autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was one of the most important in the political life of the country.
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CWN - Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, has sent a message in Pope Francis’s name to a conference on Orthodox spirituality and martyrdom that is taking place in Bose, Italy.
The Pontiff hopes that “the reflections on martyrdom as a precious Gospel legacy which brings together all the Churches may dispose us to consider the privileged path of the ecumenism of blood,” Cardinal Parolin wrote.
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(5 September 2016)
My brotherly greeting is addressed first of all to His Beatitude Sviatoslav, father and head of the illustrious Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and worthy successor to the Servant of God, Andrey Sheptytsky, heroic Cardinal Yosyf Slipyj, Cardinal Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky (who in Rome gave me the cross of his twenty-fifth anniversary of priestly ordination, and was hailed as patriarch in the Cathedral of Lviv on his triumphant return to the Ukraine) and of His most Eminent Beatitude my dear friend, venerable Cardinal Lubomyr Huzar, who accompanies you in constant prayer and courageous bearing of illness.
To your Holy Synod I bring greetings from your Melkite Greek Catholic sister-Church in Damascus, spiritual home of the Holy Apostle Paul, and from Syria, cradle of Christianity, in the name of our Holy Synod and faithful dwelling in the Patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem, the countries of the Middle East (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries), and (as is the case with you) the diaspora on every continent.
For the last five and a half years our country, Syria, has been walking the way of the cross. All our Syrian citizens are experiencing this: Churches, patriarchs, hierarchs, priests, monks, nuns and lay-persons of all denominations are supporting one another and bearing this heavy cross together.
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Patriarch Gregorios III addresses the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Synod in Ukraine
Lviv, Ukraine, 4 September 2016
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Patriarchal Synod opened today with a celebration of the Divine Liturgy at the historic St. George's Sobor in Lviv. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, father and head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was the main celebrant. Forty bishops of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from Ukraine, Western and Central Europe, North and South America and Australia were joined by His Beatitude Gregory III, the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem. The week-long Synod has as its main theme "Diakonia - service to others," particularly significant in a time of war and humanitarian crisis.
Patriarch Gregorios III brought fraternal greetings and emphasised that relations with the UGCC are most important for his Melkite Greek Catholic Church and for other Christian Churches besieged by war in the Middle East. Discussions with the Patriarch centred around the topic of armed conflict and its devastating effect in Syria and Ukraine. Addressing the synodal fathers Patriarch Gregory emphasised that the UGCC is the largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches and that closer cooperation between Greek Catholics in the Middle East and Eastern Europe should take the form of regular episcopal encounters. He also proposed the creation of a joint formation programme for future priests conducted in the Holy Land, the creation of joint theological and canonical commissions, and other initiatives.
The leaders of the two Churches expressed heartfelt solidarity with each other's suffering flocks and pledged to foster closer relations. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, on behalf of the bishops, thanked Patriarch Gregorios for his kind words of fraternity and solidarity. This was Patriarch Gregorios's third visit to Ukraine. His charismatic words and energetic manner have endeared him to the people of Ukraine.
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CWN - The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople has strongly denied allegations in the Turkish press that Patriarch Bartholomew I, who holds a primacy of honor in Eastern Orthodoxy, was involved in the July coup attempt against President Tayyip Erdogan.
The Ecumenical Patriarch left Turkey for Slovenia hours before the coup attempt, prompting rumors that he had been received prior warning.
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