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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWN - Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill has sent a message of encouragement to the Orthodox prelates who have gathered in Crete for the Pan-Orthodox Council that opens on Sunday.
Although the Russian Orthodox Church has indicated that it will not participate in the meeting, Patriarch Kirill wrote that the disputes among Orthodox churches must not be allowed to “bring division and trouble into our ranks.” He urged respect for the decisions of all Church leaders, whether or not they had opted to join in this week’s council.
The Russian Patriarch said that the meeting in Crete “can become an important step toward overcoming the present differences.” It could, he said, aid in “the preparation of that Holy and Great Council which will unite all the local autocephalous churches without exception.” Thus he reiterated the stand of the Moscow Patriarchate that because some Orthodox churches will be absent, the meeting in Crete should be seen as a prelude to the Pan-Orthodox Council, rather than—as it was intended—the council itself.
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CWN - Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako of Baghdad has denounced militia groups that have attacked refugees fleeing from the Islamic State.
The Iraqi prelate said that although the paramilitary groups carry crosses and other Christian symbols, they cannot be considered representatives of Christianity. On the contrary, he said, their action "foments clashes related to religion, spirals of revenge, and more suffering."
The Chaldean Patriarch has often cautioned Christians against joining militia groups, noting that their leaders have mixed political motives and their attempt to identify with the Church makes life more dangerous for the faithful in Iraq.
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CWN - Addressing participants in the assembly of the Reunion of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches (ROACO), Pope Francis compared restoration work on the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem to the situation of the Eastern Catholic churches.
“Our work must unfailingly be guided by the certainty that, beneath material and moral incrustations, and the tears and bloodshed caused by war, violence and persecution, beneath this apparently impenetrable cover there is a radiant face like that of the angel in the mosaic,” he said on June 16. “All of you, with your projects and your activities, are part of a ‘restoration’ that will enable the face of the Church to reflect visibly the light of Christ the Word Incarnate.”
The Pope also called for greater “communion in witness” between the Latin-rite and Eastern Catholics in India:
It is a sign of hope that, following the indications set out by my Predecessors, progress can be made in respect for the proper rights of each, without a spirit of division, but rather fostering communion in witness to the one Savior, Jesus Christ. That communion, in all those parts of the world where Latin and Eastern Catholics live side by side, needs the spiritual riches of East and West as a source from which coming generations of priests, men and women religious, and pastoral workers can draw.
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CWN - The patriarchs of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Syriac Catholic Church have issued a joint statement on the second anniversary of the fall of Mosul, Iraq, to the Islamic State, and the flight of tens of thousands of Christians to the Kurdistan region.
The Syriac Orthodox Church is an Oriental Orthodox church that ceased to be in full communion with the Holy See following the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451; the Syriac Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See.
“Two years after the calamity that was brought upon our people, the decision-making countries and the international community remain silent and inactive towards the ethnic cleansing of a historical people who founded the civilizations of the area,” the patriarchs said in their statement.
“We welcome the decision of certain countries to recognize these terrorist acts as a genocide against Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities,” they added. “However, we strongly denounce the absence of serious actions from the part of the international community and the Iraqi government to step up the liberation of Mosul and the villages of the Nineveh Plain from the terrorist groups.”
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CWN - Armenia’s Catholics are eagerly awaiting the Pope’s apostolic journey later this month.
“We live in a climate of great expectation, especially among ordinary people,” Archbishop Raphaël Minassian told AsiaNews. “Even in the remotest villages people would like to participate in the event. Some people will walk more than an hour to reach the nearest bus stop, to get to the city to attend the papal Mass.”
Armenian Catholics are grateful to the Pope for “speaking so boldly before the world about the Armenian genocide of 1915,” and for paying tribute to Armenia as the “first Christian nation in history that bore witness to its faith for centuries in martyrdom,” the prelate added.
St. John Paul II visited the nation, which is 6% Catholic, in 2001. 93% of Armenians are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, an Oriental Orthodox church that ceased to be in full communion with the Holy See following the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451. Si vous et votre partenaire avez décidé que les rapports sexuels sont une partie importante de votre relation, vous pouvez achat Kamagra Oral Jelly sans ordonnance en ligne . Lisez Discutez avec votre partenaire de la manière de lutter ensemble contre la dysfonction érectile.
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CWN - Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has arrived in Crete to prepare for the June 19 opening of the Pan-Orthodox Council, and issued a plea for other Orthodox churches to participate in the meeting.
Prospects for the success of the meeting improved somewhat when the Serbian Orthodox Church, which had expressed misgivings about proceeding with the council, announced its intention to join in the meeting. However, the Russian, Georgian, and Bulgarian Orthodox churches have said that they will not participate, as has the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch.
Despite these defections-- and despite a plea from the Moscow Patriarchate for postponement of the event-- the Ecumenical Patriarchate has insisted that the Pan-Orthodox Council will proceed on schedule. The rules of the meeting had included a provision that all decisions by the council must be accepted by all the Orthodox churches. Nevertheless the Ecumenical Patriarchate has taken the stand that decisions of the council will be binding on all Orthodox bodies, whether or not they participate.
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