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 Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishop of Paris expressed gratitude to Pope Francis for the special collection for Ukraine which, at the Pope’s behest, was taken up in Europe’s parishes on April 24.
“Ukraine is a country that is being destroyed, which the Pope wants to save,” Bishop Borys Gudziak said in an interview. “This is not only a humanitarian effort to help the suffering. It is also an effort to increase moral awareness in Europe, because if there isn’t a moral reaction Putin will not be forced to stop military action, so it’s an action of peace as well.”
According to the Holy See Press Office, over 500,000 Ukrainians are “urgently in need of food,” and over 1.5 million people have fled their homes because of the conflict there.
References:
- Details
CWN - A leading official of the Russian Orthodox Church offered criticisms of the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church, which will take place in Crete in June.
The comments made by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, are significant because the Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the 15 autocephalous churches within Eastern Orthodoxy.
Metropolitan Hilarion made clear that the synod is not an ecumenical council and criticized its draft documents.
“We would have liked to improve their wording,” he told a conference at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University in Moscow on April 19. “Believe me, we have exerted a lot of efforts to make the documents better than they were, but many our amendments have not been adopted.”
Turning to synodal procedure, Metropolitan Hilarion said:
We have proposed from the very beginning of preparation to convene all bishops … However, we were told that it was impossible to bring so many bishops together and let it be the fixed number from each church … It means that certain churches will be represented by all their bishops, but our church, which has over 350 bishops, will be represented by a small quantity.
References:
- Details
CWN - The head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church said that the region’s prelates have not forgotten the two Orthodox bishops who were kidnapped in Syria in April 2013.
“Every time we hold a joint prayer meeting we talk about them, we think of them,” Patriarch Gregory III Laham told AsiaNews.
“We need a universal alliance for peace, not US, Arabic or Russian,” he continued, as he called for an end to the Syrian conflict. “Instead, there are those who attack, who want chaos, to feed the money markets, the arms markets, to feed personal interests ... Someone is making a lot of money out of this war!”
- Details
CWN - At the conclusion of his April 20 general audience, Pope Francis issued an appeal for the people of Ukraine, who suffer from an “armed conflict forgotten by many.”
Recalling his invitation to the Church in Europe to take up a special collection on April 24 to address the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict, the Pope said that he wanted to thank those who will contribute generously to the initiative.
References:
- Details
CWN - Pope Francis made a brief apostolic journey to the Greek island of Lesbos on April 16 and called upon the international community not to be indifferent to what he described as “the greatest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War.”
Located only a few miles from the Turkish coast, Lesbos, also known as Lesvos, has increasingly become a place to which Middle and Near East migrants and refugees have fled.
Among European nations, Greek has borne the brunt of the migration crisis. 853,650 of the one million migrants and refugees who entered Europe in 2015 did so by entering Greece, which has fewer than 11 million people. An additional 153,156 migrants and refugees arrived in Greece by sea between January 1 and April 11, according to the International Organization for Migration.
In his first remarks on the trip, the thirteenth apostolic journey outside Italy of his pontificate, Pope Francis told reporters on the plane to Lesbos that “it is a sorrowful journey.”
“We are going to experience the greatest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War,” he said. “We are going to-- and we will see-- so many people who are suffering, who do not know where to go, who had to flee. We will also go to a cemetery: the sea, where many people have drowned.”
After arriving at the airport in Mytilene, the Pope met privately with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras before traveling by bus to the Mòria refugee camp with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens.
After visiting with refugees, each of the three spoke.
“It is with unique joy that we welcome today to Lesvos the Head of the Roman-Catholic Church, Pope Francis,” said Archbishop Ieronymos. “We consider his presence in the territory of the Church of Greece to be pivotal. Pivotal because together we bring forward before the whole world, Christian and beyond, the current tragedy of the refugee crisis.”
Pope Francis told the refugees:
This is the message I want to leave with you today: do not lose hope! The greatest gift we can offer one another is love: a merciful look, a readiness to listen and understand, a word of encouragement, a prayer … We Christians love to tell the story of the Good Samaritan, a foreigner who saw a man in need and immediately stopped to help. For us, it is a story about God’s mercy which is meant for everyone, for God is the All-Merciful.
The three prelates signed a joint declaration in which they stated that “world opinion cannot ignore the colossal humanitarian crisis created by the spread of violence and armed conflict, the persecution and displacement of religious and ethnic minorities, and the uprooting of families from their homes, in violation of their human dignity and their fundamental human rights and freedoms.”
Calling for temporary asylum for refugees, the three continued:
While acknowledging the efforts already being made to provide help and care to refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, we call upon all political leaders to employ every means to ensure that individuals and communities, including Christians, remain in their homelands and enjoy the fundamental right to live in peace and security … For as long as the need exists, we urge all countries to extend temporary asylum, to offer refugee status to those who are eligible, to expand their relief efforts and to work with all men and women of good will for a prompt end to the conflicts in course.
Europe today faces one of its most serious humanitarian crises since the end of the Second World War. To meet this grave challenge, we appeal to all followers of Christ to be mindful of the Lord’s words, on which we will one day be judged: “For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me… Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt. 25:35-36, 40).
Later in the afternoon, Pope Francis addressed the residents of Lesbos and members of the Catholic community there.
“I wish to express my admiration for the Greek people who, despite their own great difficulties, have kept open their hearts and their doors,” he said. “Many ordinary men and women have made available the little they have and shared it with those who have lost everything. God will repay this generosity, and that of other surrounding nations who from the beginning have welcomed with great openness the large numbers of people forced to migrate.”
After each of the three prelates prayed for refugees, Pope Francis met privately with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Ieronymos and held a second private meeting with the prime minister before departing for Rome.
Joining the Pope on the flight were three Syrian Muslim refugee families that will be cared for by the Vatican. The Sant’Egidio Community will provide the initial care for the six adults and six children.
References:
- Details
Members of the Eparchial Youth Committee coordinated a youth ministry training seminar April 9-10, 2016 at St. Basil’s Ukrainian Catholic Mission in Charlotte, North Carolina (USA).
Parma, Ohio - Five Eparchial Youth Committee (EYC) members: Fr. Lubomyr Zhybak, head of the committee and pastor of Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church in Youngstown, OH and St. Anne’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Austintown, OH; Fr. Joseph Matlak, Assistant Pastor at St. Josaphat Cathedral in Parma, OH; Subdeacon Joseph Zappernick of St. Andrew’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Parma, OH; Michael Levy and Joseph Levy of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Pittsburgh, PA were welcomed by Deacon Matthew Hanes, Deacon Kevin Bezner and the parishioners of the community (the pastor of the mission, Very Rev. Mark Shuey was not present due to health reasons).
The training began on Saturday with an overview of the EYC mission that was followed by a detailed explanation of the annual youth events organized by the committee, namely the Lock-In Retreat, the Acolyte and Youth Convention and the Fall Youth Retreat. The presenters shared their knowledge and experience in planning youth activities with those present. A Question and Answer session followed the presentations.
The EYC representatives joined the English speaking community in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy on Saturday evening. The Liturgy was presided over by Fr. Joseph Matlak (who also delivered a homily) and concelebrated by Fr. Lubomyr Zhybak. Deacon Matthew Hanes and Deacon Kevin Bezner assisted at the altar. Subdeacon Joseph Zappernick, Joseph Levy and Candidio Labra (a young adult from the parish) served during the Liturgy while Michael Levy provided the responses. At the conclusion of the Liturgy, Fr. Lubomyr addressed the parishioners and summarized the topics that were covered during the youth training seminar. Afterwards, members of the EYC and the parishioners gathered for fellowship in the adjacent room.
On Sunday, the EYC members participated in the Divine Liturgy, celebrated for the Ukrainian speaking community. Fr. Lubomyr Zhybak presided over the Eucharistic celebration, during which he delivered a homily. Fr. Lubomyr also had an opportunity to speak to the parishioners and encouraged participation in parish and eparchial youth activities.
The parishioners of St. Basil the Great Mission were very grateful for the visit and were excited to work with the EYC in future youth projects.
Department of Information of the UGCC