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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWN - At the conclusion of Divine Mercy Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis prayed the Regina Caeli and announced a special collection in all European parishes on April 24 to assist those in need in Ukraine.
“I am thinking of the ordeal of those who suffer the consequences of the violence in Ukraine: of those who continue to live in lands that are turned upside down by hostilities that have caused thousands of deaths, and of those-- over a million-- who have been forced to leave due to the grave situation that persists,” he said.
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CWN - The Russian Orthodox Church has confirmed plans for an international summit meeting on the persecution of Christians, to be held in Moscow in October.
The meeting, to be held October 28 to 30, will be co-hosted by the Patriarchate of Moscow and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Organizers hope to bring thousands of delegates, from over 100 countries, to discuss "the mass persecution, unprecedented in modern history, comparable to the persecution of Christians in the early centuries and mass repression by atheistic authorities in the 20th century."
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CWN - The former chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth has protested the "ethnic cleansing" of Christians in the Middle East and called for an international response.
"The ethnic cleansing of Christians throughout the Middle East is one of the crimes against humanity of our time, and I am appalled that there has been little serious international protest," wrote Lord Jonathan Sacks in an op-ed column for the Daily Telegraph.
Lord Sacks argued that while Christians have been the main targets of recent Islamic terrorism, their ultimate target is freedom in the West. He wrote: "The calculation of terrorists is that, in the long run, the West will prove too tired to defend its own freedoms."
Lord Sacks, who was Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwelath from 1991 to 2013, was recently named the 2016 winner of the Templeton Prize, in recognition of his work against religious extremism.
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risu.org.ua - On Holy Tuesday in Brussels, evil showed its horrid face through a cowardly attack on the innocent. By assailing Europeans and assaulting hospitable and open Europe terrorists seek to push the continent into throes of fear. Why? Because fear is a great manipulator, a wicked tool of control. Brussels is the nerve center for united Europe whose countries witnessed the horrors of the World War II and decided to eliminate war between neighbors: to rid themselves of fear of the other, to open hearts and demilitarize borders. This openness is a great grace and gift of Europe to the world. And as every openness, it can be exploited as a vulnerability by those blind to the grace of peace.
As in November of last year we are united in mourning.
Our first reaction is deep sorrow at the death of the victims and sincere spiritual solidarity with their families and friends.
May the Lord receive into His peace the innocents who have been ruthlessly slain. May He comfort the bereaved and heal the injured. May His Passion commemorated by Christian Europe this week be a sign of His full immersion into the suffering of humanity and of His boundless mercy.
Brussels, the European capital, Belgium and the whole continent whose culture of openness, welcome, solidarity, and tolerance flow from the font of Christ’s Gospel have been brutally flogged in the days of the Lord’s suffering.
Terrorism seeks to kill and kills so as to terrorize. It strikes arbitrarily at innocent individuals seeking to condemn us all to the dungeons of fear. We fail with human reason to understand and accept such tragedy. At the same time embracing each other as we rely on the Lord, who with His death conquered death, we resolve to resist and vanquish this onslaught on our most fundamental values and the core of our European identity – the sacredness of human life itself.
We will not be suppressed!
We will not hate!
We will foster the identity of our culture and continent knowing that what we cherish most is comes at great cost.
The cross of the victims and their families is a cross that we are asked to carry with them. And carry it we will – with unwavering faith in the Resurrection and the life that it bears. Jesus repeated so often: “Do not fear”! Let our prayer embrace the victims and their families. Let our European resolve bolster the posture of leaders that bear responsibility in this time of crisis. Let us name our fear and boldly put it in its place.
The bounty of the Lord and our solidarity is greater than violence, hatred, and fear.
We will work for justice and we will be carriers of peace. In this according to our Lords injunction we will be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Mt. 10:16).
We will embrace the wisdom of the cross and the scandal of the crucifixion – the ultimate victory over violence, sin, and every death
Christ is risen! May those who suffer rise in Him. In our suffering let us lift up our hearts to the Lord.
+Borys
Évêque de l'Éparchie Saint Volodymyr-le-Grand de Paris des Ukrainiens pour la France, le Bénélux et la Suisse
Head, Department of External Church Relations, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
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risu.org.ua - "Gospel words “Come and see” are resounded to all of us today, since Fasting is a period when Church calls us to meeting with God. The Son of God wants to meet us and invites meeting Him!"
It was said by His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC during a homily at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv, on Sunday of Orthodoxy, March 20th.
Moreover, the Head of the Church thinks that time of Great Fasting is a time of an open heaven. “This fasting road we have started is a road to heaven, the way of God’s mercy, the way of confessing our sins, and a moment of meeting God. So come and see what does it mean to encounter God in a Church life: in Penance, where God is waiting for us ready to embrace, forgiving our sins, and in Eucharist after what, we can see heavens, open above and angels, descending on us as those who were made to be God’s sons and daughters in the womb of our Church”, said a preacher.
It is known that exactly on Sunday of Orthodoxy Church refers to icons. Where can apply to in order to encounter the Son of God present in Church and His saints? “An icon is a space for meeting what we can personally feel. The icon changes everybody who comes to it”, explained His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
That is why it is not surprisingly the strategy of UGCC development is called “A vibrant parish – a place to encounter the Living Christ”. For everything Church owns (a prayer, chants, prostrations, Liturgy) gives us an opportunity to encounter the One, whom our hearts are waiting for, whom our Christian faith and hope lead to, Whom our love is accomplished in.
“Having met God, we ought to direct our eyes to a live icon, who we all are, - proceeds the Major Archbishop of the UGCC. How important it is to see God Who wants us to meet in those persons who are rejected today. Thus, the true fasting has three constituents: prayer, fast and almsgiving. There is no truly full Christian experience without almsgiving”.
At the end of the homily the Head of the UGCC invited everybody to come and meet Christ, Who opens His embraces to us. “Now you, in turn, embrace those who are mostly in need because of the war in Ukraine”, encouraged he.
The UGCC Department for Information
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CWN - Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako, the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, called for Iraqi national unity against the Islamic State.
Christians, Muslims, Yazidis, and others should “prove that we are able to open up to each other and live with the differences of views” and “hurry up as one team of women and men in order to save our country and ourselves,” he said in his Easter message.
The patriarch also called upon Christians to remain in Iraq.
“I urge you to rely on wisdom and patience and to stay united together on the land, where we were born, lived for 1400 years together with Muslims, sharing one civilization,” he said. “Be careful from getting confused and do not let other persons, societies and countries take advantage of our anguish and end up in scattering our families [to] the four corners of the globe.”
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