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Saturday October 9, 2004 Church steps back to the future The Greek Orthodox Church seems to have taken tentative steps toward entertaining the possibility of inducting women into its order for the first time since the fifth century, after the Holy Synod said that the subject was broached during its meeting yesterday. The Church governing body said Bishop Chrysostomos of Halkida had initiated a discussion on the subject of the role of women in the Church and the revival of female deacons, who were part of the Church during the fourth and fifth centuries. Twelve bishops and Archbishop Christodoulos, the...

Cyprus Church Bombed Ahead of Religious Ceremony VOA News 27 Aug 2004, 13:41 UTC An early Friday morning bomb blast outside a Greek Orthodox church in a Turkish-held area of Cyprus has caused some damage but no injuries. The explosion at the Saint Mamas church in Morphou - 30 kilometers west of Nicosia - damaged the roof, windows and the main church entrance. Officials say anti-Greek slogans were also scribbled on the walls. The church is the planned site of a controversial religious service next week. Greek Cypriots say they still plan to hold the liturgy at the church Wednesday...

Churches look Olympic best as priests skip summer holidaysThough the bells are ringing less frequently, priests are going to great lengths to welcome and instruct visitorsThe sun sets behind a Greek Orthodox church in Athens By Derek Gatopoulos The Associated Press Updated: 5:41 p.m. ET Aug. 19, 2004 Central Athens features several historic churches, some nearly 1,000 years old, which are often overlooked by tourists keen to visit the 2,500-year-old Parthenon and other ancient monuments. Twenty-odd churches in Athens' historic Plaka district and other downtown areas will remain open and provide visitors recordings of hymns and printed literature in Greek...

Mar 11, 2004 Cyprus takes legal action to recover stolen treasures By Staff Reporter CYPRUS has filed a civil suit in a German court to retrieve antiquities stolen after the Turkish invasion and retrieved by the Bavarian authorities, which have withheld them since, the Legal Service said yesterday. Following the occupation of northern Cyprus by Turkish troops, looters stripped the region’s churches, removing an estimated 15, 000 to 20,000 icons, several dozen major frescoes and mosaics dating from the sixth to the fifteenth century as well as thousands of chalices, wooden carvings, crucifixes and Bibles. Effort to retrieve the stolen...

HAVANA (AP) - Communist Cuba, once officially atheist, is rolling out the red carpet for the spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians - and even built the Byzantine cathedral he was consecrating on Sunday. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, head of the Greek Orthodox church and leader of the world's 14 Orthodox patriarchs, was to consecrate the St. Nicholas cathedral in Old Havana during an hours-long ceremony in liturgical Greek beginning Sunday morning. It was unclear why President Fidel Castro agreed to finance the church's construction, but Cuban authorities have been trying to demonstrate that the communist government...

Two civil suits against the appointment of the anti-Semitic Irineos as Greek Orthodox Church Patriarch were filed in court today. The Cabinet approved the appointment on Sunday, but it is subject to appeal within seven days Amidst the news of the murderous terrorist attack and the homecoming of the Israeli captives dead and alive, two civil suits against the appointment of the anti-Semitic Greek Orthodox Church leader Irineos as Church Patriarch were filed in court today. The Cabinet voted, 11-6, to approve the appointment this past Sunday, after having received a recommendation by a ministerial committee - by a 3-2...

This Icon is a work of the iconographer Mr. Kostas Vrousgos from Thessaloniki and was painted in Adelaide, South Australia, with the blessing of Bishop Joseph of Arianzos. It was published in thousands of copies. His Grace wrote the following text about abortion and the Icon, printed on the reverse side of the Icon."The All-Holy God is the fountain of life. Life belongs to him. His love provides life to all living organisms and especially to man, whom He created in His own image and likeness. We live and exist because of the overflowing love of God. As in this...

Jan. 25, 2004 Greek Orthodox patriarch approved By ABIGAIL RADOSZKOWICZ After a delay of more than two years, the cabinet on Sunday approved Irineos I as Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem. Under medieval Byzantine law Israel, as the local temporal ruler, has the right to withhold recognition of the patriarch's election by the higher clergy of the local Greek Orthodox community. Charges that Irineos I was close to the Palestinian Authority had led the government to hold off approval. The delay led to strains in the otherwise warm relations between the Jewish and Greek Orthodox communities in the United States....

<p>SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- The Greek Orthodox Church Friday asked for prayers for the victims of a deadly mudslide that struck a church youth camp in southern California.</p> <p>Metropolitan Anthony, the head of the church in the western United States, said in a news release that the victims of the slide and their families would be remembered during Sunday services.</p>

American reactions to the recent bombing of a foreign workers' compound in Riyadh reveal multiple misreadings of the Arab world and — more dangerously — of both al Qaeda and the Saudis. The media seem to equate Arab with Muslim and, along with some in the administration, think that al Qaeda's war is against Americans and Westerners per se, rather than against all "infidels," a group al Qaeda defines idiosyncratically and expansively as anyone who is not a strictly observant Muslim. Both mistakes are compounded by reliance on the Saudis' distorted account of the attack. The November 8 bombing took...

When we hear about the Middle East, we frequently hear about the holy places that are important to religious believers. Some date back to the beginning of recorded history. There are holy places that are mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. This is true about Israel and what may become Palestine and now we hear the same thing about Iraq. There are many shrines that Muslims regard as extremely holy. Iraqi tradition holds that Iraq was the Garden of Eden, the paradise created by God for man. Disobedience resulted in Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden. Well,...

Athens, Sep. 11 (LifesiteNews.com/CWN) - For a thousand years, the Greek Orthodox monks of Mount Athos have been praying in quiet and seclusion, unmolested by the outside world. But their peace may be coming to an end in the name of tolerance and non-discrimination. A plenary session of the European Parliament has passed a proposal/report demanding that the Greek government rescind the special protection the monks have enjoyed for a millennium. Mount Athos (or "Hagion Oros," i.e. Holy Mountain) has constituted the heart of the Orthodox ascetic life for more than one thousand years. As such, it could be said...

Only church destroyed on 9-11 is determined to rebuild Saturday, September 6, 2003 By TERRY MATTINGLY, Scripps Howard News Service The first thing police found at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church was a piece of a wing and landing gear from American Flight 11. Then the World Trade Center's north tower fell on the humble, white-washed walls of the tiny sanctuary across the street. It took time for work crews to find much of anything after that. Eventually they found a paper icon of St. Dionysios of Zakynthos, but never found its frame or silver cover. They found an embroidered...

<p>Frank Schaeffer, son of the late renowned Christian theologian Francis Schaeffer, will be in Modesto next weekend to discuss the Orthodox church and faith. Schaeffer holds a photo of his son, John, a Marine.</p> <p>Author Frank Schaeffer will speak at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Modesto next Saturday on the historic Orthodox tradition and his conversion to the Orthodox faith.</p>

News Charles makes mystery visit to Orthodox church priest Jul 31 2003 Exclusive by Eryl Crump, Gareth Hughes, Gareth Bicknell and Steve Bagnall, Daily Post PRINCE Charles made a private visit to a Greek Orthodox priest in North Wales yesterday. After a busy day with four stop-offs in North Wales, he spent about an hour chatting to Father Deiniol at the Church of Holy Protector in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Neither would comment on what was said during their meeting. A spokesman for Prince Charles said the visit was private and declined to comment further. Father Deiniol, whose church has existed in...

Charging that partial-birth abortion "has no place in a decent and compassionate society," Cardinal William H. Keeler expressed deep disappointment and regret that U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), a Catholic living in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, voted against a ban on the late-term abortion procedure. "I am deeply troubled by your continuing insistence that such a heinous procedure should be available in the United States of America," said Cardinal Keeler in a March 21 letter to Sen. Mikulski. The U.S. Senate passed the partial-birth abortion ban on a 64-33 vote March 13. Maryland Senator Paul S. Sarbanes (D., MD),...