Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A US watchdog on religious freedom on Friday expressed serious concern over violations in strife-torn Iraq and was considering whether to place the ally of Washington on a blacklist with countries such as North Korea and Iran. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom said in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that it was “seriously concerned” about religious freedom conditions in Iraq, where widespread persecution of Christians has been reported. The 10-member commission last year placed Iraq on its “watchlist” but its members were now divided on whether it should be maintained in...

Vatican City, May 9, 2008 / 10:05 am (CNA).- The Holy Father and His Holiness Karekin II, the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, met privately at the Vatican this morning and then went on to pray the Midday Liturgy of the Hours with the Armenians delegation. The Holy Spirit, the Pope encouraged in his remarks to the group, can work miracles to bring about unity between Christians if we are open to Him. The group of 75 Armenian faithful and 18 bishops gathered in the Clementine Hall with their patriarch to celebrate Midday Prayer, while the Holy Father...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Armenia's Orthodox leader on Wednesday used the pulpit of the Vatican to condemn the 1915 killing of 1.5 million ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks, saying the whole world should recognise it as a genocide. "We Armenians are a people who have survived genocide, and we know well the value of love, brotherhood, friendship and a secure life," Karekin II said in a public address during Pope Benedict's general audience in St. Peter's Square. "Today, many countries of the world recognise and condemn the genocide committed against the Armenian people by Ottoman Turkey ..." the head of...

VATICAN CITY, 7 MAY 2008 (VIS) - In the general audience, held this morning in St. Peter's Square in the presence of 20,000 faithful, the Holy Father used the occasion of the visit to Rome of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians, to focus his remarks on ecumenical dialogue. The Patriarch, who was present at the audience, also made a brief address in which he reflected on the same theme, also dwelling upon the history of the Armenian people. Greeting the Patriarch in English, Benedict XVI referred to the statue of St. Gregory the Illuminator,...

VATICAN CITY, MAY 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, is responding to an invitation from Benedict XVI to visit him in the Vatican. The Pope's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, visited Armenia last March and was received by Karekin II. The Vatican official presented a handwritten letter from the Holy Father, inviting the Patriarch to the Vatican. Karekin II, elected as the 132nd Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians in October 1999, arrived in Rome today and will participated in events through Sunday. According to a communiqué released by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian...

The Vatican has said that the time has come for the Anglican Church to choose between Protestantism and the ancient churches of Rome and Orthodoxy. Speaking on the day that the Archbishop of Canterbury met Benedict XVI in Rome, Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council of Christian Unity, said it was time for Anglicanism to "clarify its identity". He told the Catholic Herald: "Ultimately, it is a question of the identity of the Anglican Church. Where does it belong? "Does it belong more to the churches of the first millennium -Catholic and Orthodox - or does...

April 27, 2008 Holy Pascha The Feast of Feasts For since death came through a human being, The resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; For as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. (I Corinthians 15:21-22) To the Most Reverend Hierarchs, the Reverend Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, the Presidents and Members of the Parish Councils of the Greek Orthodox Communities, the Distinguished Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Day, Afternoon, and Church Schools, the Philoptochos Sisterhoods, the Youth, the Hellenic Organizations, and the entire Greek Orthodox Family...

The Double Consciousness of Christ Bertrand de Margerie, S.J. This title and topic makes us enter into a mysterious and controverted field of thought, about which so much has already been written! Who is Jesus of Nazareth in His own eyes? What did Jesus say about Himself? Was there an unconscious zone in His human psychology? After a preamble about the meaning of the vocabulary used, we shall consider, in the context of the faith of the Catholic Church, the following three aspects: 1) the divine consciousness of Jesus Christ, 2) His human consciousness as a divine Person, and 3)...

Synaxarion: Mary Magdalene, and the other women who were present at the burial of our Saviour on Friday evening, returned from Golgotha to the city and prepared fragrant spices and myrrh, so that they might anoint the body of Jesus. On the morrow, because of the law which forbids work on the day of the Sabbath, they rested for the whole day. But at early dawn on the Sunday that followed, almost thirty-six hours since the death of the Life-giving Redeemer, they came to the sepulchre with the spices to anoint His body. While they were considering the difficulty...

MarkChapter 16 1 1 When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. 2 Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb. 3 They were saying to one another, "Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. 5 On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on...

KOENIGSTEIN, Germany, APRIL 24, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI's video message to the people of Russia gave viewers a look at the "warmhearted" Pope of "great dignity," affirmed the Russia specialist for Aid to the Church in Need. Peter Humeniuk gave this analysis of the response to a documentary that aired in Russia on the state channel Vesti on April 16, the Holy Father's 81st birthday. The documentary included a personal message from the Pope to all Russians. Humeniuk said the film brought the Holy Father closer to many of the Russian people. Viewers saw the Pope as "a person of...

Orthodox and Catholic Churches are allies, Bishop Hilarion says Sofia, Bulgaria, Apr 24, 2008 / 02:02 am (CNA).- Bishop Hilarion, the Russian Orthodox Bishop of Vienna and Austria, has said in an interview that the Orthodox and Catholic Churches are allies who could form a strategic alliance to defend Christian values, Interfax reports.   He also criticized many Protestants for having a “light version” of Christianity. Speaking to the Bulgarian magazine Christianity and Culture, Bishop Hilarion said, “We must realize that Orthodox and Catholic believers are no longer rivals. We are allies. The rivalry must be gone once and for all....

Israeli police rushed into Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre to break up fist fights between dozens of Greek and Armenian worshippers on Orthodox Palm Sunday, witnesses said. Some 20 officers intervened after Armenian worshippers threw a Greek Orthodox priest out of the church, sparking a free-for-all, they said. Several worshippers then started beating the police officers with palm fronds they were holding for the Palm Sunday celebrations that mark the return of Jesus to the Holy City a week before he was crucified. After the incident, dozens of members of Jerusalem's Armenian community marched from the church to the...

Declaration and Confession of the True Orthodox Christians We, the hierarchs, clergy, and people of the True Orthodox Church, under the presidency of His Beatitude, Auxentius, Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, seeing that Ecumenism teaches of a Church of Christ consisting of branches with differing or even opposing doctrines and practices; that it attributes efficacy for salvation to the sacraments of the non-Orthodox—who have lost or never had the canonical form of baptism, and of whom many ordain women to the priesthood and episcopacy, while others do not recognize the priesthood at all; that it manifests these beliefs in...

Moscow, April 1, Interfax – Leaders of Ukraine’s Orthodox patriotic organizations again spoke against country’s membership in NATO. “When you continue pushing Ukraine to NATO, you, dear leaders, commit a crime before God, before your people, before millions of our forefathers who gave their lives for our freedom and independence, our unique East-Slavonic Orthodox civilization,” the letter of Orthodox Ukrainian leaders to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko reads. Its authors stressed that main values of this civilization are “not comfort and high material standards of life, but absolutely different life objectives based on Christian spirituality and morality”. Leaders of the country’s...

The weekly show "Questions About Faith" on the Egyptian based Christian Al-Hayat satellite channel features an Egyptian Coptic priest residing in the United States. Father Zakaria Boutrus, the show, and Al-Hayat TV itself, have come under harsh criticism in the Egyptian press. Boutrus and his show have been accused of attacking Islam; of being supported by the U.S. to sow division and strife; and of "mocking the verses of Allah." Al-Hayat TV has been accused of being the work of foreign agents collaborating with the U.S., and Pope Shenouda III reportedly announced his opposition to the station's broadcasts, and denied...

On the Third Sunday of Great and Holy Lent, the Orthodox Church commemorates the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Services include a special veneration of the Cross, which prepares the faithful for the commemoration of the Crucifixion during Holy Week. The commemoration and ceremonies of the Third Sunday of Lent are closely parallel to the feasts of the Veneration of the Cross (September 14) and the Procession of the Cross (August 1). Not only does the Sunday of the Holy Cross prepare us for commemoration of the Crucifixion, but it also reminds us...

Following a visit to Assisi where he was reported to have prayed at the tomb of St Francis, perestroika father and former USSR president, Mikhail Gorbachev, has denied rumours that he is secretly a Catholic. AsiaNews says rumours of Mr Gorbachev's alleged "secret" conversion had begun circulating after he and his daughter Irina visited the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi, home to the saint's relics. Italian daily La Stampa called the event a "spiritual perestroika". "Over the last few days some media have been disseminating fantasies, I can't use any other word, about my secret Catholicism, citing my visit...

Moscow, March 26, Interfax – The Russian Orthodox Church called journalists to be scrupulous when covering religious life in Russia. Thus the Church reacted on the recent report on Easter mess in the Moscow Catholic cathedral when 35 people were baptized. Its author claimed the Moscow Patriarchate’s representative had attended the sacrament and cited a Catholic nun as saying “We are very pleased that the Russian Orthodox representative was sympathetic and didn’t object to the baptism of Russians.” The mentioned Orthodox priest has criticized the way his visit to the Catholic cathedral was reported. It was the Moscow Patriarchate Department...

Decries "dominance of an agnostic or even a materialistic approach to life which causes anxiety amongst believers" GENEVA, March 20, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has called for worldwide inter-religious dialogue on human rights and denounced the "dangerous" anti-life and secularist trends in human rights thought. Human rights, a concept brought into Europe by Christianity, has been subverted by a small group of activists and civil servants who have imposed an atheist or agnostic interpretation. Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kallingrad spoke for many Christians outside the Russian Orthodox Church when he told the 7th...

MARY IS BLESSED BY THE SEVEN VIRTUES AGAINST THE SEVEN CAPITAL VICES Blessed art thou among women. Let us still speak of the blessing of our Blessed Virgin, let us still hear of it. Happy is the Blessed Mary; unhappy is every accursed soul to whom it shall be said: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!" Cursed without doubt is every sinful soul, but blessed art thou, O virtuous Mary. The world incurred malediction by the seven capital vices; but Mary obtained blessing by the contrary virtues. Blessed, therefore, art thou among women, O Mary. Blessed by humility...

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Communist leader of the Soviet Union, has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time, paying a surprise visit to pray at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi. Accompanied by his daughter Irina, Mr Gorbachev spent half an hour on his knees in silent prayer at the tomb. His arrival in Assisi was described as "spiritual perestroika" by La Stampa, the Italian newspaper. "St Francis is, for me, the alter Christus, the other Christ," said Mr Gorbachev. "His story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my life," he added. Mr Gorbachev's surprise...

Shortly after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, a Russian Orthodox monk nominated Russia as the ‘Third Rome’, or successor to the Roman and Byzantine empires. Some analysts have seen Muscovite Third Romism (that allegedly persisted into the Bolshevik era of the Soviet Union) as the Russian equivalent of the USA’s Manifest Destiny, and other concepts used to rationalise imperialism. This paper attempts to broaden and deepen similar interpretations of the major geopolitical dictum coming from Russian Orthodoxy: questionably a direct justification for Russian imperialist messianism and far from being just a feature of the past, this metaphor is an...

The new Orthodox metropolitan of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia says his priorities include dealing with the Chinese government to bring about the recognition of Orthodox Christians in mainland China - writes Francis Wong. "There are many Orthodox in the port cities in South China. Greeks are working on the ships and they want a place of worship," Metropolitan Nektarios told Ecumenical News International on 29 February, the day before his enthronement. "The pastoral activities are first for the [Orthodox] Greeks, then for the Chinese. There are only a few Orthodox Chinese there." At present, the Chinese government recognises only...

Mary At The Foot Of The Cross Mary's sorrows will now engage our attention. We shall see how great her sufferings were: because she suffered in her heart and soul; because her sufferings were the result of her great love for her divine Son; because she saw that Jesus would die in vain for countless souls who would not profit by His death.... For many years Mary had known what her sufferings were to be. In her soul she treasured fearfully the prophetic words which Simeon had addressed to her on the occasion of the Child's presentation in the temple:...

Metropolitan Laurus deceased http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=dujour&div=163 New York, March 16, Interfax – First hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Metropolitan Laurus of Eastern America and New York Diocese deceased on Sunday at the age of 80, the ROCOR website has reported. Metropolitan Laurus passed away on the Feast of Orthodoxy. He was born Vassily Mikhailovich Skurla on January 1, 1928, in the village of Ladomirova, present day Slovakia. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1950, and became a hieromonk in 1954. Fr. Laurus graduated from the Holy Trinity Theological Seminary in 1954 and was appointed its inspector in...

I shall open my mouth and it shall be filled with the Spirit; and I shall pour out a word to the Mother and Queen; and I shall be seen cheerfully celebrating; and rejoicing I shall sing her miracles. Most-holy Theotokos, save us. 0 animate book of Christ, sealed by the Spirit, 0 pure one, the great Archangel, beholding you, exclaimed: Rejoice, 0 vessel of joy through whom the first mother's curse shall be broken. Most-holy Theotokos, save us. Rejoice, Virgin Bride of God, the restoration of Adam, the mortification of Hades. Rejoice, completely unblemished 'One, the palace of the...

Abstract Eurasianism as a concept emerged among Russian émigrés in the 1920s, with the premise that Russia is a unique ethnic blend, primarily of Slavic and Turkic peoples. Its geopolitical implications for Russia include gravitation toward mostly Turkic Central Asia. Alexander Dugin, one of its best-known proponents, believes that the demise of the Soviet Union was simply a tragic incident. The people of the former USSR should again be united in a grand Eurasian empire, with Russia a benign and generous patron, providing its “younger brothers” clients economic largesse and defense, mostly against the predatory USA. The “orange revolutions” and...

On Monday of the First Week of Lent, during Great Compline, after Psalm 69, the first portion of the Great Canon is sung. The Eirmosi are sung twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of each Ode.[1] Before each troparion the Refrain is sung and we make the sign of the Cross with three low bows.[1] In Tone Six. Ode 1. Eirmos: He is my Helper and Protector, and has become my salvation. This is my God and I will glorify Him. My father's God and I will exalt Him. For gloriously has He been glorified....

From St. Basil's Homily on their festival, Hom. 20, t. 1, p. 453, and three discourses of St. Gregory of Nyssa, t. 2, p. 203, t. 3, pp. 499, 504, followed by St. Ephrem. ed. Vatic. Gr. and Lat. t. 2, p. 341. St. Gaudentius, St. Chrysostom, quoted by Photius. See Tillemont, t. 5, p. 518. Ruinart, p. 523. Ceillier, t. 4, 162 Jos. Assemani in Cal. Univ. ad 11 Martii, t. 6, p. 172. These holy martyrs suffered at Sebaste, in the Lesser Armenia, under the Emperor Licinius, in 320. They were of different countries, but enrolled in...

Introduction The Sunday of Forgiveness is the last Sunday prior to the commencement of Great Lent. During the pre-Lenten period, the services of the Church include hymns from the Triodion, a liturgical book that contains the services from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the tenth before Pascha (Easter), through Great and Holy Saturday. On the Sunday of Forgiveness focus is placed on the exile of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and event that shows us how far we have fallen in sin and separated ourselves from God. At the onset of Great Lent...

The Purity of Soul Necessary for Holy Communion What is there to say about the great purity of soul with which the saints approached to receive the Bread of Angels? We know that they had a great delicacy of conscience which was truly angelic. Aware of their own misery, they tried to present themselves to Jesus “holy and immaculate,” (Eph. 1:4) repeating with the Publican, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13), and having recourse with great care to the cleansing of Confession. When St. Jerome was brought Holy Viaticum at the end of his life, the...

DALLAS — Artwork depicting the Virgin Mary as a stripper stirred trouble while on display at a small Catholic university before the piece was apparently stolen. The print was part of an exhibit last month at the University of Dallas that featured the work of students at Murray State University in Kentucky. Joanna Gianulis, a senior art major at Murray State, said she was trying to raise questions about perceptions of saints and sinners and didn't intend to be sacrilegious. "How do we know that an exotic dancer is sinful?" she said. "What if she has the best intentions and...

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX: Pastor challenged boss's authority in Daily News interview.National leaders of the Russian Orthodox church were meeting this week in New York, wrestling with chaos in their Alaska diocese as the man in the middle of the turmoil defended his leadership. Among the grumblings about Alaska Bishop Nikolai Soraich is that he fired a popular priest from a teaching post after the priest criticized him in a newspaper story published Friday.Priests and parishioners from around the state petitioned church leaders to remove Bishop Nikolai in a series of letters and e-mails over the past several weeks. They accuse the...

Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI and the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Bartholomew I, prayed together Thursday after meeting for private talks, the Vatican said. Bartholomew, who holds the title of Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (Istanbul) recited together with Benedict Latin versions of the Our Father and Hail Mary prayers, news reports said. The Vatican did not immediately provide details on the talks. During the visit, which marks the third meeting between the pontiff and the patriarch, Bartholomew was accompanied by a delegation including Ioannis of Pergamo, the Orthodox president of the Joint International Commission for Theological...

A METHODIST church in Smolensk, Russia, has become the focus of a police investigation following a complaint by a Russian Orthodox bishop. The Norwegian-based Forum 18 News Service reports today that the regional Public Prosecutor's Office, Organised Crime Police, Department for the Affairs of Minors, Education Department and ordinary police in Smolensk have made a series of check-ups on a local Methodist church. They also forced the church to remove missionary college plans from its website. Bishop Ignati (Punin) of Vyazma claimed the college "aims not to bring about the rebirth of the spiritual-moral foundations of the life of our...

The Sunday of the Last Judgment is the third Sunday of a three-week period prior to the commencement of Great Lent. During this time, the services of the Church have begun to include hymns from the Triodion, a liturgical book that contains the services from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the tenth before Pascha (Easter), through Great and Holy Saturday. On this day, focus is placed on the future judgment of all persons who will stand before the throne of God when Christ returns in His glory. Biblical Story The commemoration for this Sunday is taken...

Q:I saw a magazine article that mentioned discrimination against Coptic Christians in Egypt. Are Coptic Christians a separate church or is that just a name for Christians in Egypt. Do they belong to different Christian churches? — Lakesha, Oklahoma City A:The Christian Coptic Orthodox Church is a separate church that is part of the little-known group of Christians called the Oriental Orthodox. Oriental Orthodox churches are not the same as the more familiar Eastern Orthodox group, which includes the Greek and Russian Orthodox churches. Most Americans are aware of the split in Christianity caused by the Reformation led by Martin...

The Eucharist and the Supernatural Life — Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. The Founder of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers, Saint Peter Julian Eymard, states: How is it that Our Lord is so little loved in the Eucharist? One reason is that we do not speak enough of It and that we insist only on faith in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament, instead of speaking about His life and His love therein, instead of calling attention to the sacrifices which His love imposes upon Him—in a word, instead of showing Jesus Christ in the Eucharist with...

Moscow, Feb. 26, 2008 (CWNews.com) - A spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church has said that a key point of tension between Moscow and Rome, the concept of "canonical territory," should be resolved in order to allow greater progress in ecumenical dialogue. Bishop Hilarion of Vienna told the interfax news service that he hoped for "serious and elaborate discussion" of the Moscow patriarchate's objections to the presence of four Catholic dioceses in Russia. The Orthodox patriarchate claims Russia as the "canonical territory" of the Orthodox Church. The Vatican does not acknowledge that concept. "Many Western people think that the concept...

ROME, FEB. 18, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The so-called Ravenna Document is a real breakthrough in Orthodox-Catholic dialogue, says the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.In an interview with Gerard O'Connell for Our Sunday Visitor, Cardinal Walter Kasper explained what made the breakthrough possible, and what's left in the process of achieving full unity.His comments centered on the concluding document of the Oct. 8-14, 2007, plenary assembly of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, held in Ravenna, Italy."We started the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches as...

"Rejoice, unfading rose. Rejoice, the only one who budded forth the unfading apple. Rejoice, birth-giver of the aromatic balm of the King of all. Rejoice, 0 Bride unwedded, the world's salvation." The Akathist Hymn is a profound, devotional poem, which sings the praises of the Holy Mother and Ever-Virgin Mary. It is one of the most beloved services in the Orthodox Church. It was composed in the imperial city of Constantinople, "the city of the Virgin," by St. Romanos the Melodist, who reposed in the year 556. The Akathist Hymn has proven so popular in the liturgical life of...

Europe Liberal Christianity is dying, Orthodox Bishop says Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev Geneva, Feb 15, 2008 / 07:36 pm (CNA).- Russian Orthodox bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, the Moscow Patriarchate’s delegate for international relationships, said on February 15 that liberal Christianity is on its way to extinction."Liberal Christianity will not survive long and political correctness within the Christian environment is destined to die," said during a conference addressing the Ecumenical Council of Churches at Geneva, Switzerland. The Orthodox bishop also criticized the words of the Anglican primate, Rowan Williams, regarding the "inevitability" of introducing the "sharia" (Muslim Law) in England."I would like to...

BARCELONA, Spain, FEB. 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A donation from Spanish religious congregations of more than 5,000 books to the Orthodox Academy of Moscow has been received as "another sign of the good relations" between the two Churches. That is how Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, the president of the Department of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, described the donation. Jesuit Father Emilio Benedetti told ZENIT how the donation came about: "During the entire month of October 2007, I had the satisfaction of helping Father Dionisyos Shlenov, professor of the Orthodox Theological Academy of Moscow, and Father Valeri, archivist...

Song 1. Tone 2. Eirmos: Come, O you people, let us sing a song to Christ our God, Who divided the sea, and made a way for the nation which He had brought up out of the bondage of Egypt; for He is glorious. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Troparia: May Thy holy Body be for me the bread of eternal life, O gracious Lord, and may Thy precious Blood be a remedy for my many forms of sickness. Cast me not away from Thy Face, and take not Thy...

Song 1. Eirmos: In the deep of old the infinite Power overwhelmed Pharoah's whole army. But the Incarnate Word annihilated pernicious sin. Exceedingly glorious is the Lord, for gloriously has He been glorified. Sweetest Jesus, save us. Troparia: Sweetest Jesus Christ, longsuffering Jesus, heal the wounds of my soul, Jesus, and make sweet my heart, O Most Merciful One, I ask Thee, Jesus my Saviour, that being saved by Thee, I may glorify Thee. Sweetest Jesus, save us. Sweetest Jesus Christ, Jesus, open to me the door of repentance, O Jesus, Lover of men, and accept me as I throw...

Honesty compels me to admit the peculiarity of someone like me writing on sacred architecture.1 it's like Helen Keller giving a tour of the Louvre. It's like Ray Charles painting your portrait. It's like the deaf Beethoven teaching my son's aural skills class. I protest to my friends that although I lack an aesthetic capacity, I have learned to live with it, the way an adult who can't read has learned to survive in society. The reader should therefore not look here for architectural detail, but rather for something that lies deeper. I should like to think about the theological...

The Future Lies in the Past -- Why evangelicals are connecting with the early church as they move into the 21st century.Many 20- and 30-something evangelicals are uneasy and alienated in mall-like church environments; high-energy, entertainment-oriented worship; and boomer-era ministry strategies and structures modeled on the business world. Increasingly, they are asking just how these culturally camouflaged churches can help them rise above the values of the consumerist world around them. For younger evangelicals, traditional churches are too centered on words and propositions. And pragmatic churches are compromising authentic Christianity by tailoring their ministries to the marketplace and pop culture....

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Senior clergy elected Metropolitan Bishop Ieronymos of Thebes as the new leader of Greece's powerful Orthodox Church on Thursday to succeed the late Archbishop Christodoulos, the church announced.Church bells rang out and the lights outside Athens Cathedral, where 74 bishops had gathered for the vote, came on to announce the election of a successor to the popular Christodoulos, who died of cancer last month.Ieronymos, 70, won 45 votes after two rounds in an election that began Thursday morning. Four bishops of the 78-member Holy Synod, the church's governing body, were absent, the church said in announcing...

I have heard tales of an amazing work taking place among the garbage workers of Cairo since I was an undergrad. So it was very encouraging to read this article from the February Lausanne World Pulse: Transforming Lives in Cairo's Garbage Villages. Villagers collect garbage from city apartments and recycle it. They are the most despised group of people in Egyptian society. They are not paid by the government; however, they receive small tips from the people whose garbage they collect. The rest of their income comes from recycling garbage. It is one of the most ecologically efficient operations in...