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There have been a number of articles published recently, following a show in Moscow, of carved icons of a Russian couple Rashid and Inessa Azbuhanov (their website is here and h/t Deacon Paul Iacono of the Fra Angelico Institute for bring these to my attention). These are exquisite works and are of interest to me particularly because I have to admit I have never seen anything quite like them. I am told that they are re-establishing the tradition of carved icons. These portray form through a combination of color and relief and in this sense are a halfway house between...

<p>A 200-year-old Russian Orthodox bell has been returned to Alaska after being held by Catholics for more than a century in Southern California.</p> <p>The bell, known as the San Fernando bell, was returned to Holy Resurrection Orthodox Cathedral on Oct. 1 and is waiting to be placed in a permanent outside display.</p>

The canonization ceremony should take place in 2015, a century after the massacre of 1,5 million Christians which was never recognised by the Turkish government “In a move that has surprised Turkey, the Armenian Church is going to proceed with the canonization of the victims of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Turkish State in 1915, using Kurdish labourers for the massacres. The scientifically perpetrated genocide by, is described by the Turkish historian Taner Akcam as "A shameful act" (the title of his book ) . But the Ankara government has never recognized it and rejects the definition of "genocide”,”...

Q: My sister stopped practicing her faith, and married a Greek Orthodox man in his church in Greece. Now their marriage has ended, and she has returned to the Church. She might want to remarry…. We both assumed that she could easily get an annulment, because she wasn’t married in a Catholic ceremony, and so her first marriage wasn’t valid. But her parish priest is insisting that it was! He says if she wants an annulment, she has to “find other grounds.” What is the best way to resolve this, should she join a different parish, or try to reach...

Belgrade, October 7, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has spoken about the importance of Christian roots for present-day Europe. "Today when some people doubt the relevance of this Christian source of European civilization we, Christian Orthodox Churches and all Christians of Europe, should help our contemporaries realize and sense once again how important this source is for shaping the spiritual and moral profile of Europeans," he said to reporters at Belgrade airport. He voiced hope that festivities celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan will serve this purpose. With the intention of attending the...

Moscow, October 2, Interfax - Grand Mufti of the Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah's idea to destroy all churches in the Arabian Peninsula shows "the extreme degree of Wahabi impudence," the expert on Islam, Roman Silantyev said. The first person of "the most peaceful trend in Islam" again urged to aggressive actions against Christians. It evidently proves that official Wahhabism-Salafism is identical to the ideology of terrorists, who are in fact destroying Christian churches and their parishioners from Pakistan to Nigeria, working especially hard in Syria," Silantyev told Interfax-Religion. He reminds that a Russian Orthodox church was opened in...

A massive bonfire blazed in the central square of Ethiopia's capital city, Addis Ababa, on Thursday night. But by Friday morning, the mess had been swept away, leaving nothing but a giant spot of soot on the asphalt. Thousands of people had flocked to the arena, called Meskel Square, to watch the ceremonial lighting of the fire for the eve of Meskel, a national holiday also known as the Finding of the True Cross. Ethiopians from across the country -- and visitors from around the world -- carried yellow daises, wooden crosses and wax candles as the pile of wood...

As a religious physicist, I have occasionally fielded questions from various people pertaining to my Faith and how I reconcile it with my understanding of physics. One point that is often brought up is the apparently "illogical" nature of the Holy Trinity, which is of utmost importance to Orthodox Christians: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. "How can three be one and yet be distinct at the same time?" I am often asked, and I never really had a good answer for that question. Recently, however, I had an epiphany as I was thinking about the Holy Trinity...

"Christians and Muslims had always lived in an atmosphere of mutual trust; the attack on Maaloula has created a lot of distress." Islamists have invaded homes and continue to threaten the village, site of ongoing clashes between rebels and the army. The families who fled to Damascus and Beirut tell their story. The goal is to drive out Christians in order to eliminate Christianity.Beirut (AsiaNews) - According to families who fled Maaloula (Syria), some of their Muslim neighbours were involved in the attack that devastated their village located about fifty kilometres from Damascus, dispersing its residents. Perceived as a betrayal...

Vladimir Putin Speaks Like a ChristianPosted By Brother André Marie On September 25, 2013 @ 11:30 am In Columns,Marriage and Family,Politics and Society | 1 Comment Read the comments below by Vladimir Putin, who is constantly berated by Western glitterati (e.g., Madonna, Lady Gaga, Sir Elton John) for his stance on unnatural relations. The man speaks like a Christian, nay, like a Catholic (he is a self-professed Russian Orthodox Christian). Imagine an American politician in high office speaking in such a way.On the other hand, some there are who think that the consecration of Russia requested by Our Lady of...

09/27/2013 Abducted bishops Youhanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi reported living Pope Francis has met with Youhanna X, the brother of one of the two bishops who were kidnapped in Aleppo in April. Official sources in Beirut say the bishops are alive Giorgio BernardelliRome The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Youhanna X Yazigi, met Pope Francis today in the Vatican. The patriarch is the brother of Boulos Yazigi, one of the two bishops from Aleppo who were kidnapped in Syria last April. The importance of today’s meeting was therefore not just ecumenical. Youhanna X Yazigi was appointed head of the Patriarchate which...

MOSCOW, September 27 (RIA Novosti) – A group of Russian Orthodox priests will undergo military training at a Defense Ministry university in Moscow, the Russian army said Friday. The clergymen will undergo a month-long course in military history, war tactics and military regulations of the Russian Armed Forces, as well as how to provide psychological and emotional support to troops, according to a statement by the Central Military District. The statement did not say when the training would take place. The number of chaplains in the Russian Armed Forces has almost tripled in the past two years and currently stands...

Bipartisan legislation was introduced today in the House of Representatives that would prevent the federal government from discriminating against citizens and organizations who believe that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. The Marriage and Religious Freedom Act (H.R. 3133) was introduced by Representative Raul Labrador (R–ID) and over 60 other original co-sponsors from both political parties. The bill is an important step for conscience protection. Government policy should respect those who stand for marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Even in jurisdictions that have redefined marriage, those who believe marriage is the...

Consider a young adult, say 25, who had gone on to physical maturity, and even earned a college degree. ... ... Now, though thank God, he still goes to Mass, he is incapable of expressing much of anything about his faith. He knows there is a God and has heard about Jesus but does not know for sure if Jesus is God, he thinks so but he’s not sure. He is aware of the Bible’s existence but cannot name all four Gospels and would not even be sure exactly where to find them in the book. He’d eventually find them...

Lourdes and Fatima: True or False? And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun…Rev. 12, 1We will not dispute the miraculous character of the original appearance of the Mother of God (in Fatima), as we will not cast suspicion on the authenticity of some similar if less striking appearances…Archimandrite Konstantin Zaytsev (1)IntroductionVisions of the Mother of God granted to individuals are characteristic of recent, especially eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century, Roman Catholic piety. Some of these visions can be doubted as spiritual delusion, hallucinations, and others as money-making frauds. Thus, the controversial ‘apparition’ in Knock...

SIAULIAI, LITHUANIA—No one knows when pious Lithuanians first erected crosses of all sizes on a hill about seven miles north of the city of Siauliai; it may have been after an abortive 1831 uprising against Russian rule over the small Baltic country. Oftentimes, the bodies of Lithuanian patriots killed during that rebellion, and a similar revolt in 1863, could not be found. So their families planted crosses in their memory on a small mound that was eventually covered with memorials. During the country’s brief moment of independence between the First and Second World Wars, citizens of a free Lithuania continued...

This appeared this week in an online Orthodox parish bulletin in a friend’s parish. She knows the people to whom this happened. It has to do with a Greek Orthodox saint Nektarios of Aegina. [1] I’ve slightly edited this to protect the privacy of the people to whom this happened. Read: Over the summer, OCF [Orthodox Christian Fellowship -- RD] members MS and ND traveled to Aegina to visit the monastery and to pray at the tomb of St. Nektarios. Following the customary practice of pilgrims, the two members prayed with their ear against the tomb. This practice originates in the...

Ask Vladimir Putin to request the consecration of Russia this October 13th As many Catholic readers already know, Pope will consecrate world to Immaculate Heart of Mary CWN - August 21, 2013 Pope Francis will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at a Vatican ceremony on October 13. The “Marian Day” ceremony, organized by the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, will be held on the anniversary of the final appearance of the Virgin Mary at Fatima. For the occasion, the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima will be brought from the shrine in Portugal to...

From the scorching deserts of Sinai to the frozen tundras of Siberia, Orthodox Christianity has a history of building its churches and monasteries in inhospitable places. But only a few can rival Trinity Church on King George Island. The southernmost Orthodox church in the world, Trinity was built near Bellingshausen Station, Russia's permanent outpost in Antarctica. In the mid-1990s Patriarch Alexius II of Moscow gave his blessing for this audacious project. The church was constructed in Russia and transported by a supply ship to its present location. One or two monks from Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra -- considered the most important Russian...

The whole movement of “spiritual awakening” St Seraphim Rose wrote about in the 70′s and 80′s in his book “Orthodoxy and the religion of the future” is heading towards a climax with the arrival of a charismatic world leader that would solve all the iniquities which are being gradually revealed to the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, this mystery of iniquity hes been revealed more and more to the point where everything in the world we see today is iniquity: economic, financial, political, social, environmental and religious: economies are being destroyed and looted (see Greece and soon...

HOMILY 21 On Detachment from Worldly Goods and Concerning the Conflagration Which Occurred in the Environs of the Church THOUGHT, well-beloved, that, Inasmuch as I had so vigorously plied you with the goad of my words on every and all occasions, you regarded me as a troublesome fellow, overbold for a stranger and for a man who is himself guilty on similar charges. Yet, by my rebukes you were moved to kindliness and the blows of my tongue you transformed into incentives to greater zeal. This, of course, is not a matter for surprise, since you are wise in the...

Christians in Syria are continuing to be targeted by outside fundamentalist groups who have joined the country’s long civil war, the head of the Syriac Catholic Church in Jerusalem has said. Bishop Boutros Melki, Syriac Catholic patriarchal vicar, said Christians feared the situation in Syria will become like that in Iraq, where half the Christian population has fled since the American-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein. In an interview with the American Catholic News Service, the bishop said the historic city of Maaloula, with its ancient churches and monasteries, became the site of fighting between rebel and government forces. Attacks against...

Valdai, Russia, September 20, Interfax - People will lose their human dignity without values enshrined in Christianity and other world religions, without moral standards that have taken millennia to take shape, President Vladimir Putin. "We believe that it is natural and appropriate to defend those values. Any minority deserves respect for its distinctive identity, but the rights of the majority must not be questioned," Putin said during a meeting of the Valdai discussion club. He believes, that Russia can't move forward without cultural and national self-determination. Otherwise the country won't be able to respond to external or internal challenges, can't...

In 1991, 75% of Adjarians in Georgia were Muslims. Today, they have become 75% Orthodox Christians. How can these conversions be explained, which is apparently unique in the world? “What time do services begin at Saint Nicholas in Batumi on Sunday morning?” The question embarrasses the employee of the President Plaza, one of the largest institutions in the city, a seat of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara and the Iranian consulate. It is true that in the province of Georgia, washed by the Black Sea, the population speaks little English. All signs, such as signs in the streets, are in...

Arkhangelsk, September 16, - Fleet priest hieromonk Veniamin (Kovtun) attended tests of the underwater atomic submarine Alexander Nevsky. "Prayer services were held at the rocket deck every day. Sailors asked the Lord that He helps the crew to deal with this complicated task. Everything that depended on people were excellently fulfilled, the crew worked perfectly," press service of the Arkhangelsk Diocese quoted Fr. Veniamin as saying. The priest baptised an officer at the deck of the submarine. According to him, many people underestimate the importance of forming Christian world outlook among officers, though it is "a very important way of...

September 14th, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross “There is no abbey so poor as not to have a specimen. In some places there are large fragments, as at the Holy Chapel in Paris, at Poitiers, and at Rome, where a good-sized crucifix is said to have been made of it. In brief, if all the pieces that could be found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load. Yet the Gospel testifies that a single man was able to carry it.” John Clavin, Traité Des Reliques Protestants, rationalists, modernists, and other enemies of Christ and his Church...

The Holy Name of Mary - The Power of Her Name By St. Alphonsus de Liguori Richard of St. Laurence states "there is not such powerful help in any name, nor is there any other name given to men, after that of Jesus, from which so much salvation is poured forth upon men as from the name of Mary." He continues, "that the devout invocation of this sweet and holy name leads to the acquisition of superabundant graces in this life, and a very high degree of glory in the next." After the most sacred name of Jesus, the...

A BBC correspondent in Syria has said the battle for an ancient Christian town is continuing, despite reports that government forces had retaken it. Jeremy Bowen said that a heavy gunfight with rebels was continuing in Maaloula, with smoke rising into the sky. He added that he had not seen evidence confirming religious sites had been damaged by al-Qaeda-linked jihadists. Then on Sunday, activists said government soldiers and pro-government militiamen had been forced to pull back to the outskirts following a fresh rebel assault. Fighting over the town, 55km (34 miles) north of Damascus, began last week after rebels attacked...

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church will not change to the Gregorian calendar in the near future because there is no background or reason for this, Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk said during a web conference at RISU. “The introduction of the calendar historically reveals that it was not the main instrument of convergence or unity of the church. It is rather a question of internal discipline, which can contribute to unity or stand in the way,” he said. Patriarch Sviatoslav said that part of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in some countries changed to the new calendar, but it led to the...

Christians in Syria were fleeing one of the oldest Christian towns in the world on Sunday, after regime forces failed to win it back from Islamist rebel fighters.Rebel groups, including a branch of al-Qaeda, have taken control of Maaloula, one of the few remaining villages where the language of Christ is still spoken, residents and activists reported. “Our army, the Syrian army, has failed us,” said Sister Antoinette, a nun from Maaloula, claiming the regime had forsaken control of the town. “We called the army, we begged them to come inside Maalouola and save us but they stayed outside. They...

Moscow, September 9, Interfax - Mass attacks against Christian minority in Syria and desecration of shrines venerated all around the world puts on the agenda Russia's active participation in the conflict, religious expert and head of the Human Rights Center of the World Russian People's Council, Roman Silantyev said commenting terrorist capture of the Christian town Maaloula. "I admit that Russian direct military participation in Syrian conflict is pointless, however what can prevent us from sending volunteers in the country? Orthodox volunteers could come and help Syrian Christians and Ramzan Kadyrov can help enlist Muslims who will protect mosques and...

The apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917 in the midst of World War I and at the outset of the Soviet “October Revolution� have had long-range historical effects.The prelude to the Fatima apparitions was the appearance in the spring of 1916 of an angel, who identified himself as the “angel of peace� to three Portuguese children: Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco. The angel appeared to them again in the summer, telling them that heaven had “designs of mercy� and teaching them to offer prayers and sacrifices. He appeared a third time in the fall, offering the children the Eucharist.The...

Moscow, September 6, Interfax - The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed concern over the attempts made by the armed opposition in Syria to take over the city of Maalula, a symbol of the Christian presence in Syria. "Moscow is deeply concerned over the fact that terrorist attacks in Syria have affected Maalula, a symbol of the Christian presence in this country. Its residents speak the Aramaic language, which is almost extinct and is the language in which Jesus Christ preached, and the churches located in this city are among the oldest and most honored churches of Christians," the Russian Foreign...

For moral, ethical and biblical reasons, the United States should not drop bombs on Syria. To cross Syria’s boundary, a country which has not attacked us, is to show a profound lack of respect for its national sovereignty. Had Syria attacked us, we would of course have the moral right to use whatever military force is necessary to neutralize the threat to our own sovereignty. But absent the moral justification of self-defense, we have no right to be there. The Scriptures are clear that the boundaries of the world’s nations are established by God (Acts 17:26), and those boundaries should...

1,700th Anniversary Of Religious Liberty On Display in RomeThe dawn of the fourth century must have seemed like the beginning of an endless night for the Christians of the Roman Empire. As of 303, Emperor Diocletian, spurred on by his co-emperor Galerius, had unleashed a virulent round of persecutions, and it appeared that the imperial machine would not stop until it had ground Christianity into the dust. And yet, in this darkest hour, the impossible happened; the two Augustii retired in 311; and, two years later, the new rulers Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, which legalized Christianity...

(Vatican Radio) May we “continue and intensify the commitment to ecumenism, encounter and dialogue towards full communion:” with that message, Pope Francis on Thursday welcomed in the Vatican Baselios Paulose II, Catholicos of the East and Metropolitan of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Tracey McClure reports: In his remarks to the Catholicos, Pope Francis recalled the efforts of his predecessor John Paul II and the former Catholicos Moran Mar Baselios Marthoma Mathews I which led to the creation in 1990 of an ongoing commission which has laid out agreements for the “common use of buildings of worship and cemeteries,...

An interview with Robert R. ReillyRobert R. Reilly is a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council. He has taught at the National Defense University and has written for the Wall Street Journal, National Review, Claremont Review of Books, and the Washington Post. He has served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President (1983-85) and was Senior Advisor for Information Strategy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (2002-06). He is a former director of the Voice of America and is a member of the board of the Middle East Media Research Institute. Mr. Reilly...

Thinking over the Christian martyrs in all of their awe-inspiring diversity, I sometimes find it fun to speculate: for which Christian principle would I prefer to die? Transubstantiation? The Trinitarian formula? It is easy to lose oneself in a kind of holy envy of generations past., Even St. Thomas More, though no stranger to tawdry political realities, was ultimately able to offer his life as a testament to the authority of Rome. We for our part are most likely to suffer over sex, since that is the place where the enemy has now concentrated his forces in the battle for...

Increasingly, rumours are circulating about the future transformation of the Cathedral of Saint Sophia into a mosque. This is worrisome because two other temples, also dedicated to Saint Sophia, were recently transformed from museums into mosques. The two churches in question are Hagia Sophia in Nicaea (Iznik), where the first ecumenical council was held, and Hagia Sophia in Trebizond (Trabzon). For the record, with the fall of Constantinople (1453), all of the city's churches were converted into mosques, but with the advent of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the most important monuments were turned into museums.Skylife, the free magazine handed...

Smolensk, September 2, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia insisted on Saturday that Russia defend its values against alleged Western attempts to make the country scrap them. "Not formal sovereignty but real sovereignty - the ability to defend one's point of view in the international arena even if it doesn't coincide with the opinion of the most powerful of countries," Patriarch Kirill said at a meeting with students in Smolensk, where he is on a pastoral visit. "Today there are many people in the world who are annoyed by our sovereignty," he said, citing one foreign politicians...

An interview with Robert P. George, new chairman of US International Freedom CommissionRobert P. George is the new chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a panel on which he has served as a commissioner since 2012. Though he has a personal interest in religious freedom—his father’s family is Syrian Orthodox, and some of his relatives have fled Syria due to religious persecution—his outlook is global, overseeing research and reports on limitations on religion worldwide, involving Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and others. The longtime McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, George is a visiting professor at Harvard...

Tbilisi, August 29, Interfax - A group of Orthodox Christians blocked a road in Georgia on Thursday to prevent the return of the metal skeleton of a minaret to the village from where it had been removed for an alleged customs formality. The metal frame was made in Turkey, imported last month and installed in a mosque that was opened recently in the private house of Jambul Abuladze in the village of Chela, near the town of Akhaltsikhe. On Tuesday, the Revenue Service had it dismantled it and taken to Tbilisi for a formality that had allegedly not been performed...

What do you think of when someone mentions the word “beauty�?  If you’re in your twenties, you might think of Beyoncé, Natalie Portman, or Tyra Banks; if you’re in your fifties it might be Audrey Hepburn or Sophia Loren.  Or perhaps you’d think of a newborn baby, a spectacular landscape, or a sunset.  The point is that most of us are drawn to what we consider to be beautiful like moths to a candle flame – it’s almost magnetic.  When we are confronted with it, we long to be close, involved in every aspect. For instance, many of those who...

Moscow (AsiaNews) - The concern for the fate of Christians in Syria , where " extremist forces aim to completely destroy Christianity ", the signs of a possible "normalization of worship for Orthodox believers in China " ; dissatisfaction in the field of theological dialogue with Catholics, but the "amazing results " in the common work on moral and the social values ​​. In an interview with AsiaNews , Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk , Head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Relations, tackles the main "foreign policy" themes of the Russian Orthodox Church and also focuses on the internal...

Blessed Vladimir Ghika Saturday, 31 August 2013 16:25 Joy in Heaven and on EarthThe beatification of the Romanian Prince, Monsignor Vladimir Ghika, martyr, took place this morning in Bucharest, Romania.  I have, for many years, had a devotion to Monsignor Ghika, and pray that his beatification will cause the beauteous light of his holiness to shine more brightly in the Church and in the world.A Saint of Our TimesVladimir Ghika was born on December 25, 1873 in Constantinople, today’s Istanbul, Turkey.  He died on May 16, 1954 in Jilava, Bucharest in Romania. Blessed Vladimir was the grandson of the...

David Cameron will almost certainly get his Syrian war. Who will fight it, let alone who will win it, remains unclear. But who will lose it is already known — the Christians. The relentless persecution of Christ’s followers is foretold in the Gospels. Suffering is portrayed as the pathway to triumph. The global position today conforms quite closely to that picture. Three quarters of the world’s 2.2 billion Christians — the expanding part — now live outside the largely tolerant West. At the same time, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reports that Christians suffer more persecution than...

A priest who died of cold and hunger in a Communist prison will be beatified as a martyr in Romania. Archbishop Ioan Robu of Bucharest, president of the Romanian bishops’ conference, said the sanctity of Mgr Vladimir Ghika had “given us an important new example of a life lived for Church and faith”. Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes, is scheduled to celebrate the beatification Mass in Bucharest’s Romexpo exhibition centre on Saturday. Archbishop Robu said that Mgr Ghika would represent many other “unknown and unrecognised Christian martyrs” who died in Romania during four decades...

CAIRO (CNS) --The Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary sits in a tiled courtyard a few miles outside Cairo, on the left bank of the Nile as the river bends south toward Upper Egypt. The structure's front doors overlook the famed river, which Egyptian Christians who pray and worship here are convinced transported Mary, Joseph and their small boy, Jesus, to safety from persecution back home. "In those times, this was a dock area from where the boats took off for Upper Egypt. The Holy Family came here from Palestine and got on one," explained one of the church's...

Speaking to AsiaNews, Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Department for External Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, condemns threats of NATO intervention without a UN mandate. More victims will be "sacrificed on the altar of an imaginary democracy".Moscow (AsiaNews) - As a Western military intervention against the regime of Bashar al-Assad appears increasingly likely, the Russian Orthodox Church expresses "strong concern" about possible developments of the crisis, this following US charges that the regime used chemical weapons against civilians. "Once again, as was the case in Iraq, the United States is acting as an international executioner", said Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk,...

(CNN) -- There have been Christians in the Middle East since the time of, well, Christ. Now that two millennium-long history could be in danger. Islamist thugs have attacked dozens of churches across Egypt in the past few days, burning many of them down. The attacks seemed to be protests against the brutal military government crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood that killed many hundreds of Egyptian Islamists over the past week. Pope Tawadros II, the leader of Egypt's Christian Copts, met publicly with top military officers as they announced the coup that removed President Mohamed Morsy and his Muslim Brotherhood...