Free Republic

There is one particular thing that illustrates better than anything else the unreasonableness — and some would say gall — of homosexuality activists. It’s not demanding that bakers, shirt printers, and wedding planners be party to events and expression deeply contrary to their principles, as offensive as that is. What I speak of is something even more fundamental, something again brought to light by the recent Vatican synod on the family. As many know, the synod made news with an unwisely released and widely misrepresented mid-term report containing language that the secular media interpreted as signaling church capitulation on the...

If only he had shaved that morning. Basilios Bessarion grew up in an Eastern Orthodox community in present-day Turkey in the early 15th century. He become a monk, then an abbot, and was eventually appointed to be a metropolitan bishop by the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaeologus, with whom he attended the ecumenical Council of Florence with hopes to reunite eastern and western Christianity. Though Bessarion was originally against reunion with Rome, he quickly changed his mind and became the most important Eastern Orthodox advocate for reunion at the council. Pope Eugene IV was so impressed by him that he...

Kharkov, October 6, Interfax - Activists of the Gromadska varta Kharkiv organization set up a four-meter wooden cross on the pedestal of the dismantled monument to Lenin at the Svoboda Square in Kharkov. The cross stands together with the Ukrainian flag that was elevated above the pedestal right after the monument had been dismantled. The pedestal is surrounded with construction stages. "We think that the cross is a symbol of freedom, symbol of unity. We want to stop discords in Ukraine with the power of the life-giving cross," activist Nelya Yarovenko said. According to her, the cross was set up...

Globalization, the Internet and terrorism have awakened many American Christians to the history and contributions of Eastern forms of the faith, experts say.It’s hardly unusual to hear evangelicals and other Protestants praying for persecuted Eastern Christians these days, especially those fleeing terrorists forces in Syria and Iraq. But that wasn’t always the case. and if there had been such prayers in years past, they likely would have been for the salvation of Orthodox and other Eastern Christians. Many Protestants, and evangelicals in particular, “have grown up with biases against Catholics and Orthodox that have been based upon an assumption that...

Those who engage in debates on a regular basis know that the argument itself can easily shape the points involved. This is another way of saying that some debates should be avoided entirely since merely getting involved in them can be the road to ruin. There are a number of Christian scholars (particularly among the Orthodox) who think that the classical debates between Christians and Muslims during the Middle Ages had just such disastrous results for Christian thinking. Now when engaging in religious debates it is all too easy to agree to things that might make for later problems. It...

SLAVYANSK, Ukraine - Peter Dudnik is convinced that the masked gunmen swallowing up large swaths of eastern Ukraine are a serious threat to evangelical Christians. Dudnik is a senior leader of Good News Church in Slavyansk, Ukraine. In an exclusive interview, Dudnik told CBN News the pro-Russian rebels "didn't treat Christians well because they consider the Orthodox Church far superior than any other church." "They also believe that Protestant Christians are American spies and since America is the enemy, evangelical Christians are also the enemy," he explained. ***Snip*** Not only did the Orthodox priests take over his church for services,...

Click to PRE-ORDER Italian writers have finally gotten to the section by Archbp. Cyril Vasil, SJ, in The Book, that is, the “Five Cardinals” book in defense of the Catholic teaching on marriage.Available now in the UK: HEREArchbishop Vasil is Secretary of the Congregation for Oriental Churches. Sandro Magister has an entry today in which he focuses on Archbp. Vasil’s essay “Separation, Divorce, Dissolution of the Bond, and Remarriage: Theological and Practical Approaches of the Orthodox Churches. There is an extensive excerpt too.Magister’s introductory comments: The example of the Orthodox Churches that allow second marriages is an argument enlisted by...

Moscow Gathering Plays Out Against Backdrop of International Sanctions For those who came of age during the Cold War, the idea that Christian Westerners would be invited as special guests inside the Kremlin seems unthinkable. But this was the scene at the International Forum on Large Families and the Future of Humanity, held in Moscow September 10-11. More than 1,000 pro-life, pro-family participants traveled from around the world to attend the Forum, which was headlined by high-profile Russian Ministers and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill I. The event received enthusiastic support from the Russian government, which allowed the conference to be...

DER ZOR, Syria (A.W.)—The Islamic State (also known as ISIS) destroyed the Armenian Genocide Memorial Church in Der Zor, news agencies in the Middle East reported. The reports surfaced as Armenia was celebrating the 23rd anniversary of its independence on Sept. 21. Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian issued a statement condemning the destruction of the church, which housed the remains of victims of the Armenian Genocide, calling it a “horrible barbarity.” Nalbandian called upon the international community to cut the Islamic State’s sources of supply, support, and financing, and eradicate what it referred to as a disease that “threatened civilized...

Jerome's Vulgate was the first translation of the Old Testament into Latin --- directly from the Masoretic Text. Given that, was Jerome's Version, the Vulgate, inspired by God if Jesus did not quote from the Masoretic Text? If Jesus Christ did not quote from the Masoretic Text, what authoritative power(s) could the original Vulgate have contained, and what authentic inspiration did Jerome possess at that time of his translation? At the time its translation the Vulgate was considered to be authoritative, but how correct were any at this time to declare the Vulgate to be authoritative and/or inspired? If it...

Click to PRE-ORDER I have been posting about the soon-to-be-released book by five cardinala and four scholars called Remaining In The Truth Of Christ. This book is a defense of the Catholic doctrine marriage. It is an important book, some of it may be hard for all readers to read, but it is worth the effort.It is still available for 25% off as a pre-order. HEREThus, I was please to find an EXCELLENT comment in the other entry, so good that I reproduce it here as a separate post.I want to thank PaterAugustinus for his honest evaluation of Orthodox oikonomia....

Mohammed Bakr al-Baghdadi, the brother of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is the Caliph of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, has converted to christianity, reports Al-Jazeera this morning. The move has brought the man an unprecedented backlash from the Salafist Sunni community that has ordered a fatwa, or death-sentence, on the man as soon as the news was spread in media around the muslim world. "He is no more my brother then the miscreant American pigs we slay everyday" told the self-proclaimed Caliph to a large crowd of his followers. "Let Allah not forget this treacherous swine when he pleads on his...

The Russian Orthodox Church has cancelled an official doctrinal dialogue with the Finnish Lutheran Church over the Lutheran stance on homosexuality. The Orthodox side wanted to pre-approve a communique before the meeting, but talks broke down over the Finns’ refusal to condemn homosexuality.Finnish and Russian attitudes to gay rights are poles apart, and that’s helping to derail doctrinal dialogues between the two countries’ largest religions. Archbishop Kari Mäkinen says that he was forced to cancel planned ecumenical dialogues when he met the Russia Patriarch Kiril in Moscow. The Russian Orthodox Church wanted to agree a statement in advance, as the...

(AFP) -- Threats by jihadists have sent a fresh wave of Christians fleeing their Iraqi homeland, bustling from exodus to exodus in search of a safe haven to rebuild their lives Raja Marzina, who has taken refuge in Jordan with her husband and their five children, never imagined she would one day have to leave Iraq for good. "But we had no choice; we had to flee to save our lives and our religion," she said. Like dozens of others who fled the orgy of violence unleashed by Islamic State (IS) jihadists this summer, Marzina goes to the Syriac Catholics...

Saudi authorities have swooped on a house in the eastern province city of Khafji, on the border with Kuwait, and arrested 27 people for using the premises as church last week. Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) also confiscated copies of the Bible and various musical instruments from the people during the raid. The swoop was prompted by a tip from a citizen, reported the English-language newspaper Saudi Gazette. Those arrested on September 5 were of various Asian nationalities, including women and children, the newspaper reported. "A citizen reported suspicious activities in...

QAA, Lebanon (AP) -- Every day around sunset, dozens of residents of this small Lebanese Christian village on the border carry their automatic rifles and deploy on surrounding hills, taking up positions and laying ambushes in case Muslim extremists from neighboring Syria attack. "We all know that if they come, they will slit our throats for no reason," said one villager as he drove through the streets of Qaa, an assault rifle resting next to him. Like many Christian villagers, he spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety.

(JNS.org) Christian militias have started to arm themselves for the first time in decades as Lebanese military leaders urge unity in the face of the jihadist threat. “ISIS is a cancerous tumor that surfaced at first in parts of Iraq and Syria and it’s still contained to a certain point and this can be removed only if we join our efforts via an international Arab alliance,” Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea said Sept. 6, the Daily Star reported. In the face of the threat posed by Islamic State, Christians from groups such as the Free Patriotic Movement political party are...

(Vatican Radio) The atrocities committed by Islamic State (in Arabic: “Daesh”) militants in Iraq should be a wakeup call to the international community to take action. That’s according to Lebanese Patriarchal Vicar for the Maronite Church, Archbishop Paul Sayah who warns that if IS and other extremist Islamic groups are not stopped, they will threaten the security of other states within and without the Middle East. Tens of thousands of Christians, Yazidis and other minorities have fled to Northern Iraq to escape the death threats and brutality of the militants. “I think everybody should wake up, otherwise, I think this...

Baghdad (AsiaNews) - Islamic State fighters spills more Christian blood in Iraq as they continue to persecute unarmed civilians, including children. Sources within the Chaldean Patriarchate told AsiaNews that yesterday Sunni fundamentalists tortured and killed a Christian man in Bartala, a small predominantly Syriac town in the Niniveh Plains that has been occupied by Jihadists for the past few weeks. He was part of a small group who did not flee when the place was overrun. According to reports from a witness, the martyr - as the Patriarchate calls him - was a man of 43, Salem Matti Kourki. He...

(Vatican Radio) In a letter to the Orthodox world marking the Ecclesiastical New Year, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I has announced an Environmental Summit next June on the theme of “Theology, Ecology, and the Word: a conversation on environment, literature and the arts.”He says the aim of this conference is to “awaken the global conscience to the particular and specific importance of the ethical and spiritual dimension of the ecological crisis – with special reference to the arts and literature – in order that it may be returned to its “original beauty,” which is the natural, hole and sacred...