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Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia Nerses Bedros XIX passed away Thursday, June 25 after suffering a heart attack, media reported, according to The Daily Star. The renowned Egyptian patriarch, who resided in Lebanon, was widely known for serving the Armenian community and promoting its interests. The patriarch had visited Armenian communities in Europe, the Middle East and the U.S. to boost Armenian catholic schools. At his request, the archbishop of Mardine Ignace Maloyan, martyr of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, was proclaimed blessed by Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Square in Rome. The Catholicos Patriarch also sent the...

Marsyas, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons / ChurchPOP The Church is the mystical body of Christ. In Scripture, Jesus says “where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Mt 18.20)So the Church doesn’t strictly need special buildings, because the Church is the people. Nonetheless, from early on, Christians dedicated buildings for their communal worship to God. Most of these early churches are long lost to history, yet a few from the first few centuries still remain, at least in some condition. Here is a picture of the oldest known church that’s still standing (at least partially): Wikimedia...

In light of recent events...

Patriarch Sako calls for Chaldeans and Assyrians to form one Church of the EastChaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako has proposed that the three main Iraqi Christian churches should merge in order to secure the survival of the faith in that country. Writing on the patriarchate website the head of the Chaldean Church, which has been in communion with Rome, proposed a reunion between his church and the two largest Assyrian churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Ancient Church of the East. In a statement the patriarch said: “I would like to share some personal thoughts with...

Church has always been an important part of my life, and it will continue to be the central expression of my faith in God, and the core of my spiritual life. Attending Liturgy was always the pinnacle of my week, and I have virtually every word of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom committed to memory as a result of years as a church musician. My experience of church is beginning to take a different shape, however, after several years of difficult and painful discernment. I am now leaving the Greek Orthodox Church, and continuing to live out my Christianity...

ISIS Muslims are right now surrounding a 4th century Christian monastery, called St. Matthew’s Monastery. Although the Muslim terrorists are armed with machine guns and knives, the Christians inside the church — three monks and six students — are not afraid, declaring: “We of course are not scared. God protects us” Sahar Karaikos, one of six students in the monastery, said We are not scared, because our teachers give us a feeling of peace here, but we know we are on the front lines, and in seconds the Islamic State could be here… I don’t even want to think or...

“The practice of yoga has no place in the lives of Christians,” was the announcement made by the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece in response to the International Day of Yoga, which was established by the United Nations in 2014. The Holy Synod argues that since yoga is a fundamental aspect of Hinduism, it cannot be practiced by Christians because it is contrary to the Christian faith. And because of that it cannot be considered as just a “form of exercise.” The official announcement further states that the Church of Greece respects the freedom of religious belief but...

I would very much like to be a Universalist. In terms of my Christian hope, in terms of my emotional attachments, I would love to believe that in the end, no one would harden their heart against the Love of our Lord Jesus Christ, all would repent and believe, and all would find salvation in the age to come. I believe that this is at least a logical possibility, as there is no person who ever lived who could not repent, to whom God does not extend the offer of salvation. In recent years, Universalism has become a popular option...

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that he considers Russians and Ukrainians "a single people." He justified annexing Crimea and providing military and political support to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics with the claim that he was defending the "Russian world." However, the conflict in Ukraine is the greatest breakdown of that "Russian world" since the reunification of Ukraine and Russia at the Council of Pereyaslav in the early 17th century. One of the main factors contributing to the collapse of that "Russian world" is the schism rapidly forming within the Russian Orthodox Church (ROS). It now seems...

Three monks and six students have taken refuge in the ancient monastery of Mar Mattai in northern Iraq, just 12 miles from the Islamic State-occupied Mosul City, not willing to flee, and expressing "their faith that this is a secure place." Erbil's Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda said a small unit of the Kurdish military is protecting the nine Christians but that's not why they believe they are safe in the shrine, also known as St. Matthew's Monastery. "There is a kind of feeling that they cannot express but they at least feel relaxed in a way that even if, God...

The Russian Orthodox Church has cautiously welcomed the willingness expressed by Pope Francis to establish a common date for Easter, so that Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants will celebrate the Resurrection on the same day. According archpriest Nikolai Balashov, deputy chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department of External Church Relations, the Pontiff’s statements as reported in the media are not sufficient to give a proper understanding of the essence of his proposal. "I would prefer to know the exact statements of Pope Francis first, transmitted by different sources of information," said Balashov, in an interview with Tass news agency, noting that...

Dear friends in Christ, It is with a glad heart full of rejoicing that I share with you that earlier today Metropolitan Jonah received a signed letter of official release from Metropolitan Tikhon and the Synod of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) releasing him to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral), First Hierarch of ROCOR, has been notified that the OCA Synod has, at long last, made good on their promise to release Metropolitan Jonah. Vladyka Jonah is thus received into ROCOR’s jurisdiction. His status–whether he will be received as a retired...

Moscow, June 16, Interfax - With the blessing of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, met with Pope Francis in the Vatican on June 15, the press service of the Synodal Department reported on Tuesday. At the meeting, Metropolitan Hilarion conveyed Patriarch Kirill's greetings to Pope Francis. "The parties discussed a wide range of issues, including the deplorable state of the Christian population in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the need to make joint efforts to protect the traditional idea of...

Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako of Baghdad argues that military action against the Islamic State is justified. “In these circumstances, making war is legitimate,” writes the Chaldean leader, in a new book, Stronger than Terror: The Christians of the Middle East and the Violence of ISIS. Saying that Pope Francis has recognized the need for action, the Patriarch says: “It is self-defense.” The Islamic State is dedicated to the eradication of Christianity, the Iraqi prelate writes. At the same time, he assures readers, many Christians are ready to sacrifice—even to lay down their lives—to preserve their faith. The Patriarch’s...

Maalula (Syria) (AFP) - The historic Christian Syrian town of Maalula celebrated Saturday as a new statue of the Virgin Mary was erected in its centre, replacing the figure destroyed in rebel attacks in 2013. Dozens of families gathered alongside government officials and religious dignitaries in the main square, which was adorned with government flags and a giant portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Located north of Damascus, Maalula is one of the world's oldest Christian settlements, and its inhabitants still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. In April 2014, government troops backed by pro-regime militia recaptured the town from...

GOVERNMENTS should step up efforts in Iraq to “free” Mosul and neighbouring Nineveh from so-called Islamic State so Christians and others can fulfil their dream of returning home – according to a leading archbishop from the region. Marking the first anniversary of the fall of his city to the Islamist terror group, Syrian Catholic Archbishop Yohanna Mouche made an impassioned plea to the “people who have the responsibility” to remove IS and enable people forced out to return and rebuild their lives. In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, the Archbishop of Mosul, Kirkuk and...

Francis had invited Bartholomew to present his encyclical on ecology. Zizoulas, one of the greatest Orthodox theologians, will do it in his place. “Mary is much more important than the apostles.” Forcing migrants back in Asia is not an attitude inherent to a continent that “has a mystical treasure-trove”. Similarly, “the fundamentalism found in some parts of Pakistan where Christians were burnt alive for bearing the Gospel is not inherent”.Rome (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis today proposed that all Christians celebrate Easter at the same time. He did so, noting that “The Catholic Church has been willing since Paul VI to...

In a time when churches of every description are faced with Vanishing Male Syndrome, men are showing up at Eastern Orthodox churches in numbers that, if not numerically impressive, are proportionately intriguing. This may be the only church which attracts and holds men in numbers equal to women. As Leon Podles wrote in his 1999 book, “The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity,” “The Orthodox are the only Christians who write basso profundo church music, or need to.” Rather than guess why this is, I emailed a hundred Orthodox men, most of whom joined the Church as adults. What do...

The Fount of Knowledge is divided into three categories: 1. “Philosophical Chapters” (Kephalaia philosophika) – “With the exception of the fifteen chapters that deal exclusively with logic, it has mostly to do with the ontology of Aristotle. It is largely a summary of the Categories of Aristotle with Porphyry’s “Isagoge” (Eisagoge eis tas kategorias). It seems to have been John Damascene’s purpose to give his readers only such philosophical knowledge as was necessary for understanding the subsequent parts of the “Fountain of Wisdom”. 2. “Concerning Heresy” (Peri aipeseon) – “Little more than a copy of a similar work by Epiphanius,...

Region's Christian leaders choose to meet in Damascus to show their solidarityLebanon’s Maronite Catholic patriarch, visiting war-torn Syria, has condemned “the death of the world’s conscience” in its response to the violence in the Middle East. In a homily on Sunday at the Maronite Cathedral of St. Anthony in Damascus, Cardinal Bechara Rai also issued a call for peace, “for stopping the war, for political solutions and for the honored return” of the 12 million Syrians who have been uprooted by the country’s four-year civil war. “We condemn injustice, the death of the world’s conscience and all those who provide...