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Many religions have laws governing ritual purity. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, ruled that under its own laws, a gluten-free wheat wafer cannot be used to confect the Eucharist. Unless you are a canonist or otherwise versed in this sort of thing, please, reader, spare me complaints about this. It is just as parochial to complain about why Jews can't eat bacon, Muslims can't drink wine, and so forth. It is what it is, and there are reasons within the various traditions for these taboos. The point is, gluten-free wheat wafers are unacceptable for the Eucharist in Catholic churches,...

Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois Democratic nominee for US Senator, [and member of the Greek Orthodox Church] supports homosexual marriage. Here’s the introduction from the Greek Star (a Chicago newspaper with Greek readership): Alexi Giannoulias, Democratic nominee for US Senator, shares why he supports the freedom to marry for all, including people of the same sex. This is something that many of his supporters, and especially Greek-Americans may be opposed to. ... He stated, “There may be many individuals that may not be happy with my particular stance”. The Greek Orthodox church does not allow, or support, same sex marriage. Giannoulias in...

(ANSA) - Rome, June 30 - The Italian government has voiced its optimism over the outcome of an appeal heard Wednesday against a landmark European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling on the display of crucifixes in school classrooms. Last November, the ECtHR said the compulsory display of crosses in Italian schools violated children's and parents' freedom of belief, prompting Rome to request that the matter be referred to the court's appeal body, the Grand Chamber. Following the three-hour hearing, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy had "everything in order to ensure a positive result". "This is a great...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Crucifix is symbol of European identity, asserts Russian bishop Rome, Italy, Jun 22, 2010 / 09:51 pm (CNA).- As the EU court in Strasbourg prepares to issue a new ruling on the public display of crucifixes on June 30, the president of the Bishops' Conference of Russia, Bishop Joseph Werth, noted that the crucifix is not only a religious symbol but it also represents Europe’s true identity. “Religious symbols such as the cross are not only the sign of Christianity but also one of the most important elements of European identity,” the bishop said. In a statement published...

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel have staged mass demonstrations against a court ruling that forces the integration of a religious girls' school. The rallies took place in Jerusalem and in other cities on Thursday in a show of mass defiance over the ruling by the supreme court. Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, said 10,000 police were deployed to maintain order as demonstrators held posters that read: "The Supreme Court is fascist." "The prisoners of Emanuel are the messengers of the Jewish people," read another. At the centre of the dispute is an Orthodox school in the Emanuel Jewish settlement...

Since the late 11th century, Western merchants, primarily from the Italian city-states of Venice, Genoa and Pisa, had started appearing in the East. The first had been the Venetians, who had secured large-scale trading concessions from Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Subsequent extensions of these privileges and Byzantium's own naval impotence at the time resulted in a virtual maritime monopoly and stranglehold over the Empire by the Venetians.[3] Alexios' grandson, Manuel I Komnenos, wishing to reduce their influence, began to reduce the privileges of Venice while concluding agreements with her rivals: Pisa, Genoa and Amalfi.[4] Gradually, all four Italian cities...

Because there is typically no such thing as a pulpit in the Byzantine Churches, the priest or deacon who is to preach usually stands on the soleas in front of the Royal Doors, without notes or text, and preaches extemporaneously. Likewise, the Evangelion of the Byzantine Liturgikon is an annual one, without cycles for alternate years; and the temptation to drift far from the Scriptures of the day into less appropriate subject matter, rather than explore ever new and deepening mysteries in the passages provided, is often difficult to resist. The purpose of this web site is to present my...

Pope Benedict XVI Nicosia, Cyprus, Jun 6, 2010 / 11:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Instrumentum laboris, consigned to participants in October's Special Assembly for the Middle East by Pope Benedict XVI, addresses concerns of a decrease in Christian presence in the region, the "vital" nature of Muslim-Christian relations and the need to maintain cohesion between the Churches of the Middle East. It also insists that the Churches defend their place in the region.Patriarchs and bishops of the Middle Eastern Churches were on hand in Nicosia, Cyprus on Sunday morning to receive the Instrumentum laboris, or working document, directly from...

'CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (CATHOLIC ONLINE) - Most of the time, we need constant reminders of the immense gifts that God continually bestows upon us. The Eucharist is an immense miracle, but sometimes we need to be reminded just how amazing this miracle really is. One such reminder took place in 1263. A German priest, Peter of Prague, stopped at Bolsena while on a pilgrimage to Rome. He is described as being a pious priest, but one who found it difficult to believe in Transubstantiation. While celebrating Mass at the tomb of St. Christina, located in Bolsena, Italy, he had barely...

Photo credit: Radiovaticana.org Paphos, Cyrpus, Jun 4, 2010 / 11:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Speaking at an ecumenical celebration in Cyprus, the Holy Father explained that like the original evangelizers of the island, every Christian is called to witness to the Lord and his Gospel.Members of the Orthodox Church, led by His Beatitude Chrysostomos II, and many Catholic Church representatives including Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, were present for the celebration at the Church of Agia Kiriaki Chrysopolitissa for the ecumenical encounter on Friday afternoon. Other representations included those from the Armenian,...

(AINA) -- An Egyptian court issued a controversial ruling on Saturday, May 29, which deprived the head of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church of the control over matters of divorce and marriage, giving the civil courts the authority to oversee affairs which the Church considers are in its core religious competencies.The Supreme Administrative Court's ruling compels HH Pope Shenouda III, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, to give a license for marriage for the second time to a divorced Coptic man, rejecting Pope Shenouda's appeal and upholding the ruling by a lower court.The Supreme Administrative Court, headed by Justice...

1. Where does the Bible claim sola scriptura? 2. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous- ness; That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." --> it doesn't say that Scriptura is sufficient, just that it is profitable i.e. helpful. the entire verse from 14 to 17 says "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou...

Vatican City, May 26, 2010 / 01:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- L'Osservatore Romano reported several hopeful encounters the Holy Father had after Wednesday's general audience in St. Peter's Square. Hopes for improved inter-religious relations were brought to the Pope by a Muslim-Catholic joint delegation from Canada and a Catholic archbishop located in Moscow.Leaders of the Sunni, Sciite and Druze communities of Lebanese descent now residing in Canada told the Pope that "Co-existence between Christians and Muslims is possible" and is the key to peace in the Middle East."Our faiths are different but don't oppose each other and our experience in Canadian...

A Holy Alliance between Rome and Moscow Is Born The common objective: the "new evangelization" of Europe. A delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church visits the Vatican, which publishes an anthology of the patriarch's writings. A meeting between Kirill and Benedict XVI keeps getting closer by Sandro Magister ROME, May 24, 2010 – Benedict XVI will soon create a new "pontifical council" expressly dedicated to the "new evangelization." Not for mission countries where the congregation "de propaganda fide" is already at work. But for the countries of ancient Christian tradition that are today in danger of losing the faith. Pope...

Featured Term (selected at random):COUNCIL OF TRULLO A synod held in 692 by the Eastern bishops at Constantinople to finish the work of the fifth and sixth general councils (552 and 680), also held in the same city. So called because the meetings were under the dome (Greek troullos) of the Emperor's palace. The disciplinary decrees were rejected by the Pope, notably because the Trullan Synod failed to repudiate the opinion that dissolution of a sacramental marriage is sometimes legitimate. Remarriage after divorce, approved by the Eastern Orthodox, is commonly traced to the decision of the bishops at Trullo. All...

First, I must lay all my cards on the table. I long for the full communion of the Orthodox and Catholic Church. I pray daily for the full communion of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. I do so because I believe it is the will of God that "All May be One" (John 17: 21). I also believe that the healing of the division between the two churches would unleash a profound renewal of the entire Church at the dawn of what I believe is a new missionary age. I believe that the gifts found in the whole Church will...

Some Orthodox leaders and scholars have argued that same-sex civil unions, while not recognized and blessed by the Orthodox Church, should nevertheless be accepted and protected by the state in the spirit of democracy. [...] These positions seem to present a fair and reasonable perspective that maintains a balance between the Orthodox Church’s unwavering support for traditional marriage and her absolute rejection of all homosexual unions, and the secular and democratic society we live in. On closer inspection however, the reality of such moderated and accommodating views exposes a danger that may not have been considered when such support was...

IRINEJ, by the grace of God, Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch, with the all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church – to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Paschal greeting: CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN! “Christ is risen from dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.” (Paschal troparion) In greeting you, dear brothers and sisters, with the...

The recent turmoil surrounding the recent passage of healthcare legislation by the United States Congress is providing ample opportunity to look at the absence of Orthodox leadership. As a reminder, this blog’s purpose is not political. To the extent this legislation reflects Caesar’s affairs, it is generally best for the Church to remain silent.

As a Greek Orthodox priest, I am compelled – in the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus – to rebuke and renounce this Bill as being demonic. Although there might be some good things within the Bill, they are totally negated by the presence of this ungodly attempt to make every working American culpable to the blood of these precious little ones, who are being slaughtered by the thousands– for PROFIT – everyday of the year! Would you drink a glass of the most expensive bottled water, if you knew that a drop of deadly poison had been placed in...