News
Byzcath.org News provides news focusing on the Christian East from varous sources and offers links to other sites dedicated to providing the news about the Church.
Churches and organizations that provide news about the Eastern Churches are invited to submit their news stories to us for publication here (use the contact page for submission)..
Materials from the Vatican Information Service, Zenit, CWNews.com and other sources are published here with permission of their owners but may not be republished further without the permission of their original publishers. Please visit these sites to obtain additional general news about the Church. In addition to these sources EWTN News also provides a good general news summary.
Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
- Details
CWNews.com - Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople has denounced the peaceful use of nuclear power, saying that it is a “provocation” that violates the laws of nature.
Reacting to fears that Japanese nuclear reactors would release large amounts of radiation after their cooling systems were damaged by a massive earthquake, the Ecumenical Patriarch said that nuclear energy is “dangerous to the integrity of the human race.” He expressed dismay that mankind is relying on this source of energy, “thus threatening its survival.” The Orthodox leader, who has made environmentalism a keystone of his public ministry, said that the world should learn to rely on renewable sources of energy.
Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.
- Details
JOHNSTOWN, PA - His Eminence, Metropolitan Nicholas, 75, spiritual leader of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the U.S.A., reposed in the Lord today, March, 13 2011 after waging a courageous battle with cancer.
All Diocesan Clergy and Faithful are asked at this time to remember the Newly Reposed +Metropolitan Nicholas as well as his brothers George and Michael and the entire Smisko Family in their prayers.
May Almighty God rest His Newly Departed Servant, Our God-Loving Metropolitan Nicholas in the Heavenly Mansions, where there is neither sickness, sorrow or pain, but Life Everlasting!
May His Memory Be Eternal!
Complete details will be forthcoming and posted as it is available. A special webpage has been established to memorialize His Eminence and keep diocesan clergy and faithful updated at www.metropolitan.acrod.org
- Details
CWNews.com - Cardinal Kurt Koch, the new president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, travels to Moscow this weekend for his first meeting with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Cardinal Koch will meet with Patriarch Kirill, who was the chief ecumenical spokesman for the Moscow patriarchate prior to his election in January 2009 as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Their meeting follows just after a visit to the Vatican by Russia’s President Dimitri Medvedev, which had prompted speculation that the Russian leader might carry an informal message from the Moscow patriarchate.
Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.
- Details
Prot. N. 202 - March 6, 2011
Very Reverend Protopresbyters, Very Reverend and Reverend Fathers, and dearly-beloved faithful of our God-saved Diocese:
GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST! GLORY FOREVER!
"Open to me, O Giver of Life, the gates of repentance, for early in the morning my spirit seeks Your holy temple, bearing a temple of the body all defiled. But in Your compassion cleanse it by Your loving-kindness and Your mercy."
Matins Stichiri of Repentance
Once again we are about to embark on an amazing spiritual journey, for at sundown this evening we will begin the sacred season of the Great Fast. But our Holy Mother Church has already begun to prepare us for it well in advance. Even before the Triodion itself began three weeks ago, on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, when the above verse was first sung at Matins, we already heard the theme of the approaching season. It was on the Saturday before the Theophany that we first encountered the message. That great man of God, the Holy Prophet, Forerunner, and Baptist John revealed it to us as the entranceway into the Kingdom of God. He loudly proclaimed to all who came out to hear him: "REPENT, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 3:2). On the Sunday after Theophany, we hear our Lord continue in the same vein with the very same words, "REPENT, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17). That is not simply the theme of Lent; IT IS OUR GOAL. This is what we are setting out to do!
From the pages of the spiritual literature of our Holy Orthodox Church, we hear this awesome example of repentance brought about through great humility:
The Bishop of a certain province once fell into great sin. The next day was a Feast Day, and he was supposed to liturgize at a Church that was celebrating its Patron Saint and to which the whole city usually went.
As soon as he entered the church, he went up on the amvon, revealed his sin in front of the crowd, took off his episcopal stole (omophor), gave it to his deacon, and with great contrition loudly said, so that all could hear:
"After such a sin, I can no longer be your Bishop. Choose someone worthy."
He started to leave. However, the people, who loved him, prevented him from doing so.
"Remain in your post and let the sin be upon us," they all shouted with one voice.
Moved by the love of the people, the Bishop once again ascended the amvon and said:
"If you want me to stay in my post, which I hold unworthily, you will do as I tell you."
He ordered the doors of the Church shut and only one small exit to remain open. He fell to the ground in front of the exit and shouted to the congregation for all of them to heed him:
"Anyone who dares not step on me, when leaving here, will have no place with God."
The Christians, in order not to lose their Bishop, obeyed. One by one, as they left, they stepped on him. When the last one had passed by, a voice from heaven was heard, saying: "Because of his great humility, his sin is forgiven."
Thus it is, great or lowly, young or elderly, educated or illiterate, whatever station in life, all of us have need of repentance. In the early Church, this was the manner of confession as revealed in the above incident. While many people may ask for a general or group Confession today, they have no idea of what this really means; it does not mean to confess silently as a group, but rather to declare your sins before the group! WHAT GREAT HUMILITY THAT TOOK! This concept ought encourage those who shy away from Holy Confession to be more willing to approach this Holy Mystery with less fear and concern. We must all be grateful for private confession, considering the alternative!
True repentance is much more, however, than simply an enumeration of our sins, whether in our daily prayers or in sacramental confession, and then by saying some prescribed prayers of penance. True repentance - "metanoia," - is a "turning around," a change of life for the better, the putting off of the old man and putting on the new. In Holy Scriptures, everyone who came into contact with the Lord Jesus, and repented, came away a totally different person. Consider Zacchaeus! He was despised by his fellow Israelites because of his greed and dishonesty, but having met Christ, he changed his lifestyle completely. He promised to make considerable restitution for his sins. The Bible is full of numerous such examples of transformed lives.
St. Gregory Palamas, in his sermon "On the Precious and Life-giving Cross," reminds us: "After our First Parents transgressed against God through the tree in paradise, sin came to life, but we died, submitting, even before physical death, to the death of the soul, its separation from God." Every time we sin, we separate ourselves from God. Through the Tree of the Cross we can once again be reunited to God! This is the goal of our repentance: to be reunited with God!
This fasting season provides us with the tools to do precisely that. Through fasting, prostrations, profound repentance, prayer, Scripture reading, additional attendance at Divine Worship, Confession and Communion, almsgiving, and any other good and holy activity we might undertake, we return to God as did the Prodigal Son. My prayer for you is that you take advantage of this great opportunity afforded us, and that you are able to mend your own personal relationship with our loving Saviour during this special and unique time of year.
With my prayers for you and your families that you take up your Cross of repentance and bear it well throughout these holy days and grow in spirit and experience a meaningful, uplifting, and spiritually-beneficial Great Fast, I remain
Most sincerely yours in Christ,
+METROPOLITAN NICHOLAS
- Details
CWNews.com - Egypt's Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has met with Coptic Christians whose church was burned down by a Muslim mob, and promised to restore security and help rebuild the church.
Although the Egyptian government has not yet taken any action to follow up on Sharaf's promises, a spokesman for the Coptic Church notes that this was an unprecedented meeting between a prime minister and Christian protesters.
Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.
- Details
To All Bishops, Priests and Faithful of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Throughout the World
From H. B. Patriarch Gregorios III
At this very difficult moment for Arab countries, we ask all Christian people to be mindful that, in the body of Christ, “whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.” (1 Corinthians 12: 26) The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council remind us further of the solidarity of Christians with their fellows,
The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men. United in Christ, they are led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the Kingdom of their Father and they have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for every man. That is why this community realizes that it is truly linked with mankind and its history by the deepest of bonds. (Gaudium et Spes 1, 1965)