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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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CWNews.com - Bedouin human traffickers in the Sinai desert have assaulted and murdered two Orthodox deacons being held hostage, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide. The organization called upon Egypt to “become more proactive in bringing its treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in line with international norms, and [end] human trafficking within its borders.”
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CWNews.com - Catholic and Lutheran officials in the Russian city of Kaliningrad have been frustrated for years in their efforts to regain the use of church buildings that had been confiscated by the Soviet regime. Now the local government has handed over control of those churches—not to the original Catholic and Lutheran owners, but to the Russian Orthodox Church.
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CWNews.com - The existence of the world’s oldest Syrian Orthodox monastery, located in Turkey, is threatened by the actions of government officials and Muslim Kurds, The Economist reports. Built in 397, Mor Gabriel Monastery predates the 451 schism that led the Orthodox Oriental churches to cease to be in full communion with the Holy See.
The government, which has long refused to allow the monks to register their ownership of the land, is now seeking to confiscate the monastery’s property.
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Officials of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church claim that they had reached an agreement with the Port Authority for the rebuilding of the church. They argue that the officials have filed to fulfill their responsibilities under the terms of a preliminary agreement reached in 2008.
The building of houses of worship near the site where the World Trade Center once stood has become controversial because of a separate plan to construct a mosque nearby.
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CWNews.com - Two more Christians have been murdered in Baghdad, as the campaign of violence against Iraq’s religious minority continues unabated.
The latest murders—of an elderly couple, who were stabbed by intruders who broke into their home—occurred on Sunday, December 5. A government spokesman said that the killers were “non-Iraqi” Arabs—hinting that they were foreign terrorists.
An estimated 500 Christian families are now leaving Baghdad and Mosul to seek temporary shelter in the northern region of Kurdistan. The Iraqi government has promised financial help to Christians who leave their homes, but has not been able to ensure security for those who remain in Iraq’s cities.
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by Laura Badaracco for Romasette
25 November 2010
A series of meetings with experts at the Cultural Centre of via della Greca,
with the object of promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue
A series of conferences to raise awareness of the Eastern Christian heritage, called The Churches of the Middle East: identity, testimony and dialogue, a series of meetings, with free entry and on a monthly basis, - will be held at the headquarters of the Cultural Centre Bocca della Verità, at 3 via della Greca starting this afternoon, November 25. "Various scholars and experts will be describing a journey into the rich heritage of ecclesiastical traditions of the East," anticipates Naman Tarcha, manager of the Centre, opened in the monumental complex of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.
"Our main objective is the promotion of interreligious and intercultural dialogue,” underlines Archim. Mtanios Haddad, director of the Centre. “In this context, we have decided to promote knowledge of Arab culture, protecting and enhancing the cultural, artistic and historical heritage of the Middle East, making it alive in relation to the changes and challenges of the present, focusing at all levels on the formation and development of the person."
In a series of meetings and in its other cultural initiatives, the Centre "seeks to be a bridge between the two shores of the Mediterranean, for the rediscovery of a world that often seems so close but far away, where every stone has a story to tell, but especially where the dialogue between peoples is based on mutual respect, justice and peace," notes Tarcha. He adds: "We would like to tell people about this rich, colourful mosaic of the Middle East, where peoples, ethnicities and religions have lived together forever."
The series of conferences, therefore, is accompanied by a full programme of activities: courses in Arabic and Italian language and culture, Byzantine choral chant (from 27 November, every Saturday afternoon from 4p.m - 5p.m.) and individual violin, mosaics and iconography.
The lecture series begins today at 5. 30.m., with "The Ethiopian Church," described by Fr. Groum Tesfaye, S. J., of the Philosophical and Theological Institute in Addis Ababa. On 16 December, at 5p.m., the reality of the Chaldean Church will be illustrated by Msgr. Pierre Yousif, of the Parisian Centre Eglise d'Orient, while Don George Jahola, of the Roman College of St. Ephrem will present the Syro-Antiochian Church on January 20, 2011 at the same hour.
A month later, on February 20, Fr. Augustin Mouhanna – of the Université Saint-Esprit of Kaslik, Lebanon - will reveal the characteristics of the Maronite Church, while to explain the spread of the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Church there will be Fr. Jacov Kulić, of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, speaking on March 17, followed on 31 by Fr. Germano Marani, S. J., a lecturer at the same university, talking about the Byzantine Church.
On April 14, Msgr. Mtanios Haddad, Apocrisary in Rome of H. B. Patriarch Gregorios III Laham, will give a talk about the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. The last two meetings will be confined to May - 5 and 19 respectively: the first, on the Coptic Church, will be led by Fr. Mamdouh Chehab Bassilios, friar and professor at the Centre Franciscain d'Etudes orientales chrétiennes in Cairo; the second will be led by Fr. Boghos Zekiyan, from the Venetian University Ca 'Cappello, Venice, on the topic of the Armenian Church. To complete the cycle, there will be a concert of sacred music of the Christian East, with the participation of choirs formed from the different Eastern churches present in the capital.
For more information, www.centroboccadellaverita.com
http://www.romasette.it/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6523&keywords=santa+maria+cosmedin
Translated from the Italian
V.C.