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
THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE
Protocol No. 1378
PATRIARCHAL PROCLAMATION UPON THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY
+ B A R T H O L O M E W
BY THE MERCY OF GOD ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE,
NEW ROME, AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH,
TO THE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH,
GRACE, PEACE, AND MERCY
FROM CHRIST OUR SAVIOUR, BORN IN BETHLEHEM
***
"God on earth, man in heaven; and all became mingled together."
St. John Chrysostom
- Details
VATICAN CITY, DEC 19, 2006 (VIS) - Made public today was a Letter from the Pope to Cardinal Ignace Moussa I Daoud, prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches, appointing him as papal delegate for the ceremony of the confirmation of Ecclesiastical Communion of His Beatitude Antonios Naguib, the new patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts. The ceremony is due to take place in the Roman basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls.
- Details
The pastor of the country's largest Christian community gave this intention for prayers and sacrifices: "That the Lord may grant the gift of peace, security and stability to our beloved Iraq, and that a climate of fraternity and charity may reign among the children of Iraq."
- Details
Interview With Bishop Agathangelos of Fanarion
ROME, DEC. 17, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The theological dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches "can give witness of Christ," says a Greek Orthodox prelate.Bishop Agathangelos of Fanarion is director general of the Apostoliki Diaconia, which in the Greek Orthodox Church is in charge of the missions, the formation of seminarians and publishing.
- Details
Twice each year, twelve Orthodox theologians and twelve Roman Catholic theologians gather for the North American Orthodox/Catholic Theological Consultation that was initiated in 1965 by SCOBA and the USCCB. Having read many of the papers and statements issued over the years by this oldest ongoing official dialogue between the two Churches, Mr. and Mrs. Emmanuel Prokopis have decided to cover the costs of the Consultation for a third year. Similar grants covered all the costs of the Consultation in 2005 and 2006.
- Details
Christ is come! Glorify Him!
The good news is not just an historical event; by uniting his divinity with our humanity, God opened a two-way door that remains open here and now.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Bishop John Kudrick
“The beginning of the gospel (the good news) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mk 1:1). It has been noted that this first sentence of St. Mark’s Gospel is not a title for the first chapter but for the entirety of the book.
Jesus’ life and death on earth, together with his resurrection, is a beginning of Good News, good news of perpetual beginning (life), rather than a progressive end (death).
The Good News is actually that the world remains in a state of beginning. Even the last book of the Bible ends with Jesus declaring “I am [both] the beginning and the end” (Rv 22:13). “The end” and “the beginning” are one and the same.
The good news is not just an event of history, that a baby was born 2000 years ago. Neither is it just that God considered us worthy of visiting us. Rather the good news is that, by uniting his divinity with our humanity, God opened a two-way door, one that remains open here and now. God continues to enter our life and invites us to begin, to become “partakers of the Divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4).
This good news continues, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as the members of the church unite ourselves with the holy sacrifice and proclaim with our lives salvation in Jesus Christ. This good news is always new and always good.
By the human conception and birth of Jesus Christ, Son of God, God allows us to regain that humanity that Adam and Eve knew in the Garden of Eden. He allows us to be fully human, fully alive. In this way God shows that he is God and calls us to humanity in its fullness.
Our participation is important. Christians know what is meant to be fully alive even if we don’t always live accordingly. We see lives from the perspective of “beginning” and rely on the mercy of God as we grow to full maturity in Christ.
We find the theme of beginning a number of times in Holy Scripture.
Jesus reminds us that “In the beginning of time, humanity was created male and female” (Mt 19:4), complementing each other. This serves as an icon for all right relationships.
St. John describes Jesus’ changing of water into wine as “the beginning of his miracles” (Jn 2:11). These miracles continue to this very day for those who would see them.
St. Paul connects our holiness and fidelity to the truth with “the beginning” (cf. 2 Th 2:13). He also teaches that we must share with the world our knowledge of Jesus Christ, as he refers to him as “the beginning” (cf. Col 1:18-28).
Righteous living, cooperation with God’s (miraculous) actions, remaining holy within the true faith, sharing that faith, are all part of being fully alive – signs of beginning. In this way, we may realize that, in the words of the Broadway musical “Purly,”: “The world ain’t comin’ to an end, my friend. The world’s just comin’ to a start.”
This knowledge is the source of our hope as we note losses and disappointments. This knowledge is the source of hope for our church. This knowledge is the source of hope for the world. We are for beginning, not ending.This is why we may image Jesus Christ as an infant. This is why we use the word “is” rather than “was” when we proclaim: Christ is born! Glorify him!
Bishop John Kudrick is the Bishop Parma, Ohio. www.parma.org