Tag Archives: Orthodox Christians

News, Politics, Government

Christians in the Holy Land celebrate Easter

Leave a comment

Catholics in the Holy Land are celebrating Easter with prayers and services.

Worshippers prayed Sunday in the ancient church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, built on the site where tradition holds Jesus was crucified, briefly entombed and then resurrected.

Christians believe Jesus was resurrected on Easter. Roman Catholics and Protestants, who follow the new, Gregorian calendar, celebrate Easter on Sunday. Orthodox Christians, who follow the old, Julian calendar, will mark it in May.

Protestants held Easter ceremonies outside Jerusalem’s walled Old City at the Garden Tomb, which some identify as the site of Jesus’ burial. Another service was held at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Jesus’ traditional birthplace.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

History

Pope washes women's feet in break with church law

Leave a comment

By hnn

ROME (AP) — In his most significant break with tradition yet, Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of two young women at a juvenile detention center — a surprising departure from church rules that restrict the Holy Thursday ritual to men.

No pope has ever washed the feet of a woman before, and Francis’ gesture sparked a debate among some conservatives and liturgical purists, who lamented he had set a “questionable example.” Liberals welcomed the move as a sign of greater inclusiveness in the church.

Speaking to the young offenders, including Muslims and Orthodox Christians, Francis said that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion in a gesture of love and service….

Source:
AP

Source URL:
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/pope-washes-feet-young-detainees-ritual

Date:
3-28-13

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at History News Network – George Mason University

News, Politics, Government

Good Friday events in Holy Land kick off with mass

Leave a comment

Hundreds of Christians are marking the crucifixion of Jesus in the Holy Land.

Worshippers have packed Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulcher church, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected, for a morning mass that started Good Friday events.

Roman Catholics and Protestants will walk in processions following Jesus’ footsteps in Jerusalem’s Old City later in the day. And a mass at a church in Bethlehem, built atop the site where Jesus is believed to have been born, takes place in the evening.

Pilgrims and tourists from around the world descend on holy sites in Jerusalem for Easter week.

Christians believe Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday. Orthodox Christians, who follow the older, Julian calendar, will this year mark Good Friday in May.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Gypsies flock to bridal fair as parents negotiate

Leave a comment

Donka Hristova lets her mother pull her skintight mini-dress a half-inch down her leg. Checking her makeup one last time, she joins her two younger sisters in a provocative dance.

The Gypsy girl knows she has to look her best. She is, after all, on an important life mission: catching the eye of one of the hundreds of young Gypsy guys prowling around what locals have dubbed the “bridal market” to initiate a complex ritual of haggling that could lead to marriage.

Love’s not exactly for sale here. But in the litter-strewn parking lot that hosts the fair, amid blaring Gypsy pop and saucy flirtation, negotiations are churning quietly behind the scenes as families weigh their financial compatibility along with the merits of the prospective bride.

Often, the future of entire families is in the balance as these Roma, among the most poverty-stricken people in a deeply impoverished region, seek to forge mutually beneficial unions that will help them weather Bulgaria‘s brutal economic downturn.

Globalization adds to the economic pressures. The families gathered here are part of a community of about 18,000 Roma known as Kalaidzhi, who traditionally make a living as coppersmiths. That trade is dying out, in part because traditional copper pots and pans are being replaced by less expensive goods from China.

Still, a festive atmosphere reigns at the bridal fair.

Most of the girls, even those too young to be considered for marriage, wear gobs of mascara, flashy jewelry and towering high-heels. The colors of the mini-dresses are flashy: electric pinks, blood reds, canary yellows. The boys wear tight black jeans and muscle shirts, often topped with a black leather jacket. The bleak surroundings don’t dampen spirits: Some 2,000 people have shown up, many in cars rigged with speakers on the hoods to pump out Gypsy pop at full blast. Boys and girls dance side-by-side on the cars, shaking their hips in frenzy.

The exuberance stems largely from the fact that, due to the community’s conservative values, the youths are so rarely allowed to mingle with the opposite sex. Kalaidzhi, who are almost all devout Orthodox Christians, are known to remove girls from school at 15 or even earlier to keep them from mixing with boys.

“I hope to meet new people and to see the parents of the boys, so our parents can meet him,” says Hristova, who, at 19, is …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Thousands fill St. Peter's Square for Pope Francis installation

Leave a comment

Thousands of people are pouring into St. Peter’s Square to witness the official start of the papacy of the first pope from the New World.

The blue and white flags from Pope Francis‘ native Argentina fluttered Tuesday above the crowd that Italian media estimate could reach 1 million. Emergency crews set up barricades for nearly a mile along the main boulevard leading to the square to control the masses.

The installation Mass is simpler than the 2005 ceremony for Pope Benedict XVI in keeping with Francis’ style, but still grand enough to draw 132 official delegations and religious leaders from around the world, including the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians who is attending for the first time since the two branches of Christianity split 1,000 years ago.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

St. Peter's fills for Pope Francis installation

Leave a comment

Thousands of people are pouring into St. Peter’s Square to witness the official start of the papacy of the first pope from the New World.

The blue and white flags from Pope Francis‘ native Argentina fluttered Tuesday above the crowd that Italian media estimate could reach 1 million. Emergency crews set up barricades for nearly a mile (two kilometers) along the main boulevard leading to the square to control the masses.

The installation Mass is simpler than the 2005 ceremony for Pope Benedict XVI in keeping with Francis’ style, but still grand enough to draw 132 official delegations and religious leaders from around the world, including the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians who is attending for the first time since the two branches of Christianity split 1,000 years ago.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Orthodox patriarch heads for pope's installation

Leave a comment

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate says the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians will attend the pope’s inauguration Mass in Rome, the first such presence in nearly 1,000 years.

Rev. Dositheos Anagnostopoulos, the spokesman for the Istanbul-based Patriarchate, says Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, is traveling to Rome on Monday to take part in Pope Francis‘ installation. He is the first ecumenical patriarch to take part since the Great Schism between their two churches in 1054.

Pope Benedict XVI had made uniting all Christians and healing the split a priority of his pontificate.

Anagnostopoulos says the decision to take part in the mass was “the fruit” of the growing dialogue between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Francis is to be installed as pope on Tuesday.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

Articles of Interest

A Christian’s Response To Cries Of “Discrimination”

Leave a comment

By Anthony ‘AC’ Castellitto

Christian cross SC A Christians Response to Cries of Discrimination

What is compassion? What is tough love offered out of good will to a fellow sinner? One who also struggles with urges and desires that, although of a different variety, run contrary to God’s sanctioned, intended purpose?

Here’s my response to Phil, a self-declared homosexual, who openly expressed his frustration with ‘intolerant’ Christians.

“Brother Phil,

If a Christian acts morally, spiritually, or naturally superior in any way to another, they are not coming from a place of genuine, spirit-led humility.

However, if the God of the Bible is true, then so is Original Sin. Hence, we all struggle with dispositions and tendencies that run counter to God’s natural, desired, and created order.

If you don’t keep that in mind, in your discussions with Orthodox Christians, you will be frustrated.
But we are not Islamic. We desire you peace and the salvation of your souls! We just can’t embrace the lifestyle. We don’t believe this to be a state issue, but a personal one.

However, all sinners need grace that their spiritual eyes be opened. Then the issue of sexual predisposition no longer matters. I am not saying that there is no struggle, but a much greater good takes precedence.”

I am left to wonder if my words are that of a bigot or of a concerned, sober-minded Christian. If what we believe is true, we must hold fast to truth in a charitable, honest, and loving manner.

As WE remain consistently honest about these truths, WHO are the ones with blood on their hands?

Think about it….

Unfortunately we are living in a time where science is now replacing accountability. I don’t believe we need to be defined by our sexual predispositions. Fornication, infidelity, divorce, sodomy, etc. are all sins (in fact, infidelity and sodomy are still on the books as criminal offenses in many states).

The fact that openly gay individuals want to embrace their same-sex desires and marry proves they have no concept (or are simply in denial) of essential spiritual realities. We wind up simply talking past each other. That’s why apologetics is so important, that we may declare the historical veracity and fantastic, absolute claims of the Triune God of the Bible. Without this understanding, all kinds of madness will prevail. What we have today is a complete denial of the sin and depravity of man, despite the fact that we are living in a day when the evidence abounds like never before.

Christianity provides the most historically reliable and reasonable explanation of our natural order, the existence of all things, and our ultimate purpose in this life. Unlike those nations that encourage the discrimination and persecution of gays in their midst, we are merely making our case for a healthy, well-ordered, civil society. However, we remain supportive of those with same-sex desires, and they’ve remained free to do whatever they will in their personal lives. But you can’t tell us that we have to support or even accept gay marriage as good for society…because we don’t.

We are not going to just casually adhere to those …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism