Patriarch Abune Antonios of Eritrea

YOUR FIVE MINUTES CAN CHANGE THEIR LIFE FOREVER!!!

4/2/2012

The Executive Office of the Eritrean National Council for Democratic Change announced on Monday that it had confirmation that the 85 year old Abune Antonios, “the legitimate Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Eritrea” was “sick and in a worrisome condition.” Abune Antonios was illegally removed from his patriarchal position and forcibly detained at an undisclosed location by the Eritrean government in 2007. The Government claims he has retired to a monastery to pray. Last week, the Holy Synod of the Œcumenical Canonical Orthodox Church Worldwide (ŒCOCW) called for the regime in Asmara to free Abune Antonios as well as several thousand other detained Christians in Eritrea. The International Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church Dioceses in Europe and in North America have also called for the Patriarch’s release.

Now the Eritrean National Council for Democratic Change, set up at a recent meeting of opposition organizations, has called for the “immediate freedom for his Holiness” and for him to regain “his rightful place” among his compatriots from other faiths who have raised their voices, calling on the entire Eritrean people, Christians and Muslims alike, to unanimously condemn the actions of the Eritrean government against religious freedom. Abune Antonios was removed from office because he expressed strong concern over the growing interference of the government in religious affairs. He refused government demands to excommunicate three thousand members of the Medhane Alem Sunday School movement and in turn demanded the government should release Christians imprisoned for their faith and accused of treason. –MFA

Read OCP Article on Persecution of Christians in Eritrea:

OCP Secretary Appeals for Christians in Eritrea:

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(Photo: AA)

TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
3/2/2012

Officials from the Malatya Municipality have demolished three buildings, including a place of worship that was under renovation, located inside an Armenian cemetery even though the Malatya governor and mayor gave permission.

A residence for the watchman, a room to bathe the bodies of the dead and a place of worship were pulled down when nobody in charge of the cemetery was around on Thursday. The municipality officials said the place of worship was being built without official permission, and argued that there was nothing illegal about the demolishment.

Citing the intolerance towards Armenians as the reason behind the municipality’s move, Turkish media outlets reported on Friday that the municipality had the facilities pulled down because of hundreds of petitions submitted by locals who opposed the construction of a place of worship for Armenians, thinking that a church was being built.

Malatya Mayor Ahmet Çakır gave verbal permission for building the place of worship on orders by Malatya Governor Ulvi Saran. The cost of the building was met by an İstanbul-based philanthropist foundation of Malatya Armenians, HAYDER. The blueprint of the place of worship was drawn up by renowned Turkish-Armenian architect Kevork Özkaragöz.

Garo Paylan, member of the board of directors of HAYDER, said in a statement that both the governor and the municipality were quite warm to the idea of renovating the demolished buildings at the cemetery four months ago.

“However, our cemetery does not belong to us anymore, it belongs to the municipality. Therefore, we asked the municipality for renovation, but they said they can’t do it even though they will allow us to do it,” he said.

The renovation work started in the cemetery in Malatya, where there is only about 100 Armenians left.

“It is important for those people to bury their loved ones according to their religious practices. Since there are no churches left in Malatya, the only place that they can have a religious ceremony is in the cemetery,” he said.

According to Paylan, the reason for the municipality to destroy the cemetery is because of pressure being put on the municipality by some groups to abolish it due to the French Senate’s recent vote for a controversial bill making it a crime to deny the 1915 killings of Armenians was “genocide,” ignoring warnings from Turkey that passing the legislation would lead to new measures.

Mayor Çakır was quoted on the website of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos as saying he is sorry for what happened but the demolition occurred due to miscommunication among officials and that they will compensate for it.

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4/2/2012

Archbishop Ieronymos, the head of the Church of Greece, has taken the rare step of writing to Prime Minister Lucas Papademos to express serious concerns about the effectiveness of the government’s fiscal policy and the effect it is having on Greek people.

In his letter, Ieronymos also raises doubts about the role of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – or troika – in the country and whether Greece should agree to further austerity measures to receive its next bailout, suggesting that they are “larger doses of a medicine that is proving deadly.”

Ieronymos expresses concern about the impact of the crisis, describing a rise in suicides, homelessness and unemployment and the desperate state that an increasing number of Greeks find themselves. He warned that this was creating a dangerous social situation.

“Greeks’ unprecedented patience is running out, fear is giving way to rage and the danger of a social explosion cannot be ignored any more, neither by those who give orders nor by those who execute their deadly recipes,” he wrote.

Ieronymos said he was encouraged by the way that people had pulled together and the extent of the help that Greeks are offering to those who are worse off but he expressed concern that the situation would worsen as a result of the economic policies being implemented.

In what seemed a response to suggestions that a European budget commissioner be appointed in Greece, the archbishop challenged the prospect of Greece giving up sovereignty over its decision-making process.

“It seems clear now that our homeland’s drama will not finish here but may take on new, uncontrollable, dimensions,” he wrote.

“There are, at the moment, demands for even tougher, more painful and even more unfair measures along the same ineffective and unsuccessful lines as in our recent past,

“There are demands for even bigger doses of a medicine which is proving deadly. There are demands for commitments that do not solve the problem but only put off temporarily the foretold death of our economy. Meanwhile, the put our national sovereignty up for collateral.

“They mortgage our wealth but also the wealth we could obtain from our land and seas. They mortgage freedom, democracy and national dignity.”

Commentators said it was almost unprecedented for an archbishop to intervene so forcefully in political and economic issues. Also, Ieronymos has a reputation for being reserved and having less of a tendency to comment on non-religious issues than his late predecessor, Christodoulos.

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Indian Orthodox church
4/2/2012

Those who have selflessly served the society and the world were remembered as great souls, said Catholicos of the East, Baselius Mar Thoma Paulose-II.

The Catholicos was inaugurating the Philipose Mar Eusebius memorial lecture series at the Catholicate College here on Friday afternoon.

He has recalled the contributions of Mar Eusebius to the Church as well as the society.

Kuriakose Mar Cleemis, Metropolitan of the Thumpamon diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Church, presided over the inaugural function.

Dr Alexander Jacob, Additional Director General of Police, delivered the memorial lecture.

Award presented

The Catholicos presented the Mar Eusebius Memorial Award for best educationist, instituted by the Dubai Alumni Chapter, to Dr K.S. Radhakrishnan, Kerala State Public Service Commission chairman, on the occasion.

The Khasheero Award for the best teacher was presented to Prof Manu Oommen of the Catholicate College and the Baselius Geevarghese-II Memorial Award for best media person was presented to Mr Vinu V. John of Asianet.

The Catholicos also presented the Puthenkavu Mar Philoxenos Memorial Award for best scientist to Dr V.P. Mahadevan Pillai, Director, Department of Opto Electronics at the Karyavattom campus of Kerala University.

Dr George Vargehse Koppara, college principal proposed vote of thanks.

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Syrian girs protest in Idlib. Source: AFP

RICHARD BEESTON, IN DAMASCUS
The Australian
4/2/2012

WHEN Father Basilious Nasser got an urgent call to say that one of his parishioners had been shot and needed help, the priest went immediately. As he tried to rescue the man on a street in the city of Hama, the cleric was shot twice by a sniper and died.

It is still unclear whether he was killed by government forces or the opposition, but his death nine days ago has shocked the Christian community.

For centuries, the ancient eastern churches have thrived on their ability to avoid becoming embroiled in the region’s volatile politics. But increasingly, the 2.5 million Christians in Syria fear being dragged into the violence. There is no end in sight to the bloodshed, and hopes for a foreign-mediated solution dimmed yesterday as UN Security Council members failed to reach agreement yet again on a resolution to end the violence.

The fateful moment for Syria’s Christians can be traced back 10 months ago, when President Bashar al-Assad summoned leaders of the community to his palace and gave them an ultimatum: support me, or your people will suffer.

Perhaps mindful of the plight of the Christians in Iraq and Egypt, who have come under attack since the removal of secular dictatorships over the past decade, the leaders agreed. None is a bigger supporter of the President than Archbishop Gregorios III, the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the 350,000 Greek Catholic community in Syria. He is unashamed and even enthusiastic about backing the President.

“We need Bashar,” the Archbishop said. “He is a good man, an open man. He has started to make changes to this country. He has always protected religious freedoms … Don’t change the regime; help the regime change.”

He dismissed the uprising as the work of terrorists and bandits and even suggested that protesters were paid to take part in demonstrations. He insisted that it was the duty of his church to support the head of state.

Similar views have been expressed by other church leaders in Syria. The assumption is that the Christians, who make up 10 per cent of Syria’s population, will continue to enjoy privileged status in a secular state as long as the Ba’athist regime, dominated by the Alawite group representing 13 per cent of the country, stays in power. Should the Sunni Muslims, with more than 70 per cent of the population, seize power in the revolt, the smaller sects could lose out as Syria becomes an Islamic state.

However, some Christians have joined the opposition and taken part in demonstrations. Memorably, a group of Christian men were given Santa Claus hats by Muslims when they joined a march just before Christmas.

There are two prominent Christian opposition figures: Michel Kilo, now exiled in France, and Fayez Sara, who could play roles in a post-Assad arrangement for Syria. But equally, it was a Syrian Christian, Michel Aflak, who was responsible for creating the Ba’ath Party ideology, which still rules the country.

As the struggle drags on, Christians fear that they will find themselves caught in the middle of the struggle and forced to join the wave of Christian migration to the West that is taking place across the Middle East.

The Times

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George Sabra is a member of the general secretariat and spokesman for the National Syrian Council (NSC). (Al Arabiya)

By AL ARABIYA
3/2/2012

There is an impression that Syrian Christians are taking the side of the ruling regime in Syria, George Sabra, member of the general secretariat and spokesman for the National Syrian Council (NSC), said during a recent appearance on “Noqtat Nizam” (Point of Order), aired by Al Arabiya on Friday.

But Sabra also clarified that the Christian elites have actively participated in all the revolution’s activities in political and media fields. However, he admitted that Christians did not participate in the revolution as a mass group.

Concerning the role of the church, Sabra stated that the main reason behind the absence of Syria’s Christians in the streets next to their brothers is the church, which has been hesitant to take a stand. He said that he had heard some Syrian Christian clerics expressing the fears and concerns of Christians. Thus, he told them that fear can only be dissipated by integrating the social groups, rather than hiding behind transient authorities.

Sabra also stressed that Christians should not compare their fate to that of Christians in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

“In fact, there is not one single indicator that enforces this thinking since the history of the independent Syria has another story to tell,” he said.

Sabra added that during the democratic periods, the political Christian presence highly exceeded their social presence, which was numerically low. Their importance in the political field was demonstrated by their active role in their societies, where they got involved in good and bad times.

As for the fear of the alleged predominance of the Muslim Brotherhood in the national council, Sabra said that Syrian Islamists are moderate and that the Muslim Brotherhood has conducted itself as a moderating force.

On the other hand, Sabra refuted the statements of Aleppo’s Roman Catholic archbishop Jean Jean-Bert when he announced that Christians do not trust an extremist Sunni authority. Sabra said that these words are false, because when the independent Syria arose in the mid-1940s Muslims had nominated a Christian, from the protestant Christian minority, as prime minister in several situations and as a democratically elected house speaker whom they used to call: “the boss.”

Moreover, Sabra criticized the national council’s performance and said that the council suffers from many deficiencies, namely at the level of decision-making. He held the council’s president, Burhan Ghalioun, and the decision-makers responsible for these shortcomings. He also said that the council had received what it deserved from the Syrian people who lifted it to the level of representing the Syrian revolution, but the council has not sufficiently paid the people back in light of the increasing popular needs, mainly at the level of relief, as well as moral and financial support.

It is important to note that Sabra, who left Syria at the end of 2011, had spent eight years in prison under the reign of Hafez Al Assad and had been arrested during the current revolution. He is also considered as a prominent candidate to replace Ghalioun after his national council presidency mandate ends.

(Translated from Arabic by Stanela Khalil)

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The Syrian-Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Kirkuk after a car bomb exploded. (File photo)

By AFP
BAGHDAD
2/2/2012

An Iraqi appeals court confirmed the death sentences for three men convicted in connection with a massacre at a Baghdad church last year, the spokesman for the Supreme Judicial Council said Thursday.

On October 31 militants stormed Our Lady of Salvation church in central Baghdad, killing 44 worshippers, two priests and seven security force personnel in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda’s local affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq.

“The federal appeals court has confirmed the death penalty against three people convicted for the church attack. The sentence is final and was sent to the presidential council for the execution of the verdict,” Abdel Sattar Bayraqdar said.

The three were sentenced to death on August 2, 2011, while an accomplice was given 20 years in prison.

Under the Iraqi constitution, the presidential council, composed of the president and two vice-presidents, must ratify death sentences before they are carried out.

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By Kurt J. Werthmuller
3/2/2012

Will the endangered Christian communities of the Middle East survive?

Editor’s Note: This is a part of a multi-part series on Christians in the Middle East. See Dr. Werthmuller’s comments on Egypt here and here, as well as his introduction to the series.

On a hill above the ancient, well-worn route between Aleppo and the Syria border with Turkey, one can easily tramp up to the ruins of what was once a massive basilica complex from Late Antiquity. The now-dilapidated Byzantine structure was originally built around the site of one of the most colorful and influential figures of 5th-century Christianity: Simeon the Stylite, who spent decades—literally—sitting atop a stone pillar to demonstrate his ascetic commitment to Christ. One could easily read within these sad and magnificent ruins a broader symbolism of the fading light of Syrian Christianity, largely forgotten, or perhaps ignored, by Christians elsewhere in the world. To do so with mere resignation, however, is to commit the common mistake of valuing the Middle East only for its antiquities, instead of turning our eyes to those millions of Christ’s followers who remain in Syria, comprising some 10 percent of the nation’s 20 million inhabitants—and who are at particular risk from the current chaos enveloping the country.

Recognizing the unique religious diversity of Syrian society is the key to understanding the precarious position of the nation’s Christian community amidst the present crisis.

Since the Middle Ages, the varied geography of Syria, like its smaller Lebanese neighbor to the west (which were not separate political entities until less than a century ago), has tended to attract the settlement of religious sects on the fringes of “mainstream” (e.g., Sunni Arab) Middle Eastern society. In this context, the Sunni majority surrounds not just one ethnic or religious minority—unlike the context of the Egyptian Copts—but rather a whole series of historically marginalized communities: Kurds, Druzes, Alawis, Circassians, Ismailis, and others. In Syria, these groups could find isolation when necessary, like Mt. Druze, but still make use of the country’s busy commercial routes, bustling urban centers, and fertile countryside.

Christians had understood this dynamic even before the 7th-century Islamic conquests, after which bilad al-sham (“the northern lands,” or Greater Syria) came to represent the borderlands between Muslim and Byzantine rule. Assyrians, Armenians, Nestorians, and other Christian sects had been on the outs with Constantinople since the Council of Chalcedon in 451, and many of them sought refuge in the hills of Syria. They were joined by followers of the Greek Orthodox Church, still the largest proportion of Syria’s Christians, and its smaller Greek Catholic (Melkite) offshoot that declared loyalty with Rome in the 18th century.

Kurt J. Werthmuller is a research fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom. He is the author of Coptic Identity and Ayyubid Politics in Egypt, 1218-1250, and he holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern history from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2007), an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University (2002), and a B.A. in history from Messiah College (1995).

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http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/images/2012/02/03/MISKOphoto.jpg

By Misko Taleski for Southeast European Times in Struga
03/02/12

The government and religious communities are attempting to calm the situation following the burning of two Macedonian Orthodox churches.

The situation in Struga is calming down, residents say, after Muslims held violent protests this week and last, causing a series of religious-based incidents.

Tensions flared between Christians and minority Muslims after a January 13th Vevcani carnival, in which Orthodox Christian men dressed as women in burkas and mocked the Quran. Protestors responded by taking down the Macedonian flag from the Struga local government building, chanting slogans and burning Macedonian Orthodox churches in Labunishta and in Mala Rechica.

“The Wahhabis [radical Islamists] have been present here for quite some time. They are increasingly getting to the poorer Albanians and Macedonians of Islamic faith,” analyst and former security studies professor at Security Faculty in Skopje Ivan Babanovski told SETimes.

The Islamic Religious Community (IVZ) expressed concern over the events and the potential rise of Islamophobia. “The government allocates every year 50,000 euro for the carnival from the money of all citizens, including the Muslims,” it said in a statement.

Some blame the government for the incidents, given that Merko and the local government leaders are members of the ruling Albanian Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).

“If you spike politics with false patriotism and nationalism, you can rule until you bring the state to collapse. Usually the state and citizens suffer but also the populists themselves,” political analyst and vice rector of the FON University in Skopje, Mersel Biljali, told SETimes.

But for residents in Struga what they experienced is nothing new.

“Orthodox Christian Macedonians and Muslims, regardless of ethnicity, never had misunderstandings.

When the Wahhabis infiltrated, things changed. They walk around Struga and in the villages with characteristic beards and short pants causing tensions. Whether somebody will do something we don’t know, and the uncertainty causes fear about co-existence,” pensioner Nikola Trajanoski told SETimes.

Babanovski said he is not surprised by the Muslims’ reaction in Struga, and argued it is part of establishing a larger pan-Islamist trend in the Balkans.

“The increasing pan-Islamic influence by the Middle Eastern countries — especially Saudi Arabia — in the Balkans additionally burden the situation, which explains the Wahhabi entrenchment in Struga and other spots in the region from which the fundamentalists want to act in Europe,” Babanovski said.

Biljali argues the incidents help Macedonian politicians to fill gaps that are created by their not showing results from their work with nationalist activities.

“The solution to such tension-filled situations is to immediately unblock the Euro-Atlantic agenda,” Biljali said.

The Macedonian police took steps in hopes of preventing a recurrence of the events.

“[The police] sent a letter to Facebook to disband the group,” internal affairs ministry spokesperson Ivo Kotevski told SETimes.

Macedonian World Congress President Todor Petrov told SETimes that the violence was politically motivated, intending to destabilize Macedonia given the census, the pressures to change its name and identity and to focus attention away from the recent ICJ case against Greece.

“Just like the 2001 conflict was not a war between Macedonians and Albanians, nor between Christians and Muslims, the latest incidents have no connection with faith and ethnicity. It is a simulated war for implementing global interests in the region by misusing the citizens’ religious feelings since the faithful reject violence,” Petrov said.

This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.

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By Oliver Evans
3/2/2012

BELLS will ring out over part of Marston after church leaders overcame “anti-religious” objections to win council permission.

Oxford City Council members approved controversial plans on Wednesday for bells to be rung at the Russian Orthodox church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker.

The Ferry Road church can ring its four bells for up to three minutes once a day between 10.25am and 6pm on Sundays and 9.25am and 6pm Monday to Saturday.

They can also be rung for up to 15 minutes a week for weddings, funerals and feast days and at Christmas and Easter evening services.

Bells have not rung from the building since 1972, when it was sold by the Church of England and became a sign factory.

Planning permission was granted in 2008 to turn it back into a place of worship.

But the approval ruled out the church ringing bells unless it got further permission.

Twenty-four letters opposed the plan, while John Radcliffe Hospital immunologist Dr Adam Ritchie said it would disturb sleep patterns of shift workers.

He told councillors: “We find the idea of bell-ringing during what is, on the face of it, a reasonable time to be quite intrusive to those of us who do not sleep at normal times.”

Noise from the church had impacted on some residents “in a very dramatic way” he said.

The Rev Stephen Platt, the church priest, said: “Some of the campaign was directed against the church as a place of religious worship and was anti-religious in character.” He added: “There will be a minimal impact to our neighbours with whom we have begun to build up a good relationship.”

Bells from city centre churches and St Michael and All Angels in Marston Road could be heard in the area, he said.

And he claimed the sound of the St Nicholas bells would be similar to the jingle of an ice cream van going down the street.

The city council’s east area planning committee heard one funeral and two weddings had taken place since the church reopened in September 2010.

Planning officer Martin Armstrong said of the 15-minute rule: “Four weddings and a funeral and you’re there.”

Committee member Mark Mills said the sound would be similar to handbells.He added: “I really think it would be unreasonable to oppose this.”

But fellow councillor Dick Wolff said there was “no sense of contract” between the community and church that would support tolling bells to call worshippers.

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Moscow, February 3, Interfax – The Moscow Patriarchate believes that the activity of nongovernmental noncommercial organizations (NGOs) in Russia should be highly transparent.

“At least we need to ensure that all data concerning NGO financing from abroad be open for publication,” head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said during a State Duma roundtable on legal regulation of NGO activities and funding from foreign sources.

He expressed concern over the “dubious legitimacy of the influence those organizations that serve external interests, i.e. those that have been founded and assisted by foreign political structures and seek their sponsors’ approval of their plans and activities, exert on domestic politics and government decision-making”.

It’s important to achieve a situation where “real moods in society, our society, come to the forefront, and not someone else’s political schemes, ideological stamps or political projects meant for Russia,” the priest said.

He acknowledged, however, that “it’s not always bad when some NGOs have their activities financed from abroad or when international organizations award grants or provide organizational support to Russian NGOs”, adding that “this is a long-standing practice used in a significant number of countries”.

At the same time, he warned that “he who pays the piper calls the tune”.

The wisdom of this saying should be constantly borne in mind as society determines its attitude to some or other NGOs that are being financed from abroad, the priest said.

In the 1990s, many religious organizations received, and some of them continue to receive, significant funds from abroad. Sometimes, they used overseas donations to finance pseudo-missionary and extremist activities or attempts to change the people’s historic choice against its will, he said.

The priest did not rule out more such attempts in the future. “The presence of overseas sources in NGO financing should give society the right to at least ask who gives the money, for what purpose and how it is spent,” Father Vsevolod concluded.

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Founded in 547 AD, the convent of Our Lady of Saidnaya, is a leading Antiochian Orthodox nunnery which overlooks a mountain village of the same name, just 35 kilometers (22) miles from Damascus. (File photo)

By AFP
SAIDNAYA
2/2/2012

Divine intervention prevented a shell that pierced the walls of a Syrian convent from detonating, swears the mother superior of Our Lady of Saidnaya, a spiritual retreat near Damascus.

“The Virgin Mary stopped the shell from exploding with her own hands,” said Mother Verone, who interpreted the close call as a divine message that “God is watching over sacred places” amid the unprecedented unrest rocking Syria.

The sound of explosions and gunfire from nearby towns echoes around the normally tranquil convent.

The nuns say the blasts come from the neighboring towns of Rankus and Talfita, focal points of a military operation to purge the outskirts of Damascus of army deserters and rebels.

“I saw a flash of light coming from the hill opposite the convent and then heard the explosion,” said a young law student who is a resident.

“I didn’t imagine that it could be a shell. I only understood that one had landed very near us once I heard the explosion and left my room,” she added.

Over the hills lies the besieged town of Rankus, with a population of 25,000, where the army this week spared no effort to uproot rebels.

Regime forces on Tuesday began blowing up houses in the protest hub, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Damascus, said an activist on the ground.

“This morning they started to blow up houses in Rankus. They are using diesel to set fire to buildings,” said Abu Omar, a spokesman for the town.

President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which claims to have the public’s support in what it labels a security campaign against “terrorists,” has ramped up its operations in recent days, in an apparently calculated move that banks on Russia’s support and cracks in the international community.

The opposition Syrian National Council called for a “day of mourning and anger” on Tuesday in response to the bloody crackdown that has left nearly 200 people dead in the past three days, according to activists.

Founded in 547 AD, the convent of Our Lady of Saidnaya, is a leading Antiochian Orthodox nunnery which overlooks a mountain village of the same name, just 35 kilometers (22) miles from Damascus.

The convent includes a school for orphans, whose costs are covered by private donations, according to a brochure distributed by the complex.

The nunnery is a major pilgrimage center and lies not far from the villages of Jabadin and Maalula, where people still speak Syriac, the modern version of Aramaic, the language of Christ.

The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch has its seat in nearby Damascus.

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HEGUMENESS STEFANA

By Natalia MALIMON, The Day, Volyn oblast
3/2/2012

NOT FOR NUNS, BUT FOR CHILDREN

Thousand years ago the Orthodox Monastery was only a spiritual center for village of Zymne, today people come here looking for ways to solve worldly problems.

The students and teachers of Zymne school waited for this winter again with fear, not because people in Volyn region have already forgotten about those frosty winters, the kind we had when I was still a child and when in the morning in order to come out of a house a grown-up had to dig a tunnel in snowdrifts of person’s height. Even the winters that we now have in our region can cause stinging pains in fingers of school students. The old boiler house that stands aside the school was not able to provide heat to the school building due to worn out heating main. As the deputy director Halyna Sinchuk admits, while those on the first floor could still warm rooms up somehow, those on the se­cond floor didn’t know what else to put on to keep them warm. When recently I phoned Alla Melnyk, director of Zymne School to ask about the news they had, I heard her happy voice saying: “It’s warm!” It was said with a feeling of comfort that one quickly gets used to. The most inte­resting is the fact that the heat in the school appeared thanks to a kind neighbor – Zymne Stauropegic Convent. The fact that the Convent doesn’t belong to the ca­tegory of poor was discussed by many in Volyn. Only not that many remember the ruins that were on the territory of modern Monastery 20 years ago, when two nuns (one of them is now the hegumeness Stefana) came from Korets. For a few decades the collective farm tractor brigade was located on the Holy Mountain and the holy place was turned into a waste dump. Today the Convent as if revived from the ashes: its territory, even if you come here not for the first time, makes a great impression with its majestic temples and monastic buildings. It is true that the Convent has many voluntary and wealthy sponsors, thanks to whom it revived and is deve­loping now. The special aura of the Holy Mountain (even thought there are many other monasteries in Ukraine) draws both patriarchs and presidents here.

The luxurious (there is no other word to describe it) new mansion in front of the Convent, that was built so quickly, as if it grew from the earth on its own, was funded by the famous Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. He and his wife Oksana, a well-known TV host, are not only good friends with hegumeness Stefana but also parishioners of this holy mo­nas­te­ry. Locals see Oksana Mar­chen­ko in Uspensky Cathedral of the monastery during all-night vigils and on Easter ser­vice. Recently she was here for Christmas service too. A part of the new building will be used for household needs of the monastery and over­night stays of pilgrims. However, the main reason for building this house was to have a summer recreation camp for children there, because for many years already children from the Chornobyl area, Volyn and Kyiv regions come to spend summer in the monastery.

In fact, recreation for children is not a part of the regulations of mo­nas­tery life, because the Convent is totally self-supported. The source for that is in donations of pilgrims and parishioners of the churches, as well as the huge household. Even in the most abrupt parts of the steep above the Luh River lots of blackberry bushes grow along with other plants. It is surprising how the nuns can even reach there. But apparently not a tiniest piece of land that can be used for the benefit of the monastery is left untouched.

Thus, the funds provided by benefactors to the monastery could be used in a completely different way. However, even a brief excursion to the Zymne School will make an impression of nonpublic, but such essential involvement of hegumeness Stefana in solving its problems. Somebody presented the monastery with a TV set – it was given to the school. The school had old toilets – Re­verend Mother gave money for modern plumbing and the new tiles. Children wanted to sing, play, and dance but there was no art school in the village – hegumeness not only began to support the school choir with money and bought them nice uniform, she also purchased pia­nos, violins, accordions, and even pipes. When the old school building, that stood on both sides of the Monastyrska Street in the center of the village as an unattractive ruin for years, began to fall apart, it was hegumeness Stefana, who found a sponsor (for 500,000 hryvnias!) and saved it. Last year The Day already told the story about how old ruins that were a disgrace of the Zymne village center turned into a nice building with music classes. The reconstruction was made, like all the worldly charitable deeds of the monastery, with the blessing of the Head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Volo­dy­myr, who also likes to visit Zymne.

Instead of the old boiler house, which already began to fall down starting from the roof and the walls, now there is a compact structure in the school yard, which provides heat for the two-stored school building. The total cost of this wonder (this is how school people refer to the boiler house) is 360,000 hryvnias. Hegumeness Stefana says that they got this money from a Kyiv businessman, who wanted to help the monastery, but agreed to the Mo­ther’s offer to pass this money onto the local school. He decided that she must know better what to spend them on. The mounting works on boiler house began in September and in a month it was completed, right before the heating season. Head of Zymne Village Council Viache­slav Katolyk proudly says that it is not just warm in the school, but the cost of gas is reduced by three times, and the fewer workers are needed to operate it now. The local authorities did not even have to look for a contractor; the monastery took care of that too.

VISIT WITH SONGS AND ICON

Village of Zymne and village of Za­liznytsia are quite far away from each other. However, these villages in Volo­dymyr-Volynsky and Liubeshiv raions were united in a joint project “Village School.” Within the framework of this project children from Zymne vi­sited (all of them for the first time!) Volyn Polissia. Children from Zalizny­tsia haven’t ever seen a violin in there lives and called pipe “a small tube” (village is far away from cities). Zymne school students prepared a concert program with mostly classic music pieces. Serhii Kutynets, director of Zaliznytsia School, said that it was a very interesting meeting: “The concert lasted for 40 minutes and all that time our children sat there excited with their mouths wide open! Zaliznytsia can be hardly called laggard, because it is a village rich in hard-working people, however, we don’t have a music studio like the one in Zymne yet.”

In fact, at the present moment only Zymne can be proud of a music studio in a village school. It became possible only thanks to Mother Stefana. The monastery even ordered and paid for the big comfortable bus that took children to Zaliznytsia in another part of the region. The school didn’t need to worry about it.

“Our children saw what a treasure they’ve got because now they can sing, dance, and play musical instruments,” said Halyna Synchuk, deputy director. “The choir presented at the concert in Zaliznytsia their, so to speak, signature piece-song about the monastery “Zymnenska Sviatynia” (Zymne Sacred Place) and presented the school with the miraculous icon of Zymne Holy Virgin. Our children were so happy! On their way home they sang all the songs about Volyn they knew.”

“Well, how can we not help children when it makes them so happy?” said Reverend Mother Stefana when she found out about the successful trip of the music studio they sponsored.

FOR THE BLESSINGS OF HEAVENS AND NOT OF THIS WORLD

Zymne Convent lives a common slow pace life. A weekday filled the territory, which is so full on Sundays that there is no room to swing a cat there, with household work. Construction workers and nuns were all doing their work: the monastery always needs working hands and because there are not so many jobs in the area, as hegumeness Stefana says, there are often people who come to serve the sacred place and earn a living.

The Day asked Mother Stefana about the reason why the monastery cares so much about the problems of the village:

Head of Zymne Village Council Via­cheslav Katolyk told that he turned to you when lots of snow covered the roads, when they didn’t have enough money for street lighting, and even when a poor family couldn’t get children ready for school, and you helped them. Monastery doesn’t have a bank of its own, doesn’t print its own money and certainly has needs that you could spend those money on.

“Our Lord said, that what you did to your neighbor is what you did to me. If we live on the donations from people, who give them according to their capabilities, from their good will, and we can share… why shouldn’t we be doing so, especially because this world now is so materialized and many people only live for the worldly goods. Perhaps, it is the goal of many people to gain as much wealth as possible and live in it. Our goal is diffe­rent – we want to receive heaven­ly blessings from God. That is why we give away the worldly blessings.”

When 20 years ago you and Mother Mykolaia came from Korets Monastery to Zymne to restore the monastery here, from what I know, you saw ruins here. There must have been someone who helped you to restore the monastery.

“It was an area used as a waste dump and garbage was brought here from all over the region. The first thing we had to do here was taking the garbage away. For three days we had nothing to eat except for a few cans of canned food we were given in the monastery. Bishop Varfolomii brought the two of us here to this Holy Mountain, the sacred place of many prayers but at the same time a disgraced and desert place, and left us here. We even didn’t have a place to stay for our first night here and were scared because there were many bats around,” recalled hegumeness. “For the night we were taken to the city to the eparchy. In the early morning next day we decided that if God blessed us to be here we should not be afraid of anything with God because He won’t leave us alone. Things impos­sible to men are possible for God.”

Thus, the young nuns put all their hopes on Our Lord and Mother of God, whose monastery was in Zymne. Step by step, year after year, with the help of kind people sent by God the monastery was being restored. It is a sacred place founded by Grand Prince Vo­lo­dy­myr, the one who Christianized Kyivan Rus’. According to a legend, the Grand Prince gave the monastery the miraculous icon of Holy Virgin, the one that was used to bless his marriage with Princess Anna. Today miracles and healing still take place near the icon by faith of people, who ask Lord for mercy. Not only the walls of the monastery were restored, but also the most important thing – spirituality, and it was much more difficult to resurrect it from ruins than to build the walls.

“God brings the right people in all times: me and Mother Mykolaia were blessed for restoration of this monastery. God also sent people who helped us and put their money into this. There were many times when we started work with one sum of money in mind and had to fi­nish it with a greater amount needed. I’ve experienced such stress thinking about how to pay people. But, you know, God thinks about it! He sent people we needed and those who gave money the monastery needed at those times. Of course we prayed and our prayer to God had to be strong and faith in Him had to be deep. God didn’t leave us alone, that is why today we cannot leave alone people in need,” said hegumeness.

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By Nir Hasson
3/2/2012

For decades, the parking lot was open to all, though Jewish Quarter residents paid far less for a parking sticker than their Armenian neighbors.

Armenian residents of Jerusalem’s Old City are protesting a municipal decision to designate a parking lot in the area solely for Jews, although part of it stands on land belonging to the Armenian Patriarchate.

Parking is a major problem in the Old City, and some residents of the Jewish Quarter claim it is one reason secular families have been moving out. One of the parking lots serving this quarter is adjacent to the Armenian Quarter and is partially built on land owned by the Patriarchate, though the land has been leased by the Jewish Quarter Development Company since the 1970s.

For decades, the parking lot was open to all, though Jewish Quarter residents paid far less for a parking sticker than their Armenian neighbors. But around two years ago, Armenians were forbidden to park there.

“One day I came home from work and the lot was closed,” said Mussa Marizian, an Armenian Quarter resident whose windows overlook the parking lot. “The quarter’s management decided we shouldn’t park there; they just got rid of us. Jews who live in the Muslim Quarter are allowed to park there, but I, who live right on top of the parking lot, am not allowed.”

The development company subsequently asked the municipality for a waiver to enable the lot to be permanently used for parking, even though it is zoned as open public land under Jerusalem’s master plan of 1978.

On Thursday, the city’s planning and building committee approved the waiver, over the protests of both Armenian residents and the Patriarchate’s representative, attorney Mazen Qupty, who argued that most of the land was owned by the church.

“It was hard to hear the very inconsiderate arguments made by the people of the Jewish Quarter about the needs of their Armenian neighbors,” said Yosef “Pepe” Alalu, the Meretz deputy mayor, who voted against the waiver. “How can it be that the parking lot used to be open to all but now Armenians cannot enter?”

The Jerusalem Development Company said that less that 10 percent of the parking lot’s land was leased from the Patriarchate, and that the lease was for 99 years.

“The Armenians have a roomy parking lot 150 meters from that spot,” the company said. “The request for exceptional use was a procedural issue to renew the parking lot’s operating license and the objections were legally rejected.”

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By Tony Todd
01/02/2012

Some 130 French parliamentarians have lodged an appeal with the country’s constitutional court to overturn a controversial bill that would criminalise denying that the 1915 mass killing of Armenians in Turkey was genocide.

Turkey on Wednesday welcomed an appeal by some 130 French lawmakers for the Constitutional Court to overturn a law that would criminalise genocide denial in France.

The draft law, which was passed by the Senate in January, includes the mass killing of ethnic Armenians in Turkey in 1915, an event that was officially recognised as genocide by France in 2001.

The bill was given final parliamentary approval by the Senate on January 23, prompting Ankara to cut all military, political and economic ties with France.

Only President Nicolas Sarkozy’s signature is needed for the bill to become law.

However, it can still be blocked if judges decide it is unconstitutional. The court has one month to make its ruling.

Engin Solakoglu, spokesman for the Turkish Ambassador to Paris, told FRANCE 24 that Turkey was “greatly encouraged” by the appeal.

“This is the only hope we have to save French-Turkish relations,” he said. “Of course having the support of 130 lawmakers, a significant part of the French political class, is a good thing. Overall we are greatly encouraged.

“But if this bill becomes law, it will be the end of French-Turkish relations.”

Freedom of expression

The French lawmakers, from both the lower National Assembly and the upper Senate, argue that the massacre of Armenians – which Turkey admits happened but insists was not a deliberate genocide – was an event that should be left to historians.

Jacques Myard, a member of the National Assembly for Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party, said the rebelling lawmakers accepted that both the Holocaust and the Armenian massacres constituted genocide.

But he said that the law was “clearly unconstitutional” and that upholding the right to freedom of expression, as enshrined in the French constitution, was more important that criminalising deniers.

“We should leave historians to be able to debate this issue freely,” he said. “And this law is a direct attack on that freedom.”

This argument was rejected by one historian, however, who insisted legislation to outlaw genocide denial was necessary and accused the rebelling MPs of “dishonesty”.

Yves Ternon, author of “Wars and Genocides of the 20th century”, said he was “absolutely convinced that this bill should be passed into law.”

“Historians have already established that it was genocide, and while the law criminalises outright denial, it does not threaten in any way a proper historical debate,” he said.

Electoral expediency?

Turkey has accused Sarkozy of using the law to win the votes of 500,000 ethnic Armenians living in France ahead May’s presidential election.

However, both France’s Socialist Party, which has a majority in the upper house, and Sarkozy’s UMP party, which put forward the bill, supported the legislation.

Armenians, backed by many historians and parliaments, say some 1.5 million Christian Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey during the First World War in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman government.

Successive Turkish governments – and the vast majority of Turks – feel the charge of genocide is a direct insult to their nation.

Ankara argues there was heavy loss of life on both sides during fighting in the area after the Armenians sided with invading Russians, and that the killings should be seen in the context of a World War.

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Trend E.Tariverdiyeva
2/2/2012

Russia has recently proved that it wants the OSCE Minsk group to promote the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the Azerbaijani ambassador to Italy Vagif Sadikhov said in an interview with the Italian Limes newspaper.

“Russian presidents have organised over 10 meetings between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents over the years. Unfortunately, the Minsk group has worked since 1994 but hasn’t achieved any tangible results,” inosmi.ru website quotes Mr Sadikhov as saying.

It should be remembered that the Armenian army occupies 20 per cent of the Azerbaijani territories, the ambassador said.

“As a result of the aggression, ethnic cleansing took place in Armenia where 250,000 Azerbaijanis, who had lived there for centuries were forcibly driven out. Thus, it is possible to consider Armenia a monoethnic state. On the other hand about 30,000 Armenians and many interethnic Azerbaijani-Armenian families live in Baku,” Mr Sadikhov said.

“Ethnic cleansing and expatriation of Azerbaijanis living in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia, became the second stage. The matter is that 70,000 people are forcibly displaced persons, ” he said.

Occupation of seven provinces around Nagorno Karabakh is the third element of Armenian aggression.

“These people also became victims of aggression and deportation. Thus, we have 250,000 people deported from Armenia, 70,000 from Nagorno Karabakh and 700,000 from surrounding provinces. In total there are about one million refugees and displaced persons,” the diplomat said.

Mr Sadikhov said the situation hasn’t changed since 1994 and this one of the outrageous violations of human rights when there are four UNSC resolutions on the issue.

“It is very important that all people should know about it because our Armenian opponents try to represent this conflict in Europe and in Italy in particular as one between small Christian Armenia and large Muslim states, namely Azerbaijan and Turkey.

However among the victims killed by Armenians in Azerbaijan there were not only Muslim Azerbaijanis but also Jews and Orthodox Russians. Therefore, there has never been a religious component in the conflict. Armenians try to represent the conflict in this way but in fact and our position is very clear on this issue. The matter is a classic conflict, based on the territorial claims of one state to other,” the ambassador stressed.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France, and the U.S are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az

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3/2/2012

His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church explained in the sermon delivered to the faithful present in the chapel of Saint Gregory the Enlightener of the Patriarchal Residence the significance of the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

“This event is included in the Judaic tradition according to which 40 days after the child was born, he must be taken to the Temple to thank God for having given a child to the family and to bring an offering to the Temple, which must be either a pair of turtle doves or two squabs. Both the turtle doves and the pigeons have a spiritual significance, namely they express purity and kindness. The Mother of God, Virgin Mary, and Righteous Joseph brought Jesus Christ to the Temple when He was 40 days old. Old Simeon met them at the Temple; he was waiting for Messiah to arrive because the Holy Spirit had announced him that he would not die the physical death until he has seen with his own eyes the Messiah, the Anointed of the Lord, Christ, the Lord, waited for centuries. He was waiting for this event, his meeting with Christ, with all his piety and devotion”, explained His Beatitude, as Trinitas Radio station informs us.

The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church has also emphasised the meaning of the thanksgiving prayer of Righteous Simeon.

“Righteous Simeon is a Prophet too. He blesses Infant Jesus and His mother, Virgin Mary, and feels the divine presence in the Infant, and also utters a prophecy: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” This thanksgiving prayer, this exclamation and request of absolution, because he was aged and it was hard for him to bear his old body, was included in the Orthodox rite, to the end of the Vesper service. You may now dismiss your servant in peace means to be absolved of this waiting, because what he was expecting was accomplished. After this blessing in which the Infant is not called simply child, but a light for revelation to the Gentiles which is to be known by the Gentiles and a Glory of your people Israel means the glory of the people who had expected this light through the righteous and prophets of the Old Testament, as well as through the devotion of the people who believed what the prophets foretold”, also mentioned the Patriarch of Romania.

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel also emphasizes the fact that Prophetess Anna was also present at the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple.

The Gospel also tells us that a woman, named Prophetess Anna was also present at the Temple. She had been a widow for 84 years and was waiting for the salvation of Israel in fasting and prayer. This woman was also present at the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem and she too glorified God. In other words, we see that both Righteous Simeon and Prophetess Anna express a special joy, the joy that the Righteous feel when they meet God, when they intensely live the communion with God. In this regard, Righteous Simeon and Prophetess Anna become models of grandparents who pray, who bless the children, who watch over through prayer that the blessing of God should be always over the family, over the house, over those whom God calls to serve Him for the people’s salvation.”

The Patriarch of Romanian has also emphasized the fact that the babies are taken to the church when they are forty days old.

“The feast of the Presentation of the Lord has an echo in the Christian Orthodox cult because when they are forty days old, the children are usually brought to the church, namely in front of the altar screen and somehow introduced in order to be blessed and serve the Lord. If when forty days old a child is brought to the church and if he is a boy, he is also taken inside the Holy Altar and crossed in the four corners of the Holy Table hoping that when the child is an adult he may be either a servant of the Holy Altar or at least a man who sets up a faithful family and can be the head of a faithful Christian family. This relationship between the Temple of Jerusalem and every Church which is a Temple not only in Jerusalem, but everywhere there are Christians is a very significant one, because when the child is forty days old the parents bring him to the Church to thank God and be purified, to pray for good health and strength because a woman is weakened and exhausted after giving birth to a child. Forty days after the birth the woman had to avoid the contact with the world because she was weak and could get sick easier. Thus, when recovering after this hard work that is the birth, the mother can come to the Church where both she and the child are blessed”.

The time since the feast of the Presentation of the Lord has been celebrated is not a very long one. The feast is not mentioned either in the Apostolic Constitutions or in “Testamentum Domini”. The feast is first documentary mentioned in the pilgrimage journal of pilgrim Egeria who attends it in Jerusalem in 382 and 384, calling it “Quadragesemae de ephifania”, because the Nativity of the Lord was celebrated at the same with the Baptism of the Lord in Jerusalem at the time.

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3/2/2012

The Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate informs us:

The Romanian Patriarchate learned with great surprise of the decision in the first analysis of the panel of judges of section III of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of the self entitled “The Good Shepherd against Romania” trade union of the priests of the Metropolitanate of Oltenia concerning the clergy’s right to free associations in trade union type organisations. Having thoroughly studied this decision, the Romanian Patriarchate notices the following:

1. The insufficient knowledge of the European Court for Human Rights on the specific relations between the State and the religious cults in Romania and overlook of the stipulations of the Romanian Constitution (article 29) regarding the Bill no. 489/3006 on the religious freedom and the general regime of the religious cults in Romania (article and of the Statutes for the Organisation and Functioning of the Romanian Orthodox Church confirmed by Governmental Decree no. 53/2008 – Statutes, which clearly declares the autonomy and freedom of the Church towards the State;

2. Confusion between the vocational specific character of priesthood which is a call to the holy mission through ordination or “free assumed service of the communities of faithful” (article 123 paragraph 7 of the Statutes), on one hand and the relations of work typical for the civil employees, on the other hand;

3. The completely wrong assertion of the ECHR that the statutes of the so called trade union would not contradict in any way the Statutes of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Bill of the Religious Cults and Canons. In reality, the trade union has purposes completely inconsistent with the sacramental and pastoral service of the priests, namely:
- “organisation of meetings, demonstrations and strikes” (point 3.2 letter j of the Trade Union Statute) contradicts the statutes of the religious cults acknowledged by the Romanian State of “factor of social peace” (article 7 paragraph 1 of the Bill no. 489/2006 concerning the religious freedom and the general regime of the religious cults);
- “observance of the legal stipulations concerning the vacation and legal holiday” (point 3.2 letter c of the Trade Union Statutes) in the clergy’s case, which means that on Saturdays and Sundays, the first and second days of the Holy Easter, Nativity of the Lord and Pentecost, as well as other legal holidays which coincide with the religious feasts would be free days for the clergy members of the trade union, just when a large number of faithful are present in the church;
- “the presence and representation of the trade union at all levels and in all the bodies of church decisions” (article 3, point 2, letter i of the Trade Union), as well as in the working session of the Holy Synod (article 3, point 2, letter ş), which would be a flagrant infringement of the Church autonomy and an attempt of the Trade Union to become a pressure group and evade the statutory ways of consulting the clergy in the eparchial assemblies, in the priests’ monthly administrative conferences, in the pastoral circles, in the priests’ semestral pastoral-missionary conferences or in the Standing meetings of the Eparchial Councils, as well as in the Church National Council and in the Church National Assembly of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

We remind you that, according to the Holy Universal Canons and to the Statutes for the Organization and Functioning of the Romanian Orthodox Church, the priests – just like the magistrates and militaries – have no right to engage in partisan politics, to unfold economical activity, direct or through intermediates, and participate in other forms of association, as well as of trade union type in order to be impartial and completely involved in the service of the common welfare of the people.

A possible final adoption of this decision by the ECHR would be a direct attack to the constitutional legal organization of the religious cults of Romania and of the states members of the Council of Europe, assimilating the missionary sacerdotal vocation with the protester trade union action.

In fact, this decision of the ECHR caused confusion to some of the representatives of other European Churches who expressed their intention to be solidary with the Romanian State and the Romanian Orthodox Church because they consider this decision as an unacceptable precedent that undermines the autonomy of all the religious cults of Europe.

Moreover, this decision contradicts the previous decisions, some of them recent (for example Muller, Reuter and Baudler causes against Germany of 6 December 2011) of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as of the opinion of two of the judges in this cause, who confirmed that the statutes, rights and obligations of the servants of a religious cult towards this cult are up to the exclusive competence of the respective cult.

We express our hope that the Romanian State will firmly contest this inadequate decision and we are confident that the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights will correct a hasty decision in the cause of the self entitled “The Good Shepherd against Romania” trade union of the priests of the Metropolitanate of Oltenia, which does not take into account the autonomy and the specific organization and operation of the activity of the religious cults acknowledged and guaranteed as such in all the democratic states.

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1/2/2012

His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch attended yesterday in the ceremonial hall of the Serbian Academy for Sciences and Arts the presentation of the Serbian Encyclopaedia (Volume I, book 1-2) in the joint publication of the Matica Srpska, SASA and the Institute for School Books and Teaching Aid.

The Serbian Encyclopedia describes the historical and cultural heritage of the Serbs, the natural features of the area where Serbian people live, as well as specific geographical location, geological composition and structure of soil, relief, hydrographic features, climate, flora and fauna.

The Encyclopedia covers economic development and contemporary status of the Serbian people as the important factors of movement, features and creative contribution in certain periods of social development.

The work on the Serbian encyclopedia began in 2005 by enacting legislation in the Assembly of Serbia, which was defined venture that is implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science of Serbia. Publisher of the Encyclopedia is the Serbian Institute for School Books and Teaching Aid.

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1/2/2012

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