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Rebels kidnap two Aleppo bishops

April 23, 2013 Featured News

22/4/13 BEIRUT: Two Aleppian bishops were kidnapped by Syrian rebels in the outskirts of the city Monday evening, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported. The driver of Boulos al-Yazigi, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo and Iskandaroun and Yuhanna Ibrahim, the Syrian-Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, was killed during the attack. The NNA reported that Ibrahim, Yazigi and the third man, [...]

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Serbia buries 13 victims of shooting spree

April 13, 2013 Featured News

FOCUS News Agency – 13/4/13 Velika Ivanca. Church bells rang out in the tiny Serbian village of Velika Ivanca on Friday, as hundreds of tearful mourners buried 13 people gunned down in Serbia’s worst massacre in two decades, AFP reported. Mourners carrying flowers and candles and mostly dressed in black queued to pay their respects to the six [...]

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Bulgarians place highest trust in Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church: poll

April 4, 2013 Featured News

4/4/13 Sofia. Bulgarians place highest trust in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and this is the only institution with a positive rating, show the results of the latest public opinion survey carried out by the Institute of Social Surveys and Marketing MBMD, presented at a press conference on Tuesday, FOCUS News Agency reporter informed. According to [...]

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Armenian church in Turkey rings bell for first time in nearly 100 years

April 2, 2013 Featured News

DİYARBAKIR / ANKARA – Doğan News Agency – 2/4/13 The Armenian community has rung the bells of Diyarbakır’s Surp Giragos Armenian Church for the first time in 98 years to celebrate the Easter holiday, but failed to hold a proper mass due to a lack of priests to take part, Doğan news ageny reported yesterday. [...]

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Syria’s Christians Fear Iraq Scenario

March 8, 2013 Featured News

8/3/13 Beirut — Former President Hafez Al-Assad did not rule in the name of minorities, but in the name of the secular Ba’ath party. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of members of his security and political services were not Alawites. In fact, according to the most optimistic estimates, the Alawi sect constitutes around 20 [...]

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President Gül meets Syriac Church leader

February 20, 2013 Featured News

20/2/13 ANKARA – Anatolia News Agency President Abdullah Gül welcomed Patriarchal Vicar of the Syriac Orthodox Church Mor Filiksinos Yusuf Çetin on Feb. 18 along with an accompanying delegation in Ankara. Sait Susin, president of the Meryem Ana Church Foundation, who was among the delegation, told the Hürriyet Daily News that it was a “positive [...]

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Fayoum: Islamic extremists attack Coptic church, wounding pastor

February 17, 2013 Featured News

17/2/13 A crowd, incited by a Salafi leader, attacked the church  of Saint Georgas. The Cross on the dome destroyed, part of the interior and the sacred images devastated. The police witnessed the violence, but did not  intervene. Fr. Domadios saved by a Muslim family. In recent months, extremists  had opened a hole in the [...]

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Plovdiv metropolitan bishop says he does not want to be elected Patriarch of Bulgaria

January 14, 2013 News

14/1/13 – FOCUS News Agency Plovdiv. Metropolitan bishop Nikolay of Plovdiv has announced that he does not want to be elected Patriarch of Bulgaria. “You should know that metropolitan bishop Nikolay of Plovdiv will not violate a principle,” metropolitan bishop Nikolay said in his address to the eparchial voters in relation with the election of [...]

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Egypt’s New Constitution Gives Coptic Christians a Bleak and Unstable Future

December 24, 2012 News

24/12/12 Egyptians have approved a controversial new constitution. According to reports, Egyptians have endorsed the new charter in the two-stage referendum; the approved charter gives Islamists the mandate to decide the future of Egypt which has a considerable Christian population and other minorities. The new constitution drafted by a predominant Islamist group, which excluded the [...]

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Holy Synod: Election of the head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is not subject to judicial control

November 15, 2012 Featured News

15/11/2012 - Focus News Agency Sofia. The election of head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC) is not subject to state judicial control. This is the canonical question and issue of management decisions of the autocephalous Orthodox Church. That is said in the statement of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, on the occasion of the [...]

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Illegal diggings reveal ancient church, mosaics

October 7, 2012 Featured News

ISPARTA – Anatolia News Agency 5/10/2012 The ruins of a church and mosaics discovered in illegal excavations in Isparta will be prepared for visitors. The remains are believed to be from the late Roman and Byzantine period and expected to attract faith tourism. Excavations are being competed on an early basilica and mosaics that were [...]

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Istanbul Patriarchate purchases world’s third oldest church

September 13, 2012 Featured News

BURSA – Anatolia News Agency 13/9/2012 The world’s reputedly third oldest church, the Byzantine Başmelekler Church, or Taksiyarhon Church, was purchased by the Istanbul patriarchate on Sept. 10, the head priest of Halki Seminary, Professor Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, has announced. The Başmelekler Church, built in 789 by Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos, is located in the Trilye [...]

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Forest fire near Greek Orthodox monastery spreads

August 10, 2012 News

FOCUS News Agency 9/8/2012 Thessaloniki. Authorities ordered the evacuation Thursday of young families and the elderly as a wildfire near Greece’s monastic community of Mount Athos spread towards a nearby town, firefighters said, cited by AFP. The mayor of the city of Ouranoupolis “has given the order to families with children and elderly people to [...]

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Sunni Rebels Occupying Churches, Homes of Syrian Christians

July 30, 2012 Featured News

30/7/2012 www.worldnewstribune.com Assyrian International News Agency LONDON — The Vatican has determined that Sunni rebels were targeting the Christian community in Syria. The Vatican has received reports deemed credible that Sunni rebels financed by Qatar were attacking churches and ordering Christians to leave their homes. The reports, which stemmed from leading Catholic clerics, said the [...]

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Patriarch visits church in Alanya

July 19, 2012 News

ALANYA – Anatolia News Agency 19/7/2012 Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew has visited Hıdırellez Church at the Alanya Tower July 17, and also met with Alanya Mayor Hasan Sipahioğlu. Representatives of the patriarchate also gathered information about the Alanya area and the churches in the district. As Patriarch Bartholomew left the church, Anjelika Anzhela, a representative [...]

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Egyptian Church Threatens to Withdraw From Constituent Assembly Over Sharia Article

July 6, 2012 Featured News

Assyrian International News Agency 6/7/2012 The Coptic Orthodox Church threatened to withdraw its Constituent Assembly representatives Wednesday over concerns the new constitution will not represent minorities. Church leaders discussed the potential withdrawal Wednesday in an all-day meeting, according to Bishop Benjamin of Monufiya. At the heart of the discussion was ongoing debate within the assembly [...]

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German Parliament Resolution Supports Embattled Assyrian Monastery in Turkey

June 20, 2012 Featured News

18/6/2012 Assyrian International News Agency Berlin — The German parliament decides today, on Thursday [June 14, 2012] evening, on an application introduced by the parliamentary groups of the CDU / CSU and FDP for ensuring continued existence of the Syrian Orthodox monastery St. Gabriel in southeast Turkey. The chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary [...]

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Basilica News Agency Four Years Since Setting Up

June 17, 2012 Featured News

Romanian Orthodox Church On 16 June 2012, Basilica News Agency of the Romanian Patriarchate celebrates four years of existence. The role of Basilica News Agency of the Romanian Patriarchate is to present, as news and press documents the institutions, the activity and attitudes of the Romanian Orthodox Church on various topical issues. The selection and [...]

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The Difference Between Christians and Christians in Syria

June 7, 2012 Featured News

Augin Kurt Haninke Assyrian International News Agency 6/6/2012 (AINA) — It is well known that most Christians in Syria support Assad’s regime because they fear what may come instead, given the experience in Iraq and Egypt. But if the regime falls, only certain Christian groups would benefit, while others would be regarded as traitors by [...]

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Bulgarians from Bosilegrad raise funds for the restoration of the burnt church in Bolgrad

May 31, 2012 News

FOCUS News Agency 31/5/2012 Bosilegrad. The fund-raising campaign in Bosilegrad for the restoration of the burnt Transfiguration Orthodox Church in Bolgrad has ended, the Cultural and Information Center in Bosilegrad told FOCUS News Agency. The charity campaign was launched at the 19th International Children’s Easter Festival in Bosilegrad. The campaign has managed to raise EUR [...]

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Egypt Sentences 12 Coptic Christians to Life in Prison

May 23, 2012 Featured News

Assyrian International News Agency 22/5/2012 On 21 May, Egypt’s State Security Council sentenced 12 Christians to life in prison and acquitted eight Muslims. The Christians were found guilty of sowing public strife, possession of illegal weapons, and killing two Muslims in an April 2011 episode of violence that took place in Minya province, about 220 [...]

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What is most important to Macedonian Orthodox Church is to return to canonical field, says Russian bishop

April 29, 2012 News

FOCUS News Agency 29/4/2012 Sofia. What is most important to the Macedonian Orthodox Church is for it to return to the canonical field, bishop Hilarion, Chairman of External Church Relations Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, said in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio. He says there are many models of church structure, which, without obligatory [...]

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Bulgarian and Russian orthodox churches can play role of a bridge between the two nations: Russian Patriarch

April 27, 2012 News

Focus News Agency 26/4/2012 Our two churches are brotherly churches, with very close historical, cultural and spiritual bonds, which date back into the past, Patriarch Kirill of Russia and All Moscow said in an interview with Bulgarian television TV7 ahead of his visit to Bulgaria between 27 and 29 April. Our two churches are brotherly [...]

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Orthodox Christianity as part of contemporary culture

April 5, 2012 News

4/4/2012 FOCUS News Agency Sofia. The first lecture on orthodox Christianity as part of contemporary culture was delivered yesterday at the Festa Sofia Hotel by the bishop Joan, vicar of Patriarch Maxim, the 24 Chasa daily informs. The event was organized by the Chairperson of the Board of Directors at Festa Holding and the Supervisory [...]

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Catholicos Karekin II wishes PM Borisov luck in all his deeds

April 3, 2012 News

FOCUS News Agency 3/4/2012 Sofia. “Our Church was established in 301, when the Christianity was declared official religion. From here, we conduct the spiritual guidance of the Armenian nation all over the world,” said Catholicos Karekin II, Head of the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church, who met with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who is on [...]

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