Rating: 1|Votes: 1
In terms of culture and even politics, the patriarchate is very important, first of all because it gives legitimacy to the historical claims that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the PA have over the holy places — because they both have claims from the Muslim Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab, when the Muslims took over the city of Jerusalem from the then-Patriarch of Jerusalem Sophronius, and it is well known that they made a peace covenant known as “the Covenant of Omar.” This fundamental agreement has been the basis of all the legal transactions or legal agreements that have taken place so far between the patriarchate and the states and their respective authorities.
Nun Nectaria (McLees), George Alexandrou
Rating: 10|Votes: 1
A Christian must fight for freedom for everyone in this world, yet at the same time we must be very strict with our own tradition. This is a tight-rope, and this is what it means to be a Christian. The Moslem-Arab way, the “moderate middle,” is to be always wise and moderate, but we Orthodox can never be proud or sure of our path, because we believe that everything that is done on earth is done through the medium of sinful people.
Nun Nectaria (McLees)
Rating: 7,2|Votes: 6
I grew up in Australia and am an English teacher myself, so I’ve thought quite a lot about Church translation. If you take, for example, the phrase, “The Lord is with us,” in Greek it is O Theos Methimon. It resonates with such grandeur that you feel as if you are offering something beautiful to God, that this language is worthy of the Lord.
Chris Banescu
Rating: 6,4|Votes: 95
As a survivor of the Communist Holocaust I am horrified to witness how my beloved America, my adopted country, is gradually being transformed into a secularist and atheistic utopia, where communist ideals are glorified and promoted, while Judeo-Christian values and morality are ridiculed and increasingly eradicated from the public and social consciousness of our nation.
Rating: 4,8|Votes: 5
There is a diabolic texture penetrating throughout this “lamentation”. We can feel the same texture also in the description of Gapon’s speech, supposing as he was (like in a dream!) to personally enter the palace and hand the Tsar a special copy of the petition, printed on the best paper. “Well, I will hand the Tsar the petition, and what will I do if the Tsar accepts it? Then I will take out a white handkerchief and wave it, which will mean that we have a Tsar.
