The modern-day crusade for Christendom by nonbelievers tends to be rooted in fears about Muslim immigration, but it's also fueled by worries about the deterioration of European culture -- and nostalgia for the continent's once central place in world affairs.
Alena Plavsic, Fr. Alexander Anthchoutine
As one church warden used to say to one priest, "I’ve wiped the floor with 16 priests, and you’ll be the 17th…" This certainly cannot be the case. From whence comes the idea that the priest must fulfill every wish of his parishioners or warden?
Nun Cornelia (Rees), Dr. Lynne Pappas
Rating: 10|Votes: 3
People no longer have any boundaries, any anchor, or marker of what truth is. This is very important to remember in looking at this whole issue, because it has taken everything and turned it upside down, so that people do not know where to go.
Met. Hierotheos Vlachos
Rating: 10|Votes: 1
But there is a basic principle: Christianity does all its social work mainly within the church area. Those who perceive the Church as an ideology, as a social and religious system, become frustrated. Those living outside the Church and are involved a few times a year in church life, do not know what is in it.
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.
