I believe the words of Metropolitan Hilarion are of such grave importance that I am choosing to post this article from Interfax for all to read. Please contact your congressman and ask that the United States government speak out in defense of our Coptic brothers and sisters. The US and the other western nations need to make it abundantly clear to the Egyptian provisional government that they are expected to protect the Coptic people.
Abbot Tryphon
Metropolitan Hilarion accuses West of
leaving Egyptian Christians in the lurch
Moscow, November 1, Interfax - Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations has accused the West of failing to stand up for Egyptian Christians during recent violence against them and has slammed Western governments for putting economic interests before human life.
"Despite the unprecedented escalation of violence against Christians in Egypt early in October, not a single Western country has put any pressure on the provisional military authorities of that country or threatened economic sanctions," a statement from the Synodal Department for External Church Relations quoted Metropolitan Hilarion as saying during a ceremony at the university of Lugano, Switzerland, in which he had the degree of doctor honoris causa conferred on him.
Footage showing armored personnel carriers "crushing a peaceful Coptic demonstration and shooting at unarmed people remain outside the attention of politicians" though they shocked the entire world, he said. The Copts are a Christian ethnic group in Egypt.
"Neither has an appropriate assessment been made of the speech of the Egyptian minister of security, who denied that weapons had been used against demonstrating Copts, or of reports about falsifying the death toll and the character of injuries. It is the right of the churches to ask the governments of their countries how long this would go on. Why are economic interests more valuable for those countries than the lives of completely innocent people who get killed just because they believe in Christ?" he said.
He called for Christians to come together "to defend their brothers and sisters who are suffering in various regions."
"If this doesn't happen, we will look even less convincing in the eyes of this world. On the other hand, by defending our fellow believers, we will strengthen our positions, will become more unified, and hence closer to one another," he said.
Attacking the secularization of the West, he said Christians face "an imperative and seemingly unfeasible task to lead modern so-called post-Christian civilization out of its crisis."
"Christian Churches, primarily the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, and also the ancient Eastern Churches, should come together today and join forces. We have the imperative need to create a community of Churches following the apostolic tradition where we would together discuss problems and challenges of the modern world," the metropolitan said.
He also suggested setting up "joint informal information structures that would provide objective, fresh and verified information on events that are of determining significance for the future of the Church and the world."
"Despite the unprecedented escalation of violence against Christians in Egypt early in October, not a single Western country has put any pressure on the provisional military authorities of that country or threatened economic sanctions," a statement from the Synodal Department for External Church Relations quoted Metropolitan Hilarion as saying during a ceremony at the university of Lugano, Switzerland, in which he had the degree of doctor honoris causa conferred on him.
Footage showing armored personnel carriers "crushing a peaceful Coptic demonstration and shooting at unarmed people remain outside the attention of politicians" though they shocked the entire world, he said. The Copts are a Christian ethnic group in Egypt.
"Neither has an appropriate assessment been made of the speech of the Egyptian minister of security, who denied that weapons had been used against demonstrating Copts, or of reports about falsifying the death toll and the character of injuries. It is the right of the churches to ask the governments of their countries how long this would go on. Why are economic interests more valuable for those countries than the lives of completely innocent people who get killed just because they believe in Christ?" he said.
He called for Christians to come together "to defend their brothers and sisters who are suffering in various regions."
"If this doesn't happen, we will look even less convincing in the eyes of this world. On the other hand, by defending our fellow believers, we will strengthen our positions, will become more unified, and hence closer to one another," he said.
Attacking the secularization of the West, he said Christians face "an imperative and seemingly unfeasible task to lead modern so-called post-Christian civilization out of its crisis."
"Christian Churches, primarily the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, and also the ancient Eastern Churches, should come together today and join forces. We have the imperative need to create a community of Churches following the apostolic tradition where we would together discuss problems and challenges of the modern world," the metropolitan said.
He also suggested setting up "joint informal information structures that would provide objective, fresh and verified information on events that are of determining significance for the future of the Church and the world."
Tuesday November 8, 2011 / October 26, 2011
22nd Week after Pentecost. Tone four.
Holy and Glorious Great-martyr Demetrius the Myrrh-gusher of Thessalonica (306).Commemoration of the Great Earthquake at Constantinople in 740 A.D.
Venerable Theophilus of the Kiev Caves, bishop of Novgorod (1482).
Martyr Luppos (306).
Venerable Athanasius of Medikion Monastery (814).
Venerable Demetrius of Basarbov in Bulgaria (1685).
Venerable Demetrius (14th c.).
St. Anthony, bishop of Vologda (1588).
St. Cedd, bishop of Lastingham (664) (Celtic & British).
St. Eata, bishop of Hexham and abbot of Lindisfarne (686) (Celtic & British).
Martyr Ioasaph, monk of Mt. Athos, disciple of St. Niphon of Constantinople (1536) (Greek).
St. Alexander Okropiridze, bishop of Guria and Mingrelia, Georgia (1907) (Georgia).
Martyrs Artemidorus and Basil (Greek).
Martyr Leptina (Greek).
Martyr Glycon (Greek).
Colossians 2:20-3:3
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Colossians 3
Not Carnality but Christ
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.Luke 11:1-10
The Model Prayer
1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”
A Friend Comes at Midnight
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. |
http://ancientfaith.com/ |
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