Resources
Orthodox Christians Yearn for Famous Seminary 50 Years After Turkey Closed It
Author: David I. Klein
Publication Date: 15/12/2021
Source: Christanity Today
The classrooms and halls of the Halki Orthodox Seminary on the Turkish island of Heybeliada, in the Sea of Marmara south of Istanbul, look much as they did when Konstantinos Delikostantis was a student there more than 50 years ago.
Wooden chairs and black desks line the classrooms, some still bearing the graffiti (in both Turkish and Greek) of their past occupants. The chalkboards, which sit beneath portraits of Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, look as if they could use a good wash.
‘Spiritual Awakening’ In Memory Of Coptic Martyrs Of Libya
Publication Date: 6/1/2022
Source: Exaudi Catholic News
Fifteen days of “spiritual awakening” to live in grateful memory of those who died seven years ago whispering the name of Jesus while being killed by a group of jihadists. This is the proposal addressed to Egyptian Christians by the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Samalut, in the province of Minya, on the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the martyrdom of the twenty Egyptian Coptic Christians murdered on a Libyan beach in February 2015 together with their Ghanaian co-worker at the hands of a group of terrorists from the so-called Islamic State (Daesh), reported Fides News Agency.
Egyptian Novelist Shady Lewis on Coptic Identity, Church-State Relations, and Citizenship
Author: Nevine Abraham
Publication Date: 7/12/2021
Source: Arablit & Arablit Quarterly
For the reader interested in Coptism, Egyptian novelist Shady Lewis’s three novels Turuq Al Rab (Ways of the Lord, 2018), Ala Khat Greenwich (On the Greenwich Line, 2020), and Tarikh Mugaz Lilkhaliqah wa Sharq Al Qahira (A Brief History of Creation and East Cairo, 2021), delve into Coptic identity and its national and religious trappings through a perspective that does not limit it to the customary persecution narrative. Lewis voices a grievance against a predominant culture of fear, coercion, and repression, orchestrated primarily by the state and secondarily by the church, and gestures to the effects of social and colonial history, the Coptic Orthodox Church’s teachings and policies, its relation to the state, and the interactions with Western missionaries in shaping Coptic identity.
Sisi greets Egyptian Copts on Christmas, says the ‘New Republic’ will be based on dream, work and free of discrimination
Publication Date: 6/1/2022
Source: Egypt Today
President Abdel Fattah al Sisi arrived, Thursday at the Christmas Mass in the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in the New Administrative Capital to wish Egyptians a Merry Christmas.
In a short speech, Sisi called on Egyptians to stay united and not to allow anyone to cause any strife between them.
“We started a new path in Egypt which is ‘the new republic path’ that accommodates everyone without discrimination.” Sisi said.
Pope Tawadros: for Copts there is no longer any "ban" on visiting Jerusalem
Publication Date: 13/1/2022
Source: Agenzia Fides
The Coptic Christians of Egypt who go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem do not contravene any provision of the ecclesiastical authority. The prescriptions laid down in the past by the leaders of the Coptic hierarchy, which in the historical context marked by the Arab-Israeli conflict had given instructions to its faithful not to go to the Holy City, are now obsolete and outdated by history. These are the considerations that Patriarch Tawadros wanted to repeat clearly during a television interview broadcast on January 7, on the occasion of the Coptic Christmas, with the clear intention of sweeping away the hesitations and controversies that continue to stop many Coptic Christians from going on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Saint George still alive for dwindling Palestinian Christians
Author: Ben Lynfield
Publication Date: 10/05/2019
Source: The New Arab
This year St George's day, a spiritually uplifting holiday for Palestinian Christians, coincided with the start of the sacred and poignant fasting month of Ramadan for Muslims.
Shaping Palestine: The Palestinian Christians who made a difference
Author: Qassam Muaddi
Publication Date: 29/12/2021
Source: The New Arab
Palestinian Christians have played a key role in Palestinian history, participating in shaping national identity and culture. While some names are widely known, others deserve more recognition.
In the face of erasure, Jerusalem's Armenian community celebrates a sombre Christmas
Author: Jessica Buxbaum
Publication Date: 22/01/2022
Source: The New Arab
In the heart of Jerusalem's Old City, Armenians are preparing to celebrate Christmas. But this year, faced with a spike in attacks against the community and rising coronavirus cases, the streets of the Armenian Quarter are quiet.
