The Shepherd, December 2005
NEWS SECTION
NEW PATRIARCH ENTHRONED
THEOPHILUS III, who was elected on 22nd August, has now been enthroned as Patriarch of Jerusalem, even though the Israeli government has not recognised his election. The Palestinian Authority and the Jordanian government have both recognised it, but properly all three secular governments on the territory of the Patriarchate have to endorse the election. The Israeli government delayed recognising the election of Patriarch Theophilus’ predecessor, Patriarch Irenæus, for some time. The latter was deposed and defrocked earlier in the year, after being accused of selling church property to Jewish investors. He is now recognised only as a simple monk. He has protested his innocence of the charges brought against and does not accept his deposition. The Israelis have set up a committee to look into all the relevant matters and are withholding their endorsement of the new Patriarch’s election until that committee has reported. Their request that the inauguration of the new Patriarch be held over until that time has been refused and has been seen as “inappropriate interference” by the Patriarchate.
KOSOVO: PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS
BARNABAS AID, the magazine of the Barnabas Fund, a charity based in Wiltshire, which monitors the plight of Christians in Muslim lands, reports (November-December 2005 issue) that the Serbian Christians in Kosovo are suffering severe persecution from the Albanian Muslims. They say: “while the official government line is that such outbreaks of violence are spontaneous and unplanned, some analysts see indications of a planned and deliberate campaign of targeting the Christian heritage of Kosovo.” The magazine reports that in the period between 1999 and 2004, 150 churches and Christian buildings have been destroyed by ethnic Albanian mobs, while in the same period 200 new mosques have been built, many with Saudi or Iranian funding.
ROME - MOSCOW RELATIONS
REPORTS in the press suggest that, since the election of Pope Benedict XVI, relations between the Vatican and the Patriarchate of Moscow are warmer. A news bulletin, published in “The Daily Telegraph” on 29th October, reported that Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, who is described as the Vatican’s foreign minister, had stated that “Co-operation between representatives of the Holy See and the Russian Orthodox Church already exists and is very good.” However, he called for closer ties between the two communions, and this was said to signal a “new era of relations between the two churches.” Nonetheless, a news release from Moscow on 30th November, stated that His Holiness Patriarch Aleksii II of Moscow had been obliged to cancel an arranged meeting with Cardinal Renato Martino, who heads the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, on the previous day. The cancellation was put down to “technical reasons,” but was understood to be linked with the Patriarch’s health problems. Instead the Cardinal held discussion with Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk, and their talks were said to centre on social issues. A spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate commented, “Our positions on these issues are very close.”
ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND
IN THE HOLY LAND, a mosaic floor has been uncovered, revealing the site of what is believed to be one of the earliest Christian churches. The find was made at the Megiddo Prison, when excavations were being made to build a new wing. The mosaic which contains a fish motif, also has an ornate inscription in Greek, dedicating it to “the God Jesus Christ.” Evidence points to the fact that the chapel is pre-Constantinian and it may have been a clandestine prayer room within a larger building.
“HISTORY TODAY”
THE DECEMBER 2005 issue of the magazine, “History Today,” contains an eight-page, illustrated article entitled “The White Russians of Shanghai.” The piece by Fraser Newham, a freelance journalist who has written a novel, “Shanghai MacGregor,” is about the social and cultural life of the Russians there between the two World Wars and immediately after the Second. It necessarily touches on their church life, and twice mentions St John of Shanghai, and in fact the very last paragraph contains a reference to him: “Bishop Ioann remains a much-loved figure even today, and in 1994 was canonized as St John of Shanghai and San Francisco.” There is a “History Today” website: www.historytoday.com
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