Category: Middle Eastern Christianity
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Christians in the Middle East: Towards Renewed Theological, Social, and Political Choices
by Jennifer Griggs | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Русский | Српски We Choose Abundant Life is a document issued by Christian intellectuals and theologians who met together in Beirut on September 29, 2021 to launch their vision for Christians in the Middle East. A stark choice for these Christians is presented […]
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Liturgy and the Limits of Minority Rights
by Christopher Sheklian | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Русский | Српски “To find something that is lost is always a happy occasion!” So said Patriarch Sahak II Maşalyan of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, during his sermon at the first Divine Liturgy to be celebrated at the Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic […]
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Jerusalem Belongs to All of Its Creeds
by Seraj Assi | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Русский | Српски It’s been a brutal week for Palestinians in the city of peace. As hardline Israeli groups prepared a provocative parade through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, Israeli security forces turned their guns on peaceful Palestinian protesters and worshipers […]
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Getting Along in Hard Times
by V. Rev. Dr. Stelyios Muksuris | български | ქართული | Ελληνικά | Русский | Српски One afternoon last week, a wave of profound sadness came over me, prompted by a video I had viewed. A fairly new documentary on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection (or […]
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The Meaning of Hagia Sophia: A Traveler’s Perspective
by Elizabeth Scott Tervo | Ελληνικά The church of Hagia Sophia was the preeminent monument of Christian architecture and an active church for almost a millennium until the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, when the clergy and people were slaughtered as they celebrated their last Liturgy. Hagia Sophia was used as a mosque for Muslim […]
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Human Rights and Persecution Economies
by Candace Lukasik | Ελληνικά Earlier this year, I published a short piece with Anthropology News on Coptic Christian persecution in Egypt, American power, and racism in the United States. I then received a barrage of social media criticism claiming that I overemphasized racism against Copts in the US, and in so doing eschewed focus […]
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The Limitless Hope of Bishop Samuel (1920–1981)
by Samuel Kaldas | Ελληνικά Few Copts today remember Bishop Samuel, the first General Bishop of Ecumenical and Social Services. They do not hang his picture in their homes or keep it in their wallets as they do with his contemporaries like Pope Kyrillos VI or Pope Shenouda III. Those who have heard of him […]
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Hagia Sophia’s Status as a Mosque Mocks Prophet Muhammad’s Covenant with Christianity
by Ani Zonneveld In 2019, I had the pleasure of immersing myself in the history of both Christianity and Islam, where they are woven together in the beautiful and magnificent architecture of the Hagia Sophia. During my trip, numerous Christian icons, which were plastered over during the Ottoman Empire, were being uncovered and restored, bringing […]
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Hagia Sophia and the Challenge of Religious Freedom
by George Demacopoulos | ελληνικά | српски Christian leaders and secular governments around the world have condemned, with good reason, the recent decision of a Turkish court to reconvert Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Indeed, this ruling is just the latest step in a century-long effort by the Turkish government to erase both the history […]
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The Hagia Sophia: A Museum or a Place of Worship?
by Thomas Bremer I categorically refuse to pay an entrance fee for a church, out of principle. When I was in Bratislava, and the Catholic cathedral charged a very small fee, I did not enter. When I returned to the wonderful Cathedral Church in Trogir, Croatia, two years ago, it was selling entrance tickets—so I […]