Tag: Greek Orthodox

Evangelism charges dropped against Moroccan convert

February 11, 2014 Morocco Aïn Aïcha, Fes, Greek Orthodox, King Mohammed VI, Mohamed el Baldi, Proselytism

New Life Church in Fes, Morocco.World Watch Monitor The case of a Moroccan convert to Christianity sentenced to 30 months in jail for evangelism is expected to be officially dismissed on Feb. 13 when the judge provides his final ruling, after the charges against him were concluded to have . . . Read More

Lebanese library torched after blasphemy accusation

January 7, 2014 Lebanon Al-Saeh Library, Blasphemy, Greek Orthodox, Lebanon, Tripoli

Around two-thirds of the library’s estimated 80,000 books are thought to have been damaged.MTV Lebanon News / YouTube A huge library of books collected by a 72-year-old Greek Orthodox priest, but used by the whole community, was torched in Lebanon on Friday (January 3) after he was accused of insulting . . . Read More

Promised legal reforms disappoint Turkey’s religious minorities

October 3, 2013 Turkey Greek Orthodox, Halki Seminary, Kurds, Mor Gabriel Monastery, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

An empty classroom in the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary near Istanbul, closed by the Turkish government since 1971.World Watch Monitor The Turkish government’s long-awaited “democratisation package” of reform laws announced this week has met with considerable disappointment among Turkey’s minority religious communities. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed on . . . Read More

Bomb kills 4 in Syrian Christian district

June 27, 2013 Greek Orthodox

Four people were killed and several injured on Thursday in an explosion in the mostly Christian Bab Sharqi district of Damascus’ Old City, near the Greek Orthodox Virgin Mary Church. Syrian state-run TV said it was a suicide bomb; opposition forces said it was a government-fired mortar. No one had . . . Read More

Sabra now says he doesn’t know bishops’ whereabouts

May 24, 2013 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Boulos Yazigi, George Sabra, Greek Orthodox, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, Refugees, Syria, Turkey, Yohanna Ibrahim

The leader of the Syrian opposition coalition is backing away from previous reports that he is certain of the location and condition of two Syrian Orthodox bishops kidnapped April 22. George Sabra, president of the Syrian National Coalition, told World Watch Monitor on May 21 he is not informed of . . . Read More

‘Groping in the dark’

May 9, 2013 Syria Aleppo, Boulos Yazigi, George Sabra, Greek Orthodox, Kidnapping, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

That’s how Mgr. Jeanclement Jeanbart, the Greek-Melkite Archbishop of Aleppo, describes to Asia News the absence of any information about the current fate of Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi, respective heads of the Syriac and Greek Orthodox Churches in Aleppo. They were kidnapped on April, and little information has emerged . . . Read More

Archbishop’s life ‘under threat’

April 29, 2013 Syria Aleppo, Boulos Yazigi, Greek Orthodox, Kidnapping, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

Kidnapped archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim is reported to be without access to prescribed medication vital for his health. The Syrian Orthodox archbishop for Aleppo, who was kidnapped alongside his Greek Orthodox counterpart Boulos Yazigi, takes regular medication for high blood pressure and diabetes. A spokesperson from the Greek Orthodox Church in . . . Read More

Kidnapped archbishop urges Christians to stay in Syria

April 26, 2013 Syria Aleppo, Boulos Yazigi, Greek Orthodox, Kidnapping, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

The nephew of Yohanna Ibrahim, one of the two archbishops kidnapped in Syria on Monday, said he hopes Syrian Christians will not use the incident as an incentive to flee the country. Jamil Diarbakerli, who represents the Assyrian Democratic Organisation (which petitions for the rights of the Assyrian minority) said . . . Read More

Kidnapped archbishops ‘not’ released

April 23, 2013 Syria Aleppo, Boulos Yazigi, Greek Orthodox, Kidnapping, Orthodox, Syria, Yohanna Ibrahim

Confusion surrounds the whereabouts of two Orthodox archbishops kidnapped on Monday and reportedly released on Tuesday. The latest reports claim the archbishops have not been released, while it remains unclear who abducted them. The archbishops’ driver, identified as a deacon, was killed, while a fourth passenger escaped. Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos . . . Read More

Turkey’s religious freedom record slides

April 9, 2012 Turkey Greek Orthodox, Malatya, Orhan Picaklar, Religious freedom, Turkey

Sentiment against Christians in Turkey has persisted long enough for a U.S. religious rights monitor to recommend it as a “Country of Particular Concern,” and pastor Orhan Picaklar knows such anti-Christian hostility first-hand. Picaklar, of Agape Church in Samsun, lives in the Black Sea region, a bastion of Turkey’s unique . . . Read More

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