News

VOLGOGRAD, Russia, October 23, 2012
An Orthodox priest in the Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) region of Russia has been commended by the Russian Ministry of Health for his work in reducing the number of abortions in his district. His personal efforts in counseling and helping women to keep their babies has reduced the abortion rate in the Volgograd region by 25 percent over the past five years.
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Surrogate motherhood is no different from prostitution, according to Bishop Nikolay, the radical Bulgarian Orthodox Bishop of Plovdiv.
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OLMSTED TOWNSHIP, Ohio - Police are investigating the theft of five church bells from St. Innocent Orthodox Church.
Father Bulter says the bells were stolen between 12:30 p.m and 7 p.m. Sunday from the church located at 8526 Usher Road.
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Metropolitan Jonah, by most accounts the highest-ranking, evangelical-friendly archpriest in North America's Eastern Orthodox Church, resigned under duress in July. His removal has observers less concerned about his leadership shortcomings, which allegedly led to his removal, than about the widening gap between conservatives and the Orthodox Church.
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In the face of deepening violence how can the church witness for peace?
Amid continued reports of violence in Syria, approximately 70 people from various Orthodox and Protestant churches met June 12 at Saint Aphraim Church, a Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch congregation to respond to the ongoing and intensifying violence in Syria.
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WARSAW, Poland (CNS) — The head of the Russian Orthodox Church and the president of the Polish Catholic bishops’ conference signed a joint message Aug. 17 urging Poles and Russians to set aside centuries of anger and prejudice and work together to maintain their countries’ Christian identities.
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Gunmen numbering about 10 last night stormed the Deeper Life Bible Church at Otite in Adavi Local Government Council of Kogi State, killing about 16 worshippers in the process.The attack is coming on the heels of a similar one in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital on Sunday night, where four people were feared killed in their homes by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect.
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Almost three dozen imprisoned Christian Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia have been freed after months of being held by the authorities there. The 35 Ethiopians were imprisoned last December 17 for conducting a prayer meeting in a private home. "We understand that the Saudi's assaulted, harassed, and pressured the Christians to convert to Islam during the time of their incarceration," says International Christian Concern's Jonathan Racho.
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The sectarian strife between Muslims and Christians which took place last week in the village of Dahshur has prompted over 120 Christian families to flee their homes today after news that a Muslim man who had suffered 3rd degree burns in the incident died this morning in a Cairo hospital. Before his death, the father and brother of Moaz Hassab-Allah told the media yesterday that should he die, "the whole village will avenge his death."
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Metropolitan Makarios of Kenya received about a month ago into the Orthodox Church the first-born son of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Fidel Castro Odinga (named after the Cuban revolutionary leader), who was accompanied by his then future wife Lwam Getachew Bekele who is half Eritrean and half Ethiopian.
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