Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan promised democratic reforms on Saturday in a rare meeting with Turkey's religious minority leaders highlighting the issue of minority rights, a key stumbling block in its EU membership bid. Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and leaders of the small Armenian, Jewish, Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholic communities had lunch with Erdogan and senior ministers on Buyukada island near Istanbul, a patriarchate official told Reuters on condition his name not be used. Erdogan and Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based spiritual leader of the world's 250 million Orthodox, later toured the Aya Yorgi Church, where they had a private conversation in which the patriarch voiced his community's concerns, the official said. The two men last met in 2006. Erdogan and Bartholomew also visited a former orphanage on Buyukada that the Turkish state seized from a Greek Orthodox foundation a decade ago. The European Court of Human Rights ruled last year Turkey had wrongly confiscated the property, but the government has yet to implement that ruling. Bartholomew also raised the issue of the closed Orthodox seminary on the nearby island of Heybeli, or Halki in Greek, but Erdogan made no statement on the issue, the official said. The EU has made re-opening the Halki seminary a litmus test of the government's commitment to religious freedom for non-Muslims in largely Muslim but officially secular Turkey.
he Vatican’s official newspaper has accused Britain and the United States of having detailed knowledge of Hitler’s plans to exterminate Jews, but failed to stop it. The L’Osservatore Romano claims in a report that authorities in Washington and London ignored, downplayed or even suppressed intelligence reports about the Nazis’ extermination plans. According to the daily, both governments could have bombed Nazi concentration camps and the railway stations that supplied them but instead chose not to. According to The Telegraph, British and American inaction was in contrast to the efforts made by the wartime Pope, Pius XII, who tried to save as many Jews as he could through clandestine means. The editorial is the Vatican’s latest effort to rehabilitate the reputation of Pope Pius, whose reluctance to denounce the Nazis publicly prompted accusations of anti-Semitism and earned him the title “Hitler’s Pope”. L’Osservatore dismissed such claims as a “radically false” characterisation of the pontiff’s wartime record.
The Czech Republic has expelled two Russian diplomats, one of whom is a deputy military attaché, according to a Czech website. Moscow has called it a “provocation”. “That’s another provocation,” said Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister. However, neither the Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, nor the republic’s Foreign Ministry, commented on any of the claims being made. "The ministry does not comment on such sort of information, whether this has or has not taken place," a Czech Foreign Ministry spokesman said. "This is nonsense,” said Russian embassy official Vladimir Fyodorov, commenting on the issue. “I do not have this information." Meanwhile, a Czech website, iDNES, says that the republic’s military intelligence agency was told that the diplomats were working for the Russian secret services. It also alleges that two-thirds of the 200 embassy and consulate staff are involved in spying.
US President Barack Obama said Monday he was "deeply troubled" by reports of an apparent suicide attack on a police compound in southern Russia that killed at least 20 people. "I am deeply troubled about reports of a suicide bombing today in Nazran, Ingushetiya that has resulted in the tragic loss of at least 20 lives and 138 injured," Obama said in a statement released by the White House. "There can be no justification for such an act of terrorism. This latest attack highlights the concerning increase in violence in the region affecting officials and civilians alike. Our condolences go out to the government of Russia and the families of victims," said the US president. Russian officials said a truck packed with explosives rammed through the gates of a police compound and blew in an apparent suicide attack in Nazran, the main city in Ingushetia. In a move underscoring the seriousness of the situation, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced hours after the attack that he had sacked the region's top policeman and issued a stern command to his interior minister to bring about order in the region's law enforcement. "This terrorist act could have been avoided," a stern-faced Medvedev said on state television.
Bosnia’s Muslim spiritual leader, Reiss-ul-Ulema Mustafa Ceric, has drawn strong criticism from moderate Muslims and from Bosnian Serbs, after he called for Islamic Sharia law to be incorporated into the Bosnian constitution. Ceric made the controversial suggestion when he conducted Bosnia's first Sharia mass wedding on Saturday in the central city of Zenica. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi reportedly paid for the weddings for the 20 couples and some 500 guests. Strict Sharia law drastically reduces the rights of women, allows polygamy for men, forbids marrying non-Muslims and sanctions cruel penalties including stoning. Ceric said "no force could separate" Muslims in Serbia from those in Bosnia, which he has described as a homeland for Muslims. Ceric’s pronouncement concealed a Muslim drive to dominate the whole country. Ceric’s statements drew sharp criticism from moderate Muslims.
In addition to being a talented football player, a husband, and father, Troy Polamalu is a devout Orthodox Christian. Polamalu is an Eastern Orthodox Christian, having converted through the influence of his wife Theodora. Among his spiritual activities is a pilgrimage to Greek Orthodox sites in Greece and Turkey, taken in 2007. Polamalu's faith has brought him to the ancient Orthodox monastic haven, Mount Athos which he describes as "Heaven on earth." So touched and graced by the Holy Mountain was he, that he named his first born son Paisios after Elder Paisios. Polumalu stated that in his football game, the goal is to glorify God. His example is something many atheletes and celebrities can learn from, but the everday believer as well. Polamalu said, "Football is part of my life but not life itself. Football doesn't define me. It's what I do [and] how I carry out my faith." The everday believer can learn from this gifted athlete. They can learn that even in the midst of fame and glory, it is still important to seek after God and to humble themselves. They can learn that it is not one's career that makes a person, but what the person does with their life to help others and grow closer to God is what matters most. They can learn that even in the midst of a busy life, it is still possible (and good!) to make time for God and family.
Orthodox Christians must reach out across ethnic and social lines in order for their churches to survive, the new head of the Orthodox Church in America said Friday after arriving in Michigan for a three-day visit. Metropolitan Jonah, 49, is to meet with local parishes on his first trip to Michigan since being elected in November as head of the church, one of the three main Orthodox churches in the U.S. Metro detroit has about 40 Orthodox churches, some of them part of the group Jonah heads. The Orthodox Church in America has its roots in Russian monks who came to Alaska more than 200 years ago. Today, many Native Americans in Alaska are members of the Orthodox Church, he said. Orthodox churches are often associated with particular ethnicities, such as Greek, Russian, or Lebanese-Syrian, among others. But Jonah said the community must transcend ethnic boundaries to flourish. The key, he said, is making people aware of what the Orthodox Church can offer. "What people are looking for is a spiritual path, a way that leads them into the depths of communion with God," he said.