Orthodox bishops in America are now free to use the A-word. That's autocephaly -- meaning a self-governing church that doesn't answer to an authority overseas. America is now divided into overlapping ethnic jurisdictions, most of which answer to a church in Eastern Europe or the Middle East. Many of those overseas churches had squelched talk of autocephaly for their mission dioceses in places such as the Americas and Australia. But in June they unanimously called for all bishops in each of those regions to assemble and make decisions about their own territories. "It is a transition that will lead us, as quickly as possible, to our goal of a united, autocephalous American Church," said Metropolitan Jonah, national leader of the Russian-rooted Orthodox Church in America. He encouraged the national conference of Orthodox Christian Laity, which met in Ligonier this week, to embrace the new unity process. It will have far greater impact on bishops and priests than on laity, he said, but the laity will be crucial to the changes that count. "Part of the challenge is simply to be together: to work together, to pray together, and for our children to grow up together, our seminarians to study and pray together and our people to marry one another. There is a gradual process of integration that will take generations and will eventually result in a completely unique American Orthodoxy," he said in a Thursday night speech. When the Russian Orthodox Church declared the Orthodox Church in America autocephalous in 1970, it hoped that would be the basis of a single American church. Instead, Metropolitan Jonah said, all jurisdictions, including his own, must give up their own structures to form a new church. While a new American church mustn't be limited by ethnicity, it must honor all of its heritages, Metropolitan Jonah said. He suggested using his own church's model of having both territorial dioceses and non-geographical dioceses for parishes that need ethnic ministries. "We need to ... figure out a way in which not only our history but all of the other histories -- the Romanian experience, the Albanian experience, the Greek experience -- all of that is seen not as just their experience but our common experience," he said. A united American Orthodoxy will be more effective than the current ethnic groups in lobbying for the rights of persecuted Christians in Turkey, Sudan and elsewhere, he said. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the first among equals of the Orthodox patriarchs, is visiting the U.S. this week and next. Metropolitan Jonah met with him, and felt encouraged by the patriarch's public words and their private conversation.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Monday criticized Turkey over shrinking its Christian population by closing the Halki International Seminary. Speaking at a conference on "Leadership for Sustainable Success," Clinton asked that "You have to think: While your population is growing, why is your Christian Orthodox community shrinking? Do you think it is better for the Christian Orthodox community to fall under the influence of the Russian church?" he added. Halki seminary has received international attention in recent years. In 1999, Clinton, who was then U.S. President, visited Halki during his visit to Turkey and urged former Turkish President Suleyman Demirel to allow the reopening of the school. In October 1998, both houses of the United States Congress passed resolutions that supported the reopening of Halki. The European Union has also raised the issue as part of its negotiations over Turkish accession to the EU. In a speech before the Turkish Parliament on April 6, U.S. President Barack Obama re-affirmed the need for Turkey to allow the reopening of Halki Seminary. However, the school remains closed, and there is strong opposition to reopening it from Turkey's nationalist parties.
A US-based group, Class Action, is filing a $400 bln lawsuit against Turkey with regard to claims by owners of property in Cyprus’ northern Turkish occupied areas, who are seeking the use and enjoyment of their property. A press release, issued in Washington on the matter, said that “on Monday, October 19, 2009, a Class Action lawsuit is being filed against the Republic of Turkey for depriving hundreds of thousands of property owners their rights to use and enjoy their property in northern Cyprus.” It explains that the deprivation of the use and enjoyment of property started with the wrongful invasion and occupation of 40% of the island nation of the Republic of Cyprus in 1974, that continues to this day. “Despite recent findings of mass murders sites of civilians and others condemned by the international community, the Republic of Turkey has failed to cooperate with the civilized world,” it adds. Unfortunately, it continues, “the deplorable conduct” of the Republic of Turkey continues in cooperation with the Turkish Cypriot regime, an illegitimate and unrecognized entity operating through the presence of the Turkish military. To this day, it notes, the Turkish Cypriot occupation regime through the use of the Turkish military deprive the plaintiffs and the Class the rights to use, enjoy or return to their properties in violation of international law and the laws of the U.S. This lawsuit seeks compensation for the denial of the use and enjoyment of the properties belonging to approximately 200,000 refugees and others who were forced to leave by military force, some of whom paying with their lives, by the Republic of Turkey in concert with the illegal regime in occupied Cyprus. The Turkish military equipment used to wrongfully occupy and displace the plaintiffs and the Class from their property was sold and originated from the United States that by law requires that U.S. military equipment acquired by Turkey not be used in an offensive manner, the press release notes.
A young Iraqi woman whose father allegedly hit her with his car because she had become too Westernized died from her injuries Monday after laying in a coma for nearly two weeks. Noor Faleh Almaleki, 20, underwent spinal surgery and had been in a hospital since Oct. 20, when police say her father ran down her and her boyfriend's mother with his Jeep as the women were walking across a parking lot in the west Phoenix suburb of Peoria. The other woman, Amal Khalaf, is expected to survive. Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, fled after the attack but was arrested Thursday when he arrived at Atlanta's airport, where he was sent from the United Kingdom after authorities denied him entrance. Family members had told police that Almaleki attacked his daughter because he believed she had become too Westernized and was not living according to his traditional Iraqi values.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 hit western Greece this morning, but there have been no reports of injuries or material damage. Athens Geodynamic Institute says the undersea quake struck at 07:25 a.m.Tuesday near the Ionian sea island of Zakynthos, 205 miles west of Athens. The epicenter of the earthquake was undersea near the island of Zakynthos, some 335 kilometers west of Athens. Experts said that the area is one of the seismically most active in Europe, with building standards on Zakynthos and nearby Kefalonia "very high".
Boris Tadić says he "deeply believes" that the ICJ ruling on the legality of the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo will be in Serbia's favor. "I am deeply convinced that the decision of the ICJ will be made in Serbia's favor, as this is a violation of international law," the Serbian president stressed in an interview for the Italian news agency ANSA on Tuesday. He spoke ahead of the Italian-Serbian summit in Rome, due to be held on November 13. "If violation of international law is acceptable, then crises will appear in many parts of the world," he added. Tadić also pointed out that Serbia reacted to the Kosovo Albanian secessionist act "in a peaceful and restrained manner". "We have suggested a resolution to this case to the UN and initiated proceedings at the ICJ in The Hague. When it comes to Kosovo, there has been a violation of international law and Serbia decided to defend its territorial integrity with diplomatic means," Tadić said. He added that "regardless of the ICJ's decision, Serbia will insist on continuing negotiations and finding a compromise solution". "Serbia does not recognize Kosovo's independence, but it will remain determined to find a peaceful solution through dialogue," Tadić underscored.
Worshippers in the French city of Nice took on the Russian state on Monday in a court battle over the ownership of the biggest Russian Orthodox cathedral outside the mother country. The onion-domed cathedral of St Nicholas was built for Russians – many of them aristocrats - who holidayed or settled on the French Riviera on land first purchased by Alexander II in 1865. It was completed in 1912 – five years before the Bolshevik Revolution. The church's parish council argues that Tsar Nicholas II paid for the building work with his own money. But the Russian state claims he used imperial funds belonging to the mother country. Antoine Chatin, the parishioners' lawyer, said that Alexander II had first purchased the land to build a memorial to his oldest son and heir, Nicholas Alexandrovitch, who died there aged 21 of meningitis, and that the act of acquisition expressly mentioned the tsar's "personal desire" to buy it. The names of three tsars are written in the land registry, he said. Alain Condino, a lawyer representing the Russian state, argued that the contract signed in 1865 contained the phrase "in the name of the emperor of all Russias" and that the land was bought with funds from the ministry of the imperial court. Mr Condino said an edict by Nicholas II dated 1908 stipulated the "effective owner" was the cabinet of the tsar, a state body. Mr Condino said the parish council wanted to keep control of the church "for financial reasons", as the entrance fee is €3 (£2.70). The cathedral is a listed building in France and contains precious works including 300 icons. The parishioners' lawyer said that by claiming ownership, the Russian state hoped to bring the cathedral under the control of the patriarchate of Moscow, and thus under the influence of the Kremlin. The parish council has since 1931 been affiliated to the rival patriarchate of Constantinople. The case continues.