His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, and the hierarchs of the Orthodox Church in America are among over 50 hierarchs participating in the Episcopal Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Hierarchs of North America that opened at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel here on Wednesday, May 26, 2010. The convener of the Assembly is His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, acting as Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarch. The Assembly is the result of the decision of the Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference, which met in Chambésy Switzerland in June 2009 after the extraordinary Synaxis of all the Heads of the Autocephalous Churches convened by His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The gathering is one of twelve Episcopal Assemblies that will be convened around the world in regions where there is no single Orthodox presence. In a recent press release issued by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Archbishop Demetrios explained that the nature of the assembly is as "a temporary, not a permanent institution. It is simply preparatory to facilitate the process of an ecumenical council (in the future) that will decide the final form of the existence of the Church in a particular country." He further explained that the assembly will meet annually and is not a continuation of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas [SCOBA]. Rather, it works to "prepare a plan for dealing with anomalies, such as more than one bishop in a given locale and other things that interfere with the life of the Church." It is also designed "to project a unified witness of the faith." Sessions will continue through Thursday, May 27. The Assembly will conclude on Friday, May 28, on which the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral.
II. THESTRAITSTIMES - Time running out for Cyprus
UN Chief Ban Ki-moon warned Cypriot leaders on Wednesday that time was running out for a peace deal as they held their first talks since a hardliner won power in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north. Mr Ban's message to the two sides was read out by UN envoy Alexander Downer as Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu held his first formal negotiating session with Cyprus President Demetris Christofias since his poll victory over pro-solution incumbent Mehmet Ali Talat on April 18. "The peace process is at an important point. A settlement is within your grasp and this opportunity must be seized as time is not on your side," the message [read]. "Achieving an agreement will require vision, statesmanship and courage. Your communities want and expect a settlement," the UN chief added. "I truly believe that you can reach an agreement in the coming months." In order to break the ice, the United Nations arranged a social dinner for the pair and their wives on Tuesday evening at a restaurant in the UN-patrolled buffer zone that divides the capital Nicosia. "Things will be judged at the negotiating table and not over the dinner tables," Christofias said afterwards. It was reminiscent of the dinner diplomacy that helped build trust during a 2001 deadlock in a previous round of ultimately abortive reunification talks. Greek Cypriots fear Mr Eroglu's separatist views could derail the latest talks which began in September 2008. But the United Nations said that negotiations would pick up from where they left off on March 30 and that Mr Eroglu was committed to the ongoing process. The UN envoy has said that Mr Eroglu accepted that negotiations would not start from scratch and that a settlement would entail a federal reunited Cyprus with a single international character. Mr Downer said Mr Eroglu had also pledged not to reopen chapters where there had been significant convergence such as governance, power sharing, EU affairs and the economy. The trickiest issues ahead will be property rights, territorial adjustments and security.
III. B92 - EULEX in violation of UN resolution
Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanović today accused the EU mission in the province, EULEX, of taking the side of Kosovo Albanians. Bogdanović reacted to the news out of Priština this Wednesday that EULEX would “prohibit unauthorized visits of Serbian officials” by saying that the cooperation between Belgrade and EULEX was being jeopardized with the announcement. "Clearly, with this move EULEX has taken the side of Priština, assuming the role of the secessionists' advocate, in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244,” Bogdanović stated. Bogdanović added that EULEX's decision meant that it also violated the neutrality to which it was obligated by its own mandate. “I demand that EULEX urgently reverse this decision, because otherwise, as I have stated, our cooperation and relations will be seriously brought into question. “I would like to stress that this morning I traveled from Belgrade with no problems to the northern part of the Province, where I am right now. How will anyone prohibit me, born and living in Kosovo and Metohija, or any other politician from the Province, from going to our own homes,” Bogdanović said in his statement.
The deployment of the U.S. Patriot missiles in Poland does not enhance regional security and cooperation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Following the U.S. - Polish Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), the United States opened a temporary military base near the northern Polish town of Morag, 80 km (50 miles) from the Russian border. The base, which will become permanent from 2012, will deploy U.S. Patriot missiles and Standard Missile interceptor SM-3s. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it did not understand the logic behind the deployment of the missiles. "We asked America and Poland about this, but did not get a concrete or valid answer," the ministry said. Russia earlier suggested that the U.S. base be moved away from Russia's borders. "Unfortunately, neither Americans nor Polish accepted our arguments," the ministry said. The SOFA agreement was signed on December 11, 2009 in Warsaw by the U.S. deputy secretary of state for arms control and international security and the Polish deputy defense minister.
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday asked his American counterpart Barack Obama to either choose friendship with Iran by supporting the nuclear swap deal that it had signed earlier this month with Turkey and Brazil or be prepared for a permanent closure of dialogue. “Mr. Obama must know that this proposal is a historic opportunity ... [Mr. Obama should] know that if this opportunity is lost, I doubt the Iranian nation will give a new chance to this gentleman in the future.” The Iranian President said Mr. Obama should be wary of those who want Tehran and Washington to become permanent adversaries. “There are people in the world who want to pit Mr. Obama against the Iranian nation and bring him to the point of no return, where the path to his friendship with Iran will be blocked forever.” Ahmadinejad also aired his misgivings about Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s supposedly ambivalent stance on the nuclear swap deal. “Justifying the behaviour of Mr. Medvedev today has become very difficult,” he said. “The Iranian nation doesn't know whether [Russians] ultimately are friends, whether they stand by us or are after other things. This is not acceptable.” “I hope Russian leaders and officials pay attention to these sincere words and correct themselves, and not let the Iranian nation consider them among its enemies."
Vienna is the best city in the world to live while war-torn Baghdad is the worst, a survey said Wednesday, putting Europe at the top of the rankings with Asia and Africa trailing. The Austrian capital "retains the top spot as the city with the world's best quality of living," British consultancy firm Mercer said in its 2010 Quality of Living Survey. Swiss cities Zurich and Geneva followed in second and third places respectively, while Vancouver in Canada and Auckland in New Zealand were joint fourth. For its annual survey, Mercer assessed the quality of living in 221 cities worldwide, measuring them against New York with an index score of 100 points as the base city. Vienna, which also took the number one spot last year, scored a total 108.6 points, while Baghdad scored the lowest with just 14.7 points. European cities continued to dominate the top 25 cities in the survey, Mercer said, while Canadian cities also had a strong showing. Among cities in Britain, London ranked number 39, Birmingham 55 and Glasgow 57. In the United States, the highest ranking entry was Honolulu in 31st place, followed by San Francisco in 32nd. Singapore was the top-scoring Asian city in 28th place, followed by Tokyo in 40th. Baghdad ranked 221st, remaining at the bottom of the list. It was followed by Bangui in the Central African Republic, N'Djamena in Chad, Khartoum in Sudan and Tbilisi in Georgia. Mercer also awarded cities eco rankings based on water availability and drinkability, waste removal, quality of sewage systems, air pollution and traffic congestion. Calgary in Canada came top of this list, followed by Honolulu in second place and Ottawa and Helsinki in joint third place. Port-au-Prince in Haiti ranked at the bottom of this table, Mercer said.
VII. PRAVMIR - Those Kneeling Prayers!
This past Monday Eve -- that is, on Pentecost Sunday afternoon -- we prayed the Kneeling Prayers at the Vespers for Holy Spirit Day, on Monday. I love coming to each feast day, in its distinctiveness, and partake of some unique aspect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ communicated through that liturgical celebration. And Pentecost does not disappoint, with its annual Kneeling Prayers. Yet, as a priest and the one leading the people of God in these important prayers, I must admit a certain degree of struggle with these prayers. Undoubtedly, "love-hate relationship" is much too strong, but you get what I mean. These prayers are, well, quite long; priests are tempted to read them quickly, which would result in less than full comprehension. They're read once a year, so there's no opportunity to absorb them over time by repetition, week by week. They're written in classic Byzantine style, not certainly in classic English style, with its genius of directness and simple elegance. I wish that I were more pious, less of a sinner, so that such thoughts wouldn't enter my head like so many birds stealing the fruits of faith, but there you have it. So, let's look more closely at them, in order to understand them better. In these Kneeling Prayers there's actually seven different prayers, done in three sets of kneeling: two in the first set, two in the second set, and three in the third set. Each set ends, sealed as it were with a lovely capstone, with one of the ancient vesperal prayers for light, from the Great Church of Holy Wisdom, in Constantinople. That much makes sense: praying for light as we re-enter the world from the heady days of Pascha-Pentecost, and enter "ordinary time" in our cycle of the church year. We need the light of Christ in the dark paths of this world, as our Gospel for the Feast proclaimed. I believe that the latter is important to the content of these prayers: all the talk (prayer) about forgiveness, strength, and even death makes sense as we turn the corner from the glory of Pascha and into the normal mode of sacramental discipleship. We kneel. We fast. We sin...and confess. We beg for God's mercy. We die...or rather enter into eternal rest in the God of the living. These are the dynamics of authentic spirituality and real life in Christ. Such things always involve struggle, spiritual warfare, and self-denial as we joyfully offer up our lives as a living sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable. They are the core of sacramental discipleship, of preparation and fulfillment in our festal cycles, of self-emptying and divine infilling by the Holy Spirit. Walking in the light is no cakewalk. So, we kneel. And we pray, at length, prayers which embrace the various dimensions of being a Christian seeking the fulness of the Spirit of God this Pentecost season. St. Paul commanded us to pray with understanding. Certainly this is all the more true on the Great Feast of Pentecost. For on this day the Apostles spoke in languages they did not know, in order to be understood by the crowds of non-Palestinian Jews in Jerusalem for the feast. The holy fathers call Pentecost the Anti-Babel: God's remedy for the confusion of tongues when He judged the builders of Babel. So, we need to understand these Kneeling Prayers. Heed, then, the wise words of the late Father Alexander Schmemann, onetime Dean of Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, about these special Pentecostal Prayers: We are invited to kneel. This is our first kneeling since Easter. It signifies that after these fifty days of Paschal joy and fulness, of experiencing the Kingdom of God, the Church now is about to begin her pilgrimage through time and history. It is evening again, and the night approaches, during which temptations and failures await us, when, more than anything else, we need Divine help, that presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who has already revealed to us the joyful End, who now will help us in our effort towards fulfillment and salvation. All this is revealed in the three prayers which the celebrant reads now as we all kneel and listen to him. In the first prayer, we bring to God our repentance, our increased appeal for forgiveness of sins, the first condition for entering into the Kingdom of God. In the second prayer, we ask the Holy Spirit to help us, to teach us to pray and to follow the true path in the dark and difficult night of our earthly existence. Finally, in the third prayer, we remember all those who have achieved their earthly journey, but who are united with us in the eternal God of Love. The joy of Easter has been completed and we again have to wait for the dawn of the Eternal Day. Yet, knowing our weakness, humbling ourselves by kneeling, we also know the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit who has come. We know that God is with us, that in Him is our victory. Thus is completed the feast of Pentecost and we enter "the ordinary time" of the year. Yet, every Sunday now will be called "after Pentecost" — and this means that it is from the power and light of these fifty days that we shall receive our own power, the Divine help in our daily struggle. At Pentecost we decorate our churches with flowers and green branches — for the Church "never grows old, but is always young." It is an evergreen, ever-living Tree of grace and life, of joy and comfort. For the Holy Spirit - "the Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life - comes and abides in us, and cleanses us from all impurity," and fills our life with meaning, love, faith and hope.