I. ANA - Anniversary of Istanbul pogrom
Recent history recalls that during the night of Sept. 6 and into the early morning hours of Sept. 7 enraged mobs descended into the Istanbul neighborhoods where most of the ancient metropolis' ethnic Greeks lived, worked and owned property. The tragic developments that occurred in those fateful hours came to be known as the "Septemvriana" or "Evenings of September" pogrom. As it turned out, the orchestrated attack on the centuries-old Greek presence in what is now known as Istanbul -- then the glorious Constantinople, the seat of the Byzantine Empire for a millennium -- came a day after a stick of dynamite exploded in the garden of the Turkish consulate of Thessaloniki, a building historically linked with the founder of modern-day Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Several windows of the consulate were broken in what would quickly be uncovered as a staged provocation by Turkey's ruling DP party and its 1950s-era "deep state": the man who placed the stick of dynamite in the courtyard was a Turkish doorman at the consulate, Hasan Mehmetoglu, on orders of a young ethnic Turk college student then studying law at the University of Thessaloniki, Oktay Engin. The long-planned provocation was timed to coincide with the delicate trilateral talks in London on the fate of Cyprus. A few broken windows in Thessaloniki led to the ethnic Greek community's "Kristallnacht" in Istanbul 650 kilometres away, as angry mobs of young, mostly working-class, men recruited from the provinces rampaged through the Bosporus metropolis, wrecking everything Greek or Orthodox Christian in their wake, although Armenian and Jewish property were not spared either. The death toll reached 30, with hundreds injured and thousands of buildings -- shops, residences, cafes, restaurants, factories, clinics, hotels, pharmacies, churches, schools, community centres and even cemeteries -- looted and destroyed. The Septemvriana pogrom was literally the "beginning of the end" of Hellenism in the ancient metropolis.
II. PIOCY - Cypriot, Israeli Foreign Ministers Meet
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Markos Kyprianou had a meeting on Friday, at the Foreign Ministry, with his Israeli counterpart Mr Αvigdor Liberman. After the meeting, the two Ministers held talks with the participation of delegations from the two countries’ Foreign Ministries. At the joint press conference which followed, Mr Kyprianou welcomed his Israeli counterpart to Cyprus and said that during their meeting they had the opportunity to discuss issues of mutual interest, both bilateral issues and regional issues. He noted that they had a significant number of meetings over the last year. “These meetings” he added, “give us the opportunity to update each other about recent developments, but also to discuss how we can take further the relations between the two countries”. He also noted that there is a very broad spectrum of cooperation between Cyprus and Israel in all fields. “The visit of the Israeli Foreign Minister coincides with the launching of direct talks between the two sides in the Middle East peace process and that’s something that the Cyprus Government will very strongly support”, Mr Kyprianou noted. “We believe that it is a very good opportunity to find a solution to the Middle East problem and through these direct talks there is a very good possibility of achieving that”, he said and added: “We also have a problem that we are trying to resolve through direct talks, we appreciate the fact the negotiations aiming at solving the Middle East are taking place in the context that the solution has to be found between the two sides, by the two sides that are going to live with the solution”. Mr Kyprianou reiterated that the Republic of Cyprus condemns the terrorist attack near the town of Hebron that caused the life of four Israeli civilians and underlined the responsibility of the international community to ensure that these acts do not derail and undermine the peace process. Mr Kyprianou also said that during the meeting he briefed Mr Liberman on the current phase of the talks on the Cyprus problem and on the initiative of President Christofias regarding his proposals that will help boost the negotiation process. He said that the relations between Israel and the EU were discussed as well as the initiative of the Governments of Cyprus and Greece on delivering aid to Gaza. “The EU is supporting this initiative. That is something that is always on the table and it is an issue we continue to discuss” he added. For his part, the Israeli Foreign Minister referred to the various contacts held between the two countries, noting that “this is a sign that Cyprus and Israel have very stable and good relations”. He added that the close cooperation between the two counties can bring benefits to both people, “it’s a win-win situation”, and expressed his readiness to improve and strengthen bilateral relations further. Finally, Mr Liberman underlined that his country appreciates the very clear message and stance of the Republic of Cyprus on the issue of the terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. Replying to a question regarding the prospect of Cyprus playing a role as a transit point for ships heading to Gaza, the Israeli Foreign Minister said that that the Israeli government is still examining it, and that it is a very positive proposal. “There are many technical problems. It’s on the table but we will continue to discuss this issue in order to understand better what can be done in this case”, he added. Asked on the issue concerning the deposit of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean, Mr Liberman said that this issue is on the table and ''we make efforts to achieve agreement and move forward”. He added that there are good contacts at technical level and also understanding at political level and that the matter will proceed. On his part, Mr Kyprianou said: “we both have a positive approach on this issue”.
Israel and the Russian Federation signed a military technical cooperation agreement on Monday. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was in Moscow to meet with Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, where the pair inked the agreement. No details of the pact were disclosed. Russia’s defense ministry described it only as a framework agreement while Barak said Israel will train Russia’s military in anti-terrorism, including the use of unmanned aircraft. Barak also said that Israel is ready to share with the Russian military its experience in anti-terrorism and security measures. The signing of the military deal came as Jerusalem and Moscow are in talks to stop the sale by the Russian Federation of P-800 Yakhont cruise missiles to Syria. Israel fears that the missiles will end up with Hezbollah, the armed wing of Lebanon’s Shia political party. The agreement also comes as Barak is persuading Serdyukov to stop the sale of missiles to Iran, Israel’s long-time enemy which had threatened to destroy Israel.
The Greek government was following a consistent policy and, through the Agenda 2014, had succeeded in reviving the debate on the European future of the western Balkans within the European Union. FYROM name issue: Alternate Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas will very likely have a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly with UN special envoy Matthew Nimetz, the mediator in the name dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), foreign ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras said on Thursday. He said the Greek side would seek a meeting if Nimetz had time for one, while he did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between Prime Minister George Papandreou and FYROM premier Nikola Gruevski if both were in New York at the same time and their schedules allowed. Questioned about the statements of U.S. Ambassador to Skopje Philip T. Reeker during an interview on August 26, Delavekouras underlined that Greece "continues to invest in the process that is underway at the United Nations under the auspices of Matthew Nimetz and has, in fact, asked the American side to explain the thinking behind Reeker's statements". He noted that such statements and publicity were not helpful, especially when made outside the framework of the negotiations process. In an interview with the television station Alfa TV, Ambassador Reeker said that Washington did not consider that a resolution of the name issue "has to involve a change of the constitutional name or a change of the Macedonian Constitution." According to Reeker, the U.S. considered that "the two sides, Greece and Macedonia, need to agree on an international reference that can be used in place of FYROM." Delavekouras noted on Thursday that Athens continued to have an "open" policy toward FYROM, in spite of occasions when FYROM's leadership made statements that did not help the goal of resolving the name issue. "It must be clear that Greece is systematically continuing the effort for a solution and has proposed a framework for arriving at a solution," he stressed, adding that there was no "secret diplomacy" but a confidential process that was underway, supervised by the UN envoy. "We are now waiting from some activity on the part of FYROM, whose leadership tends to barricade itself behind the same arguments we have been hearing for the past 20 years," he added. On Middle East talks: Responding to questions about the talks beginning on Thursday in Washington between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Delavekouras described them as "a great opportunity". "Greece welcomes them and makes an appeal to the people and governments of the region to not submit to the logic of violence and proceed to an honest, fair, lasting and viable solution of the problems in the area," he said. The spokesman said that Greece fully supports the statement of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton concerning the murder of four Israeli civilians near Hebron and offered condolences to their families, while he also condemned an attack on Wednesday in which two people were injured. "Greece, for many years now, supports the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian state that will live beside Israel and its neighbours in a state of peace and security for these countries and their people. The murder of four Israeli subjects, yesterday's attack and every other expression of violence wherever it originates from, turns against every brave effort to achieve the goal of the two states," he said. Greek position concerning Kosovo: Regarding Kosovo, the spokesman said that Greece desired a solution that was the product of consensus between the 27 EU member-states and Serbia and would support this position at the UN General Assembly. He stressed that the Greek government was following a consistent policy and, through the Agenda 2014, had succeeded in reviving the debate on the European future of the western Balkans within the European Union.
V. CHICAGOTRIBUNE - Serbian immigrants seek answers about the horror
Zivka Mijic doesn't burden people with her troubles — which would be impractical anyway, unless the other person spoke Serbian — but she does want the tragic story of what brought her family to a Chicago suburb told in federal court. "If I had even a spoon from over there, I'd hang it on the wall to remember," Mijic, 46, said. Her son Branislav Mijic, 23, was translating. Alternating between his mother's words and his own, Branislav explained why the Mijics have no souvenirs of their homeland. On Aug. 4, 1995, artillery shells started falling on a village in Krajina, where the Mijics lived in what had been Yugoslavia before ethnic conflicts tore it apart. The Mijics harnessed their horses Soko and Cestar to a wagon and joined the crowd of fleeing villagers. It was 2 in the morning, the artillery fire lighting up a neighbor who had been traveling with them. He was decapitated by an incoming shell. "If you weren't there, you can't feel what it was like," said Zivika, who lives with her husband, Nedeljko, 46, three sons and a sister in a modest home in Stickney, no different from neighboring ones except for the bitter memories it houses. In a way, the Mijics' saga is a common denominator of the immigrant experience: Driven abroad by war, poverty or oppression, families rebuild their lives in America. But there is an unexpected, albeit difficult to prove, twist to the Mijics' story: The class-action lawsuit recently filed in Chicago, to which Zivka is a party, alleges that American mercenaries were behind their suffering. As her lawyers see it, during the Balkan War of the 1990s, America began to "outsource" some of the dirty work of war and diplomacy to private contractors. They allege that behind the early morning attack that the Croats dubbed "Operation Storm" was a northern Virginia-based consulting company called MPRI Inc., made up of former high-ranking U.S. military officers that included a chief architect of Operation Desert Storm a few years earlier in Iraq. What the Mijics and other Serbs in Croatia went through, their lawyers allege, was a proving grounds for the kind of brutal strategy orchestrated later in Iraq by the now infamous Blackwater Worldwide company, another private military contractor whose security guards were charged by the Justice Department in 2008 with killing at least 17 Iraqi civilians during a firefight the year before.
VI. KICKOFF - Top 10 European Qualification Shocks
In the wake of France's shock 1-0 home loss to Belarus on Friday, we loos at the top 10 shock Euro qualification defeats. Cyprus 1-1 Italy (1983) Italy came into the Euro '84 qualifying campaign as world champions, but suffered a shock 1-1 draw in Cyprus on February 12, 1983. In fact, the Azzurri were behind to a Christos Omirou goal at the start of the second half, but two minutes before the hour-mark Francesco Graziani equalised to spare the blushes for Italy, who ultimately failed to qualify for the finals. Norway 2-1 Italy (1991) 5 June 1991 - the day when footballing giants Italy went down 2-1 in Norway. The Azzurri had reached the semi-finals of the World Cup a year earlier and had some of the finest players on the planet at the time. However, goals from Lars Bohinen and Tore Andre Dahlum consigned la Nazionale to a humiliating defeat. Italy finished second in that group behind the Soviet Union and failed to qualify for the 1992 European Championships. Wales 1-0 Germany (1991) Germany entered the Euro '92 qualifiers as world champions and were expected to cruise to the finals. However, a certain Ian Rush had some other ideas on June 5, 1991 as he netted the only goal of the match in the 66th minute at the Cardiff Arms Park stadium. However, the Red Dragons couldn't qualify for the finals but Germany did. Belarus 1-0 Holland (1995) Belarus shocked France 1-0 on Friday, but this was not the first time that they had rocked the footballing planet. On June 7, 1995 they defeated the might Netherlands 1-0 at home. Of course, Belarus couldn't qualify for Euro '96 but the Dutch did, yet that shouldn't take the gloss off what remains one of the most memorable wins in the nation's history. Cyprus 3-2 Spain (1998) Spain might be the reigning European and world champions at the moment, but 'back in the day' la Furia Roja were struggling. Spain eventually reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2000, but two years earlier they had suffered a humiliating defeat. In their opening game of the qualification campaign on September 5, 1998 Cyprus defeat them 3-2 at home. The match also led to the departure of Javier Clemente from the Spain coaching role. Iceland 1-0 Russia (1998) Neither Russia nor Iceland could qualify for the Euro 2000 finals, but the latter accomplished a great feat by defeating the former 1-0 at home in the qualifiers. They had held then world champions and eventual European champions France 1-1 at home in their opening game of the qualifiers and on October 14, 1998 got the better of Russia. Not a bad result for a nation as small as Iceland in terms of population. Furthermore, in 1991 Iceland had beaten Spain 2-0 in a Euro '92 qualifier. Albania 3-1 Russia, Georgia 1-0 Russia (2003) Russia made it through to the group stage of Euro 2004, but they almost didn't: they lost to two lowly placed European sides. On March 29, 2003 Albania hammered the Russians 3-1 and a month later on April 30 went down 1-0 to Georgia away from home. Russia finished second in that group behind Switzerland but that wasn't enough. Latvia 3-2 Turkey (agg) (2003) Latvia had not qualified for any major competition in their history but reached the play-off round of the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign much against the odds. Up next were Turkey and indeed Latvia stood no chance, or so most observers thoughts. The first-leg of the play-off tie ended in a 1-0 win for the Latvians, thanks to a Maris Verpakovskis strike on 29 minutes. However, with just under 30 minutes left in the second-leg Turkey were 2-0 up and going through to the finals. Juris Laizans pulled one back on 66 minutes and in the 78th minute Verpakovskis popped up with the equaliser. Latvia went through at the expense of the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists. Northern Ireland 3-2 Spain (2006) In the 1982 World Cup finals, Northern Ireland had shocked Spain and in 2006 they did so once again, this time in the Euro 2008 qualifying matches. Spain took the lead through Xavi in the 14th minute at Windsor Park in Belfast but the hosts replied through David Healy six minutes later. Although David Villa restored la Furia Roja's lead seven minutes into the second-half, Northern Ireland found the target twice thereafter with Healy scoring both times, accomplishing a memorable hat-trick. It was the also Raul's final international game for Spain and the last match the reigning world and European champions lost before going down to the USA in the Confederations Cup semi-finals in 2009. Portugal 4-4 Cyprus (2010) Portugal aren't exactly going through the best of periods at the moment but even then a win against Cyprus at home should be guaranteed on paper. But only on paper, because on the football pitch the Selecao failed. Indeed, the Euro 2004 finalists went behind twice but took the lead twice too, only for Cyprus to restore parity on both occasions. Portugal have been gradually regressing since the end of the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany where they reached the semis but Friday 3 September's result is arguably the nadir of their regression. Or is it...?
VII. PRAVMIR - Where Does It Say That In The Bible?
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Every so often, parishioners ask me faith related questions. Upon providing the answer, sometimes the response is "Where does it say that in the Bible?" This is a welcomed question. Certainly the scriptures are an important part of our faith Tradition and reading the Bible should be a daily part of our prayer routine. Those asking the question have a desire, or thirst, to know more about their faith and what orthodox Christianity teaches. How, then, does the Orthodox Church view the bible and what is its place in the Church? First the premise behind the response, "Where does it say that in the Bible?" presupposes two things: First, it presupposes that the Church was born out of the Bible and is therefore solely defined by it, and second, it presupposes that the Bible is the only record of revelation of God's truth. Both of these above premises are actually, false. Let's look at these premises one at a time. The premise that the Church was born out of the Bible and is therefore solely defined by it is false. Why? Because when the Church was first established the New Testament simply did not exist. After the Church was established at Pentecost, the apostles went about evangelizing, they taught people principally through their preaching and teaching, i.e., oral tradition. It is important to keep in mind that the apostles did not sit down right away after Christ's ascension into heaven and put into writing what Christ said. Instead they devoted their time to evangelizing, baptizing, and teaching new believers, and installing local leaders. In the course of their ministry they wrote letters and later composed the Gospels. This shows that the early Church relied upon the oral teachings (oral Traditions) of the Apostles for their knowledge of Christ. St. Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians 2:15 states this clearly when he says, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle." Hence, the early Christians made no distinction between oral Tradition and Scripture, viewing both as having apostolic authority. The Bible was born out of the living witness of the already established Church, sharing with us the good news of our Lord's resurrection. Hence the Bible came out of the Church, the Church was not born out of the Bible. The premise that the Bible is the only record of revelation of God's truth is false. Why? After the Church was established at Pentecost, immediately the Church began to develop a life of worship. Remember, the first Christians were Jews. These new Christians brought with them their already established Jewish practices of worship. They took what was familiar to them and Christianized their practices. For example, the first part of the Divine Liturgy is the Jewish Synagogue service Christianized. The second part of the service, which specifically focuses on the Eucharist, is uniquely Christian in character and began its development immediately upon the establishment of the Church. Hence, worship and scripture developed in parallel with one another and not independently of each other. This is why there are so many references to liturgical worship in the Bible. Other Traditions were developing in parallel with scripture as well. For example, the first council in Jerusalem met to discuss whether the Jewish converts to Christianity had to follow the Jewish law before becoming Christian (See Acts 15). Guided by the Holy Spirit, many other councils followed. Icons can likewise be dated as early as the first century, for example, the Holy Napkin or the Image "Not Made by Human Hands" which Christ made for King Agbar V of Edessa and the icon of the Theotokos painted by St. Luke the Apostle and Evangelist. Including Holy Scripture, worship, the councils of the Church and iconography along with the writings of the Church Fathers are also vehicles through which God's truth is revealed. According to Fr. Ted Stylianopoulos, "...hence there emerged in the Orthodox tradition the position that the Bible is the record of truth, not the truth itself; the record of revelation, not revelation itself. .. This distinction between record and truth carries several important implications ... it presupposes that the Orthodox Church highly esteems also other records of the experience of God, such as the writings of the Church Fathers, the [worship of the Church], and the decisions of the Ecumenical Councils. It rescues the [Christian] from an exclusive focus on the Bible ... and thus guards [the] Orthodox [Christian] from the error of idolatrous veneration of the text of Scripture (bibliolatry).” Having said all of the above what is the place of the Bible in the Orthodox Church? Even though the Orthodox Church esteems, in addition to the Bible, other forms of Tradition, this does not mean that the Bible is not important. In fact, the Bible is the primary source of Tradition in the Church. One only need walk into an Orthodox Church, look at the Altar and realize that the Holy Gospels are permanently enthroned on the Altar along with the consecrated Body and Blood of our Lord. The Gospels are enthroned on the Altar because the Bible has a central role in the life of the Church, being seen as an authoritative group of writings that governs the life of all Christians. Fr. Ted Stylianopoulos writes, "...the Bible is the Word of God: to be read, studied and obeyed. Thus St. John Chrysostom frequently urges Christians to obtain Bibles, to read. them and to engrave the truths of the bible on their minds and hearts. For example he writes: `If now we will thus search the scriptures, exactly and not carelessly, we shall be able to attain to our salvation; if we continually dwell upon them, we shall learn right teaching and a perfect life ... For it cannot be that he who speaks with God, and hears God speak, should not profit.' The above is not an isolated view of a single Church Father. It is representative of the consensus of the great Fathers such as St. Athanasios, St. Basil, St. Gregory Naziazen and others. For them the bible is the primary source of God's truth and should be closely heeded by all Christians..." Hence my brothers and sisters in Christ, we must remember that the Bible is the primary source of Tradition of our faith. We should know scripture and study the Bible with diligence that we may be transformed in Christ. However, we do not see the Bible as the only source of Sacred Tradition. It is the primary source of many that weave the whole cloth of the Faith. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has chosen through the power and grace of His all Holy Spirit to reveal and preserve the Tradition “according to Christ” in this blessed way.