Do all Religions have the same Heavenly Father?

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew asserts so, and quite a bit more along with it, as in these pronouncements:

“We are all created by God and as such we are all brothers and sisters. We have the same heavenly Father, whatever we call him.” 

“God is but one, independently of the name we give him, Allah or Yahweh, and so on. God is one and we are his children.”

In addition to these recent deceptive remarks, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has absurdly written (without any trace of irony) of a “dialogue of loving truth” with Islam, of Orthodoxy having for centuries “coexisted peacefully” with Islam. He also projects the chimera of an “interfaith commitment... still felt and lived by Greeks [and] Turks” (Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Encountering the Mystery, Doubleday, 2008, pp xxxvii, 196, 174).

As students of history know, Islam has no history of dialoguing or coexisting peacefully with any non-Muslim peoples, and has waged relentless warfare against the Christian world since the very time of Muhammad, slaughtering, enslaving and subjugating millions over the centuries, right up to our own day. Islam offers peace only at the blade of the scimitar, as Allah commands in the Koran:

Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth [i.e. Islam] among the people of the Book [Jews and Christians], until they pay the jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Q 9:29)

Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush. (Q 9:5) 

I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes. (Q 8:12)

Bartholomew is not the first Ecumenical Patriarch to preach the heresy of ecumenism and openly defend Islam and Muhammad (why would a Christian bishop do such a thing?):

"The Prophet Muhammad is an apostle, He is a man of God, who worked for the Kingdom of God... When I speak against Islam, then I am not found in agreement with God" (Patriarch Parthenius of Alexandria, Orthodoxos Typos 854, May 1982).

I have written about this deplorable trend among recent Ecumenical Patriarchs in my book, Facing Islam, warning about Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew's absolutely bizarre, obsequious, and anti-Christian statements about Islam, in which he blunders into the Same God Heresy:

"As with some recent Ecumenical Patriarchs, Bartholomew eventually ventures too far, as when he calls for the tearing down of 'the wall of separation between East and West, between Muslims and Christians, between all religions of the world,' and when he writes warmly, 'One who achieves the state of inner peace in relation to God is a true Muslim' (Encountering the Mystery, pp 205, 209). 

"This meme concerning Islam (and world religions) is not unique; it springs not from Christian tradition, but directly from the pan-ecumenist movement, and it resonates with the spirit of our times..." (Facing Islam, xxxi)

In the below article, Orthodox priest and author Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis shines the bright light of Truth, the Light of Jesus Christ, on EP Bartholomew's false and fuzzy theology.

Do all Religions have the same Heavenly Father?

by Fr. Emmanuel Hatzidakis, Over The Rooftops, June 15, 2014:

"WE ARE ALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS" Are we? First in Jerusalem (May 27, 2014), and more recently in Rome (June 8, 2014), Patriarch Bartholomew hammers the message of universal brotherhood with intra-Christian and interfaith prayer services (which according to the canons of the Orthodox Church are prohibited) and with statements and declarations to that effect.

Back on Nov. 2, 2009 in an interview Patriarch Bartholomew had given to Charlie Rose he had stated: “We are all created by God and as such we are all brothers and sisters. We have the same heavenly Father, whatever we call him.” Charlie interrupted the Patriarch: “All religions have the same heavenly Father?” “Of course,” was the Patriarch’s reply, adding: “God is but one, independently of the name we give him, Allah or Yahweh, and so on. God is one and we are his children.”

Although the two statements (everyone believes in the same God; and, we are all his children) appear to be self-proclaimed truths, for us Orthodox Christians (and to me, as I understand my faith), they are erroneous, outrageous and totally unacceptable. If the Patriarch is correct what meaning do the words, “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no Savior” (Is. 43:10b-11)? 

Turkey assigns permanent imam to Hagia Sophia to lead daily prayers...

...Turns clock back to 1453 in second conquest of Constantinople. This is effectively a re-conversion of Hagia Sophia back into a functioning mosque after over 80 years.

"Observers are warning about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly neo-Ottoman stance..." 

This new move by emboldened Islamic supremacist Erdogan will certainly have an impact on Turkey's relations with Russia, as Russia recently urged Turkey to return Hagia Sophia to the Orthodox Church.

Might this be an unfolding of Elder Paisios' prophecy of a war between Russia and Turkey?

Hagia Sophia gets permanent imam as tensions rise in Aegean
Ekathimerini, October 22, 2016:

Dark clouds over Hagia Sophia...

A few months after a controversial decision by Turkish authorities to allow readings from the Quran to be broadcast from Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, reports on Friday said Turkey had decided to appoint a permanent imam for the venue.

According to the Anadolu state news agency, the country’s religious affairs directorate and the mufti of the Fatih district have agreed to assign a permanent imam who will lead five daily prayers, instead of the current two.

Turkey offers to allow restoration of Halki Seminary in exchange for opening a Mosque in Thessaloniki

The Turkish Muslims are holding the shuttered Halki Seminary hostage in order to extort Greece to capitulate and enable the building of mosques in Athens and Thessaloniki. Allowing any mosques in either city would set a dire precedent, and would only bring strife, crime and open jihad to the already struggling Hellenic state.

For background on Turkey's efforts to establish a beachhead mosque in Greece, see Greek Parliament Surrenders to Islam, Orthodox Bishop and Citizens oppose mosque in Athens, as well as my posts here, here and here. 

For more on the historic Halki Seminary, see here, here and here.

The Greek Orthodox were conquered and enslaved by Muslims once already. Let's hope and pray they hold firm against this form of stealth jihad. For resources on resisting mosque expansions, see my post, Challenging Mosques: Tools for Education and Legal Resistance.

Turkey offers to allow restoration of Halki Seminary in exchange for opening a Mosque in Thessaloniki
Pravoslavie — May 12, 2015

(Ankara, May 11, 2015) The Orthodox seminary on the island of Halki (Turkey) may be restored in exchange for opening of a mosque in Thessaloniki, Greece. This condition was laid down by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to Blagovest-info, this information was spread by the Hürriyet Turkish newspaper with the reference to editor-in-chief of one history journal who had discussed the matter with Erdogan in person. The Turkish President said that he was ready to give his consent on reopening of the Orthodox seminary on Halki; however, he added, Greece was not intending to open mosques on its territory at all. Later Metin Kulunk, Member of the Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, specified that the President meant the Fethiye Cami Mosque in Athens, and not a mosque in Thessaloniki.

“Everyday Martyrdom”: The Daily Life of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire

"The de facto position of the Christians in Turkey was a rule of fanatical intolerance, violence and arbitrary acts, utter degradation and disregard of human rights. The Christians had no civil rights, only the status of slaves. They were not members of the state but merely slaves to cruel and inhuman conquerors who had the right at any moment to deprive them of their property, honour or life itself."

by Seraphim Danckaert, Orthodox Christian Network
June 20, 2014

A remarkable book has recently been published: The Church of Constantinople in the 19th Century (Peter Lang, 2013). It’s a massive tome, over 1,000 pages long, originally written in 1904 by Ivan Sokolov, one of the leading Russian Orthodox scholars of Church history at the time. Sokolov enjoyed unprecedented access to the Patriarchal archives in Istanbul, and his book is filled with copious references to documents that are not only unpublished but also unknown even to specialists.

Some other time I’ll post about the remarkable details. For now, I’d like to highlight several paragraphs from the beginning of the book, in which Sokolov is describing the general historical context and day-to-day reality of life for Christians under Ottoman rule. The portrait that emerges may not be entirely unknown to those who have read of the Orthodox Christian martyrs of this period. Yet Sokolov’s account is, in many ways, even more arresting, as it quickly becomes evident that even the “average” believer endured a kind of “everyday martyrdom.”

________

. . . the internal structure of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was like a state within a state, having its own administration and court, de jure freedom to profess its faith, and the right to run its own community affairs. But this is only to look at one side of the position of Christians in the Turkish Empire. The other side was the actual relations between the Christians and the Turkish state whose citizens they were. Here, at first glance, matters did not seem so rosy. 

First of all, Christians were considered by the Turks to be a subject people obliged to pay taxes, a people of no value, causing only feelings of disgust to true believers who treated them with disdain and as they saw fit. To the Turks these people were no more than giaours, dogs or cattle, obliged to feed and serve their conquerors, doomed to eternal slavery.

Don’t Turn Turkey’s Iconic Hagia Sophia Back Into A Mosque

"Turkey can’t get enough of the continuous re-conquering of Istanbul. Just such a power play is once again at work over the Hagia Sophia."

Pravmir — June 14, 2014

by Karin Karakasli — Worldcrunch

ISTANBUL — In our divided existences, everyone lives their own reality, with their own priorities. Right now, the demand that this city's Hagia Sophia museum be transformed into a mosque has suddenly become the singular issue for a certain segment of the Turkish population.

The Anatolia Youth Association announced a gathering at the iconic location with slogans such as “take your prayer mat and come” and “we meet at the Hagia Sophia Mosque for the morning prayer.” And so the group gathered at the Hagia Sophia Square, coming from all around Istanbul and the surrounding province before disbanding around midnight following a collective prayer.

“Let the chains break,” was their slogan. “Let Hagia Sophia be open.” This organization, which uses prayer for activism, deserves a closer look — for while the association seems to prioritize religion, this issue is actually quite political.

Islamic Prayers at the Vatican an Historic Travesty

Anti-Christian praises to Allah resound in Rome at invitation of Pope Francis.

The utter discord between the contrite prayer (composed by Pope John Paul II) explicitly calling Christians to repent "of the words and attitudes caused by pride, by hatred, by the desire to dominate others, by enmity towards members of other religions," and the Islamic prayer (not sourced, but replete with a definitive Quranic dogmatic statement of tawhid), proclaiming, "...there is no god but You alone and You have no partner," could not be more clear.

The Islamic prayer further asserts that "associating partners" with God is of Satan, as it proclaims, "we seek refuge in You from the evil in ourselves and the evil of Satan, his partners, his godlessness and his whispering, and we seek refuge in You from godlessness."

This is all in keeping with traditional Islamic condemnation of Christianity:

Say not “Trinity”: desist: It will be better for you: For God is One God: Glory be to Him: (Far Exalted is He) above having a son. . . . (Sura 4:173)

In blasphemy indeed are those that say that God is Christ the Son of Mary. (Sura 5:19)

They do blaspheme who say: “God is Christ the son of Mary . . .” They do blaspheme who say: God is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them (Sura 5:75,78)

The papacy has long been involved in wielding worldly influence and control, and this travesty is one of the more glaring examples. By inviting Islamic prayer at Rome, which, although thank God it did not include the infamous "Opening" (Al Fatihah) or the Muslim confession of faith (the Shehada), was still explicitly anti-Christian in its orientation, Pope Francis has wrapped his papacy in dark clouds indeed, and given great encouragement to Islamic supremacists who seek to conquer Rome, and who will see this as a sign of the approaching end times, when Islam believes it will destroy Christianity and reign over all the earth.

The complete texts of the three prayers follows below.

via

Three faiths pray for Holy Land peace

Catholic News Agency via Pravmir — June 9, 2014

Vatican City, Jun 8, 2014 / 11:33 am (CNA) - Representatives of Judaism, Christianity and Islam said prayers from their respective religious communities at Sunday’s historic “Invocation for Peace” at the Vatican, praying for peace in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East.

The meeting gathered in one place Pope Francis, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I.

The June 8 meeting in the Vatican gardens featured prayers in Hebrew, Arabic and Italian.

Below are the official English texts of a prayer from each of the three faiths.

Bartholomew: Christians united, real catalysts for peace in the Middle East

We live in interesting times:

The Ecumenical Patriarch arrives today in Rome to take part in the prayer meeting with Pope Francis, Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas. The scope of the prayer meeting goes beyond immediate results.

Pravmir — June 7, 2014

Istanbul (AsiaNews) – The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrives tonight in Rome to participate in the prayer for peace tomorrow, at the invitation of Pope Francis.

The pontiff has invited Israeli President Shimon Peres and the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to pray for peace in the war-torn Middle East where the Christian element is about to disappear.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: 'Every form of violence in the name of religion is violence against religion itself'

Which is why Islam fails utterly and is being revealed throughout all the world as a false religion. Violence against Christians and other non-Muslims, and against women, in the name of Islam is part of Islam itself. It is not only permitted but made obligatory in the supposedly eternal and unchanging words of the Quran, the example being established through the Sunnah, the life and sayings (or 'Way') of Muhammad. 

We live in a pivotal age, when Orthodox Christians should hold out to Muslims of good conscience the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and invite them to leave behind their false religion which unleashes such bloodshed and madness upon the entire planet, and come into the Church to work out their salvation with us in fear and trembling. 

In a very subtle way, this is what +Bartholomew is doing. Without being antagonistic, His All Holiness is appealing to those Muslims who retain some measure of their God-given conscience.

Message to Muslims: "Leave falsehood, embrace Truth — Leave Islam, embrace Christ."

Every form of violence in the name of religion is violence against religion itself

What is happening in Nigeria and Sudan is a dual act of wrongdoing.

Pravmir — May 18, 2014

The Ecumenical Patriarchate has witnessed with great pain and distress the recent manifestations of religious violence against women in Northern Africa, which have profoundly and justifiably concerned the global community. It expresses its outright and unequivocal condemnation of the kidnapping in Nigeria of scores of young women, who are forcibly subjected to espouse Islam. Moreover, it professes its wholehearted and unambiguous denunciation of the pregnant young Christian mother in the Sudan for refusing to espouse Islam.

‘Christians in Turkey Are Second-Class Citizens’

By Walter Flick

OCP Media — May 10, 2014

The spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Batholomew of Constantinople, arrives to Germany May 10. During his nine-day visit, the 74-year-old will meet with state representatives including Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck. He’ll also be a guest of honor at major Christian churches, and receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Munich.

Bartholomew I has been the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, based in Istanbul, since November 1991. Orthodox Christians are a tiny minority in Turkey, and the population routinely faces discrimination. Walter Flick, a religious expert with the International Society for Human Rights in Germany, shares his insights on the situation in an interview with DW.

DW: Are Christians oppressed in Turkey?

Walter Flick: Turkey has almost 80 million inhabitants. There are only around 120,000 Christians, which is less than 1 percent of the population. Christians are certainly seen as second-class citizens. A real citizen is Muslim, and those who aren’t Muslim are seen as suspicious. Christians aren’t equal. You can’t say they’re being persecuted in Turkey, but they don’t have the same rights, especially when it comes to religious freedom.

Patriarchal Encyclical for Holy Pascha 2014

His All-Holiness comes close to openly naming and denouncing radical Islam and the global jihad, but it is painfully clear to anyone with eyes to see who are the ones who "serve the proliferation of death... the eradication of their fellow men."  

This is a luminous and noble pastoral message, shining with the Orthodox Christian Gospel and the joyous proclamation of the Truth of the Bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and of our hope for union with Jesus Christ and eternal life.

"We continue the work of the Apostles. We convey to the world the message of the resurrection. We preach knowingly that death must not have a place in our life for it offers no benefit to humanity. The ones who seek to improve social life by killing fellow humans do not offer good service to the living. They rather serve the proliferation of death and prepare their own devouring by death. 

"In our times, the drums of death and darkness beat frantically. Some fellow men believe that the eradication of other fellow men is a praiseworthy and beneficial act, but they are seriously mistaken. Unfortunately, the annihilation and suppression of the weakest by the strongest dominates..."

Patriarchal Encyclical for Holy Pascha 2014

Patriarch Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch

Pravmir — April 22, 2014

Christ is Risen!

Come, brethren and children in the Lord, receive the light from the unwaning Light of the Phanar, the Holy Center of the Orthodox, and let us all together and jointly glorify “Christ, Who is risen from the dead.”

The emotional state of the Lord’s disciples was grim after His Crucifixion, because by the Lord’s death on the Cross the hopes of His disciples were dispersed that He and they would one day prevail as political power. They had perceived the triumphant entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, following the resurrection of Lazarus and the miraculous feeding of five thousand men, with additional women and children, by five loaves of bread and two fish, as a prelude of their conquering of secular authority. The mother of two of them moreover requested that her two sons sit by each side of the Lord, when He came to power. All these, however, dissipated as childish imaginations on account of the awful execution of Jesus Christ.

But, one Saturday morning, the Myrrh Bearers found the tomb empty and heard from an Angel that Jesus was risen from the dead. Shortly after, they saw Him in a different state not allowing the Myrrh Bearers to touch Him. This unexpected development of the situation caused the people close to Jesus to wonder about what was to happen next. They did not receive the answer right away. They were told to wait with patience and endurance until they received strength from above. Obeying the command, they waited until Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down and revealed to them, in fullness, their new mission. This mission did not call for the liberation of one nation from its slavery bondages by another nation; instead it called for the liberation of all humanity from its enslavement by the master of evil and evil itself. This was another great mission and different from the one they had dreamt about.

The inconceivable commandment calling for the preaching of the message of man’s deliverance from the slavery of death took them by surprise; nevertheless they undertook it with zeal and preached the message everywhere and saved and continue to save many from death. There is the first among the dead, the risen Jesus, Who offers to all the gift of resurrection and eternal life, a life that is not subjected any longer to corruptibility, because man in the resurrected state is like an angel of God in heaven who no longer has a fleshly body but a spiritual one.

We experience already the foretaste of this blessed resurrected state when we carry our fleshly garment in a way by which we do not taste the substance of death, that is the distancing from God’s love, but feel that we transition from the natural death of our fleshly body to the higher life of our spiritual body through the loving knowledge of the Person of the Lord, a knowledge which equals towards eternal life.

Therefore, we are not simply in anticipation of the resurrection of the dead as an event that will take place in the distant future, but we partake in it now, and are jubilant and cry out along with Saint John Chrysostom: Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory? We were resurrected alongside Jesus Christ and experience the end of times as present reality and present reality as the end of times. The resurrection permeates our being and fills us with joy. Exactly like the joy the disciples felt when they were saying that the Lord was risen.

We continue the work of the Apostles. We convey to the world the message of the resurrection. We preach knowingly that death must not have a place in our life for it offers no benefit to humanity. The ones who seek to improve social life by killing fellow humans do not offer good service to the living. They rather serve the proliferation of death and prepare their own devouring by death.

Bright Friday: The Life Giving Spring of the Mother of God

Today we commemorate the Life-Giving Spring of the Most Holy Theotokos. 

The church dedicated to this unique visitation and miracle of the Theotokos has been desecrated several times by Muslims — even as recently as 1955 — yet rebuilt each time, by the intercessions of our All-Holy Lady.

There once was a beautiful church in Constantinople dedicated to the Mother of God, which had been built in the fifth century by the holy Emperor Leo the Great (January 20) in the Seven Towers district.

Before becoming emperor, Leo was walking in a wooded area where he met a blind man who was thirsty and asked Leo to help him find water. Though he agreed to search for water, he was unable to find any. Suddenly, he heard a voice telling him that there was water nearby. He looked again, but still could not find the water. Then he heard the voice saying “Emperor Leo, go into the deepest part of the woods, and you will find water there. Take some of the cloudy water in your hands and give it to the blind man to drink.Then take the clay and put it on his eyes. Then you shall know who I am.” Leo obeyed these instructions, and the blind man regained his sight. Later, St Leo became emperor, just as the Theotokos had prophesied.

Leo built a church over the site at his own expense, and the water continued to work miraculous cures. Therefore, it was called “The Life-Giving Spring.”

After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the church was torn down by the Moslems, and the stones were used to build a mosque. Only a small chapel remained at the site of the church. Twenty-five steps led down into the chapel, which had a window in the roof to let the light in. The holy Spring was still there, surrounded by a railing.

After the Greek Revolution in 1821, even this little chapel was destroyed and the Spring was buried under the rubble. Christians later obtained permission to rebuild the chapel, and work began in July of 1833. While workmen were clearing the ground, they uncovered the foundations of the earlier church. The Sultan allowed them to build not just a chapel, but a new and beautiful church on the foundations of the old one.

Construction began on September 14, 1833, and was completed on December 30, 1834. Patriarch Constantine II consecrated the church on February 2, 1835, dedicating it to the Most Holy Theotokos.

The Turks desecrated and destroyed the church again on September 6, 1955. A smaller church now stands on the site, and the waters of the Life-Giving Spring continue to work miracles.

There is also a Life-Giving Spring Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos which is commemorated on April 4.

KONTAKION Tone 8

O most favored by God, you confer on me the healing of your grace from your inexhaustible Spring. Therefore, since you gave birth incomprehensibly to the Word, I implore you to refresh me with the dew of your grace that I might cry to you: Hail, O Water of salvation.

OCA.org

Holy Hieromartyr Gregory V, Patriarch of Constantinople (†1821)

As we approach the Lord's Passion Week, it seems timely to consider one of the most prominent of the Neo-martyrs.

By Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra

MYSTAGOGY - April 10, 2014 

Born in 1745 in the bosom of a poor family from Dimitsana in the Peloponnese, Saint Gregory received his earliest education from his uncle who was a hieromonk, and then went to live with him in Smyrna. Becoming a monk in the monastery on the island of Strophades, he completed his theological studies on Patmos. On his return to Smyrna, Metropolitan Procopios, who showed him a fatherly affection, made him archdeacon and then ordained him priest. When Procopios was elevated to the Patriarchate in 1788, he consecrated Gregory to succeed him.

For twelve years, the holy hierarch governed the great and wealthy city of Smyrna, the metropolis of Hellenism in Asia Minor, with wisdom and apostolic zeal. He had several churches rebuilt there, founded schools and organized a system of charity for the underprivileged. In 1797, he was elected Ecumenical Patriarch and immediately undertook to enhance the patriarchal dignity by having the Phanar palace rebuilt. He also founded a publishing house in which he edited books in the vernacular, which contributed greatly to the cultural and spiritual awakening of the Greek people. The holy hierarch was vigilant about the strict observance of the ecclesiastical canons and the moral rectitude of the clergy. In those troubled times, when the Greeks, who had been held under the Ottoman yoke for almost four centuries, were brewing up for a general uprising, the Patriarch, aware of his pastoral responsibilities, exerted himself to temper the warlike spirits while secretly nurturing national feeling.

After just a year and a half, he was denounced to the Sultan by some bishops whom he had reprimanded for their conduct, and was exiled to Chalcedon and then to the Monastery of Iveron on the Holy Mountain. During this forced stay on Athos, the Saint visited all the monasteries, preached the word of God and was a model of monastic life to all. He then gave the blessing to Saint Euthymios (March 22) to go and offer himself for martyrdom, and expressed his joy and pride at the news of the martyrdom of Saint Agathangelos (19 April), thus showing that he considered death for love of Christ to be the supreme goal and crown of the Christian life.

Orthodox Church vandalised in Istanbul

As usual with crimes against Christians and Christian churches in Muslim countries, police refused to intervene.

AsiaNews via Pravoslavie — March 27, 2014

A group of young thugs, apparently from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), vandalised an Orthodox Christian church in Istanbul. Although informed of the incident, the police refused to intervene.

The desecration took place last Sunday. The church, Agia Paraskevi, is located in Kazlıçeşme, just outside Constantinople's ancient Byzantine walls.

The church is famous for its source of water, deemed holy according to Eastern Byzantine tradition.

Church custodian Athanasios Ozkaremihologlu said that a bunch of young men forced their way through the building's front door. After causing mayhem, they took several sacred objects and the bell of the historic church.

Eventually, he sought refuge at a nearby police station. However, the agents on duty at the time refused to intervene, saying that such action would make matters worse.

Ecumenical Patriarch says no to Hagia Sophia as a mosque, yes to Christian worship

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew continues his brave and outspoken stance in defiance of rapidly re-Islamizing Turkey.

by NAT da Polis, AsiaNews via Byzantine, TX — Thanks to Fr A

March 6, 2014

Speaking to a group of visiting scholars at the Phanar, Bartholomew I defends the building's Christian roots, pledging opposition by all Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Churches.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I expressed a resounding no to the reopening of Constantinople's Hagia Sophia as a mosque. In fact he said that if it "must be returned to religious worship, that can only be for Christian worship."

Mideast: Orthodox leaders Summit on Christian persecutions

"The Orthodox Church throughout the world must raise its voice in protest [against this phenomenon], which threatens the very existence of the Orthodox churches.”

ANSA via Pravmir — March 6, 2014

ANKARA, MARCH 6 – The spiritual leaders of the Orthodox Christian world, which numbers 300 million faithful, met Thursday in Istanbul around Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to discuss the difficult situation of Christian communities in the Middle East, among other issues.

In his keynote speech to the Sacred Sinaxis, as the summit is called, Bartholomew I denounced the fact that ”violence in the name of religion often prevails, threatening the believers in Christ: it is with great sadness and concern that we monitor the persecutions of Christians, the destruction and sacrilege of consecrated churches, and the kidnappings and murders of priests, monks, and even bishops, such as Paul of Aleppo and Yuhanna Ibrahim from the Jacobite Syrian Church”.

"The Orthodox Church throughout the world must raise its voice in protest” against this phenomenon, he added, ”which threatens the very existence of the Orthodox churches”.

The summit is attended by the patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, as well as the primates of self-governing Orthodox churches in Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Slovakia.

The so-called Arab Spring of 2011 has sparked tensions and violence against Christian communities in various Middle Eastern countries, which also saw the growth of Islamic fundamentalism. The crisis in Ukraine and preparations for the next Pan-Orthodox Council slated for 2015 are also on the agenda at the Istanbul summit, which ends Sunday.

Archbishop of Canterbury covers for Islam, denies it is the cause of Global Muslim Persecution of Christians

via Christians called to ‘martyrdom’ says Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby

VirtueOnline via Pravmir — January 17, 2014

Modern Christians are “called” to suffer and even die for the faith in a new era of ‘martyrdom’, says Archbishop of Canterbury.

Christians are facing a new age of “martyrdom” across much of the world, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

Speaking in Istanbul, Turkey, the Most Rev Justin Welby singled out the persecution of believers across the Middle East and said Christians are still “called” to suffer and even die for the faith in the 21st Century.

But he insisted that religion is often just a “pretext” for violence and not the real cause.

[This is the sort of contorted logic that afflicts most Christian leaders today, who apparently are so fearful to confront the truth about the religion of Muhammad that they wind up excusing it of any culpability for Muslim persecution against Christians throughout the Islamic world. This in spite of the fact, documented again and again, that the Muslim persecutors themselves describe their efforts in purely religious terms, motivated by their desire to please Allah and establish Islamic rule. In Raymond Ibrahim's recent analysis of the Open Doors report on Persecution of Christians, he pre-refutes Justin Welby's ridiculous exoneration of Islam:

The one glaring fact that emerges from [the Open Doors] report is that the overwhelming majority (82%) of Christian persecution around the world today is being committed at the hands of Muslims of all races, languages, cultures, and socio-political circumstances: Muslims from among America’s allies (Saudi Arabia) and its enemies (Iran); Muslims from economically rich nations (Qatar) and from poor nations (Somalia and Yemen); Muslims from “Islamic republic” nations (Afghanistan) and from “moderate” nations (Malaysia and Indonesia); Muslims from nations rescued by America (Kuwait) and Muslims claiming “grievances” against America.

The global Muslim persecution of Christians is characterized by specific targeting of Christians, attempts at forced conversions to Islam, and wholesale destruction of churches and slaughter of entire Christian villages, all to screams of "Allahu Akbar." Sadly, the head of the Anglican communion is completely wrong about the root cause of Muslim persecution of Christians. But it's easy to see why he prefers his fable to the truth: If even 10% of the nearly 2 billion Muslims worldwide are supportive of and inclined to active jihad against infidels, this gives us a staggering number of 200 million extremist Muslims. It's more comforting to choose to believe the fiction that the religion of Islam has nothing to do with persecution of Christians "at the hands of Muslims of all races, languages, cultures, and socio-political circumstances."]

He made his remarks at the end of a two-day visit with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholemew I, the most senior cleric in the eastern Orthodox church.

The First Ever Orthodox Church building in Pakistan Completed

OCP Media Exclusive — 12/20/2013

 Visit OMP website...

Pakistan: The Orthodox Mission have completed the construction of  first ever Church building in Pakistan. It is a great dream come true for the local Orthodox community in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Leadership of Fr John Tanveer

An outstanding priest and a community leader, Fr John Tanveer has toiled  continuously to built a church building for the Orthodox Christians in Pakistan. He has provided incredible spiritual and pastoral care to the growing Orthodox faithful in the country.

With the support of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) and contributions of the local Orthodox faithful, Fr John succeeded to  built a beautiful Orthodox Temple for serving Divine Liturgy and taking care of various spiritual needs.

OMP

The Orthodox Mission in Pakistan is the Canonical Orthodox Church in Pakistan. The Orthodox Mission in Pakistan (OMP) was officially established in 2005  under Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and the Omophorion of Metropolitan Constantinos of Singapore and South Asia.  Currently there is one Orthodox priest in all of Pakistan, Fr. John Tanveer, and over 400 faithful.

Apart form the Greek Orthodox Church, Pakistan also have  Orthodox Coptic and Russian Orthodox missions with growing faithful.

More photos at OCP News Service

No Greek Orthodox school until Athens opens mosque, says Turkish deputy FM

This is extortion. For what it's worth, I would sacrifice the Halki Seminary to ensure no further mosques are ever built in Greece. Then deport all the illegal Muslim immigrants.

Greece is an Orthodox Christian country. Islam is virulently anti-Christian, and the Muslim Turks wish to re-establish an Islamic caliphate. They are looking decades down the road, and seeking to reconquer Greece, the Balkans, and then all of Europe. Mosques are frontier outposts in their Islamic supremacism and expansion. Therefore, Greece should not give the enemy a beachhead.


No Greek Orthodox school until Athens opens mosque, says Turkish deputy FM
World Bulletin — h/t Fr A

World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister Metin Kulunk has refused to resume the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary until Greece reopens the Fethiye Mosque in Athens.

“Have no doubt, Turkey has not taken a step to re-open Halki Seminary and it will not take a step until Greece, who did not hold up the promise it gave in Lausanne, opens the Fethiye Mosque in Athens,” Kulunk said in a Western Thrace Turks Solidarity Association meeting in Germany.

Halki Seminary to Remain Closed

Pravoslavie — 10/5/2013

Follow up to this story.

Istanbul, October 2, 2013

The theological school on the Chalki island will remain closed—the Turkish authorities have not included this issue into the so-called "democratization packet" that was promulgated several days ago, reports the Romphea agency.

Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Proussa, Abbot of the Holy Trinity Monastery on Chalki, where this theological school of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is situated, has made a statement concerning the refusal of the Turkish authorities to open this school.

"We have been deeply disappointed with the refusal to include the issue of opening of the theological school on the Chalki island in the communiqué published regarding "the democratization packet". Our disappointment is great. As did the Patriarchate, we cherished the great hope that this time the opening would nevertheless take place. We did not expect this from our government. We are continuing to consider that opening of our school is necessary and we will not stop striving for this. We are asking our prime-minister to continue work in the necessary direction in order to renounce completely this violation of human rights and rights of believers, his fellow citizens".

Ecumenical Patriarch decries persecution of Christians in Middle East

"Violence and persecution against Christians cannot leave the rest of us indifferent and inactive."

Catholic Culture via Pravmir — 9/17/2013

Speaking at an ecumenical gathering during a pastoral visit to Finland, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople decried the persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

“One of these crucial challenges is undoubtedly the rise of so-called religious fundamentalism, culminating in unjustifiable acts of violence and destruction as a result of religious hatred,” said Patriarch Bartholomew, who holds a primacy of honor among the Eastern Orthodox churches.

“The image that is particularly critical and lasting in our minds is the example of persecution endured today by Christians, irrespective of confession, in the wider region of the Middle East, where even the simple admission of Christian identity places the very existence of our faithful in daily threat,” he added. “These exceptionally extreme and expansive occurrences of violence and persecution against Christians cannot leave the rest of us – who are blessed to leave peacefully and in some sense of security – indifferent and inactive.”