Russia: Rush-hour blast kills 14 on trolley bus in Volgograd, Russia; 3rd deadly attack in four days.

Related: Consecutive Volgograd suicide bombing kills at least 14 (PHOTOS, GRAPHIC VIDEO)

NBC News — 12/30/2013

By Albina Kovalyova and Daniel Arkin

MOSCOW -- At least 14 people were killed and 28 wounded when an explosion ripped through a trolley bus in the Russian city of Volgograd on Monday, the country's third deadly attack in four days.

Members of the emergency services work at the site of a bomb blast on a trolleybus in Volgograd December 30, 2013. (Reuters / Sergei Karpov)

The explosion, which authorities blamed on a suicide bomber, tore out much of the electric bus' exterior, left mangled bodies on the street and raised fears about more violence in the lead-up to the Sochi Winter Olympics that Russia will host in six weeks.

"For the second day, we are dying -- it's a nightmare," a woman near the scene told Reuters, her voice trembling. "What are we supposed to do, just walk now?"

Volgograd, a city of around one million about 400 miles northeast of Sochi, is a key transport hub for southern Russia, with many bus routes linking it to the volatile provinces in the North Caucasus.

On Sunday, 17 people were killed in a terror attack by a suspected female suicide bomber at a railway station in Volgograd. And on Friday, a car bomb killed three people in the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk, 170 miles east of Sochi, where the Olympics will be held.

In October, another female suicide bomber was blamed for a bus explosion in Volgograd that killed five people.

The blasts on Sunday and Monday were probably connected because the TNT and shrapnel-packed bombs were "identical," said Vladimir Markin, spokesman for Russia's main investigative agency.

Russian terror attacks could be chilling prelude to Olympic violence, say experts

Related:

• Russia: Ten murdered in second jihad attack in two days in Volgograd
• Russia: Volgograd jihad murderer was female convert to Islam
• Russia: Head discovered of jihad/martyrdom suicide bomber who murdered 18 at Volgograd train station (VIDEO)
• Russia: Female jihad/martyrdom suicide bomber murders at least 18 at Volgograd train station (VIDEO)

Fox News — 12/30/2013

A pair of suicide bombings that left 31 dead in Russia could be a chilling tune-up for the Olympic Games, where a Muslim terrorist leader has vowed to put Chechnya’s long-standing grievance with Moscow in the international spotlight, according to terrorism experts.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for the twin bombings, which occurred less than 24 hours apart in the city of Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, terror experts strongly suspect they were inspired, if not ordered, by Chechen Muslim rebel leader Doku Umarov. Umarov, who calls himself the emir of the terror group the Caucasus Emirate, has called on Muslims to attack civilians and to prevent the Olympics from occurring.

"He comes not as a fierce man of war..."

The Nativity of Christ reveals the true nature of Muhammad and Islam

He comes not as a fierce man of war threatening all things living with death, but as a newly born babe, bringing the hope of rebirth and life into the entire realm of death; He comes — but the land of destruction does not meet, does not embrace, does not praise, does not even see the Saviour, and does not hear the Word of God keeping silence in the manger. Virtually in vain does the glory which Jesus Christ had with God the Father before the world was (John 17:5) on the lips of angels, follow Him descending into the world and pursuing Him, attain even unto the earth.

— St Philaret of Moscow (†1867)

St Philaret of Moscow may very well have had Muhammad in mind when he wrote this passage contrasting the meek and vulnerable "Word of God keeping silence in the manger" with the "fierce man of war" who dwells in the "land of destruction."

He would not be the first to draw this comparison. St Gregory Palamas is recorded saying this to his Muslim captors circa 1354:

It is true that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, as the sun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil.  (Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos, The Life of Gregory Palamas, Thessalonika, Greece, 1984, p 371. Translated from the Greek and published in English in The Lives of the Pillars of Orthodoxy, Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista CO, 1990.)

In his famous Regensburg address in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI quoted the fourteenth century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, who, in his dialogue [ca. 1391] with a Persian Muslim offered this blunt polemic:

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.

Muslims around the world affirmed that they are followers of Muhammad by rioting and raging against Pope Benedict after his remarks. What is illustrative of the nature of Islam and its followers is that they completely missed the subtlety of his point, namely, that it is not reasonable for God to will His followers to advance the knowledge and worship of Him by violence:

Syria: The End of Christian Civilization?

What fourteen hundred years of Islamic jihad and occupation of Christian lands had been unable to do, just a decade of Islam's renewed war against Christianity seems poised to accomplish. Studied observers and historians are calling Muslim persecution of Christians "apocalyptic" and "genocidal."

The brutal religious cleansing of Christians from their ancestral lands has been aided by U.S. intervention in the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East. Obama has openly accelerated the jihad through his Islamophilic worldview, crowning decades of wrong-headed pro-Muslim, anti-Christian U.S. foreign policy by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood (recently named a terrorist organization by Egypt, and now openly allied with Al Qaeda) and Al Qaeda, Al Nusra and other jihad terrorist groups in Syria.

Christians must loudly protest against America's support for Muslim groups waging jihad against our brothers and sisters. To remain silent and/or do nothing is to crucify Christ all over again. God help us.


Syria: The End of Christian Civilization?
by Milena Faustova, VOR via Pravoslavie — 12/24/2013

The third-largest city in Syria, Homs has almost completely lost its Christian population. Thousands have been murdered, on the order of millions have fled. The same situation can be observed in Damascus, Aleppo, Khame, Latakia, and other cities. “This is a real religious war, which the world community assiduously takes no notice of,” the President of the Near East Institute, Eugene Satanovsky, believes:

“It is the accepted belief that religious wars have become a thing of the past. But they have become a thing of the past only for those Western politicians who pay no attention to them. Religious wars are going on both in Africa and the Near East. Syria is only one of the bridgeheads for the swift de-Christianization of this region. And since these wars are carried on by fanatic Islamists, representatives of radical terrorist movements, it is not to the advantage of the world community to interfere in them. So far no one has abolished this double standard, and — unlike the 19th century, when the genocide of Christians in Syria or Lebanon still upset a person in Europe or America — today people simply close their eyes to this, out of both economic and geopolitical considerations.”

Egypt's Coptic churches on alert during Christmas holidays

With the approach of Christmas celebrations, the Egyptian Church is tense in anticipation of violence and bombings against Coptic churches, similar to what happened when the Rabia al-Adawiya sit-in was broken up in August.

AL Monitor — 12/23/2013

Walaa Hussein, author — Rani Geha, translator

Egyptian Coptic Christians carry a cross and chant prayers during a candlelight protest marking one week since sectarian clashes with soldiers and riot police at a protest against an attack on the Abassaiya Cathedral, Cairo, Oct. 16, 2011. (photo by REUTERS/Stringer)

The current tension is due to reports by Egyptian media outlets about a plot by Muslim Brotherhood militias to blow up a number of churches during the celebrations for Coptic Christmas at the beginning of January, which will coincide with the second session of the trial of ousted President Mohammed Morsi on Jan. 8.

That information has worried church officials, who have expressed their apprehensions to Pope Tawadros. Tawadros said he would meet with senior officials to discuss how to secure the churches. He is also considering the church’s proposal to move prayer time earlier to help the security services in protecting the churches.

The US State Department was quick to warn its nationals in Egypt of a new wave of violence that would coincide with the holiday season, calling for caution and avoiding unnecessary risks. In a statement published on its website, the US Embassy in Cairo advised: “Demonstrations continue throughout the country, oftentimes accompanied by sporadic exchanges of violence between protesters and security forces and/or residents.”

The statement noted that embassy personnel are required to get permission before traveling outside of Cairo or Alexandria, adding that the tourist resorts in Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh, Luxor and Aswan “tend to be safe.”

The embassy also stressed that US nationals in Egypt should avoid going to areas that may see large concentrations of people, and that demonstrations whose organizers assert will be “peaceful” may turn violent, thus breaking the law of the right to demonstrate recently approved by the government.

This comes against the backdrop of information that Egyptian intelligence services are monitoring correspondence between the international wing of the Muslim Brotherhood and members of Hamas on the one hand and terrorist and jihadist groups in the Sinai Peninsula on the other hand, to implement simultaneous terrorist operations against tourist sites and churches on New Year’s Eve. 

According to the security information, those groups have been instructed to continue their so-called holy war against the Egyptian army and police, and that money and weapons will arrive within a few days through the tunnels between Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula by three persons belonging to the military wing of Hamas. 

A Grim Christmas for those driven from Syria's Maalula

Pravoslavie — 12/24/2013

Maalula before the Jihad

After fleeing a rebel assault on the historic Syrian town of Maalula, hundreds of Christian families sheltering in Damascus are preparing for a bleak Christmas away from home.

The picturesque hamlet -- where residents still speak the ancient Aramaic of Jesus Christ -- was a symbol of the long Christian presence in Syria's ethnic and religious mosaic, now shattered by war.

The residents of Maalula are among the millions of Syrians displaced by a war that shows no sign of ending, and what should be a joyful holiday season is instead the latest painful reminder of all that has been lost.

"The most beautiful gift I could possibly receive for Christmas would be to return to Maalula," whispered Hneineh Taalab, who fled in early September after jihadist fighters entered the town and is now sheltering at a Damascus convent.

Taalab said jihadists from Al-Nusra Front, a rebel group linked to Al-Qaeda, murdered her 20-year-old son Sarkis Zakhem when they took over Maalula on September 8, after four days of fighting troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

"Al-Nusra also killed my brother and my cousin because they refused to convert to Islam."

More and More Muslim Volunteers from Western Countries Fighting on the Side of Islamists in Syria

Pravoslavie — 12/26/2013

About 20% of 10,000 foreigners, who are fighting on the side of islamist militants in Syria, came there from Western countries, and their number in percentage terms is increasing, reports Strategy Page—an American website, specializing on military themes—with the reference to the information of the Israeli intelligence service.

Besides that, according to estimates of the Israeli secret services, this year no fewer than 15,000 militants of Hezbollah have participated in the fighting in Syria. The majority of them arrived there for several months, as many supporters of Hezbollah in Lebanon have a negative attitude to the fact that fighters from this movement are joining one of the sides of the Syrian conflict.

Strategy Page reports that Britain's reaction to the information on its subjects fighting in Syria was to revoke the passports of 20 of the 240 British Muslims, who, according to information of the Israeli intelligence services, are warring in Syria. This step has provoked protest from British Muslims, but the British government has stated in response that the British citizenship is a privilege and not a right, especially for those who legally hold passports of two states.

The website's sources in the Israeli special service have acknowledged the fact that their intelligence services are coordinating their action on the territory of Syria with intelligence services of Western countries, and are secretly collaborating with intelligence services of Arab countries. The information received by these joint efforts indicates that the militants are losing ground under pressure from the government forces, mainly because of lack of unity among the rebels and the conflicts between insurgent groups, which are becoming more frequent.

Christmas in Iraq: Slaughtered Christians

"Expect more such news to emerge from other corners of the Islamic world in the coming days, including New Year’s and Orthodox Christmas."

by Raymond Ibrahim, 12/25/2013

As expected, Christmas did not pass the Islamic world without church attacks and slaughtered Christians.   It’s apparently a tradition there, from the dawn of Islam down to this very Christmas. According to an AP report published today, December 25:

Militants in Iraq targeted Christians in three separate Christmas Day bombings in Baghdad, killing at least 37 people, officials said Wednesday.  In one attack, a car bomb went off near a church in the capital’s southern Dora neighborhood, killing at least 26 people and wounding 38, a police officer said. 

Earlier, two bombs ripped through a nearby outdoor market simultaneously in the Christian section of Athorien, killing 11 people and wounding 21, the officer said…There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Iraq’s dwindling Christian community, which is estimated to number about 400,000 to 600,000 people, often has been targeted by al-Qaida and other insurgents who see the Christians as heretics.

Ireland's ancient legacy from Egypt

This fascinating article provides us a sense of what is at stake in Egypt, Syria, Turkey and the Middle East, where Muslims openly threaten the complete eradication of Christian faith and culture. Islam's renewed war against Christianity is a threat to all Christians everywhere.


Ireland's ancient legacy from Egypt
by Valerie Cuthbert, Catholic Herald Archives — h/t Fr A
Originally printed in the July 12, 1991 edition of Catholic Herald

Valerie Cuthbert looks at the long forgotten ties between the early churches of Alexandria and St Patrick.

EGYPT, one of the most fervent Moslem countries in the Middle East, was once famous as one of the corner-stones of early Christianity. Even today, large numbers of Egyptians, who regard themselves as the true descendants of the Ancients, are still practising Christians.

St Mark the Evangelist, who was martyred and buried in Alexandria, where his body remained until it was taken by stealth to Venice centuries after the Arabs had conquered Egypt, is generally believed to have founded the Egyptian — known as the Coptic — Church and its Patriarch is regarded as the successor of St Mark in the same way that the Pope is the successor of St Peter in the western church.

In the early days of Christianity, the patriarch of the Egyptian church was second only in authority to Rome. It was ruled from Constantinople until the fifth century when it separated itself from the western church because of a theological disagreement with the Byzantine emperor. This rift caused nearly two centuries of bloodshed as patriarchs representing either the Greek or Egyptian creeds succeeded one another on the throne.

In the end the Egyptian church split completely from the Greek church and each went its own way.

The Egyptian National Monophysite Church emerged and, because of the way they felt towards the Byzantine church, the Egyptians no longer wished to use Greek in their churches and the liturgy and the gospels were translated into Egyptian.

The Egyptian church still celebrates the Korbin or mass in the language of the Pharaohs or, rather, the debased form of it which was spoken in the fifth century.

When the Arabs occupied Egypt in the seventh century [i.e., when the Muslims conquered Egypt during the first wave of jihad], they tolerated their Christian subjects at first and called them Copts — a word which simply means Egyptians — and the label has stuck.

In the heart of Old Cairo, there is a Coptic museum where the most interesting and varied collection of early Christian relics have been carefully preserved. When these are examined, there is an amazing resemblance between many of the Coptic antiquities and those of the early Celtic church in Ireland.

There then emerged the probability that, although so far apart, the two Christian communities must have been in close touch with one another on religious matters during the first six centuries of the Christian era. Visits perhaps were exchanged during this period between the Irish and Coptic monks, and indeed seven Coptic monks are said to be buried at Disert Ulidh in Ireland.

Christian Syrian Refugees Denied Visas to West

This is an extremely urgent issue, which reveals the hypocrisy and downright villainy of the Western nations, led by the United States. Christian refugees fleeing their Muslim persecutors are denied Visas, asylum and solace, while the U.S. is opening the gates to Muslim refugees, offering permanent resettlement, and enabling Saudi student visas to double over the last two years. 

Contributing to the bloodshed in Syria, Obama and Cameron openly support cannibalistic Muslim jihadis, and claim as peace partners the Taliban, who play soccer with the severed heads of their slain adversaries.

If we are silent in the face of this wave of evil, we will be called to account before the Lord. 

I call upon our beloved and revered Orthodox hierarchs in North America to continue to "speak truth to power," that they would perform with courage and vigor their prophetic role, warning, encouraging and admonishing our leaders to care for the dwindling, beleaguered flock in Syria, Egypt, and everywhere Christians are being persecuted.

Christian Syrian Refugees Denied Visas to West

Voice of the Persecuted — 12/26/2013

Christian Syrian refugees have found temporary shelter in Jordan, but their immigration requests have been rejected by Western countries.

Some of them have spoken to the Associated Press, but want to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

One Syrian refugee said, “Everyone sold whatever they owned in Syria in order to get here, so that we could apply for visas at an embassy. We were all surprised to be rejected on the basis that there was no reason for us to go to Europe. Their reasons were all false – nothing correct in them.”