Among the bishops are Bishop Bishoy, Metropolitan of Damietta and secretary of the Holy Synod, Bishop Youannes, former Secretary of Shenouda III and responsible social services, Bishop Boutros, personal secretary of Pope Shenouda III, or Bishop Raphael, auxiliary bishop of the center Cairo and Heliopolis. Among the monks, the names of P. Anastasius El-Samuely the monastery of St. Samuel in Minya (in Middle Egypt), and P. Maximos Anthony, St. Anthony’s Monastery in the Red Sea governorate, restoration specialist icons.

Both candidates live in the monastery of St. Bishoy in Wadi Natrun, two in St. Paul monastery (in the Red Sea governorate) and three at the Monastery of the Virgin Mary in the Wadi Natrun. One of them, Father Daniel Soria-El is a graduate of the University of Lyon.

Under the rules of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the list must first be reduced from 17 to 7 candidates. Then, the 3000 voters selected will meet in the halls of St. Mark’s Cathedral – Al-Morcossia – seat of the Patriarchate, to vote. The names of three candidates receiving the most votes will then be registered on three papers filed in a velvet hood. A child, blindfolded, draw one of the papers, “the choice of God.”

Tweet

The phenomenon is generally codified by religious traditions and is as such a prohibition, censorship specializing in religious representations. The source can be aniconism atmosphere iconophobic. When it is actively enforced and resulted in the removal of performances, the aniconism becomes iconoclasm. The word itself comes from the Greek eikon, meaning representation, likeness or image.

In monotheistic religions, the aniconism is based on theological considerations and historical contexts. It is designed as a corollary of the status of God as the holder of absolute power and the need to defend against external and internal competitors: the pagan idols and human critics. In the group of Abrahamic religions, idolatry is a threat to the uniqueness, and how to combat it chooses by the prophets and missionaries, was the prohibition of representations.

This interpretation is derived from the Third Commandment in the Bible this, Thou shalt not make for yourself a carved image nor any likeness of things that are high in the heavens, who are down on earth, and are in waters below the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, and you serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, Exodus 20, 4 and 5.

Contemporary scholars have attended to their particular fields of study, showing that materials in the case of many cultures they claimed aniconism is an intellectual construction, promoting the interests and specific historical contexts, rather than a fact of reality. Huntington for Buddhism, Clément for Islam and for Judaism Bland.

Tweet

Knights of Columbus history.

Father Michael J. McGivney was born in Waterbury (Connecticut), August 12, 1852, studied priesthood in 1868 in the seminary of Saint-Hyacinthe (Quebec) and then returned to the United States to complete his studies. At the time, the Catholic Church is misunderstood by most American who is Protestant.
The name Columbus was therefore selected in order to remind Americans that the discoverer of America, Christopher Columbus was a Catholic. The priest began his ministry as curate at Christmas 1877 and celebrated his first Mass in the church of St. Mary. It is in this parish that the priest founded the first council of the Knights of Columbus in 1882.

In Quebec, the first is founded November 25, 1897 by the grand knight Dr. James Guerin.

Ethics of The Knights of Columbus.

According to the organization, the movement is not related to the legal structure of the Church. This is not a religious movement or Catholic action, but essentially an order of Catholic laymen called “Knights of Columbus.” The order is directed and staffed by lay people, not representatives of the Church.

All the ceremonies and business meetings of the order are restricted to members though all other events are open to the public. A promise not to reveal any details of the ceremonies except in the Knights of equal rank is required to strengthen their impact and meaning to new members. An additional clause subordinates the promise to the civil and religious duties of the knight.

Activities of the Knights of Columbus.

For supporting the Church and local communities, as well as for his philanthropic efforts, the order is often considered the “strong right arm of the Church”. The boards were created in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, the Philippines, Guam, Saipan, Japan, Cuba and more recently in Poland. In 2006, the Knights of Columbus were present in 12 countries and has nearly 13,000 councils.

In 2005 this group was $ 135.7 million of donated U.S. $, in addition to 63.1 million hours in volunteer service and has recruited 407 746 blood donors. During the fraternal year 2006, the order was given directly U.S. $ 143.8 million to charity (giving a total U.S. $ 1.1 billion over the decade) and made ​​68 million hours of voluntary service.

In 2011, the insurance program has more on the order of U.S. $ 80 billion in collective insurance policy for its members and has received the highest rating given by A. Mr. Best, Standard & Poor’s, and the Standards Association of Insurance Market. By cons, in August 2011, Standard & Poor’s lowered its rating to AA +.

In Canada, there are several Knights in the provincial legislatures. However, they have had little impact on social legislation, particularly regarding the right to abortion. Generally, the order does not act as a pressure group and not displayed as such.

In Massachusetts, there was a controversy when fifteen knights in the legislature voted in favor of gay marriage. This is contrary to the precepts of order and doctrine of the Church.

Tweet

“As the Pope told the bishops of the United States earlier this year, the requirements of the new evangelization and the freedom of the Church in our day call” a committed laity, articulate and well-trained, with a very critical vis-à-vis the dominant culture and the courage to fight against a secularism that would be reductive, ‘”recalls Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State of the Holy See. “Given this urgent need, the Holy Father encouraged the Supreme Council (Ed.: Knights of Columbus), in collaboration with each local council to strengthen programs of catechetical and spiritual formation that have long been the brand of your order. ”

The most important organization of fraternal service.

On Vatican Radio, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson notes that encouragement of Benedict XVI “to make the defense of the Church.” “It will instill the Knights of Columbus to take even greater responsibilities to support and promote the mission of the Church,” says the head of the “largest Catholic fraternal service organization in the world”, as it appears on its website, claiming 1.8 million members worldwide. Very present in the United States, Canada and Mexico – about 90 bishops participating in the Convention – it is also very active in the Philippines, Poland and Cuba. In 2011, she met $ 158 million for charitable projects.

When Father McGivney founded his order in 1882, the Catholic Church is despised by the American Protestant majority. The name Christopher Columbus is chosen to remind him that the discoverer of America was Catholic.

The name of the Supreme Knight of the order was recently quoted by several Vatican experts, including Sandro Magister, in the ousting of president of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), “the Vatican bank.” Letters he had sent to the Secretary of State of the Holy See were published June 9 by the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Tweet

If the invitation of Republican candidate Mitt Romney did not raise much criticism, however that of Barack Obama, author of a health reform requiring mutual repaying contraception, set off a firestorm of protests.

“Enough is enough,” wrote Father Frank Pavone, head of Priests for Life. “We can no longer afford to give people a reason to doubt our position as the Church. So no, I do not think the invitation is appropriate at this time. “” Better to cancel the event to trigger a new cause of scandal in the Catholic Church, “suggests Randy Engel, head of the U.S. Coalition for Life.

Paul Kokoski, living in Hamilton Ontario, wrote in La Croix his opposition to the project. “Despite its promises, Obama has proven himself as a militant opponent of the Catholic Church. Its anti-life policies and his plan to crack down on religious freedom in America are legendary, “says he. Worse, Bush would provide according to him “to use the Catholic gala as a photo opportunity for confusion and score political points with Catholics who oppose him.”

Opposition to health reform.

The Diocese of New York has not officially confirmed the invitation. But the website of the Al Smith actually announces the arrival and intervention of two men.

For several months, the Catholic hierarchy opposes the health insurance reform and measures leading to the return of “contraception, sterilization and abortion pills.” This reform was approved Thursday, June 28 by the Supreme Court “with limitations”. “The government will force religious institutions to facilitate and finance a product against their own moral teaching,” had felt the bishops at their plenary assembly of the spring.

The Foundation Alfred E. Smith was founded in 1946 by Cardinal Francis Spellman, archbishop of New York to help the needy children of the diocese. Al Smith, former governor of New York, was the first Catholic candidate of a major party in the U.S. presidential election.

The first dinner was organized in 1945, a year after his death. Traditionally, dinner together, during the elections, both candidates “for a night of hilarity and commemoration of the action of Al Smith,” writes Tom Gallagher, reporter for the National Catholic Reporter, on his blog. In 2008, he helped raise $ 3.9 million in the presence of Barack Obama and John McCain, surrounding Cardinal Edward Michael Egan, Archbishop of New York.

Tweet

In September 2010, during a trip to the United States, President Benigno Aquino discusses a bill on “reproductive health”. “The government must inform everyone about its responsibilities and choices and must nots to help couples make better use of appropriate methods for spacing births,” said “Noynoy” Aquino.

In this country of Southeast Asia, the population is estimated at nearly 100 million, or 2% increase per year, with a fertility rate of the highest in Asia (3.11 children per woman). A bill on responsible parenthood and reproductive health (“Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population Development Act”, commonly known as “RH Bill”) was adopted by the House in April 2011, which established the free distribution of contraceptives, the sex education in schools and authorization of abortion.

This Tuesday, August 7, it will be submitted to the Senate vote, run-up to its entry into force. For Benigno Aquino wants to pass this law as soon as he reiterated in his speech to the nation on July 23: “The law on responsible parenthood is the only answer to the considerable delay in birth control, necessary economic development of the country. ”

Why the Church opposes the Philippines does this law?

The Church, which opposes the free distribution of contraceptives and fears that the state comes to finance programs to distribute abortion pills, basically refuses to legalize abortion, banned until now. The confrontation between the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and the Government of Benigno Aquino on RH Bill peaked in October 2010 with the declaration of Bishop Odchimar, president of the CBCP, threatening with excommunication if the President persisted in passing the bill.

The dialogue resumed momentarily before a new mobilization of Catholics in May 2011, when the RH Bill should again be debated in Parliament. A pastoral letter to the CBCP, read in all churches, explains the reasons for the breakdown of negotiations between the government and the bishops who, according to the CBCP, “slammed the door on any possibility of dialogue in refusing to yield on points incompatible with the doctrine of the Church. ”

This Saturday, August 4, the bishops call for a popular demonstration in Manila, Edsa Avenue (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue). By choosing this avenue in the center of the capital, the CBCP refers to two important moments in Philippine memory: in February 1986, a large demonstration at the call of Cardinal Jaime Sin was ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, in January 2001, a another big rally obtained the resignation of President Joseph Estrada. “The bishops hope there will be a kind of Edsa III, but nothing is less certain,” says a French missionary in the Philippines since 2006.

What are the challenges for the Church?

In this country constitutionally secular, the weight of the Church is such that divorce is only possible for the Muslim minority in the South. However, most couples and middle-class urban children have only two … But “in rural and slum areas, families are still widespread and many children are unwanted or born of rape,” says yet this priest.

And then ask how husbands often working abroad to practice natural methods of contraception when they return home on time? A reality that, according to many observers Catholics, Filipino bishops have not taken sufficiently into account. But some arguments of the Church are fly, especially with families who refuse to confide in school sex education for children, as well as from economists who criticize the government to devote financial resources to both contraception and so little development.

In fact, according to the CBCP, as reported by the newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer of August 1, “140 MPs would vote against the law and only 49 were in favor of the law” … A statement which is based on a survey conducted among bishops from 77 dioceses (of 85) who have personally met with members of their dioceses.

Tweet

7,000 protesters, police said, most dressed in red met this Saturday, August 4 on a Catholic pilgrimage site in response to the call of Philippine bishops to express their opposition to the law on reproductive health be discussed in the Senate on August 7.

This project aims to reduce poverty in the archipelago by reducing the birth rate. It aims to do the free distribution of oral contraceptives, condoms and other contraceptives is to promote access to poorer birth control.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino, a staunch supporter of the bill, said in a statement released before the event that in a situation where couples “are not able to judge knowingly, it is the responsibility of the State “.

Tweet

The Work of the East went to the meeting of bishops, priests, but also lay people involved in the Church of the Middle East.

May the Risen Christ give hope to the Middle East, so that all ethnic, cultural and religious in this region together for the common good and respect for human rights, had said in his message Urbi et Orbi Easter Sunday Benedict XVI. Today, and while the Pope is about to come to Lebanon to hand over the conclusions of the October 2010 synod on the Middle East, Eastern Christians, if we are to believe the testimonies gathered by the implementation of the East await first a “spiritual support of all Catholics in the world.” “We (in) is much needed in these sad days and decisive in our history,” says Bishop Samir Nassar, Maronite archbishop of Damascus.

A New Hope.

In Beirut, Benedict XVI will in fact find a way to reassure the faithful. Minority and weakened by war, violence, migration and social crisis, they want, in the Apostolic Exhortation, find “new horizons and new hope.” They need to “redefine their testimony and consolidate their strength and biblical mission projects for the future,” said Bishop Samir Nassar.

Otayek for Joseph, Lebanon consultant and committed laity, “the Church must respond to their concerns and help them overcome their fears and overcome.” “The message must be clear, like John Paul II vis-à-vis the peoples of Eastern Europe before and during the fall of communism:” Do not be afraid.”

For Eastern Christians struggle to find their place. In Lebanon, as in Egypt and Syria, religious and laity agree that there should “emphasize the richness and authenticity of the Eastern Catholic Church.” “It is rooted from the beginning of Christianity in biblical geography, and open to the universal Church, said Father William Sidhom, Jesuit Cairo. She has a pioneering role in the universal Church as it is in permanent dialogue of life with the Arab and Islamic culture. ”

This is not Mgr Louis Sako who contradict. “We are the roots of Christianity and we have a lot of heart and spontaneity,” says the Chaldean archbishop of Kirkuk, who hopes that the apostolic exhortation to the Middle East will be “a highlight, a revival,” “for Orientals and for the universal Church.”

Make demands on the Muslim side.

This “event” should also be an opportunity for Benedict to speak to Muslims. This is at least Father’s hope Victor Assouad, Provincial of the Jesuits in the Middle East, convinced that we must send “a strong message to Islam, reminding him that it is only the face of otherness that any human group emerges with its own identity” . “Muslims must consider the presence of their Christian neighbors among them as an opportunity for openness and wealth. Christians in the Middle East are not a foreign body. They are part of the fabric of the local population, he insists. Their fate was mingled with that of Muslims from the beginning.”

Bishop Georges Casmoussa Basilios, it can not be satisfied with a “simple dialogue with Muslims.” The former archbishop of Mosul expects the pope that it “makes demands on the Muslim side to the positive live together” and work for “the right of Christians to be recognized as equal citizens”. It is not the only one. Dr Charles Nahas, a doctor at Sacred Heart Hospital in Beirut, says: “Do not we still thank you to each geopolitical event in the region, as scapegoats cheap.”

Tweet

The title of Theotokos, attributed to Mary, appears in the writings of Alexander of Alexandria in 325, the year the Council of Nicaea, then, long before that of Ephesus in 431, it is very common. In the Latin Church, the title of Mother of God is sometimes made by deipare.

History of the name Theotokos.

Jesus Christ, only Son of God, true God from true God, the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and became man. This is what these words proclaimed the symbol faith statement by the Council of Constantinople in 381. Of course, Christians have become accustomed to give Mary the title Mother of God.

This title gives rise to a controversy between the theologian Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, who emphasizes the distinction between divinity and humanity in Jesus, he goes to war against what he sees as a new heresy: I refuse to see a God formed in the womb of a woman! For him, Mary is the mother of the man Jesus, not the eternal Word. The dispute is profound because it also affects the dogma of the divinity of Jesus. Two camps, the supporters of the title Theotokos and the supporters of Anthropotokos. Initially proposed the title of Nestorius Christotokos to reconcile the two camps and resolve a dispute which agitated the Church.

His attacks against the title of Mother of God face to Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, a great defender of the unity of Christ God and man. What is at stake is not the status of Mary, but the reality of the Incarnation, Jesus son of Mary is really God? If so, his mother can truly be called Mother of God. Refuse the title of Theotokos to Mary would thus separating the divinity of Jesus’ humanity, or to admit the divinity of Jesus after his design, which then join the Arian heresy. The charge of Arianism could also turn against supporters of the title Theotokos, as an affirmation of the separation of the two natures of Christ, divine and human, while the Nicene Creed said in perfect union. The controversy is therefore important and delicate. Add to this popular fervor, away from sharp theological disputes, in favor of the title Theotokos.

Cyril is no expense, wrote to the monks of Egypt, to the bishops, the pope of Rome to Nestorius himself. After many adventures, exchanges of letters and memoirs theological, an ecumenical council held at Ephesus in 431, Marian city par excellence: it is here that Mary would have lived with John after Pentecost. Hundred and fifty bishops from East and West spend the recognition by the Church of Mary’s divine motherhood.

Popular piety was immediately endorsed this statement by theologians: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us. You truly Theotokos, we magnify you.

Tweet

An icon is a representation of holy figures in the Orthodox Christian tradition. The icon has a deep theological meaning that differentiates it from the holy picture. The icon is fully integrated into the orthodox catechesis but also in the Eastern Catholic Churches which have preserved the tradition of the icon. By becoming objects of veneration to the faithful, the icons were submitted, from the eighth century, the Orthodox Church, to severe artistic constraints. Until today, these guns have been perpetuated, ensuring the continuity of this amazing painting dedicated to the glory of God.

The art of the icon.

The art of the icon has flourished in the area of the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire said. Meanwhile, the West, from the old Western Roman Empire, developed Carolingian art Ottonian then. In the south of the former Western empire, yet another style develops. Although the iconographic grammar remains the same throughout Europe, each half of Europe is developing aesthetic and theological own.

On one side of Europe, Representative follows the evolution of early Christian art to take the path of the novel, Gothic, Italian Renaissance … the West a significant departure from the East with the humanists. On the other side, we move from early Christian art in Byzantine art, which, despite its vicissitudes, keeps a report theological image relatively constant, even when orthodoxy extends to Russia. This aspect gives the icon in its immutable character traits, the organization of the representation and veneration.

The origins of the icon

Originally the term meant any icon religious image, whatever the technique. In modern usage, it refers to a “religious image” made​​, according to special rules, a wood panel moving and for worship or community staff.

The first “Christian figurative art” is first found in the catacombs of Rome. It was an art of hiding, encrypted, symbolic value. A pagan seeing a man swallowed by a sea monster could not recognize in the story of Jonah being swallowed by the fish, let alone discern the foreshadowing of Christ’s resurrection.

To the fourth and fifth centuries, from the peace of Constantine, the icon is experiencing a real flowering. She wants to present the example of holy figures, keep in memory, illustrate the main events of the Old and New Testaments. His inspiration synagogue is indisputable.

From the mid-sixth century, as part of an empire now Christianized, the icon is spreading in popular piety. At that time the legends appear on the original icons or apostolic miraculous.

Icons of Christ

Two traditions evoke the first icon of Christ:

* The Mandylion of Edessa or Holy Face is a representation of Christ’s face acheiropoietos. Unable to travel to King of Edessa in Syria, Abgar V, Jesus would have sent the imprint of his face on a cloth. The sovereign was thus cured of leprosy. The image is then transferred from Edessa to Constantinople in 944 and then disappears during the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204.
* The Veil of Veronica is the West during this story: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus of Nazareth at the Sixth Station of the Cross. The machine is still marked the face of Christ. The name Veronica is a corruption of the name Berenice. In this way, the name Veronica seems to mean an assembly Latin-Greek “true icon”.

Tweet