Clashes in Egyptian Village Force Flight of Resident Copts

Clashes in Dahshur, a village to the south of Cairo, have left one dead and sixteen wounded and resulted in the flight of the village's Coptic Orthodox residents. The fighting, which occurred this past week, resulted in the torching of multiple shops and homes owned by Dahshur's Copts. More here.

Coptic Orthodox Church Prepares to Nominate New Pope

The Coptic Orthodox Church has released the names of clerical and lay participants in a special ecclesiastical assembly to nominate a successor to the recently reposed Pope Shenouda III (al-Suriani) of Alexandria. The release of the list is the first step towards the convening of the assembly, which will nominate three candidates for inclusion in the drawing of lots to chose the next Coptic Orthodox patriarch.

The Church also recently announced that it will not have representatives at the annual iftaar (a dinner breaking the Ramadan fast) this year due to its continued mourning of Pope Shenouda's falling asleep. More here.

Ethiopian Muslims Protest Government

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Abeba, turned out this past weekend to protest what they feel is mistreatment at the hands of the Ethiopian government. More here.

Orthodox-Muslim relations in Ethiopia have been tense over recent years due to the sporadic burning of Orthodox churches in primarily Muslim areas and the Muslim minority's dissatisfaction with a national census that showed that Islam is not practiced by over half the country, despite Muslim claims to the contrary and sometimes aggressive proselytization funded out of the Arabian Peninsula.

Al-Azhar, Brotherhood Scholars Reject Egyptian Islamist Fatwa

Muslim clergymen and scholars from Egypt's al-Azhar University and its influential Muslim Brotherhood have rejected a fatwa recently issued by an Islamist imam forbidding the country's Muslims from voting for nominal Muslims or Copts (amongst others) in the upcoming Egyptian parliamentary elections. More here.

Minbar Restored in Hagia Sophia

Rumors are circulating that Constantinople's Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom (also known as the Hagia Sophia after its Greek name), formerly the seat of the ecumenical patriarchs, may be returned to use as a mosque. The speculation has spread due to comments by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc that 'fundamental changes' should be made at the cathedral (now a museum) and the recent restoration of the minbar (Muslim pulpit) in the historic cathedral. More here.

Maronite Catholic Patriarch Attends Reception Hosted by Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese

As part of his ongoing visit to the United States the head of the Maronite Catholic Church, Patriarch Beshara Rai of Antioch, has attended a reception in his honor hosted by Metropolitan Philip (Saliba) of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America and attended by the Archdiocese's auxiliary bishops as well as several Maronite Catholic hierarchs and Muslim ulama (clergymen). More here.

Update (29/10/2011): The next day Metropolitan Philip, Metropolitan Mor Cyril (Karim) of the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of the Eastern United States, and Antiochian Orthodox auxiliary Bishop Antoun (Khouri) of Miami attended the Sunday Liturgy celebrated by Patriarch Bechara at the Maronite Catholic cathedral in Brooklyn. More on that here.

Maronite Catholic Patriarch Expresses Concern Over the 'Arab Winter'

Maronite Catholic Patriarch Beshara (Rai) has expressed his concern over the ongoing unrest in Syria and much of the Middle East, saying that the so-called 'Arab Spring' may in fact lead to a 'winter' for the region's Orthodox Christians, Eastern Catholics, and Assyrian Christians, as has been the case in Iraq and increasingly seems to be the case in Egypt. More here.

St. Chryse the Great-Martyr

Joyous feast! St. Chryse the Virgin-Martyr (more commonly known as Zlata) was born in the region between what today are Bulgaria and Serbia during the Turkish Yoke. The Saint possessed a strong character and deep faith, but drew the attention of a Turk because of her great beauty. Having kidnapped her, the Turk attempted to seduce the virgin and convert her to Islam, turning from seduction to threats when St. Chryse remained firm in her faith.

St. Chryse endured six months of threats in the Turk's household. Seeing that his threats had no effect on the Saint, the Turk turned on her family and threatened to murder her and torture them if they did not persuade her to accept Islam. Despite their appeals to convert for appearance's sake, however, St. Chryse remained steadfast in the Orthodox Faith and endured three months of tortures, being beaten and having her skin peeled off her body by her tormenters.

At the last St. Chryse was tied to a tree by the Turks and cut into pieces, her precious relics later being recovered by the area's Christians and buried with reverence. She witnessed to the Orthodox Faith in 1795. May her blessing and prayers be with us all! More on St. Chryse's life can be found here.

Armenian Muslims Baptized in Turkey

Dozens of Armenians whose ancestors were forced to convert to Islam after the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire were baptized today in the newly reopened Church of St. Cyriacus in Diyarbakir, a city in southeastern Turkey. Archbishop Aram (Atesyan), administrator of the Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople, celebrated the baptisms. Archbishop Vicken (Ayvazian), an auxiliary of the Eastern American Diocese of the Armenian Orthodox Church of Echmiadzin, Metropolitan Mor Philoxinos (Cetin) of Constantinople of the Syriac Orthodox Church, and a spokesman of the Ecumenical Patriarchate were also present. More here.

Egyptian Jailed for Anti-Islamic FB Comments

Close on the heels of Egypt's 'Bloody Sunday,' in which Egyptian state media called on Cairenes to come and defend the Egyptian Armed Forces from a "Coptic attack," an Egyptian court has sentenced a man to jail for 3 years for allegedly posting anti-Islamic comments on his Facebook wall. More here.

Church, Homes Burned in Upper Egypt

Clashes between Muslims and Copts have taken place in the Upper Egyptian city of Edfu after Muslims attacked a parish there that was undertaking the expansion of its church. After setting fire to the church the attackers burned other Copt-owned houses and shops in the area. More here.

Athens Mosque Plans Approved

The Greek Parliament has approved plans to build a mosque for the large Muslim minority in Athens, which until now has been without adequate spaces for their Friday prayers. More here.

Islamists Threaten to Destroy Upper Egyptian Church

Controversy has erupted in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Aswan over the reconstruction of St. George's Church in the village of Elmarinab. The originally church was built over a century ago and was recently renovated using plans approved by the local authorities and reopened in June only to face protests from Islamists from neighboring villages who claim that there was never a church on the site and that they will destroy the church and use its remains as a mosque if Elmarinab's Copts do not agree to remove the church's crosses and domes by tomorrow. More here.

Memorial Church, Mosque to be Built for Sunken Volga Ship

It has been announced that a memorial chapel and mosque will be built in the Tatarstani village of Syukeyevo in honor of the victims of the sinking of the Bulgaria, which sank near Syukeyevo on the Volga. The foundation stone for the chapel was laid at a ceremony yesterday by Archbishop Anastasiy of Kazan' in the presence of Tatarstani officials and local Tatar Muslim clergymen. More (in Russian) here.

Serbian Muslim Leader Call for Autonomy for Sandzhak Region

As German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls on Serbia to abandon its claims on Kosovo, including predominantly Serb northern Kosovo, to strengthen its candidacy for membership in the European Union a leader of the country's large Serb Muslim minority in Sandzhak, Mufti Muamer Zukorlic, has renewed his calls for the Serbian government to establish Sandzhak as an autonomous region due to its Muslim majority. Sandzhak is one of Serbia's more backward regions, with resentment over its economic state be aggravated by the largely Orthodox Christian composition of its security forces. More here.

Ecumenical Patriarch Visits Misappropriated Pontian Monasteries and Churches

As part of his pastoral visit to Pontus, in what today is northeastern Turkey, to celebrate new style Dormition at the historic Soumela Monastery Patriarch Bartholomew (Arhondonis) of Constantinople also visited several other historic Pontian monasteries and churches that were turned into mosques or museums following Turkey's expulsion of its large Greek-speaking minority after World War I. More (in Greek) here.

Syria Appoints New Defense Minister

In an effort to accelerate the repression of Sunni Muslim uprisings across Syria the country's President Bashar al-Assad has dismissed his defense minister and replaced him with General Daoud Rajiha. The appointment comes as a surprise as the key position in the Syrian government has normally been reserved for members of al-Assad's Alawi Muslim minority. (General Rajiha is an Antiochian Orthodox Christian.) More here.

Clashes Occur in Upper Egyptian Governorate

The state prosecutor in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya has ordered the arrest of three local Muslims involved in ongoing clashes in the Minya Governorate this week. So far the clashes have resulted in the death of a Coptic Orthodox Christian and the burning of six homes. Reconciliation meeting have been held between local leaders of the mosques and the Coptic Orthodox Church, but it is understood that the violence is intended to encourage Copts to leave the region, which has a much higher percentage of Copts than Lower Egypt. More here.

Pro-Democracy Iftar Organized in Egypt

Sufi Muslims, Copts, and several Egyptian political movements are calling for a mass iftar (breaking of the Ramadan fast) on 12 August to demonstrate the unity of Egypt and to call for the establishment of a civil, democratic state. More here.

US Commission Calls for Discussion of Safety of Iraqi Religious Minorities

In light of the recent bombing of a Syriac Catholic church in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk and the attempted bombings of two other churches the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended that the US and Iraqi governments make the security of Iraq's religious minorities a topic of discussion in negotiations on the presence of US forces in Iraq after this year. More here.