Russian Orthodox Patriarch Meets With Riga Mayor

In a meeting with the mayor of Riga, Nil Ushakov, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Cyril (Gundyayev) has called upon the Latvian government to recognize Russian as an official language of the Latvian state, noting that nearly half of the Latvian population speaks Russian as its first language and yet have been disenfranchised in the country as non-citizens despite their long residency in it. More here.

New Coptic Orthodox Pope Speaks Against Violence, Attacks

Pope Theodore II (al-Anba Bishoy) of Alexandria has stated that he is not intimidated by the rise of Islamism in Egypt since the toppling of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, saying that, "[For] our part, we work with love and respect, we reject violence and...the idea of attacks on property, people, lives and homes." The new Coptic Orthodox patriarch also spoke out against clergy and monks who have participated in political demonstrations. More here.

Antiochian Orthodox Patriarch Calls for Unity in Syria

Patriarch Ignatius IV (Hazim) of Antioch has called on the Syrian people "to accept each other and live as one nation," decrying the expulsion of Syria's Christians from their homes and calling on the United Nations to work for the peace and stability of the country. The full appeal can be found here.

Egyptian President Appoints New Council of Ministers

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has appointed his council of ministers, whose thirty-five members include one Copt although 10 to 20% of the Egyptian population is Coptic Orthodox. (If the government were to give Copts full representation in the cabinet three to seven of the ministers would be Copts.) The new government's Coptic Orthodox minister is also one of two women heading ministries. Of the thirty-five ministers appointed ten served in previous cabinets under either President Hosni Mubarak or the Egyptian Armed Forces, five belong to the Muslim Brotherhood, and one leads a breakaway faction of the Muslim Brotherhood. More here and here. A full listing of the membership in the new council of ministers can be found here.

Abkhazia to Recognize Orthodoxy as National Faith

A draft law on religion under consideration in the Abkhazian Parliament has been modified to recognize the role Orthodox Christianity plays in Abkhazian life. A previous version had included references to paganism, Orthodoxy, and Islam. While recognizing Orthodoxy's place in Abkhazia the draft law would also maintain the secular nature of the country's government. More here.

Turkish Mayor Protests Monolingualism

The mayor of a city in southeastern Turkey is protesting the Turkish government's hypocritical attacks on his efforts to provide government services not only in Turkish, spoken by a minority in the area, but also in Armenian, Assyrian, and Kurdish, which collectively are spoken by a large majority of the city's residents. More here.

Aleppan Christians Fear Rebel Attacks

As Syrian rebels attack the city of Aleppo Christians there fear they will suffer as their coreligionists in Homs did. Following Islamist rebels' seizure of parts of Homs most of its 120,000 Christian residents fled the city. More here.

Greek Orthodox Church Responds to Criticism of Finances

The Church of Greece has responded to widespread criticisms of its financial support by the Greek state - an arrangement made when the latter took the Church's lands (it's main financial support until then) at the time of Greece's independence from the Ottoman Empire - by noting that since 2010 its clergy have been paying taxes on their salaries together with the rest of the country. More here.

Moldovan, Transdniestrian Leaders Visit Mount Athos with Moldovan Orthodox Metropolitan

Moldovan Prime Minister Vladimir Filat and President Yevgeniy V. Shevchuk of the breakaway state of Transdniestria in eastern Moldova have begun a joint pilgrimage with Metropolitan Vladimir (Cantarean) of the Moldovan Orthodox Church to Mount Athos. The leaders are described as being "on a private visit to jointly pray at the ancient monasteries on Mount Athos." The pilgrimage is the latest in a series of informal contacts between the two. 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.

Istanbul Government Attempts to Divide City's Christians in Property Offer

It has emerged that the Istanbul city government, in an attempt to induce infighting between Turkey's Orthodox Christian minorities, has offered the Syriac Orthodox Church properties belonging to the Constantinopolitan and Armenian Orthodox Churches for the establishment of its first permanent parish church in Constantinople. More here.

Last Christians in Homs Evacuated

Christians from the Syrian city of Homs have been evacuated under an agreement on the issue between the Syrian Armed Forces and the rebels fighting to take the city. At the time of the evacuation the city, once home to tens of thousands of Christians, only had roughly a hundred left due to Islamist rebels' targeting of the city's churches. More here.

Cyprus Appeals for Russian Financial Assistance

The Cypriot government has officially requested €5 billion in financial assistance from Russia to offset losses caused by the economic crisis in nearby Greece. Cyprus chose to appeal to Russia rather than the European Union because of the lower interest rates offered by the Russian government. More here.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Confirms al-Qaeda Fighters Entering Syria

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has confirmed reports that there is a significant flow of Islamists militants from Iraq into Syria to participate in the Sunni uprisings there against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Supporters of al-Qaeda, theoretically one of the United States' main opponents in the international terrorist scene, are among the militants entering Syria to fight its secularist regime. More here.

GOAA Clergy-Laity Congress Passes Resolutions Supporting Greece, Middle Eastern Orthodox

The biennial Clergy-Laity Congress of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, has passed resolutions calling on the US government to protect the Orthodox Christian minorities native to Syria and Egypt. The Congress also appealed to all Americans to help Greece as it continues to struggle with the effects of its economic crisis. More here.

Israel Considers Mandating Military Service for Israeli Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has announced that legislation under consideration to introduce universal conscription would mandate that Israel's Orthodox Jewish fundamentalists as well as its Arab citizens participate in military and national service. More here.

Romania Makes St. Andrew's Day a Public Holiday

The Romanian Parliament has designated the new style feast of St. Andrew (30 November) as a public holiday in recognition of the widely held belief that St. Andrew introduced Orthodox Christianity to what is today Romania. More here.

Turkish Imam Calls for Reopening of Halki

Imam Mehmet Gormez, head of the Turkish government's Religious Affairs Directorate, has publicly called on the Turkish government to allow the Halki Theological Seminary to reopen during his visit today to the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. More here.

Bulgarian Orthodox Church Calls for Religious Education in State Schools

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is calling upon its members to pray for the introduction of religious education into the curriculum of Bulgaria's state schools. Proposals for the introduction of religious education are currently under discussion by the Bulgarian government. More in Bulgarian here.

'No Comment' from Ukrainian Orthodox Church on Language Law

Archbishop Mitrophan (Yurchuk) of Bila Tserkva, a spokesman of the autonomous Church of Ukraine, has called for a "constructive dialogue" between the proponents and opponents of the recent legislation establishing Russian as a regional official language alongside Ukrainian while at the same time distancing the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from the conflict by noting that the Church supports the integrity of the Ukrainian state, but refuses to participate in the political process when it does not touch on matters affecting public morality. More in Ukrainian here.