-Caveat Lector-
(AP) During worldwide calls for an end to NATO airstrikes against their
Serbian brethren, "Orthodox Christians in Jerusalem carried the patriarch of
Jerusalem on a throne in procession to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the
site of Jesus' tomb."
"Pray for the conversion of RUSSIA," commanded the Virgin, in the second
"Fatima Prophecy" -- in the same breath threatening the END of the Roman
Catholic Church as spokesman for the true Christian faith if the Papacy were
LAX in fulfilling that mission.
(The Vatican hierarchy, not taking that seriously, has done little or
nothing so far.)
Could Russia, largest of all communities of ORTHODOX Christians, seek
its OWN destiny --as "the Third Rome"-- by rallying fellow believers to some
"Crusade of martyrs" against a "godless" (i.e., materialistic, militarized,
NEW World Order) W. Europe ?
All throughout history, those crazy Slavs have been religious nuts, you
know ...
Just no telling what "Millennium Madness" OVER THERE may bring our way
...
Orthodox Christians Mark Easter
By HARMONIE TOROS
.c The Associated Press
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- Orthodox Christians across the world celebrated
Easter on Sunday amid widespread sympathy for fellow Orthodox Serbs and calls
for an end to NATO airstrikes on Yugoslavia.
The spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew I, urged ``respect for life itself, the life of our fellow human
beings, the life of our opponent, the life of our enemy.''
Bartholomew, wearing a red cloak adorned with the image of Jesus Christ, led
several hundred faithful in a candlelight procession at a midnight service in
the gold-encrusted Byzantine Cathedral of St. George in Istanbul.
The patriarchate in Istanbul dates from the 1,100-year-old Orthodox Greek
Byzantine Empire, which collapsed when the Ottoman Turks conquered
Constantinople, today's Istanbul, in 1453. Bartholomew presides over 14
autonomous Orthodox churches, including those in Greece, Russia, Serbia,
Albania, Bulgaria and Romania.
Despite the holiday, allied bombings against Yugoslavia continued overnight
Sunday.
Easter, the anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, was
observed by some 300 million Orthodox on Sunday. Roman Catholics and
Protestants celebrated Easter a week earlier.
The bombings have led to an outpouring of faith in Yugoslavia, where
thousands of Serbs attended midnight services, defying the warnings of
air-raid sirens.
Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle denounced the airstrikes and what he called
a ``cynical'' NATO during a service attended by several hundred people at the
Cathedral Church in downtown Belgrade.
``We pray for peace and goodwill among people, but now we are suffering,''
the patriarch said in a statement read by a priest. ``All just proposals for
a peaceful solution ... have been rejected.''
NATO says its campaign is aimed at bringing Yugoslavia back to the bargaining
table on the fate of the rebellious province of Kosovo.
Throughout the Orthodox world, politics mixed with religion on Sunday.
Orthodox Macedonians expressed indignation that NATO continued airstrikes
over Easter.
``This is a day of salvation for all humankind, not a day for killing,'' said
the Rev. Mome Antevski as he walked out of St. Nicholas Church in Kumanovo,
Macedonia, just seven miles south of the border with Serbia. ``They should
have stopped for Easter.''
Many of those who live in the Kumanovo area are either ethnic Serbs or
Macedonians sympathetic to the Serbs.
Anger at NATO action was particularly visible in Greece, where television
showed Belgraders holding Easter services in underground air-raid shelters.
Anti-war protesters joined in church celebrations, while parishes gathered
donations for the Serbs. On the island of Corfu, giant Yugoslav flags were
draped across buildings in the main square.
Greeks ``must be on the side of those crucified. Never, never, on the side of
the crucifiers,'' Archbishop Christodoulos, Greece's Orthodox Church leader,
said Friday.
The head of Russia's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II, also called for an
end to NATO bombings.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin visited the patriarch before receiving an
Easter blessing in the 17th-century Church of Archangel Michael with his wife
Naina.
Even Romania's President Emil Constantinescu, who supports NATO airstrikes
against Yugoslavia, urged a pause in the bombings for Orthodox Easter.
In Ukraine, Easter provided temporary relief for millions suffering an
economic decline that began with independence in 1991.
In an Easter message, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma called on his 50
million countrymen to be guided by ``eternal values of Christian morality.''
``Christ has risen,'' he said. ``Ukraine shall rise!''
In Jerusalem, Orthodox Christians carried the patriarch of Jerusalem,
Diodoros, on a throne at the head of a procession to the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher on the site of Jesus' tomb.
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