Orthodox Church News

This week at Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, the first of hundreds of cookies were being prepared in anticipation of the church's annual Greek Festival.

Orthodox filmmaker Rama Burshtein is a special case. Not only does she come from a community that frowns on film-watching - never mind film-making - but she has managed to create "Fill the Void," a movie that has won awards and acclaim around the world.

Thousands of anti-gay protestors organized by the Georgian Orthodox Church took over central Tbilisi to halt a small rally of LGBT activists on May 17, International Day Against Homophobia.

Jewish well-wishers from around the world attended the Ultra Orthodox Jewish wedding to witness the marriage of the grandson of the leader of the Hasidic dynasty Belz Rebbe yesterday.

Take a look at some of the best in photographs sent to the Suburban News during the week of May 13-17, 2013.

Former IDF chief rabbi Brig.- Gen. Avichai Rontzki has been appointed to head up the new Directorate for Jewish Identity, which has been created within the Religious Services Ministry.

On May 15, Pope Francis sent a telegram to Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew traveled to the Italian city to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan.

Egypt's Christian minority suffered two more violent assaults during the past week, with bombings at Coptic Orthodox churches in two different towns.

At a conference commemorating the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan, in which Emperor Constantine decreed the toleration of Christianity in the Roman Empire, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said that "the divinely-inspired Emperor established in action and legislation the fundamental principles on which modern Christian ... (more)

The prime minister of Romania this week instructed authorities to investigate an apparent anti-Semitic assault on a journalist in Bucharest.

The election of extreme right Golden Dawn members to Greece's Parliament led to an increased expression of anti-Semitism in Greece in 2012, according to the annual US State Department's report on international religious freedom released on May 20.

Georgian Orthodox Christian activists shout antigay slogan, before clashes with gay rights activists on the International Day Against Homophobia in Tbilisi on May 17 TBILISI -- Four men have been arrested in Georgia in connection with the violence last week that disrupted a planned gay rights demonstration in Tbilisi.

Fire dancing is a Bulgarian tradition still alive in the southern Strandzha mountain region.

The recent dedication of George W. Bush's presidential library in Texas briefly rekindled debate about the defining event of his presidency, the Iraq War.

A Coptic Catholic bishop has expressed hopes that the historic meeting May 10 between Pope Francis and Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II will lead to the Coptic Orthodox Church recognizing Catholic baptism.

Newspaper estimates of the numbers taking part in recent demonstrations tell us something about the ranking of items on the agendas of various sectors.

Shaiel and Charlie Yitzhak both work hard - he as an English teacher, she as a physical therapist working with wounded Israeli soldiers.

Israeli police say vandals have spray-painted slogans on the home of one of the leaders of a liberal Jewish women's group that has angered ultra-Orthodox communities over its demands for equality of worship.

Degrading graffiti was found sprayed on the Jerusalem house of Women of the Wall member Peggy Cidor Monday morning after the group attempted to pray at the Western Wall, Israeli media reported.

Unrest: Policemen try to stop an Orthodox Christian activist during clashes at rally in Tbilisi on Friday.