| For Finland, the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and the economic sanctions imposed by the UN in Russia as a result of the takeover of the Crimea have all contributed to a sense “that Europe will never be the same again”. In September last year, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä began a speech on live television with the words: “The situation in Finland is an exceptionally serious.” He referred in particular to slow economic growth, rising unemployment, state debt, the loss of business competitiveness and the widening gap between rich and poor. Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Christianity Is Rising Again In Finland Ruth Gledhill A new survey finds that after years of steady decline, in common with many other countries in the West, Christian belief in Finland is once more increasing. Four years ago, just 27 per cent of Finns said they believed in the God of Christianity, Evangelical Focus reports. Now, that figure ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Donate Also by this author " More Than Half A Million People Sign Petition To Save Christian Mother Asia Bibi From Death Sentence Ruth Gledhill Asia Bibi " s final appeal was postponed earlier this month. In a post on its website updating the case, the… |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation Christian charity highlights Pakistan on International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church Source: Premier UK Christian religious freedom charity Release International has shifted their focus to Pakistan on this year’s International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP), which was on Sunday. Tola Mbakwe 17 November 2019 Although 17 th November has been set aside for Christians in the UK and Ireland to pray for persecuted Christians, people are being urged to set aside the whole month for prayer. Some 80 per cent of those persecuted for their faith around the world today are Christians, and the indications are that violence against Christians is on the rise, according to a report commissioned by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office from the Bishop of Truro. Release International said part of the reason it chose to focus on Pakistan for this year’s IDOP is because “believers face discrimination in education, employment and the law”. The charity added: “Most Christians in Pakistan are poor, illiterate and vulnerable to abuse, especially young women and girls. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have been used to make false allegations against Christians, often to settle personal vendettas.” Release International has helped Christians who have been falsely accused of blasphemy and given support to families of prisoners like Asia Bibi, a Pakistani mother who spent 10 years in jail on charges that were later thrown out by the Supreme Court. Speaking recently from Canada, the 54-year-old called on Christians everywhere to remember others behind bars. She said in a video posted on YouTube: “I Asia Bibi, believe in Jesus. My belief is strong. I never let my belief weaken. “Stay true to your beliefs. Even if you have to face the sword, please hold firm to your faith. Even if you have to sacrifice everything.” |
| Ruth Gledhill Christians fleeing Islamic State and other terror groups must be given priority for asylum in Europe, according to the Bishop of Coventry. The Right Rev Christopher Cocksworth, Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church Britain and many other Church of England and other ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Donate Also by this author " Christianity Is Rising Again In Finland Ruth Gledhill A new survey finds that after years of steady decline, in common with many other countries in the… " More Than Half A Million People Sign Petition To Save Christian Mother Asia Bibi From Death Sentence Ruth Gledhill Asia Bibi " s final appeal was postponed earlier this month. In a post on its website updating the case, the… " Britain must do more to help refugees, say Christian and other faith leaders Ruth Gledhill In a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May, Christian leaders join Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian leaders… More Today " s Articles “Le monde entier reste silencieux au… pravmir_com_team Depuis le 12 décembre 2022, la région de l " Artsakh, où vivent 120… |
| Они действительно отличаются христианской мудростью, твердым убеждением, диалектической тонкости в рассуждениях и блистательным красноречием. Заключая в себе учение третьего века христианского о тех предметах, которых касался Св. Отец, они открывают не только его глубокое знание священного Писания, но и обширное знакомство с лучшими писателями языческого мира; приводимые им места и выражения из древних греческих поэтов, ораторов и философов, особенно Гомера и Платона, доказывают, как обширную его начитанность в светской литературе, так и мудрое уменье, по словам Апостола, все испытывая держаться лучшаго ( 1Coл. V, 21 ), и представляют его тем книжником, наученным царству небесному, который, по словам Господа, подобно хозяину выносит из сокровищницы своей новое и старое ( Mamф. XIII, 52 ). По содержанию своему творения Св. Мефодия показывают в нем и превосходного проповедника христианской нравственности, особенно высокой идеи христианского девства, и твердого защитника догматов православной Веры против еретиков и язычников, особенно против Валентиниан, Оригенистов и философа Порфирия, и глубокого толкователя Св. Писания. Главнейшие из них прежде всех исчислил блаж. Иероним, а на другие делают указания другие писатели. Они суть следующие: Пир (Συμπδιον) десяти дев, или о девстве. Это весьма значительное по объему рассуждение сохранилось до нашего времени во всей целости, и подлинность его не подлежит сомнению; об нем, кроме бл. Иеронима, упоминают: Св. Григорий Нисский († около 374 г.) в сочинении об образе и подобии Божием (Oper. Edit. Paris, Т. II, р. 26), Св. Андрей Кесарийский и Арефа Архиепископ Кесарийский (X века) в своих толкованиях на Апокалипсис (Андр. Кес. in Apocal XI, 33, Ареф. in Apocal с. XXXIII. Bibi. Patr. Т. IX, р. 769), согласно называя Св. Мефодия писателем этого творения; извлечения из «Пира дев, также с указанием имени Св. Мефодия, находятся у Св. Иоанна Дамаскина († около 780 г.) в его сочинениях (Sacr. Parall. Т. 11, р. 643.) и особенно у Патриарха Фотия († 886 г.) в его библиотеке (Bibi. |
| Pakistan is an example of the full suppression of the Christian population. Out of approximately 162 million Pakistanis, Christians, half of them being Catholics, make up only 2,45% of the population. According to the Open Doors organization, there are 5,3 million Christians in the country. The data published by the Pakistani government this January shows that the number of Christians in the country is approximately 3,8 million. Their condition today can be described as catastrophic. In 1986, a law on blasphemy was adopted in Pakistan to become a tool for persecuting religious minorities. This law is often used to squaring personal accounts and to seize other people’s property. This law has become a tool for the tough persecution of religious minorities, especially Christians. Last year, at least 161 people were sentenced under the law of ‘blasphemy’ in Pakistan. Nine people accused of ‘blasphemy’ and ‘outrage against Islam’ were executed extrajudicially. Even Muslim legal scholars admit that 95% of all the accusations of ‘blasphemy’ are false. Christians are deprived of their rights under this law because a Muslim can report an outrage against Islam without providing witnesses or proof. The law on ‘blasphemy’ demands that the accused should be immediately sentenced. Recently the death sentence for Asia Bibi – who, asked about her faith, replied that she was a Christian and was accused of ‘blasphemy’ – was reconfirmed. As of February 1, 2012, over 580 000 people in 100 countries signed an appeal to the Pakistani government to release Asia Bibi. At present, her health is in critical condition. In 2011, Aslam Masikh, a 30 year-old Christian, died in a Pakistani prison. He too was arrested on the charge of ‘blasphemy’. For several months he was denied medical aid because of ‘safety considerations’. Recently two more Christians became victims of false accusations – the Protestant bishop Joseph Pervez and Pastor George Baber. They were forced to escape the country after they were incriminated ‘blasphemy’ and threatened by extremists. Both Christians planned to found an organization for the protection of the Christian community in Pakistan. |
| Pakistan Might Ban Blasphemy Laws After 60,000 Killed, Brother of Murdered Christian Official Says Source: The Christian Post November 25, 2015 Members of the Pakistani Christian community attend a protest rally to condemn Sunday " s suicide attack in Peshawar on a church, in Islamabad, September 23, 2013. A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the 130-year-old Anglican church in Pakistan after Sunday mass, killing at least 78 people in the deadliest attack on Christians in the predominantly Muslim country. The brother of Shahbaz Bhatti, a government minister who was killed by terrorists for opposing the controversial blasphemy laws in Pakistan, told the U.K. parliament that his country finally appears to be moving toward religious freedom. The people of Pakistan have seen enough religiously-motivated violence that has killed an estimated 60,000 people in 20 years, and now want tolerance, Paul Bhatti, whose brother was killed in 2011, told the parliament last week, according to Catholic Herald. " We are still facing the cruel and harsh realities of violence against the weak and voiceless people of our community, " but there is improvement, he was quoted as saying. Last October, the Lahore High Court upheld the death penalty of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother who was convicted of blasphemy. She was sentenced in 2010, a year after she was accused. She was harvesting berries with a group of Muslim women, who accused her of drinking from the same water bowl as them. Following an argument, the women told a local cleric that Bibi had blasphemed against Islam. Pakistan " s blasphemy laws, which are embedded in Sections 295 and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code, carry death penalty, and yet there is no provision to punish a false accuser or a false witness of blasphemy. Bhatti said at the parliament that violence " has left our entire nation shocked and discouraged, raising many questions " about the direction Pakistan is going. " We can gain inspiration and courage by looking to those who have gone before us who stood for peace, justice and unity at such great cost, " he added. |
| Radical Muslims do not stop even at violence against children. In November 2011, they attacked a school in Peshawar. Two people were killed and 14 injured, including 7 children. In January 2012, the Pakistani authorities destroyed the church and charity building in Lahore, which belonged to a Catholic community with close ties to the Caritas. Many Christian women in Pakistan are forcefully married off to Muslims and forced to change their faith. In 2011, the Asian Human Rights Commission reported that annually about 700 Christian young women in Pakistan are forced to embrace Islam due to pressure or unwanted pregnancy. More often than not, such crimes remain unpunished. After an 18 year-old Catholic girl was killed early this year for her refusal to adopt Islam, the General Vicar of Faisalabad, Fr. Khalid Rashid, stated in his interview to the Fides agency that ‘cases like this one happen in Punjab every day’. Thus recently, the European mass media wrote about Sonya Bibi, a 20 year-old Christian who was beat up and raped by a group of Muslims and about Rebecca Bibi, 12, who lost sight after she was beat up by her Muslim employer. According to the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Pakistan, over 700 cases of forceful conversion to Islam are registered annually in Pakistan today. The report entitled‘ Monitoring Human Rights-2011’ records numerous cases of human rights violations and discrimination against Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan. In January 2012, a Catholic priest who had served in the country for eight years was arrested in Pakistan 3 . According to Open Doors, about 10 thousand people confess Christianity out of 28,4 million inhabitants of Afghanistan.The last commonly accessible Christian church in Afghanistan was demolished in March 2010. Most of today’s Christians in the country are urban people who had been baptized before the US troops moved in the country, or young people who came to know the Christian teaching during their trips abroad or through their contacts with Christian visitors to Afghanistan. They have to conceal their beliefs and have no legal opportunity for opening churches, thus having to worship in private houses. Most of Christian Afghanis are Catholic or Protestant. Conversion from Islam to other faith is viewed as a grave crime, and Christians are often subjected to persecution by extremists. |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation New details emerge in killing of Pakistani Christian couple Source: Ucanews.com Shama Bibi was four months pregnant when she and her husband were killed Natalya Mihailova 06 November 2014 New details have emerged about the killing of a Pakistani Christian bonded laborer and his wife, who were killed after being accused by local Muslims of blasphemy. Pakistani Christians gather and pray for a murdered Christian couple in Kot Radha Kishan Wednesday (AFP Photo/Arif Ali) Waqar Hussain, AF Pakistan November 6, 2014 Shehzad Masih and Shama Bibi, who was four months pregnant at the time of the killing, were locked inside a brick-making factory before their murder to prevent them from fleeing their debts, relatives said Wednesday. The couple were later beaten, surrounded by a crowd of up to 1,500 villagers and then thrown on top of a lit furnace, multiple witnesses said. By the time the Muslim mob was done, only charred bones and their discarded shoes remained. The gruesome incident took place Tuesday in the tiny hamlet of Chak 59 (village 59) near Kot Radha Kishan town, some 60 kilometers southwest of Lahore. It has sparked protests by Christians and outrage among rights activists, with police arresting 44 suspects as of Wednesday. Jawad Qamar, a local police official, said according to initial reports events began to unfold more than a week earlier with the death of Shehzad’s father, a local religious healer. “When he died, Shehzad’s wife went to his room and cleaned up the mess. There was a trunk in his room, Shehzad’s wife took the things that could be useful and threw the trash in front of her house,” said Qamar. “The garbage collector collected the trash the next day and told a local cleric that he had collected pages of the Koran thrown in front of Shehzad’s house from the trash.” Iqbal Masih, Shehzad’s older bother, said that he and his whole family were bonded workers paying off their debts to the brick kiln owner, a man named Mohammed Yousuf — an illegal practice branded by rights groups as akin to modern-day slavery. |
| Still, the police overlooked these glaring and crucial factors, instead choosing to arrest and charge the couple with “insulting the Koran” and “insulting the Prophet” — an indictment that carries the death penalty. In addition to the clear misgivings surrounding the case, Malook said that his client Shafqat was also tortured by police in order to force a confession. “To save my wife, I confessed,” the husband said in a statement. The couple also explained how the motivation behind Hussain’s complaint was related to a minor disagreement between the families’ children six months prior. There has also been talk of the case judge being intimidated by religious clerics and hardliners. “Five years on, the imprisoned couple are praying for their release and awaiting the relisting of a previously poorly administered appeal,” BCPA’s Wilson Chowdhry told the outlet. “The simple fact that the couple could not possibly have written the blasphemous text messages due to being hyper-illiterate should result in their immediate release, however in Pakistan primary evidence can often be ignored and worse still manipulated by powerful and wealthy people intent on doing malice.” To make matters worse, Shafqat is severely disabled and unable to walk following an accident that occurred back in 2004. “They are innocent,” Malook declared. “I won’t let Christians die here in our prisons. It is better I suffer than them.” Please pray for this couple, and that true justice would be served! Tweet Donate Share Code for blog There is a Second ‘Asia Bibi’ On Death Row in Pakistan Will Maule Though Christian mother Asia Bibi has finally been allowed to leave Pakistan, there is another woman of faith who continues to fight her death sentence for allegedly “insulting Islam.” In a case heavily resembling Bibi’s, Shagufta Kauser and her husband Shafqat Emmanuel face death by hanging for ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. |
| Release partners believe the number of Christians imprisoned could be far higher. “Given that Christians make up just two per cent of the population, the numbers charged are disproportionately high”, said Paul Robinson, CEO of Release International. “Christians are ten times more likely to be accused of religious offences in Pakistan,” Robinson added. Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Blasphemy Laws Continuing Cause for Concern for Christians in Pakistan Ruth Sax Six months since Christian Asia Bibi fled Pakistan, after being imprisoned for ten years on blasphemy charges, reports highlight the plight of others accused of blasphemy in the country. Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Donate Also by this author " Parents’ Outrage as School Tells Children Not to Sing ‘Lord’ in Christmas Carol Classic Ruth Sax Parents of children at a primary school in Essex are appalled after the head teacher ruled that children… " Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage Become Legal in Northern Ireland Ruth Sax A final attempt to stop abortion law changes in Northern Ireland has failed, with the law changing at… |
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