Metropolitan Anthimos of Thessaloniki: 'We are against the presence of Islam in our city'

AXIOS! Bold words from a righteous hierarch, right up there with Archbishop Mark of Germany.

Pravoslavie � September 23, 2014

Thessaloniki, September 22, 2014 � In his interview with the Greek television, one of the most authoritative hierarchs of the Church of Greece made a number of tough statements, reports AgionOros:

�We are against the presence of Islam in Thessaloniki. We have already lost so much� When the Turkish minister entered the Church of Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki in our city, he announced at once: 'Here is a suitable mosque for Turks'. Another Turkish official came to the historical Greek province of Thrace and called this region �a severed hand of Turkey�.�

According to the Metropolitan, �Thessaloniki has received considerable support from Russians. Over recent years, numerous pilgrims from Russia have been coming to venerate the shrines and relics of our city.�

Metropolitan Anthimos also commented on the recent visit to Holy Mount Athos of leader of the Greek opposition, socialist Alexis Tsipras.

He expressed his disagreement with accusations against the politician of populism and insincerity: �I liked this step. I am against the personal initiatives of this or that political leader immediately being subject to criticism and doubt. He was right to visit Mt. Athos.�

Peled: Burden For Peace Rests With Israel

FOX13 News, WHBQ FOX 13

ISIS�s Cruelty Toward Women Gets Scant Attention

 

Tucked away in a recent New York Times story on military operations against ISIS by Iraqi special forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga was a brief description of what these troops discovered when they entered a village in Iraq that had been occupied by ISIS fighters. A naked woman, tied to a tree, who had been repeatedly raped by ISIS fighters. Another woman was discovered in a second village, similarly naked, tied down and repeatedly raped. The fighters, it appears, are �rewarded� by being allowed to have their way with captured women.

 ISIS has received considerable world attention for its savage beheadings, executions of captured soldiers and men in conquered towns and villages, violence against Christians and Shiites, and the destruction of non-Sunni shrines and places of worship. But its barbarity against women has been treated as a side issue. Arab and Muslim governments, vocal on the threat ISIS poses to regional stability, have been virtually silent on ISIS�s systemic degradation, abuse, and humiliation of women. To the men of ISIS, women are an inferior race, to be enjoyed for sex and be discarded, or to be sold off as slaves.

From ISIS-captured territory in Syria, we saw a photograph of a line of women, covered from head to toe and tied to one another by a rope, as they were being led to a makeshift slave market. Little girls, who were going to school and playing with dolls before ISIS fighters arrived at their doorstep, were married off to men many times their age. ISIS set up marriage bureaus in captured Syrian towns to recruit virgins and widows to marry fighters, and also called on fellow jihadists in other countries to recruit brides for the fighters and send them to Syria. It is hardly likely that these �marriages� were based on consent, as is required in Islam. Where women are concerned, consent does not appear to exist in the lexicon of ISIS fighters.

When ISIS moved into Iraq, a similar set of atrocities followed. In ISIS-conquered towns, reports of women and girls having to undergo female genital mutilation spread like wildfire, until denied by ISIS�s savvy social media. Iraqi NGOs reported that scores of women of the Yezidi sect�an amalgam of Zoroastrianism and Islam�were taken captive. The older women were sold off as slaves and the young ones were kept as brides for the ISIS fighters. The nature of these forced marriages remains obscure.

Zakia Hakki, an Iraqi judge and a woman herself, says that the fighters leave behind pregnant women who, as �soiled goods,� are ostracized by their own societies, while their children are treated as illegitimate. These raped women become targets for honor killings in their own families and communities. The governments of Iraq and Syria have also failed to protect these women and give them any assistance; nor have Western NGOs been effective in looking after these abandoned women and children. ISIS�s men not only leave behind dead bodies in their wake but also women and children who are scarred for life.

In its propaganda, ISIS emphasizes women�s modesty and piety. It created the al-Khansaa female brigade to protect the morality of women and to ensure they appear totally veiled in public. The irony will not be lost on anyone.

Volunteer fighters from around the world, including from Western countries, who have joined ISIS are complicit in these crimes against women. These young men who grew up in Western cultures seem to have absorbed nothing regarding the value of human life and respect for women. Why are there are no demonstrations in Western and Muslim societies against this barbaric onslaught on women and girls? How much longer will the Muslim and Arab world watch these horrors against women and children before speaking out and acting forcefully to protect them and rid the region of the ISIS calamity?

Source

Our Future as Muslims in the West - Br. Nouman Ali Khan

Hajj 2014 Photos Wallpapers

As we know Hajj is pilgrimage to Makkah Saudi Arabia and one of the 5 basic pillars of Islam. It is considered a Islamic duty for every Muslim who has enough wealth to travel to Makkah. Over 3 million people goes for Hajj every year from every corner of the world.

Hajj changes the life of many people forever and they come back as completely different persons who are God fearing, Kind and gives Importance to rights of Allah SWT and rights of other humans.

Lets see some Photos and Wallpapers of Hajj as Hajj 2014 is almost coming:

Hajj Step by Step Guide

Hajj Is the fifth pillar of Islam after Shahada, Salah, Fasting and Zakat. Every Muslim who is capable financially as well as physically must perform Hajj at least once in his life time. In Hajj Millions of Muslims from across all continents travels to Makkah were they perform certain worships that is known as Hajj. every Muslim keeps dream of going for Hajj in his eyes at least once before dying.

Hajj 2013 is not far away now. In fact it is one and a half week away. People are already reaching Saudi Arabia.

If you want to Know how the Hajj is performed then here is Step by Step detail:

Arrival

People starts reaching Makkah many days before the Hajj from throughout the world. special preparations are done by Saudi Govt for the massive event.

8th of Dhul-Hijjah

It is considered the first day of Hajj when people enter the state of Ihram. People gathers In Mina from Makkah where they pray.

9th of Dhul-Hijjah

It is second day of the Hajj on which people goes to Arafat from Mina. Prayers of Dhuhr and Asr are offered together. In the evening people goes to Muzdalifah from Mina were Magrib and Isha are offered together. night is also spend there.

10th of Dhul-Hijjah 

after offering the Fajr Salah In Muzdalifah people goes back to Mina. In Mina first of all stone pelting is done at Jamrat Al-Aqaba On Shaitan. Animals sacrifice is also done on this day.  Now men gets their head shaved.  On the same Day Muslims throughout the world celebrated the Eid Al Adha. after performing these duties a Haji can leave now Ihram and wear normal dresses.

Tawaf

the next step is going to Makkah and doing Tawaf of Kaaba.

11th and 12th of Dhul-Hijjah

next step is again going to Mina and spending the nights of 11th and 12th Dhul Hijjah there. Stone pelting is also done there. now return can be made to Makkah. In Kaaba farewell tawaaf will be made. farewell tawaaf means going around Kaaba seven times. Now all the steps of Hajj are complete.

Return

Many people also visits Masjid Al Nabawi In Madina after completing the Hajj. approx after staying for a month in Saudi Arabia people start returning to their countries.

Watch Hajj 2014 Live Streaming

Watch Hajj 2014 Live Streaming on our Site in the coming days in good quality. Hajj is one of the five basic pillars of Islamic which is obligatory for every rich Muslim to do at least once in life. For Hajj every year Millions of Muslims flies to Saudi Arabia.

Hajj is performed in Makkah and areas around it according to Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him. this year's Hajj is just around the corner and Millions of Muslims from around the world including Pakistan are already arriving in Saudi Arabia to perform the holy duty. It is considered the largest gathering of human beings anywhere in the world. approx 3 million people gets together at one place to say Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik.


You can watch the Live streaming of Hajj 2014 here:

The Scandal of the Cross for Islam

The Leavetaking of the Feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Lifegiving Cross is tomorrow, Sunday September 21. On this solemn occasion it is essential to revisit Islam's vehement and violent stance against Christianity.

The Universal Exaltation of the Cross, and its Scandal for the World

by Fr. Steven C. Kostoff � Orthodox Christian Meditations

September 13, 2014

As we behold the Wood of the Cross exalted on high, let us magnify God who in His goodness was crucified upon it in the flesh.  (Small Vespers of the Feast)

We are approaching the Feast Day of The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross - to give the Feast its full title � this coming Sunday, September 14. This is the day that we liturgically commemorate and venerate the Cross that will be placed in the middle of the church toward the end of Great Vespers on Saturday evening.   The Feast will then have a full "octave" for its celebration � thus making it an eight-day Feast which serves to stress the importance of the Cross in the life of the Church and in our personal  lives.  To further turn our attention toward the Cross, we recall the Third Sunday of Great Lent - the Adoration of the Cross; and the less well-observed Feast of the Procession of the Cross on August 1.  And, importantly, every Wednesday and Friday is a day of commemorating the Cross, one of the reasons that we fast on those two days on a weekly basis.

Prominent though that the Cross may be for Christians, it is the Apostle Paul who very succinctly and profoundly captured the unbelieving world's attitude toward the Cross in his well-known text:

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  (I COR. 1:23-24)

This leads the Apostle to one of his most astonishing and paradoxical insights:

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  (I COR. 1:26)

The "scandal" for the unbelieving Jew would be the claim that the Messiah was crucified.  The "folly" for the Greek/Gentile would be the claim that the divine would even enter the realm of flesh and blood and "become" human, let alone suffer death on a cross.  Yet God, in and through Christ, transformed what is shameful, weak, lowly and despised - a crucified man - into "our righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (I COR. 1:30)  The entire passage of I COR. 1:18-31 deserves careful, close and constant study. 

It remains fascinating, and highly instructive, that even non-Christians who profess to have a great respect for Jesus Christ, struggle terribly with the scandal of the Cross.   This is clearly the case with Islam.  Jesus is treated with great respect in many passages in the Qur'an:  even to the point of acknowledging His virginal conception in a passage that clearly resembles the Annunciation form the Gospel According to St. Luke! (Qur'an, 3:45-47)  However, the Crucifixion is treated in a way that bears no resemblance to the Gospel accounts:

"yet they did not slay him, neither crucify him, only a likeness of that was shown to them." (Qur'an 4:156-159)

The Muslims believe that someone else - a figure unidentified by the Qur'an - was crucified in the place of Christ, but not Jesus Himself.  The Muslim scholar Dr. Maneh Al-Johani wrote:  "The Qur'an does not elaborate on this point, nor does it give any answer to this question." 

Clearly, the "scandal" of the Cross is too much for Muslim sensibilities, since Jesus is for them a great prophet sent by God.  Muslims further believe that Jesus was raised to Heaven, yet before He died, clearly an odd teaching that again is meant to completely distance Jesus from His crucifixion.  If there is anything that is agreed upon today among New Testament scholars - believers and skeptics alike - it is that Jesus of Nazareth was put to death by crucifixion by orders of Pontius Pilate in the early 30's of the Christian era.  This lends a certain fantastic quality to these claims of the Qur'an.

There is a close resemblance here with an early Christian heresy known as docetism from the Gk. word meaning "to appear."  In other words, it only "appeared" that Christ was actually crucified and died on the Cross.  St. Ignatius of Antioch (+c. 110) vehemently rejected this heresy in its initial inception, early in the 2nd c.

Be deaf, then, when anyone speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ, who was of the family of David, who was of Mary, who was truly born, ate and drank, was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate, was truly crucified and died ... He was also truly raised from the dead, when His Father raised Him up ...  (Epistle to the Trallians, 9)

St. Ignatius very poignantly asks: what is the purpose of suffering martyrdom for the Lord (as he did in the Roman arena) if the sufferings of Christ were an illusion?   Should a Christian suffer in the flesh if his Lord did not?

But if, as some godless men - that is, unbelievers - say, his suffering was only apparent (they are the apparent ones), why am I in bonds, why do I pray to fight wild beasts?  Then I die in vain.  Then I lie about the Lord.  (To the Trallians, 10)

[Islam has throughout the centuries referred to Christians in a derogatory manner as "cross-worshippers." The below paragraph seems to be responding specifically to this epithet.]

We do not "worship" the Cross.  We worship the One Who was crucified upon the Cross for our salvation.  Indeed, with the Apostle Paul we call Him the "Lord of glory." (I COR. 2:8)   Jesus Christ was not merely a prophet in a chain of prophets sent by God.  He is the fulfillment of the prophetic testimony to His coming, as He is the fulfillment of the Law.  (MATT. 5:17) There are no prophets to follow Him with any further additions to the Christian revelation.  We believe, as we chant in the Second Antiphon of the Liturgy, that He is the "Only-begotten Son and immortal Word of God ... Who without change didst become man and was crucified."  The Cross remains "an unconquerable token of victory," and  "an invincible shield."  In fact, it is for this reason that in our practice, we,

kiss with joy the Wood of salvation, on which was stretched Christ the Redeemer.  (Small Vespers)

Christianity does not exist because of what it holds in common with other great world religions, but because of what is unique and distinctive about it, primarily the Incarnation, redemptive Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is because of our love for Christ that beginning on the personal level, we must promote and practice mutual respect, tolerance and peaceful co-existence with sincerely believing people of other religions.  I see no other way for those who claim to follow the crucified Lord of glory.  However, this should in no way undermine our sense of Christian distinctiveness - "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (ACTS 4:12) - but actually demonstrate our loyalty to Christ Who never compels but invites - with outstretched arms upon the Cross. 

_______

Fr. Steven Kostoff's closing paragraph is essentially the same position I have taken in my book and this blog and in speaking about Christianity and Islam. I speak of it in the form of dichotomy: our stance against the heresy of Islam, as distinguished from our approach to individual Muslims, whom we invite to "repent and believe the Good News," the Gospel of Jesus Christ as lived for nearly 2000 years in the Orthodox Church.

In closing, it is highly instructive for us to consider how the Scandal of the Cross compels Islam to strive to destroy Christianity, as seen in its views of the end times, when it believes that Isa (Jesus) will return:

In Islam, Prophet Isa is expected to return, but to condemn the Christians� misunderstanding of him as divine and to literally destroy Christianity and judge all non- Muslims; the Koran universally brands all unbelievers as �the vilest of creatures� (Sura 98:6). 

The Prophet Isa will be a �good Muslim,� and will direct his followers to the Mahdi, the Muslim messiah, before taking a subservient position somewhat behind the Mahdi. Isa will �fight the people for the cause of Islam. He will break the cross, kill the swine and abolish jizya� and establish the rule of Allah throughout the world (Hadith from Sunan Abu Dawud, Book of Battles, 37:4310).  �Facing Islam, p. 80.

ADL, Defamation, & Indoctrination of Israelis (2009)

Jihad in Australia: 600 police in huge counter-terror raid in Sydney and Brisbane

"This network was apparently connected to the Islamic State � again illustrating the appeal of the caliphate to so many young Muslims worldwide."

Related:

• Australia: Muslims with jihad flag on car drive by church, shout threats to �kill the Christians� and slaughter their children
• Australia: Jihadis planned to behead random person, drape body in Islamic flag
• Australia: �It�s is a war on Islam just because we grow our beards�
• Australia Muslim leader on terror raids: Government �attacking Islam and Muslims�

Australia: 600 police in huge counter-terror raid in Sydney and Brisbane

by Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch � September 17, 2014

�It is believed that a terrorist network had been planning to carry out a series of attacks in Australia.� This network was apparently connected to the Islamic State � again illustrating the appeal of the caliphate to so many young Muslims worldwide.

�ASIO and hundreds of police raid Sydney and Brisbane homes in biggest counter-terrorism raid in Australia�s history� 

by Simon Benson, The Daily Telegraph, September 18, 2014:

ASIO and counter terrorism police have swooped on homes across north-western Sydney and other states this morning in what is believed to be the largest anti-terrorism bust in the nation�s history.

Several arrests have reportedly been made in the secret pre-dawn raid, which is still in progress.

The arrests follow the execution of a number of search warrants in Beecroft, Bellavista, Guildford, Merrylands, Northmead, Wentworthville, Marsfield, Westmead, Castle Hill, Revesby, Bass Hill and Regents Park.

The raid is believed to have been mounted following months of surveillance of people linked to the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The Daily Telegraph has learned that an estimated 600 officers from the Australian Federal Police, NSW counter terrorism unit and ASIO launched the pre-emptive strike in the early hours of this morning.

The raids and arrests are believed to have been based on the execution of multiple ASIO and AFP warrants.

It is believed that dozens of suspects have been netted, with links to a Brisbane man who was recently arrested on suspected terrorism related charges.

It is believed that a terrorist network had been planning to carry out a series of attacks in Australia.

The raid follows the lifting of the national security alert level from medium to high last Friday by the outgoing director general of ASIO David Irvine.

It is believed the size of the raid eclipsed that of Operation Pendennis in 2005 when several hundred ASIO, AFP and NSW police arrested 13 men across Melbourne and the Sydney suburb of Bankstown, who had been planning bomb attacks in both capitals.