Site opened to gather signatures in support of Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi

Mt. Athos, December 27, 2011

 CLICK ON THE PIC AND GIVE SUPPORT TO ELDER EPHRAIM

 

A website has been opened to gather signatures for a petition in support of Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi Monastery. Abbot Ephraim was arrested on Christmas Eve (December 24, 2011), on charges of financial crimes that date back to a 2008 scandal involving politicians who have since been acquitted of any crime (see Greek Reporter).

Court of Appeals Judges’ Council in Athens on Friday decided that Abbot Ephraim of the Vatopedi monastery, one of the leading defendants in the highly publicized case concerning suspect land swaps between the monastery and the Greek state, be held in custody pending trial. A medical examiner who accompanied the prosecutor on his visit to the monastery with Halkidiki Police Director Konstantinos Papoutsis to execute warrant found Abbot Ephraim confined to his bed with high fever. The Abbot has also been diagnosed with blood sugar irregularity, a diagnosis confirmed by the medical examiner, reports Athens News.

Representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate have expressed their serious concern over the arrest, and many Russians intend to turn out today in front of the Greek Embassy today to protest the detention of a respected Mt. Athos abbot, who recently won the hearts of Orthodox Russians by bringing the Cincture of the Virgin Mary to fifteen Russian cities. The number of people who venerated the relic in Russia is estimated at about 3 million. 

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"Sacred" arrest of an abbot of a Mount Athos monastery a day before Christmas

23 December 2011 / 10:12:36

A Christmas surprise for the abbot of the Vatopedi Monastery of Mount Athos was prepared by a three-member board consisting of judges of the Court of Appeal. The board ruled the detention of Archimandrite Ephraim. The Judicial Council ruled on the occasion of a disagreement between the investigator and prosecutor, which followed the abbot’s testimony two weeks ago.

The investigator had proposed the detention of Ephraim, who is accused of fraud, legalization of income from illegal activities, counterfeiting and formation of a criminal group. However, the prosecutor’s opinion was different and he offered the imposition of restrictive measures and bail to the amount of two hundred thousand euro. The Council speaker was also of the opinion that the abbot should be detained.

Thus, the preliminary investigation of one of the biggest political scandals is over. It marked the beginning of the end of the government of New Democracy and Costas Karamanlis in the autumn of 2008. The politicians involved in the case were not even investigated, despite the decision of Parliament for the contrary, report Greek media. They were "saved" by the criticized law on ministerial responsibility, according to which their actions are covered by the statute of limitations period after the end of each parliamentary term.

The case was connected with the exchange of properties between the Greek state and Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos. In particular, the case was about the Vistonida lake and properties of total area of ​​27,000 acres that the property service in Xanthi had transferred to the Vatopedi Monastery in 2003 by a court decision. The ownership of the property, however, is controversial. The monks argue that the property has belonged to the Monastery since 1080 and refer to royal decrees, i.e. Donation decrees issued by Byzantine emperors.

The dispute was brought to the court, but before the final decision, the Deputy Minister of Finance at that time Petros Doukas signed an order approving the withdrawal of the Greek state from the case. He justified his actions with the legal opinions issued by the State Legal Council and the Council of State Property.

In January 2005, the Minister of Agricultural Development Evangelos Basiakos issued a decision on the base of which the Vatopedi Monastery returned the lake and surrounding areas to the State Property Office. The Monastery received in return two buildings with a total area of ​​20,664 sq m in the Olympic village in Trakomakedones near Athens and 8,600 acres in the area of ​​ Ouranopolis on Chalkidiki. The property is worth 1.1 million euro.

It should be noted that after the Olympic Games, the State Property Office had adapted the buildings to provide them for the needs of the Ministry of Employment. This particular decision was not published in the Official Gazette, and certain ministerial decrees become valid only after being published in the Official Gazette. After the exchange, the Monastery sold the buildings to the offshore company Noliden based in Cyprus. Its owner Spiros Polemis paid 41 million euro for the buildings and gave another 9 million in donations to the Monastery. Another three offshore companies are involved in the case. The representative of Vatopedi Monastery in Cyprus controls two of them.

Monk Arsenios is accused too. He testified before his spiritual mentor and was released, but a bail to the amount of two hundred thousand euro was imposed on him and he was obliged to appear at a police station twice a month.

The news of the imposition of detention found the abbot at the monastery on Mount Athos. According to sources close to him, he said he has no intention of hiding and he is expected to surrender to police authorities on Saturday.

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A former Turkish prime minister admits that in the 1990s, his country officially sabotaged Greece by setting forest fires.

Greek politicians reacted angrily on Monday following the  admission by former Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz  that Turkish secret agents intentionally started forest fires in  Greece in the 1990s as part of state-sponsored sabotage. The claims are not new and were common knowledge on  the islands of the eastern Aegean which were particularly  hard hit by wildfires in the 1990s. But Yilmaz’s  comments -- part of an interview published in the  Turkish daily newspaper Birgun over the  weekend -- are the first admission by an official source  that Ankara was funding subversive activities in Greece. According to Yilmaz, who served as premier three times in the 1990s, agents of the  Turkish secret service set fire to Greek forests during the leadership of his archrival  Tansu Ciller, from 1995 to 1998. During that period major forest fires caused huge  damage on the islands of the eastern Aegean and in Macedonia. The news sparked political outrage Greece on Monday. Foreign Ministry spokesman  Grigoris Delavekouras said the claims were “serious and must be investigated,”  adding that Athens was awaiting a briefing from Ankara. Conservative New Democracy’s shadow foreign minister Panos Panayiotopoulos  said the revelations “cast heavy shadows over Greek-Turkish relations” and called  on Turkey recompense Greece for losses incurred. Giorgos Karatzaferis, the leader of the right-wing Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS),  was indignant and triumphant, noting that he had been accused of extremism when  as an MP he had accused Turkish secret agents of arson in Greece. “Now, from the  lips of former Turkish premier, we have an admission to the crime,” he said.

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Saint Nicholas - Ἅγιος Νικόλαος

Απολυτίκιο Αγίου Νικολάου (ήχος δ΄)

"Κανόνα πίστεως και εικόνα πραότητος

εγκρατείας διδάσκαλον ανέδειξέ σε

τη ποίμνη σου η των πραγμάτων αλήθεια

δια τούτω εκτείσω τη ταπεινώσει τα υψηλά

τη πτωχεία τα πλούσια.

Πάτερ ιεράρχα Νικόλαε, πρέσβευε Χριστώ τω Θεώ

σωθήναι τας ψυχάς ημών".

Κοντάκιο Αγίου Νικολάου (ήχος γ΄)

"Εν τοις Μύροις Άγιε, ιερουργός ενεδείχθης,

του Χριστού γαρ όσιε, το ευαγγέλιο πληρώσας,

έθηκας την ψυχήν σου υπέρ λαού σου,

έσωσας τους αθώους εκ του θανάτου,

δια τούτο ηγιάσθεις,

ως μέγας μύστης του Θεού της χάριτος".

Μεγαλυνάριο του Αγίου Νικολάου

"Μύρων ιεράρχης προχειρισθείς

μυριπνόοις έργοις κατεμύρισας

αληθώς Μύρων επαρχίαν,

διό και μύρα βλύζειν,

Νικόλαε τρισμάκαρ,

όντως ηξίωσαι.

Haris Alexiou - O Fantaros (Jerusalem, June 1991.) - Greek and English lyrics

Ο φαντάρος
 

Στίχοι: Μανώλης Ρασούλης
Μουσική: Μάνος Λοΐζος
Πρώτη εκτέλεση: Χαρούλα Αλεξίου

Απόψε πήρε άδεια Tonight he took permission
και με την τσέπη άδεια And with his empty pocket
τραβάει για την πόλη. He shoots for the city
Ρίχνει ένα γεια σου στο φρουρό, He throws a "Hello" to the guard
σαλτάρει σ ένα φορτηγό, He leaps into a truck
κι ο χάρος δεν γλιτώνει. And the death doesn't escape.

Έλα στην παρέα μας, φαντάρε Come into our company, soldier
κάτσε κι ένα ποτηράκι πάρε. Sit down and drink a little drink
Ξέχνα στρατώνες και σκοπιές  Forget about barracks and lookout posts
κι από το μπρούσκο της καρδιάς μας πιες. And drink from the dry wine of our heart.

Η πόλη σαν τη γόησσα The city as the charmer
σαν την παλιά αρχόντισσα As the old noblewoman
ανάβει τα κολιέ της. Lets its necklaces turning on
Μα σαν τον φέρνει στα στενά But when it takes him into the alleys
τον κουβεντιάζει η μοναξιά, Loneliness chats with him
τον παίρνει αγκαζέ της. It takes him arm in arm.

Οι δρόμοι τον κουράσανε, The roads have tired him
παράπονα τον πιάσανε, Some complaints have grasped him
στο ταβερνάκι μπαίνει. He comes into the little bar
Κάποιον να βρει για ένα πιοτό,To find someone for a drink
να χουν τον ίδιο τον καημό, For them to have the same sorrow
μαζί να δουν πού βγαίνει.For them to see together where does it go out.

Wall Street Journal - Beijing Orders Micro-Bloggers to Register

 Friday, December 16, 2011 As of 2:38 PM

By Loretta Chao And Aaron Back

 

 

BEIJING - The Beijing city government published rules Friday requiring users of popular Twitter-like microblogging services in China to register their real names with service operators, according to state-run media, in the government's strongest official measure to control the fast-growing industry.

China's government is in the midst of a campaign to crack down on false and "harmful" information on the Internet, and officials are stepping up their oversight of the Internet sector, which is led by private-sector companies.

According to the Xinhua news agency, the rules will require new users of microblogging services to register their real names with website administrators before they can post, though they will be able to choose their own screen names.

The requirement covers companies based in Beijing, a city government spokeswoman said on Friday. At a news conference, spokeswoman Wang Hui said existing members of such microblogging services must begin registering in three months. But she said a final deadline hasn't been established because the services have a large number of members.

Services likely to be affected include Sina Corp.'s Sina Weibo service. Sina, which analysts say operates one of the most active of such services in China, had nearly 230 million registered accounts as of September. Sina lists its headquarters as Shanghai but said in filings that its principal place of operations is in Beijing.

The company didn't immediately responded to requests for comment. Sina's Nasdaq-traded shares were down 4.8% in premarket trading Friday.

The new rules also ban posting state secrets and material that could hurt national security, as well as material that spurs ethnic resentment or discrimination or illegal rallies "that disrupt social order," Xinhua said. The news agency quoted an official with Beijing's Internet information office as saying the new rules were intended to help microbloggijng companies enhance trustworthiness and improve their services.

It's unclear whether other local governments will follow.

The microblogging services, called weibo in Chinese, allow users to publish short text messages, photos and video. Over the past two years they have become platforms for vibrant public discussion about everything from entertainment to sensitive political topics—a development unprecedented in China, where the government controls media and the flow of information.

Though weibo operators are still struggling to find ways to make the services profitable, their popularity has attracted investor interest—and created a conflict for authorities, who have publicly expressed both support for the growth of the country's Internet sector and concern that it's insufficiently regulated.

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Elder Paisios - The Harmony of God lies in the Difference of Characters

A man came to my cottage once, telling me how depressed he was, because of the disputes he had with his wife. However, I didn’t find any serious problem. He frowned because of something, and his wife frowned about something else, so they couldn’t join together. In this case a little “furnishing” was necessary. 

As an example, we may always take unfurnished planks. One has a knot in one place, the other one has a knot on another place, and if you try to put them together, an empty space will appear between. But, if you equalise and furnish one of the planks on one side, and the same you do with the other plank, with the same furnishing tool, they quickly fit to each other, and there is no empty space between. (Elder Paisios considers that the married couple should have one common spiritual father, who will help them in reconciliation their disputes.)

            
Some men say: “I do not fit to my wife, we are totally different characters! Why God makes so strange things? Couldn’t God harmonise the married partners, so their characters be the same or similar, and so that they could live a spiritual togetherness?”

            I tell them: “Don’t you understand that the God’s Harmony lies just in the different characters? Different characters make accords of the harmony. God save you from same characters! Imagine that both of you have the same character, what would happen if both of you grew angry: you would destroy your house. Or, if both of you would be gentle and inactive, both would start sleeping on your feet! If both of you would be stingy, you would be similar and you would agree among, but both would go to hell. If both of you would be squanderers, would you be able to save your house? No. You would demolish your house, and your children would end up on the street.       

            If a bad temper one, marry a bad temper they will be the same or similar, won’t they? But, they would kill each other in only one day!

            God created so, the gentle and nice partner to marry someone different, give him help, because it might be he always has had good will, but there was no one to help him, since he was born.”

            Even little differences in our characters may help the partners to form a harmonic family, because they supplement each other. You need accelerator pedal to move your car forward, but still you need the brake pedal to stop when needed. If there would be a car with only a brake pedal, it would stay in one place for good. If there would be a gear-box but no brakes, the car wouldn’t stop.

            Do you know what I have told to a couple? “You do not fit to each other, because you fit too much to each other!” Both were oversensitive. If something would happen in the house, he was a bit confused saying: “Oh, what will happen to poor us?” Then she would say the same: “Oh, what will happen to poor us?” They were helping each other to fall more quickly in desperation. Couldn’t she, in opposite, to calm down her husband saying: “Wait, it’s not so terrible what happened to us.” I have noticed this in many marriages.

            And, in the education of their children, when different characters, the partners are always helping each other to give right education to their children. The one says: “Let’s give the kids a bit more freedom”, and the other one brakes a bit. If both are strict, they will lose the children. But also, if both are too liberal, they will again lose them. When different, they are able to keep their children in balance.  

            What I want to say is that everything in marriage is necessary. Of course, we must take care not to over cross the borders, but we must have on mind that every man may help the other, people are here to help each other.

Oldest Bible Reunited Online

All 800 surviving pages from Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest surviving Christian bible, are now freely available for viewing on the Internet.

Bound copy of Codex Sinaiticus picture courtesy British Library

“For the first time, people around the world will be able to explore high resolution digital images of all the extant pages of the fourth-century book, which was written in Greek on parchment leaves by several scribes and had its text revised and corrected over the course of the following centuries,” the British Library said in a statement.

Codex Sinaiticus is the world’s oldest Bible and regarded as the most important Biblical manuscript. It was written by hand in the mid-fourth century around the time of Constantine the Great. Though it originally contained the whole of the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha in Greek, half of the Old Testament has since been lost, according to the British Library. 

The surviving manuscript concludes with two early Christian texts, an epistle ascribed to the Apostle Barnabas and ‘The Shepherd’ by Hermas.

Codex Sinaiticus is named after the Monastery of St Catherine in Sinai, Egypt, where it was found in the 19th Century.

Built at the foot of Mount Moses, Sinai, on the traditional site of Moses’ Burning Bush, it is one of the oldest, continuously active, Christian monastic communities in the world and traces its origins back to the fourth century.

The Monastery was as constructed by order of the Emperor Justinian between 527 and 565 to house the bones of the Christian martyr St Catherine. It is a Greek Orthodox holy place connected with the Prophet Moses and the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, the British Library said.

The virtual reunification of Codex Sinaiticus is the culmination of a four-year collaboration between the British Library, Leipzig University Library, the Monastery of St Catherine (Mount Sinai, Egypt), and the National Library of Russia (St Petersburg), each of which hold different parts of the physical manuscript.

 

The world’s oldest surviving Christian Bible was found at St. Catherine’s Monastery, at the foot of Mount Sinai on the traditional site of Moses’s Burning Bush.

NGS photo of St Catherine’s Monastery by Robert Sisson

“By bringing together the digitised pages online, the project will enable scholars worldwide to research in depth the Greek text, which is fully transcribed and cross-referenced, including the transcription of numerous revisions and corrections,” the British Library said.

“It will also allow researchers into the history of the book as a physical object to examine in detail aspects of its fabric and manufacture: pages can be viewed either with standard light or with raking light which, by illuminating each page at an angle, highlights the physical texture and features of the parchment.”

“The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world’s greatest written treasures,” said Scot McKendrick, head of Western Manuscripts at the British Library. “This 1600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and first-hand evidence of how the text of the bible was transmitted from generation to generation.

“The project has uncovered evidence that a fourth scribe–along with the three already recognised–worked on the text; the availability of the virtual manuscript for study by scholars around the world creates opportunities for collaborative research that would not have been possible just a few years ago.”

The Codex Sinaiticus is also a landmark in the history of the book, as it is arguably the oldest large bound book to have survived, McKendrick. 

Codex Sinaiticus picture courtesy British Library

“For one volume to contain all the Christian scriptures book manufacture had to make a great technological leap forward–an advance comparable to the introduction of movable type or the availability of word processing,” McKendrick said.

“The Codex was huge in length–originally over 1,460 pages–and large in page size, with each page measuring 16 inches tall by 14 inches wide. Critically, it marks the definite triumph of bound codices over scrolls–a key watershed in how the Christian bible was regarded as a sacred text.”

The Codex Sinaiticus Project was launched in 2005, when a partnership agreement was signed by the four partner organisations that hold surviving pages and fragments, the British Library said.

“A central objective of the project is the publication of new research into the history of the Codex.

“Other key aims of the project were to undertake the preservation, digitisation and transcription of the Codex and thereby reunite the pages, which have been kept in separate locations for over 150 years.”

Professor David Parker from the University of Birmingham’s Department of Theology, who directed the team funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, which made the electronic transcription of the manuscript, said: “The process of deciphering and transcribing the fragile pages of an ancient text containing over 650,000 words is a huge challenge, which has taken nearly four years.

Codex Sinaiticus fragment picture courtesy British Library

“The transcription includes pages of the Codex which were found in a blocked-off room at the Monastery of St Catherine in 1975, some of which were in poor condition. This is the first time that they have been published.

“The digital images of the virtual manuscript show the beauty of the original and readers are even able to see the difference in handwriting between the different scribes who copied the text.

“We have even devised a unique alignment system which allows users to link the images with the transcription. This project has made a wonderful book accessible to a global audience.”

To mark the successful completion of the project, the British Library is hosting an academic conference on 6-7 July 2009 entitled ‘Codex Sinaiticus: text, Bible, book’. A number of leading experts will give presentations on the history, text, conservation, palaeography and codicology of the manuscript.

A new exhibition at the British Library tells the story of Codex Sinaiticus and reveals how cutting-edge technology reunited the pages of the 1600-year-old manuscript.

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Huffingtonpost: Unholy Alliance - Egypt's Military & The Muslim Brotherhood

December 6, 2011

by Amb. Marc Ginsberg Former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco

St. Anthony's monastery in Egypt.

Despite protestations of its purported political neutrality Egypt's besieged military leadership has been secretly funneling financial, food, and security support to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and its allied Salafist parties in the run up to next week's parliamentary elections.

The assistance takes the form of "walk around" money, clothing and food giveaways secretly funneled to the coffers of the Brotherhood's front party -- the Freedom and Justice Party, the Construction and Development Party, as well as to allied Salafist Parties, including Al Nour, Al-Asalah, Al-Fadilah, Al Islah and others -- in a bid to buy votes and provide Islamist parties a military supported upper hand in the upcoming parliamentary elections..

The military leadership has not only channeled financial support to the Islamists, it has also secretly collaborated with Salafists who have attacked Copts throughout Egypt in a show of support for more punitive discriminatory acts against Egypt's Coptic minority to curry further favor with Salafists.

Hundreds of Copts were attacked by unknown assailants en route to Cairo's Tahrir Square on November 18th the second night of demonstrations this month while security forces stood by. This latest attack comes in the wake of October's attack by the army which used live fire and drove military vehicles into a crowd of Copts protesting a rash of attacks on Copts and Coptic churches, killing 25 innocent protestors.

According to information obtained from a reliable European military intelligence source with whom I met in Turkey a few days ago, an emissary of The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) met secretly with representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist oriented political movements last April to establish local political "action committee" bank accounts to funnel an underground supply chain of financial and commodity support to local Islamist political organizations throughout Egypt outside the prying eyes of Cairo-based media. Hundreds of local Islamist political organization chapters throughout Egypt have been buying votes courtesy of military provided financial and food handouts.

While it is impossible to determine the exact extent of the financial, clothing and food transfers, I was told by a prominent Egyptian journalist who is trying to uncover the magnitude of the payouts that it amounts to "millions of dollars." The military is not the sole source of funds to Islamists parties, which are also receiving funds from Egyptian businessmen trying to buy favor with the likely winners of Egypt's parliamentary elections, and charitable donations from wealthy Saudis.

The SCAF's surreptitious political maneuvering favoring Islamists over more secular political movements is based on one simple equation -- the military is determined to prevent secularists from gaining a parliamentary majority which would likely impair its insatiable appetite for controlling Egypt's national budget and its own extensive business operations. It is determined to prevent a civilian government from interfering with its cherished prerogatives.

Moreover, the vast majority of Egypt's rank and file soldiers come from more rural, conservative parts of Egypt, where support for Islamic parties is most pronounced. The SCAF is betting that its considerable support for Islamists will translate into long term loyalty among Egypt's post revolutionary conscripts as an insurance policy against potential efforts to interfere with the military's jealously guarded prerogatives.

The outbreak of unrest throughout Cairo in recent days orchestrated largely by Egypt's more secular, liberal-oriented political supporters has clearly shocked the SCAF. Anger at Egypt's military rulers reached a boiling point when, in addition to delaying reforms and presidential elections, the SCAF-controlled constitution drafting committee (with a wink and nod from Islamist members of the drafting committee) unveiled a draft two weeks ago exempting the military and its budget from civilian oversight over the strenuous objections of secular political parties.

In fact, Field Marshal Tantawi's determination to press ahead with parliamentary elections next week as originally planned despite the violence and unrest throughout the country reflects, in part, the military leadership's fear that prolonging the parliamentary campaigning will reveal the extent of the SCAF's slush fund operations and its interference on behalf of Islamist parties.

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Elder Paisios - Cordial Fast

	The man is showing his cordial will by fasting. If one is accomplishing cordially, God helps him. But, if the one is making such efforts forcing himself, and says: “What shall I do, it is Friday today, and I will fast to keep the order” – then such one will suffer. However, if one has his mind clear and he understands the meaning of fasting, and if such one is fasting for love to Lord Jesus Christ, then he will be joyful: “At this day – he shall think – they have crucified Jesus; they did not give Him water, even, to drink. They were giving Him vinegar. So that I shall not drink water, even, the whole of this day.”  If this will be the deed of the one, then he will feel a sublime joy inside, bigger than the most flavourful drink of the other ones.      And look, many laymen do not fast even in Good Friday, they cannot, even on this day. But they can, and they are willing to sit the whole day long striking with hunger in front of the doors of some ministry, only to satisfy their fancy, to achieve something. There, the devil encourages them. What they do is a suicide. In addition, others sing loudly and happily: “Christ is risen”, because they know that they will eat much and well on Easter. They look like the Judeans who wanted to crown Jesus for their king, because He fed them in the desert.     Do you remember the words of the Prophet? “Damned shall be the one who carelessly acts in the deed of God” (Jer. 48,10). It is one case, if the one has a cordial will and wants to fast, but cannot, for his legs are shaking and he collapses down if he doesn’t eat, it doesn’t help him because he is weak, and his health and endurance are weak; and it is totally different if the one is strong and healthy and does not fast. Where is the good will then? Moreover, the sorrow of the one who wants to accomplish, but cannot because of his physical weakness, compensates the accomplishment and his award is bigger than the one who has courage and achieve the accomplishment, because he feels the joy (satisfaction) as well. Man becomes as a lamb through fasting. If someone becomes a beast but not lamb, then it means that the accomplishment he started, either exceeds his limits, or he accomplished only due his selfishness, and that’s why the one never gets help from God.         If man doesn’t reach the point that everything he does, he does with love to God, and to his fellows, such man is wasting his time only. If the one is fasting and has his vanity idea that he does something great and very important, he is fasting in vain. At the end, he is like an empty kettle in which you can keep only nothing. If you fill it with water, it will flow away bit by bit and nothing will remain.

Armenians, Orthodox Christians keep to ancient tradition - marking the original Christmas Day

By Tony Castro

His Eminence Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, center, Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian 

Church of North America, performs a service during a blessing of sweet Gata bread to help 

celebrate Armenian Christmas at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011. 

Archbishop Derderian later delivered the traditional Armenian sweet Gata bread to 

hospitalized Armenian patients. (Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer)

Tens of thousands of Christians in the San Fernando Valley and the rest of Los Angeles will celebrate the most ancient Christmas Day on Thursday.

Armenians will be commemorating their Christmas, a tradition recognizing both the birth and baptism of Jesus Christ.

Also Thursday, Latinos will mark their annual Three Kings Day, celebrating figures held in higher esteem than Santa Claus in many immigrant communities.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Orthodox Christians - among them the Russian, Coptic and Serbian Orthodox churches - who follow the Julian calendar will celebrate Christmas.

So unique is the experience of this "other" Christmas that Glendale filmmaker Ella Hatamian is about to begin shooting a short feature detailing Armenian Christmas.

"I grew up attending Armenian schools, speaking Armenian and in the Armenian culture, so I was always used to having my Christmas in January," recalls Hatamian. "I always thought it was just us, but I'm finding out that we're not alone.

"In my family, it's not as much about religion as it is about maintaining culture and tradition."

Some, in fact, regard the Jan. 6 and 7 commemorations as part of a doubly rich Christmas cultural experience.

"In my family we recognize Jan. 6 and Jan. 7 as Christmas and what we celebrate on Dec. 24 and 25 as the American Christmas," said Coptic Christian Helena Botros, a political science instructor at Los Angeles Harbor College. "We do our present-opening on the American Christmas, but our celebration of Christmas (Eve) is Mass on the 6th at night, commemorating it with the liturgy, and then we go home and break 40 days of fasting." 

Similarly, Armenians flocked to Christmas Eve religious services on Wednesday night, observing a solemn, centuries-old service in which the faithful are blessed with holy water believed to contain some of the same oil used to baptize Jesus.

At Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Archbishop Hovnan Derderian of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America marked the tradition Wednesday by blessing and delivering the traditional Armenian sweet Gata bread to Armenian patients.

The celebrations today also mark the Feast of Epiphany, which represents two different aspects of Christianity.

"Jan. 6 was the original date of Christmas going back to ancient times," said Father Vazken Movsesian, pastor of St. Peter Armenian Church in Glendale.

In the fourth century, the Roman emperor Constantine changed the date of Christmas for the churches of the west to Dec. 25 in an attempt to get the minds of the faithful off a pagan feast celebrated on that date.

"But Armenians just kept the original date," Movsesian said.

"So today you're looking at a piece of ancient history."

In Orthodox churches Epiphany is the baptism of Christ, but for the Western congregation it commemorates the scriptural visit of the three wise men who brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.

In immigrant Latino communities, where the Feast of the Epiphany is known in Spanish as El Dia de los Reyes Magos, bakeries this week were bustling preparing for the end of the Christmas season.

Among the traditions is a rosca de reyes, a ring-shaped pastry decked with figs, quince, cherries or dried and candied fruits.

A figurine of the baby Jesus is placed inside the rosca and whoever finds it is obligated to throw a party and buy tamales on Feb. 2 in honor of the Candelaria, or candle Mass.

Other customs include children gathering grass and placing it under their beds to be eaten by the camels of the Three Kings, who leave gifts in the middle of the night to children who have been good.

"Celebrating El Dia de los Reyes Magos is an important time in my community," said Jorge Bustamante of Pacoima.

"For us, it's celebrating the wonder of Christmas twice." 

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Fairuz song: Syria - Aleppo

Fairuz is a Christian and although she is a globally active peacemaker. People in the Middle East ( Christians and Muslims and Jews ) listen to Fairuz EVERY day......when they sit on the balcony drinking their coffees and smokes, reading newspaper, when they eat the lunch, when they go to the work, come back home from work....Her voice unites the whole Mediterrenean.

This video shows the real beauty of Syria (Syrien) specially Aleppo (Halab) which is with Syria's capital Damascus the biggest city in Syria.

Aleppo is the most populous city in Syria, with a population of 2,181,061 as indicated in the official census of 2004. According to the official estimate announced by Aleppo City Council, the population of the city reached up to 2,301,570 by the end of 2005.

More than 80% of Aleppo's inhabitants are Sunni Muslims. They are mainly Arabs followed by Kurds and Turkmens. Other Muslim groups include few numbers of ethnic Circassians, Chechens, Adyghe, Albanians, Bosnians, Bulgarians, and Kabardin.

The Arabic-speaking population of Aleppo uses the North Syrian dialect of the Levantine Arabic.Being one of the largest Christian communities in the Middle East, Aleppo is home to many eastern Christian congregations, mainly Armenians, Syrian Christians and Melkite Greeks. Nowadays, more than 250,000 Christians live in the city representing about 12% of the total population. A significant number of the Syrian Christians in Aleppo speak the Armenian language and hail from the city of Urfa in Turkey. The large community of Orthodox Christians belongs to the Armenian Apostolic, Syrian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Churches. There is also a strong presence of Catholic Christians in the city including Melkite Greeks, Maronites, Latins, Chaldeans and Syrian Catholics. Evangelical Christians of different groups are a minority in the city. Several areas have a Christian and Armenian majority, such as the old Christian quarter of Jdeydeh. Modern Christian districts include Aziziyeh, Suleimaniyeh, Gare de Baghdad, Ourubeh and Meydan. There are 45 operating churches in the city, possessed by the abovementioned Christian congregations.

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