Russian Churches Going to New Depths

Scantily clad Orthodox Christians braved freezing temperatures throughout Russia on Tuesday to immerse themselves in ice holes in rivers and lakes to celebrate the Epiphany religious holiday.

To Orthodox believers, water blessed by a priest on Epiphany has miraculous powers, a belief harking back to Christ's baptism in the River Jordan. Jumping into the water is optional, but is a popular ritual among the faithful.

Water blessed on Epiphany "never goes stale, sick people who touch it are healed, devils are driven out and people are given strength," Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said Monday during a trip to Kazakhstan.

Around 30,000 people immersed themselves in ice holes in Moscow overnight, the RIA-Novosti state news agency reported, citing city police.

The emergency situations ministry said it had posted over 200 lifeguards at lakes and rivers around the Russian capital to help prevent tragedies.

Just after midnight on Tuesday morning, worshippers gathered at a golf club outside Moscow, braving temperatures of minus 25 Celsius (minus 13 Fahrenheit) to leap into an ice hole, an AFP journalist witnessed.

Around 200 people followed a priest in a candle-lit procession to a nearby river, their breath throwing up clouds of steam. They then stripped to swimming trunks or wore long white shirts to complete the ritual bathing.

(For the full article and image go to http://www.mysinchew.com/node/34220)

Huge Breakthrough in Translating Ancient Biblical Texts

A breakthrough in the research of the Bible has shed new light on the period in which the Bible could have been written, testifying to Hebrew writing abilities as early as the 10th century BCE, the University of Haifa announced on Thursday.

Prof. Gershon Galil of the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa recently deciphered an inscription dating from the 10th century BCE, and showed that it was a Hebrew inscription, making it the earliest known Hebrew writing.

This breakthrough indicates that at least some of the scriptures were composed hundreds of years before the dates previously believed, and that the Kingdom of Israel already existed at that time. The 10th century BCE was the period of King David's reign.

(For the full article and image please go to http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1262339428603&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull).

Archbishop dies in Haiti earthquake; relief efforts are underway

Catholic News Service is reporting that Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, the archbishop of Port-au-Prince, was killed in the earthquake in Haiti.

"The lifeless body of Archbishop Joseph Miot of Port-au-Prince was found this morning under the rubble of the archbishops' residence," L'Osservatore Romano said in a Page 1 story Jan. 13.

Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Vatican's apostolic nuncio in Haiti, said about 100 seminarians and priests also might have died in the quake. However, that information could not be confirmed, and Catholic leaders were hearing conflicting reports. "Port-au-Prince is completely devastated. The cathedral and the archbishop's residence, all the big churches, all the seminaries are reduced to rubble,' Auza told the Vatican missionary news agency Fides.

Meanwhile, faith-based organizations are gearing up relief efforts to help Haiti.

The survivors face "untold suffering", Dame Anne Owers, chair of Christian Aid, told Christian Today. "(Haiti) is one of the poorest places on earth. This latest disaster is going to cause untold suffering and hardship, particularly in communities with very little to fall back on," she said.

Owers said there was an urgent need for emergency supplies, including food, shelter and medicine, while in the longer-term, rebuilding would require "massive international assistance".

You can follow or connect to major relief efforts by the Red Cross, AmeriCares, Catholic Relief Services, Samaritan's Purse, Food for the Poor, the Salvation Army, and WorldVision.

(For the fully story see http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith)

They made a pact with the devil - Pat Robertson on Haiti's earthquake

Although he was soliciting funds to help Haiti, TV evangelist Pat Robertson told viewers of his belief that the country was being punished by God because it had once made a pact with the devil.

The full text of his comments as follows:
"And you know Kristi, something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French, uh you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said we will serve you if you'll get us free from the French. True Story. And so the Devil said "OK, it's a deal." And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other, desperately poor. That island is Hispaniola is one island. It's cut down the middle. On one side is Haiti, on the other side is the Dominican republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc.. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. Uh, they need to have, and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God and out of this tragedy. I'm optimistic something good may come."

(To watch Pat Robertson make this comments go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5TE99sAbwM)

Pope forgives the woman who attacked him

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict held a private meeting on Wednesday with the woman who knocked him to the ground on Christmas Eve and told her he had forgiven her, the Vatican said.

Susanna Maiolo, 25, an Italian-Swiss dual national, shocked the Catholic world and Vatican security when she jumped over a barricade, lunged at the pope and knocked him to the floor as he was about to celebrate Mass at St. Peter's Basilica. The Vatican later said she was "psychologically unstable".

Maiolo, accompanied by two relatives, expressed her regret over the incident at the brief meeting with the pope, who also "expressed his interest and best wishes" for her health.

A judicial case opened against her by Vatican authorities, however, will continue its course, the Vatican said.
(© Copyright (c) Reuters)

Ancient tablet lends new shape to the story of Noah's Ark

That they led the enormous floating wildlife collection aboard two by two is well known. Less familiar, however, is the possibility that the animals Noah shepherded on to his ark then went round and round inside.

According to newly translated instructions inscribed in ancient Babylonian on a clay tablet telling the story of the ark, the vessel that saved one virtuous man, his family and the animals from God's watery wrath was not the pointy-prowed craft of popular imagination but rather a giant circular reed raft.

The battered tablet, which is about 3700 years old, was found somewhere in the Middle East by Leonard Simmons, a largely self-educated Londoner who indulged his passion for history while serving in the Royal Air Force from 1945 to 1948.
The relic was passed to his son Douglas, who took it to one of the few people in the world who could read it as easily as the back of a cereal box - Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert, who translated its 60 lines of neat cuneiform script.

There are dozens of ancient tablets that describe the flood story, but Dr Finkel says this is the first to describe the vessel's shape.
''In all the images ever made, people assumed the ark was, in effect, an ocean-going boat, with a pointed stem and stern for riding the waves - so that is how they portrayed it,'' said Dr Finkel.
''But the ark didn't have to go anywhere, it just had to float, and the instructions are for a type of craft which they knew very well. It's still sometimes used in Iran and Iraq today, a type of round coracle which they would have known exactly how to use to transport animals across a river or floods.''

(For the full story, go to http://www.theage.com.au/world)

Faith based news from around the world in the second week of January

MALAYSIA APPEALS ‘ALLAH’ FOR CHRISTIANS RULING

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia's government filed an appeal Monday to fight a court ruling that allowed non-Muslims to use the word "Allah" to refer to God, a decision that triggered protests in the Muslim-majority country.
The government says Allah is an Islamic word and its use by others would mislead Muslims, implying it could be used to convert them to other religions. Allah, an Arabic word, predates Islam and is used by Arabic-speaking Christians in places such as Egypt and Syria.

Protests by Muslim groups, although peaceful, have raised fears of friction between the Malay Muslim majority and the large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, who mainly practice Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism.
Religious minorities and some moderate Muslims have welcomed the High Court decision as a victory against what they say is institutionalized religious discrimination here.
From The Associated Press Monday, January 4, 2010)

IS BLASPHEMY A CRIME?
Atheists and others are protesting a new law in Ireland, under which a person can be found guilty of blasphemy if "he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion." The penalty is a fine of up to about $35,000. Should Ireland or any nation have a law against blasphemy?
(From WashingtonPost.com/On Faith – see the website for the full article.

INTERNET REVOLUTIONISING EVANGELISM ACCORDING TO EXPERT
Walt Wilson, a former Apple Computer executive says the World Wide Web is revolutionising evangelism. “We have the technology to reach every man, woman and child on Earth. We’re the first generation in all history to have this capacity.” Wilson, founder of Global Media Outreach (GMO), partnered with Campus Crusade for Christ in 2004 to create one-page websites that present the Gospel using the ‘Four Spiritual Laws’ evangelistic resource. GMO has more than 100 websites and receive at least seven million visitors monthly from every nation on the globe.

Through partnerships with various churches, GMO has mobilised 3 600 ‘online missionaries’ to respond to questions and comments posted at the sites. The missionaries share personal stories, Scriptures and prayers. “We believe God is doing something very dramatic in these late days, and we believe everybody’s going to have an opportunity to know Jesus,” Wilson said. “Nobody will be able to say I didn’t know...We can reach the world.”
(For more see www.globalmediaoutreach.com)