Resources
What is Holy Week and How do Copts Celebrate it?
Author: Marina Makary
Publication Date: 9/4/2023
Source: Egyptian Streets
As Lent – the longest fast of the year in the Coptic Orthodox Church – approaches its end, the church begins to prepare for the holiest time of the year: Holy Week. Passion Week, more commonly known as Holy Week, is the last week of Lent, and the week that precedes Easter.
Western-Christians celebrate Easter in Syrian Churches
Publication Date: 9/4/2023
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency
Christians in Syria celebrate Easter in the different provinces freed by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies on 9 April 2023.
Christians that follow the Western calendar celebrated Easter this Sunday by holding prayers and masses at churches in different Syrian governorates.
Displaced christians in Syria and Turkey appeal for help
Author: Adam Wesselinoff
Publication Date: 6/4/2023
Source: The Catholic Weekly
Devastated Christian communities across Turkey and Syria are pleading for help this Easter, with the death toll from February’s earthquake, now over 50,000, continuing to rise as rubble is cleared.
Churches across UAE hold Easter Vigil services on Saturday
Author: Angel Tesorero
Publication Date: 8/4/2023
Source: Khaleej Times
Several services are being held across various churches in the UAE for Easter Vigil services on Saturday.
At St Mary's Catholic Church on Oud Metha Road, Dubai, which is believed to be the biggest parish in the world that serves over 300,000 churchgoers, thousands of Christian expats attended services that were held in various languages, including Urdu, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Konkani, Singhalese, Arabic, English and Filipino.
How expat families and friends enjoy Easter in Saudi Arabia
Author: Hussan Al-Mayman
Publication Date: 8/4/2023
Source: Arab News
On the Gulf coast in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia near Jubail stands Jubail Church, which can be traced back to the 4th century and is one of the oldest churches in the world.
The church contains two crosses that have been carved into the wall on either side of the middle inner doorway leading from the nave toward the sanctuary — a historical remnant of traces of Christianity before the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Now, thanks to social reforms stemming from Saudi Vision 2030, the Kingdom’s cosmopolitan social DNA is revealing itself through the celebration of Easter.
Archaeology Gives Clues on Monastic Life in the UAE A new discovery in the Gulf state prompts a reevaluation of the country’s Christian past
Author: Lydia Wilson
Publication Date: 7/4/2023
Source: New Lines Magazine
There have been many names for the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula over the past few millennia. Traces of some can still be found today: Bet Qatraye is how Qatar got its name, although the original region was far larger, encompassing most of the northeast coastline. But other names are now found only in documentary records, such as Tuam, named after St. Thomas, the so-called Apostle of the East. It reflects a part of the Gulf’s history that is largely forgotten: the four centuries or so when Christianity flourished in this region.
Iraq: Christians Might Boycott the Elections
Publication Date: 6/6/2023
Source: FSSPX News
In a joint declaration signed on March 30, 2023, the various Christian religious leaders who make up the Council of Nineveh announce a boycott of the next elections in the event that the representation of Christians and the safeguarding of their interests are not guaranteed.
The fire has been smoldering for several days. Since March 27, 2023, more precisely, the day when the Iraqi parliament approved a series of amendments to the electoral code in force, so as to establish a proportional voting system. Nothing to worry about, as seen in France.
Easter: Card Sako speaks of Christians’ ‘mission’, 'light' in the darkness of the Middle East
Publication Date: 4/4/2023
Source: Asia News
The Chaldean primate, Card Louis Raphael Sako, released a message on the patriarchate’s website to Chaldean priests and believers in Iraq and the world on the occasion of Easter.
In it, he writes that in the East, Christians are continually "tested" amid wars, violence, sectarian attacks and rising emigration and that, precisely for this reason, they must increasingly turn to their "mission".
