Saturday 27 September 2014

GIBRAHAYER - Read the latest issue - Saturday 27 September 2014



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1. Islamic State destroys Armenian Church in Der Zor
2. Turkey accused of colluding with ISIS
3. Time has come for US to reconsider its allies
4. RAF Tornado jets massing in Cyprus
5. Armenian President addresses UN
6. Simon Aynedjian awarded “Movses Khorenatsi” Medal by Armenian President
7. Catholicossate of Cilicia to sue Turkey
8. Hrant Dink International Award
9. Greece criminalizes Genocide denial
10. Quarter of a Million people travelled through Zvartnots in August
11. Gyumri welcomes World champion
12. Julfalakyan wins Gold for Armenia in world championships
13. Barcelona APOEL 1-0
14. Arshak Sarkissian Exhibition opens this Monday
15. Join the Support Team for our young tennis players
16. Last survivor of Armenian Genocide passes away at 107
17. Farewell Jean Ipdjian
18. Inga and Anoush Arshakians in Cyprus
19. Gibrahayer Calendar of events

20. Literary evening dedicated to Sempad Derounian
21. Stolen icon by Turks is returned from Swiss auction house
22. Sourp Kevork Church celebrates on Sunday
23. Armenia wins arm wrestling world championship
24. Betty to represent Armenia in Junior Eurovision 2014
25. 1968 Scouts from Artin Anmahouni’s photo archive
26. If your religion is worth killing for please start with yourself
27. Meet AYF varich marmin of Cyprus
28. Football legend Romik Khachatryan undertakes Homenetmen - AYMA academy
29. Vahe Berberian in Cyprus
30. Gibrahayer is 15 years old
 
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Thursday 25 September 2014

FATHER FRANK’S RANTS - NIGHTMARE COALITION

HISTORY HAS NOT ENDED: FRANCIS FUKUYAMA ERRS IN DISMISSING THE CALIPHATE IDEA
------------------------------------------------------------

Rant Number 601          25 Sept. 2014


‘The Caliphate…get real! A fantasy of a bunch of 17 year olds… with some Kalashnikovs…ask me again in five years…’ Thus at Chatham House Japanese-American Francis Fukuyama – he of the ‘End of History’ thesis - breezily dismissed my question with a sneer and a chuckle. And the smug establishment audience shared his mirth.

Get real indeed. The ‘fantasising’ teens have created a fearsome Islamic entity in the Levant. Mighty America does not treat them as juvenile jokes.  An unlikely East-West war alliance has hastily been assembled: fighter-bombers, armed predator drones and Tomahawk cruise missiles are unleashed, aimed at the teenagers…Hhhmmm… some Bolshie, bothersome lads!

A weird coalition. The oddest bedfellows. Including, e.g. the tyrannical king of little Bahrain where a popular uprising of its majority population began in 2011. Repressions, killings, torture, raids on civilians, foreign mercenaries – all those and more the ruler deploys against his own people. Fine example of ‘democracy’!

And Saudi Arabia. Regular chopper-off of heads, not unlike the naughty teenagers. A country owned by a dodgy, despotic royal family. Where state-sponsored scholars preach hatred of Christians and Jews and where possessing a Bible is illegal, let alone building a church or a synagogue. Or cosy Qatar. Quite open, compared to Saudi but…till yesterday they were funding various terror networks in Syria – like the Saudis, in fact. Now they are helping with bombing the restless kids so they must be good…

Sure, the US and the UK provide the biggest guns. Happy, tolerant liberal-democratic societies in which bagatelles like adultery, abortion, usury, gambling, boozing, Satanism and homo-marriage flourish unimpeded. And King Abdullah, his play-boy princes and their shaggy Wahhabi fanatics are blissfully in bed with Obumble and Cameron, the sponsors and protectors of all that. Nightmare alliance? Hardly a hyperbole, eh?

The teenagers are foolish, F.F. pontificated. They have even succeeded in adding Iran to the coalition, he noted. Well, given that Shia’ people are prime targets of the sanguinary Khilafa boys, you cannot blame a Shia state for wishing to protect its own, can you? Besides, President Rohani since he was elected has sought rapprochement with the West, nothing new there.

Cameron, unlike Fukuyama, dreads the teens: ‘This is a fight you cannot opt out of…these people want to kill us’, he opined. Dear Prime Minister, try to get it right. The gory sight of severed heads should not prevent clear thinking. This Islamist enemy offers not one but three options to ahl al-Kitab, the peoples of the Book, i.e. Christians and Jews: 1) conversion to Islam; 2) paying the jizya, the infidel tax or 3) death. None of these prospects are rosy but the point is that these Islamists are not acting in an arbitrary way: they stick to key tenets of their religion.

Naturally the wretched Yezidis of Iraq are not counted amongst the peoples of the Book, therefore theirs has been Hobson’s choice – to be killed. And so many have. QED.

President Obumble has long wavered and hesitated but at last he breathes fire: ‘If you threaten America you will find no safe haven. This counter-terrorism campaign…steady…relentless… blah, blah, blah.’ The pesky teens must be shaking in their boots. Still, methinks the most comical remark by a coalition military chief has been uttered by General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Amongst the countries threatened by ISIS and needing defending he includes…Israel! Surely there are limits to absurdity, even in a soldier. Israel needing a defender?! The Jewish state’s mammoth military machine could make mincemeat of any enemy. (Except perhaps the Turks but then Erdogan only talks – he’d never dare to break ranks with NATO. His sound and fury signify nothing.) The teenagers could be rubbed out, should Israel so desire. Only, Israel has no such a wish. Regional instability, quarrels and internecine strife amongst Arabs are boons to Zionists.

Curiously, several times Fukuyama mentioned Professor Samuel Huntington as his ‘mentor’. But Huntington’s name became balefully linked with the title of his most famous book, The Clash of Civilisations. Today that work unfailingly evokes strong disapprobation, shrill refutations and hysterical anathemas. Why? Because, although Huntington identifies more than one civilisation hostile to the West, Islam takes pride of place. Not that the author advocated the fearful clash – he claimed that his scholarly concern was to avoid it. Nonetheless the Prof suggested that Islam was perhaps the West’s biggest challenge. I think Muslims should have been proud. Instead they and the liberals pilloried Huntington as a latter-day type of crusader. The late lamented Prof has been under a cloud ever since. No wonder that cunning and ambitious F.F. does not intend to follow his mentor in oblivion.

Listening to Fukuyama made the priest reflect: ‘This is par excellence horizontal thinking. It moves always in one direction, on one plane, along one dimension. It conceives of one single set of exclusive values. Western sacred cows like capitalism, finance, and liberal-democratic politics are the only paradigm this man can envisage. How significant he likes to quote Max Weber, the “Marx of the Bourgeoisie”, namely the supreme theorist of a capitalism conceived as the Summum Bonum of humanity. This peculiar mind is like that.’

‘We don’t want this model to succeed’, a British former diplomat said minutes ago on radio. He meant the Caliphate model. The idea could spread around the world, generating havoc for the West, he warned. A tell-tale worry. Likely or not, it shows history is not ended but it marches on, pace the learned Fukuyama. The shadow of the resurgent Khilafa stalks and frightens our comfy bourgeois politicos  – the Nightmare Coalition proves it.

Fukuyama laughed at me but the Caliphate lads and I may have the last laugh.

Revd Frank Julian Gelli

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Tuesday 23 September 2014

Frank Gelli - Comment on Bishop's monthly talk... CEM PROGRAMME

Why were you not at this last night, Seta? It was an excellent talk by the Armenian Bishop...
“THE BISHOP’S MONTHLY TALK” - A NEW CEM PROGRAMME
The Continuing Education Ministry (CEM) of the Primate’s Office is happy to announce the launching of a new educational programme titled “The Bishop’s Monthly Talk.” This will be a monthly discussion led by the Primate on a subject suggested by the people in a casual atmosphere to learn more about a subject of interest to our faith and people and to get a chance to discuss it among ourselves. As in the previous programmes of CEM the “Bishop’s Monthly Talk” will also be open to all and free of charge. The Primate’s Office will try to schedule the monthly talks at different venues to reach out to the various parts of the Armenian community in London and outside London. The first talk will be on Monday, 22 September at 7:00PM in Hye Doon and is titled: “Islam And Its Understanding of Christianity,” where the bishop will discuss the sources of Islam, i.e.. Qur’an, Hadith, Sunna, and the main tenets of this monotheistic religion as well as its understanding of Christianity.
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  • Seta  I will be posting your comment on Seta''s Armenian Blogspot Frank...You will appreciate that I am not able to make every event of what is an immense importance and valued lecture on the Subjects that the Bishop enlightens his sheep upon! And like the good Shepard that he is, he will want to know about the one that has gone astray also, just as you have! But did you identify yourself after the talk? How wonderful that you have managed to attend the talk. The subject is in the field of your interest that I do know. Will you be attending next month? Hye Doon was my stomping ground! Loving it that you are picking up the lingo too!

Sunday 21 September 2014

Armenian Church E-Newsletter Issue 39, Vol 5


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Wednesday 17 September 2014

Addendum to Issue 38: Armenian Church E-Newsletter


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Tuesday 16 September 2014

FATHER FRANK’S RANTS - THE ISLAMIC STATE: ARE THEY THE NEW JACOBINES?



Rant Number 600        16 September 2014
JACOBINE JIHAD

‘Off with his head!’ shouts the angry Queen in Alice in Wonderland. A rather ineffectual ruler. Unlike the Islamic State brigade: by cutting off a few heads they have the ludicrous Western rulers dancing to their own tune. Both President Obumble and ‘Dull Dave’ Cameron thunder revenge on the Caliphate, i.e. fire from the sky OK but no boots on the ground. Makes sense: their warriors will keep their heads.

Are these ferocious Jihadis the new Jacobines? The radical, ruthless revolutionary faction of the French revolution? By beheading over 1.300 enemies they deliberately created a reign of terror – indeed, they were the first modern terrorists. ‘To the Kings who threaten us we shall throw the head of a King!’ Georges Danton proclaimed and so they chopped off King Louis XVI’s head. That made them forever the heroes of the revolutionary Left. The harbingers of liberty, democracy, equality, human rights…all that topical gaff.

Howls of progressive protest! The Jacobines looked forward: they combated the despotism of Kings. And they were out-and-out anti-religion, rationalists, secularists and egalitarians. What have they got in common with theocratic extremists who revere a sacred text and seek to restore an anachronistic, long-lost state?

Actually, the Jacobines also looked back for inspiration. Their models were ancient Roman republican figures and regicides like Brutus and Cassius, as depicted by Tacitus and Plutarch. Ideologically, the chief Jacobine paragon was philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In his Essay on the Origin of Inequality he postulates a fantastic, aboriginal state of nature in which there was no private property and all men were equal. Society was later corrupted by civilisation, hence present-day inequalities. Thus Rousseau’s nutty ideas nourished and fuelled sanguinary revolutionary fervour.

The Islamic state falls a bit short of that of the female equality Rousseau and the Jacobines professed. Their eager Caliphettes are told to mind the house, cook and raise children. Pity.

In Rousseau the state of nature was a literary device but Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx’s co-writer of the Communist Manifesto, really believed in a legendary state of early, universal human communism. He and Marx were fervent admirers of the Jacobines. In the old Soviet Union Marx and Engels writings were handled not unlike Muslims treat the Qur’an: an infallible Holy Writ.

As to religion. The Jacobines abhorred, hunted and killed priests. And they persecuted Catholics but Robespierre felt God’s necessity so he instituted the cult of the Supreme Being. An abstract, doctrinaire affair combining belief in a kind of Deity, the immortality of the soul and moral conduct. Not quite the same as the Caliphate boys’ creed. Still, in apparently rejecting the authority of the four major Sunni schools of Sharia the Jihadis perhaps merge revisionism with tradition – there were no such schools during the Prophet’s lifetime in Medina.

Despotism. I am sure for the Islamic State dictatorial rulers like Egyptian strong man Sissi are like the devil. Same way Jacobines regarded Kings. Formal equality of all believers is a key tenet of Islam and the Khalifa is not meant to be a tyrant. The historical reality of course is usually something very different…

Nonetheless the Jacobines for their time were high-tech. The guillotine efficiently replaced the gory mess of axe executions. Jihadis have gone back to an even more primitive way, the knife. It heightens the horror of what you see on YouTube. Utterly hideous. My heart and prayers go out to the poor victims. Something else ought to be said, however. How many videos are uploaded showing the results of, say, Israeli missiles in Gaza? Hundreds of children were killed there. Too horrid imagery to elaborate but…forgive the poor priest, there must have been plenty of pathetic human bits scattered about. That was not a pretty sight either. Do you see that on YouTube? And do you hear shocked protestations by self-righteous Western statesmen?

Unfair to focus on the Israelis alone. Let us consider America’s drones then. Flying, killer robots. Part of a global war machine. Drone warfare has thrived under Obumble. It is safe for the attackers but not for others. The many victims of ‘collateral damage’. A few bloody scenes there. Maybe even a flying head or two? Should that be shown online? And what difference would that make to the way you would feel about the Jihadis?

Of course, an essential moral distinction is between the direct, deliberate killing of the innocent and that of the guilty. David Haines, the last British beheaded person, was no weapon-bearing fighter but an aid worker. The manner of his execution was disgusting but equally odious is the fact he was innocent. And so were the slain children of Gaza and the ‘collateral damage’ victims. Historian AJP Taylor said that Britain’s foreign policy has always had a moral content. Well, no one occupies the moral high ground here.

An anti-Islamic State conference has just met in Paris. Various measures undertaken but predictably no Western boots on the ground. Hollande is no Jacobine but a slimy, self-serving twerp – France will only bomb from a safe distance. The day of reckoning for the Caliphate bunch has not quite come yet.

Unless…the French Jacobines at last were overthrown because people tired of terror and mayhem. The man who vanquished them for good however was Napoleon. The genius and giant who reined in the Revolution, destroyed the extremists, conquered Europe and founded a new world – a vast modern empire with himself at its head. Might Allah send to the Arabs one of their own, a saviour, a Napoleon-like figure? What the Middle East needs is a visionary man of action, a new Saladin. One who will break the malignant Western hegemony, brush murderous fanatics away and erect a shiny new polity, a humane and tolerant ethical State.

Call it a Caliphate, if you like. I don’t mind.

Revd Frank Julian Gelli

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Sunday 14 September 2014

Armenian Church E-Newsletter: Issue 38


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E-Newsletter: Issue38

Friday 12 September 2014

Open House London: St Sarkis Armenian Church


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Wednesday 10 September 2014

Learn Armenian at the Armenian Institute


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Armenian Institute...- Look what's going on at our Armenian Institute...You'll be surprised :)

Tuesday 9 September 2014

Armenian Music: Lecture and Concert

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FATHER FRANK’S RANTS - DOES GOD PUNISH REPROBATES ON THIS EARTH?

Rant Number 599 9 September 2014 God & the Wicked Does the Creator punish the wicked? Sure. In the next world. At the Last Judgment. But…in this world too? Some folks are certain. When comedienne Joan Rivers died, they exulted online. ‘It served her right!’ During the Israeli onslaught on Gaza she had opined Palestinians ‘deserve to be dead’. A nasty remark. Therefore gloaters declared her sudden death constituted divine punishment. Well, was it? First, because Rivers died after her unfeeling utterances it does not mean she died because of them. Night comes after day but day does not cause night. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, as David Hume taught, is an egregious logical fallacy. Second, direct divine causality is never to be ruled out a priori. Still, Rivers was not a young and healthy woman. During her life she had undergone over 700 plastic jobs, turning her face and body into an almost horror movie figure. At last she died after surgery, aged 81. Why invoke God when medical science may provide natural explanations? If a wife beater for years smokes 60 cigarettes a day and then pegs out suddenly of lung cancer or heart failure it seems superfluous, cumbrous to bring in the Supreme Slayer. Natural causality suffices. (You could even contend God was kind to Joan: he spared her a long and protracted decline into senility.) Third, if the Almighty really was behind the old lady’s demise, many a thoughtful believer might argue it indicates Heaven has curious priorities. Why should God choose to strike down a foul-mouthed, tasteless showbiz person and not the culprit in chief, PM Netanyahu? Or the Israeli pilots who bombed Gaza civilians? Or President Barack Obumble who arms Israel and defends and nurses its warlike deeds? Similarly, why hasn’t the Lord of the Cosmos yet zapped former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for his many crimes? For H.K.’s role in the bombing of Cambodia, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the Indonesian genocide in East Timor? It would make plenty of moral sense. Instead, Kissinger, a sprightly 91 year old, runs an international consulting firm and postures as a world statesman-sage. How odd of God to let the old rogue get away with it. Surely Kissinger rather than Rivers, no? Such paradoxes are not new. Indeed, they troubled the Psalmist: ‘I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself a green bay tree’, Psalm 37, v. 35. Evil doers are contrasted with the godly and the pious, with those who walk in the law of the Lord and on it meditate day and night. Don’t fret, the speaker hastens to reassure the faithful. The sinful, despite their boasting and arrogance, will perish. They ‘soon fade away like grass and wither like the green herb’. Well and good but…meanwhile? Why do the wicked and the reprobates so often flourish on God’s earth? It is all very well for the Psalmist to croak that ‘transgressors shall be destroyed’ – yet he admits here and now they prosper. Fourth, there is the question of what God’s will actually is. Naturally, it was mostly Muslims who took offence at Rivers’ anti-Palestinian tirade. Israelis didn’t. Are they very callous? Or is the point perhaps that the will of Israel’s Lord is not identical with that of the Rabb of the Qur’an? You can’t expect the God of the chosen people not to side with his favourite people, can you? Yet the Bible shows the designs of the God of the Jews were often ambiguous, or at least not always morally pellucid. Kings like Ahab and his foul Queen Jezebel paid for their crimes. Jezebel was thrown out of a window while Ahab’s blood was licked by dogs, as foretold by the Prophet Elijah. Very edifying. Yet one of the most evil rulers of ancient Judah was King Manasseh. An idolater, he desecrated the Jerusalem Temple by erecting idols inside it. To propitiate the pagan deities he even burnt his own sons in sacrifice (II Chronicles 33). Alas, God did not strike him down. Actually, Manasseh had a long life. He reigned for 55 years since aged 12. By contrast one of his successors, the good and faithful King Josiah who ‘did what was right in the eyes of the Lord’ by smashing idols, cleansing God’s Temple and keeping all divine ordinances, had a relatively short-lived reign, dying at the age of 39. God had other plans, it seems… Muslims and others who have discerned God’s finger in Joan Rivers’ end presumably feel God cares much for the Palestinians. But why didn’t God exhibit a similar care when it came to the thousands of Bosnian Muslims slaughtered by Serbs at Srebrenica? Heaven did not destroy the perpetrators. Yet the same Divine Power supposedly took revenge on a foolish oldie for making a cruel remark. You could of course retort that God’s ways are not man’s ways. That it is pointless, even impious to try to explain or comprehend them. Fine. Be humble then. Don’t go on to pretend to know with dogmatic certainty that he punished Rivers or anyone else for what she said. Joan Rivers was an exceedingly funny, hilarious comedienne. The priest much enjoyed watching her acts. She erred badly about Gaza but if the Creator of the cosmos, the awesome Judge really were to obliterate all those who say or think stupid things, streets would be strewn with bodies. Revd Frank Julian Gelli

Saturday 6 September 2014

Gibrahayer Magazine...ISIS / TURKISH CYPRIOT NEWSPAPER REPORT

Speaking to Turkish Cypriot Kıbrıs Postası Middle East expert Hüsnü Mahalli says that the news regarding ISIS' plans to mobilise in Cyprus which appeared in Russian media are not far from the reality. KPDAILYNEWS.COM

ANCA

ANCA's Aram Hamparian on Aliyev, Erdogan and NATO: "Aliyev and Erdogan arrived at the NATO summit in Wales only hours after having publicly announced their renewed conspiracy to deny the Armenian Genocide, destroy Artsakh, and isolate Armenia. "Their open and unapologetic anti-Armenian tirades amount to a renewed threat of violence against Armenia - a landlocked, blockaded, and partitioned state still seeking to recover from the unpunished crimes of 1915. Their message, as chilling as it is clear, boils down to: We got away with it once, we're lying about it still, and - if we want - we'll do it again." "NATO needs to condemn Azerbaijan and constrain its Turkish ally."

His Eminence Archbishop Nareg Alemezian will deliver his first sermon

On Sunday 7 September His Eminence Archbishop Nareg Alemezian will deliver his first sermon and preside over the Divine Liturgy at Sourp Asdvadzadzin Church in Strovolos. After the Divine Liturgy, there will be a reception for the faithful and an opportunity to greet the new Archbishop at the Prelature. (Atchahampouyr). LikeLike · · Share · 4 Gibrahayer EMagazine shared Heart Cyprus's photo. 4 September at 17:38 · Heart Cyprus A Limassol to Paphos jog is around 4 hours. Driving from London to Manchester you need 4 hours. In Cyprus, distance is not a problem.

French Remembrance of Genocide

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Wednesday 3 September 2014

FATHER FRANK’S RANTS - CALIPH DAVID CAMERON'S WAR ON THE CALIPHATE: REAL OR PHONEY?

------------------------------------------------------------ Rant Number 598 2 September 2014 Caliph versus Caliph Clash of the Caliphs! Caliph Cameron has declared jihad on Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Plus returning jihadis, home Islamists and sundry bad guys (including non-violent ones) – all deadly foes of ‘British values’. There is a problem. Whilst Caliph Abu Bakr’s jihad is a real, fearsome one, Cameron’s is phoney. He only talks. He cannot even take away passports from ISIS-fighting Brits – international law prohibits it. The terror threat is raised to severe, you see more cops strutting around but…so what? As a Chinese proverb puts it: ‘There is much noise on the stairs but no one enters the room.’ Caliph is Khalifa in Arabic. It means a successor or vice-regent. The Qur’an calls Adam, the first man, the Khalifa of God (2:30). Every human being then is a caliph. Quite democratic. However, Khalifa also names the successor of Prophet Muhammad, the head of the Islamic state. There have been simultaneous, rival Caliphs in history, such as at Baghdad, Cordoba and Cairo, all claiming legitimacy. Abu Bakr is lucky – he has no competitors. All he has to do is to win. If he exterminates all his enemies…that’s it. He has done it. Nothing succeeds like success. Caliph Cameron’s task is harder. His liberal-democratic jihad demands upholding ‘British values’. You know what Islamic values are. Five Pillars - Qur’an, Ramadan fast, Mecca pilgrimage, alms-giving and the Shahada, profession of faith. A package that comes with rules galore, like prohibition of booze, lending at interest, enacting penal punishments, inheritance & so on. All crystal clear. British values…what are they? Déjà vu! I recall Caliph Blair having a go after home-grown jihadis struck in London on 7/7, killing 50 people and maiming and wounding more. His speech after the outrage is instructive. It runs basically the same tropes as Cameron’s. ‘Evil ideology…extremism…barbaric ideas…perversion of religious faith…hatred of the West and our way of life…global struggle…’ Phoney Tony even prophetically picked a terrorists’ goal as ‘one caliphate for all Muslim nations’. Laughably, this Kafir Caliph declared he wanted ‘to promote the true face of Islam worldwide’. And he ended with flaccid lyricism: ‘Our diversity (groan…) is our strength.’ And British values? Tony enumerated three: freedom, tolerance and respect for others. Like sliced bread, those are fine but when President Bush (a failed Caliph) termed Americans ‘a freedom-loving people’ Harold Pinter mocked him: ‘I have never heard of a freedom-hating people’! Tolerance and respect are admirable virtues but hardly unique to Britain. Besides, British liberals are intolerant of many things, from fox-hunting to smoking. Had he mentioned ‘queuing’, Blair would have been on solider ground, only…that is another fast-fading British custom. Shame! British disvalues, negative values, also must count. Take abortion. 200.000 each year in UK. Innocent babies slaughtered in the womb with the British state’s consent. Far more than Abu Bakr and his ilk are likely to kill. Beheadings, crucifixions, mass slayings of POWs and rapes of women by the Caliphate fanatics are horrendous, sure, but…they are barbarians, aren’t they? Whilst liberal Britain supposedly is nice, civilised, it values human life dearly - except when it comes to respecting the unborn! The top British disvalue is emptiness. A lack. Indeed, an absence of values. Does Khalifa Cameron ask himself: why have many Brits gone to join the jihad? No ‘they were radicalised’ mantra, please! Those chaps are not vulnerable kids, nor are they just passive recipients, victims of ‘brainwashing’. The home-grown jihadis chose, made decisions, undertook to fight. They perceived the frightful void, the nothingness, the moral vacuum, the spiritual bankruptcy at the heart of modern Britain, so they spat on it all and left. Whenever a Prime Minister invokes putative British values, the priest observes a glaring absence. It is called Christianity. Britain’s ancestral religion. The great, pure, redeeming faith professed by the ancestors of the heedless, hedonistic, fornicating Brits of today. The faith of Jesus Christ, the beautiful Saviour whose name our fatuous, hollow politicos are ashamed to mention. Why is that? It seems perverse. Leaders of Muslim nations wear their faith proudly on their sleeve. Turkey until recently was the only avowedly secular state in the Islamic world. It kept religion out of the public sphere. No more. Ataturk lies stone dead in his brutalist Ankara mausoleum while PM Erdogan proudly asserts himself as a believer and his wife wears the hijab in public. Does Samantha Cameron ever wear a cross, I wonder? And, if she does, does she profess it? Absurdly, Britain has a state religion. Almost a Christian Caliphate. Anglicanism in England and Presbyterianism in Scotland. The monarch is Defender of the Faith. Supreme governor – Khalifa - of the Church of England. 26 Bishops sit by right in the House of Lords. The Coronation Service shines with Christian symbolism. There are parishes, churches up and down the land. For centuries this established religion was alive, for real. It did provide spiritual nourishment, a sense of purpose, mission, faith in the eternal verities, vocations to sacrifice but… today? Nothing. It is a charade, a pretence, a fake, an empty façade hiding ruin, rot and decay. The Church merely underwrites and parrots the tired clichés of secularism. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s most impressive action lately has been to resign from the Traveller’s Club because…it voted against the admission of females! Verily, that useless creep has nailed his true colours to the mast. With all its violence, crimes and brutalities, the ISIS Caliphate has an elan, a vision, a demonic drive. A religion (of sorts), a real faith inspires its young men to fight on. The same faith that drove warriors out of the Arabian desert 1400 years ago and conquer – a faith that is not extinguished yet. And Cameron’s Caliphate? It means nothing. Revd Frank Julian Gelli

Monday 1 September 2014

Gibrahayer EMagazine

21 hrs · http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/47671 Davutoglu Appoints Foreign Minister with Proven Anti-Armenian Track Record When the European Court of Human Rights ordered Turkey to pay a fine to... HORIZONWEEKLY.CA

Information Centre The Primate's Office Armenian Church of Great Britain and Ireland

Attached please find Issue 36 (Vol. 5) of the weekly Armenian Church E-Newsletter published by the Primate's Office of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of the UK and the Republic of Ireland. In this issue: His Holiness's statement condemning the persecutions and destruction of Christian and Yazidi communities in Mosul and Northern Iraq. This Wednesday, 3 September is a special day of fasting and prayer in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Iraq. The Appointment of St Yeghiche's New Pastor Garden Party by St Sarkis Parish Council The Armenian Gift Shop online Best wishes, Issues 36, Volume 5 ԱՌԱՋՆՈՐԴՈՒԹԻՒՆ.ՀԱՅՈՑ.ՄԵԾՆ.ԲՐԻԴԱՆԻՈՅ.ԵՒ.ԻՐԼԱՆՏԱՅԻ DIOCESE OF THE ARMENIAN CHURCH OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND Տ. Վահան.Եպս..Յովհաննէսեան,.Հայրապետական.Պատուիրակ.եւ.Առաջնորդ The Right Revd Bishop Vahan Hovhanessian, Primate and Pontifical Legate 30 August, 2014 CALL FOR A DAY OF PRAYER AND FASTING IN SOLIDARITY His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, issued a statement condemning the atrocities in Mosul and Northern Iraq. Click here to read the text. Meanwhile, responding to the statement by His Holiness the Catholicos and to the serious and growing humanitarian situation affecting thousands of Christian refugees in northern Iraq, His Grace Bishop Vahan Hovhanessian, Primate of the Armenian Orthodox Diocese of the UK and Republic of Ireland, issued a statement last week calling on all Armenians in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland to a day of fasting this Wednesday, 3 September, in prayerful solidarity with Iraqi Christians and other persecuted minorities and refugees. You can read the Bishop’s call for fasting and prayer by clicking here. In London at the conclusion of the Fasting Day the faithful are exhorted to attend the Night Vigil which will take place in St Sarkis Church at 9:30PM. May the Lord be with our brothers and sisters in Mosul and Iraq and comfort those persecuted . PRIMATE TO MEET WITH THE ARCHBISHOPS OF DUBLIN During his weekend-long visit to the Armenian Church parish in Dublin, Ireland, for 30 August to 1 September, His Grace Bishop Vahan Hovhanessian, Primate, will be meeting with the Most Reverend Diarmuid Martin, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland. His Grace will also meet with the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Glendalough. During the visit, and among the various subjects, the hierarchs will discuss ideas for the 100th anniversary commemoration in Dublin of the Armenian Genocide. During his visit to Dublin, Bishop Vahan will also preside over church services of the Armenian Parish in Dublin scheduled to take place at Taney Parish Church in Dublin Sunday at 2:30pm. A special service of the traditional blessing of grapes will take place for the first time in the Dublin Parish, followed by a talk by the Bishop entitled “The Laity’s Participation in the Parish Ministry.” A lunch and fellowship hour will follow. For more info please visit the Parish Council’s website. BADARAK CELEBRATION TO WELCOME NEW PASTOR Last Sunday, 24 August, HG Bp Vahan Hovhanessian, Primate, presided over the Divine Liturgy celebration at St Yeghiche Church and the official welcoming of the new pastor of the parish, the V Rev Fr Aren Shaheenian, who was the celebrant of the day. Accompanying the Primate was the V Revd Fr Garegin Hambardzumyan, who for almost a year served as the visiting Pastor of the St Yeghiche Church. Per the request of the Parish Council a month or so ago, the Primate appointed Fr Aren as Pastor of St Yeghiche Parish & the President of its Parish Assembly & Council. The Primate delivered the homily of the day reflecting on the person of the Virgin Mary and her function in the history of our salvation as a role model for all Christians to emulate, as last Sunday was the 8th day of the Octave of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. His Grace emphasised that our clergy, “like our new pastor Fr Aren, are called to be examples of the Virgin Mary’s devotion and surrender to God.” A reception followed in honor of Fr Aren. Congratulations. SUCCESSFUL SECOND GARDEN PARTY BY ST SARKIS PARISH COUNCIL Parish Council members had to set a few extra tables and chairs because of the unexpected large number of parishioners and friends who joined in the second Garden Party of the St Sarkis Parish which took place last Saturday, 23 August. The sunny afternoon was only the magnificent background to a beautiful fellowship enriched by the delicious Khorovadz (Armenian BBQ) prepared by Nairi and his friends. The evening attended by our Primate and all the clergy of our diocese culminated with an inspiring and impromptu sing-along session around the piano by all those present. Congratulations to Sarkis Parish Council for such a successful programme. The next scheduled programme by the Parish Council is Badarak Basics which will take place this Sunday at the conclusion of the Badarak and will introduce the newly published Badarak Books by the Pastor, Revd Fr Shnork Bagdasarian. Finally do not forget the next Parish Armenian Movie Night which is scheduled on Friday. 19 September, featuring the comedy-drama ‘Vodka Lemon’. WORLDWIDE ECHOES OF THE FOURTH ANNUAL ARMENIAN FESTIVAL The Primate’s Office continues receiving ‘thank you’ notes and positive feedback from people who attended the Festival including the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Meanwhile, media outlets around the world continue echoing the details of the very successful fourth Armenian Street Festival, sponsored by the Primate’s Office of the Armenian Church her in the UK, 3 August, 2014. Premier Christian Radio, which for the 1st time participated in our festival this year, prepared a brief broadcast about the Festival, which can be downloaded by clicking here. Not only in the UK but also in Armenia, news agencies continued reflecting upon the success of the Festival. You can read more about was the press said by clicking here, here, here and here. Meanwhile, in case you have not yet watched it, the Information Centre of the Primate’s Office has released a video clip (click here, 4000 browsers in less than one month) highlighting the key aspects of the Festival. Thanks to the Festival Committee and all the volunteers. DEADLINE: PILGRIMAGE TO HOLY ETCHMIADZIN, ARMENIA Please note that the deadline for registering for this year’s pilgrimage to Holy Etchmiadzin and Armenia is approaching: 5 September. To register for the pilgrimage, please send a deposit of £300 to the Primate’s Office, c/o Hye Doon, 25 Cheniston Gardens, London W8 6TG. Make your cheque payable to: The Armenian Church Trust UK. The Pilgrimage, 15-22 October, will include visits to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and historic sites and shrines, as well as visits to important attractions and cultural centers and monuments in Armenia. The pilgrimage, including airfare, hotel transfer in Yerevan, lodging in luxury hotels, breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as admission to all facilities and programmes including a night at Yerevan Opera House now costs: £1050.00 for private/single room and £930.00 for shared room/2-in-one room. For more info, call: 0208 127 8364, or E-mail: primatesoffice@armenianchurch.co.uk. VIOLIN AND PIANO RECITAL OF VIRTUOSO FAVOURITES The Armenian Embassy to the UK and the Tekeyan Cultural Association are eagerly looking forward to the opening of the Autumn Season at St John's Smith Square for the concert "Violin and Piano Recital of Virtuoso Favourites" featuring Ani Batikian on a Stradivarius violin and Benjamin Frith on the piano next Saturday, 6th September.The good news is that a few days before the concert, on Wednesday 3rd September 2014, Ani has been invited to the BBC Radio 3 programme "In Tune", hosted by the noted broadcaster Sean Rafferty, for an interview and live performance at 4:30pm. To book your tickets (£20, £15, £10) please visit the official website of St John’s Smith Square: http://www.sjss.org.uk/events/violin-and-piano-recital-virtuoso-favourites, or call Zepyur at: 07981770375. Booking fees per transaction £2 by telephone and £1.50 online. ANNOUNCEMENTS:  BIRMINGHAM BADARAK & ACYF PICNIC: Join the ACYF of London, Manchester & Birmingham on Sunday, 14 September, for a Badarak celebration in Birmingham followed by an Armenian BBQ.  COME FOR COFFEE AND CAKE at St Sarkis Church on 28 September for a fundraising opportunity to help MacMillan Cancer Support raise funds for its programmes.  BIBLE STUDY: There will be no Bible Study this Thursday, 4 September. We’ll resume next week.  SAVE THE DATE: Charity Concert by Hayastan All-Armenian Fund to be held on 21 February 2015, in St John's Smith Square.  VISIT THE ARMENIAN GIFT SHOP ONLINE: http://www.armeniangiftshop.org  SUPPORT THE ARMENIAN CHURCH IN UK: by sending your donation payable to ‘the Armenian Church Trust UK’ (ACTUK) to the Primates Office (see below), or click here. Remember the Armenian Church in your will. The Primate’s Office, Hye Doon, 25 Cheniston Gardens, Kensington, London W8 6TG – 0208 127 8364 – primatesoffice@armenianchurch.co.uk

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Լրահոս ԵրկուշաբթիՍեպտեմբեր 01 Breaking news Կրակոցներ Թումանյան փողոցում. Մեկ մարդ վիրավոր է Չորրորդ ամենամյա հայկական փառատոնը Լոնդոնում 18:30, 07.08.2014 Տարածաշրջան: Աշխարհում, Հայաստան Թեմա: Հասարակություն Լոնդոնի Սուրբ Սարգիս հայկական եկեղեցու բակում տեղի ունեցավ չորրորդ ամենամյա հայկական փառատոնը` կազմակերպված Միացյալ Թագավորությունում եւ Իռլանդիայում հայոց առաջնորդարանի կողմից` ՄԹ-ում ՀՀ դեսպանության աջակցությամբ։ Փառատոնի բացմանը ելույթ ունեցան ՄԹ-ում ՀՀ դեսպանության խորհրդական Արա Մարգարյանը, Միացյալ Թագավորության եւ Իռլանդիայի հայոց առաջնորդ Վահան եպիսկոպոս Հովհաննիսյանը, բրիտանական համայնքների պալատի պատգամավոր Սթիվեն Փաունդը եւ Լոնդոնի Քենսինգթոն եւ Չելսիի թաղապետ Մեյգրիդ Քոնդոն–Սիմմոնդսը։ Փառատոնի հարյուրավոր մասնակիցները վայելեցին հայկական երաժշտություն ու պարեր, համտեսեցին հայկական ճաշատեսակներ, ինչպես նաեւ մասնակցեցին տարբեր միջոցառումների։ Առանձին տաղավարներով ներկայացված բրիտանահայ համայնքային կազմակերպությունները այցելուներին տրամադրում էին տեղակատվություն իրենց աշխատանքի եւ նախատեսվող միջոցառումների, Հայաստանի ու Արցախի վերաբերյալ։ Ռումինիայի հայ համայնքի հետ պայմանավորվածությամբ` փառատոնը ուղիղ հեռուստակամրջով կապվել էր Բուխարեստի հետ, որտեղ նույն օրը եւս անց էր կացվում հայկական փառատոն։ Լուրեր Հայաստանից - NEWS.am Русский Տպել Կարդացեք նաև Ամբողջ Անգլիկան եկեղեցի. Բրիտանիան պետք է ապաստան տա քրիստոնյաներին Բրիտանիան պետք է գործի բարի սամարացու նման… Իտալիայում Արեւելքի քրիստոնեությանը նվիրված ցուցահանդեսը երկու նպատակ ունի Ցուցահանդեսը տեւելու է մինչեւ օգոստոսի 30-ը… Քրիստոնեությունը նոր մարտահրավերների առջեւ.լուսանկարների ցուցահանդեսը Ռիմինիում Ցուցահանդեսում ընդգրկված են Միջին Արեւելքի ինը երկրներում արված լուսանկարներ, առանձին բաժին է կազմում Ջուղայի հայկական խաչքարերի ոչնչացումը փաստող վավերագրական ֆիլմը… Վրաստանի հոգեւոր այրերը «Կազանտիպ Հանրապետության» դեմ երթ կանցկացնեն Ցուցարարները կքայլեն գլխավերեւում պահած հետեւյալ պաստառներով՝ «Կազանտիպը սանձարձակություն է… Բոլիվիայի կառավարությունը եկեղեցուն մեղադրել է «կեղտոտ պատերազմի» համար Կաթոլիկ եկեղեցին պատկանում է առավել պահպանողական աջ ուժերի դասին, որոնք խոչընդոտում են կառավարության եւ նախագահի աշխատանքին… Ամենայն հայոց կաթողիկոսը ցավակցել է Հռոմի Պապին Ավտովթարի հետեւանքով նրա հարազատների ողբերգական մահվան կապակցությամբ... Այս թեմայով Ամբողջ «Ուսուցչուհին սիրուն լինի, կթողնեմ՝ ինձ պաչի». պաշտոնյաների 1-ին դասարանցիները Տառերը գիտի, հաշվելը գիտի, իր անունն ու ազգանունը գրել գիտի… ՀԱՀ-ը պատրաստվում է կետերի միգրացիայի պատվին փառատոն անցկացնել Կետերին դիտելու հազվագյուտ հնարավորությունից բացի՝ փառատոնն առաջարկում է մասնակցել տարբեր ակցիաների… Ֆրանսիացին հաղթել է բարմենների մրցույթում՝ փողերի բույրով կոկտեյլ պատրաստելով «Դրամի օշարակից» բացի, կոկտեյլի մեջ ներառվել են «Bombay Sapphire» ջին ու մի քիչ աղ… Աշխարհի ամենատխուր կատուն նոր տան կարիք ունի Տերն այլեւս չի կարող հոգ տանել նրա մասին… Ափիոնն այլեւս հարկավոր չէ ցավազրկողների արտադրության համար Սնկերով 1000 լիտրանոց բակն արտադրում է նույնքան մորֆին, որքան կակաչի մեկ հետկտար դաշտը… Երեխան մոր արգանդում վեր է բարձրացնում բութ մատը «Reddit» կայքի օգտատերը կիսել է իր հղի կնոջ ուլտրաձայնայնին հետազոտության լուսանկարը… Լիտվացի պատգամավորը՝ Ցեղասպանության եւ ԼՂՀ անկախության ճանաչման մասին Ամենաշատ Ընթերցված Դիտված Մեկնաբանված Առեղծվածային ադրբեջանցին աշխարհի ամենաթանկ բանկային քարտի սեփականատերն է Նազարբաեւը սպառնացել է դուրս գալ Եվրասիական միության կազմից Որդուն տեսակցելու համար 4 տարի պայքարող Դավիթը սպառնում է ինքնահրկիզվել ԱՄՆ-ում երիտասարդ կինը մահացել է իր ավտոմեքենայի մեջ՝ 5 օրվա անքնությունից հետո Թուրքիայում երկգլխանի օձ են հայտնաբերել (ֆոտո) Ֆոտոռեպորտաժներ Վրաստանի վարչապետը այցելեց Ծիծեռնակաբերդի հուշահամալիր Կառավարության անդամները ԱԻ նախարարությունում Բախումներ ՕԵԿ-ականների եւ Ագրարային համալսարանի անձնակազմի միջեւ © 2009-2014 NEWS.am Սույն կայքում տեղ գտած լրատվական հրապարակումների հեղինակային իրավունքը պատկանում է բացառապես NEWS.am լրատվական-վերլուծական գործակալությանը։ Սույն կայքի բոլոր լրատվական հրապարակումները անհատական օգտագործման համար են։ Տեղեկատվություն տարածող այլ միջոցներում սույն կայքի հրապարակումների (մասնակի կամ ամբողջական) վերահրապարկման համար անհրաժեշտ է NEWS.am լրատվական-վերլուծական գործակալության գրավոր թույլտվությունը։ Խախտում թույլ տված անձինք կենթարկվեն պատասխանատվության օրենքով սահմանված կարգով։ News Քաղաքականություն Տնտեսություն Վերլուծություն Հասարակություն Ինովացիա Պատահարներ Մշակույթ Ավտոաշխարհ Sport Style Medicine Reviews Video Photo Գործակալության մասին Օգտագործման պայմաններ Հասցե ք.Երեւան, Վերին Շենգավիթ 2-րդ փողոց, 7/1 շենք Հեռ.՝ +37477 26 64 13, +37499 20 32 12 Էլ-փոստ՝ editor@news.am Գովազդ NEWS.am-ում Բջջային՝ +374 91 073313, Էլ. փոստ՝ marketing@news.am