Orthodox and Catholic Christians in the Middle East gathered this week to pray for and appeal for the realease of two Orthodox bishops who were kidnapped in Syria one month ago.

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It’s exactly one month since two Syrian Orthodox archbishops were kidnapped near the city of Aleppo. The Greek Orthodox archbishop of Aleppo Yohanna Ibrahim and his Syriac Orthodox counterpart Boulos Yazaji were seized by gunmen while travelling back from the Turkish border. No group has claimed responsibility for their abduction.

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While most people experienced the Arab Spring from afar, as spectators or even by watching tv, Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald, experienced it directly, as the papal nuncio in Egypt.

The Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Borno State , Pentecostal Rev. Faye Pama Musa, was killed in the capital, in Maiduguri, by members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram, shortly after President Goodluck Jonathan had declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

One month after New Zealand voted to legalise same sex-marriage, an organisation promoting traditional family values has been stripped of its status as a charity because of its view that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

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Hundreds of worshippers attended yesterday's divine liturgy officiated by Kirill, the patriarch of Moscow, in Shanghai's Mother of God Surety of Sinners Orthodox Cathedral. It was the first religious service in the church for over 50 years. "It is remarkable that the first service" should "take place on Easter days," the patriarch said as his visit to China comes to an end, the first by a Russian religious leader.

Coptic pope, Tawadros II, was in Rome for a four day visit. After several gatherings at the Vatican, he concluded his visit with a private meeting at the Congregation for Oriental Churches. There, he met with Argentinian Cardinal Leonardo Sandri and with other members of that congregation.

A court in Al-Khobar, Saudi city east of the Gulf, has sentenced a Lebanese Christian to prison and flogging for having converted a young Saudi man to Christianity and helped a young woman escape from the country. He was sentenced to six years in prison and 300 lashes. The Saudi was charged as an accomplice to two years and 200 lashes. Visit this article to read more.

On 10 May, Rome's Greek Melkite community will hold a solemn Mass for the release of Mgrs Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, the two Syrian orthodox bishops kidnapped on 22 April.

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Last month the University of New South Wales student magazine called "Tharunka", published an extremely offensive and obsecene image that directly attacked Christians.

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