Category: News

AFP – The tomb where Jesus is believed to have been buried is being unveiled again following nine months of restoration work that will be highlighted at a much anticipated ceremony Wednesday.

The shrine, which includes a 19th-century ornate edicule or shrine surrounding the tomb, is a key part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City.

However centuries of candle smoke and visiting pilgrims had left it discoloured and almost black.

Parts of it were also coming loose, with warnings that it was structurally unsound and posed a risk to the millions of pilgrims who visit the site every year.

Israeli authorities briefly closed it in 2015 over security fears.

Following a $3.7-million (3.4-million-euro) renovation led by the church’s three main Christian denominations, the tomb has been painstakingly restored to its former glory — including a warm reddish-yellow colouring.

The tomb will be formally reopened on Wednesday in a ceremony in Jerusalem led by religious leaders and donors.

“Before this the monument was black,” chief renovator Antonia Moropoulou told AFP at the site.

“This is the actual colour of the monument, the colour of hope.”

Unlike other parts of the church, which were renovated between the 1960s and 1990s, the edicule had been neglected.

Moropoulou explained that they had systematically dismantled, cleaned and renovated almost all of the edicule, including the columns and upper and inner domes.

A window has been installed to allow pilgrims to see the bare stone of the ancient burial cave for the first time.

The new structural integrity means a protective cage installed 70 years ago by the British is no longer necessary.

“The deformations of the holy edicule are addressed and the structural integrity is assured,” Moropoulou said.

Samuel Aghoyan, the superior of the Armenian Church at the Sepulchre which co-financed the project, said that after the renovation the edicule looked “like a brand new building”.

The Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic denominations share custody of the church, but disputes between the three have led to renovations being delayed for decades.

Aghoyan admitted there were tensions between the churches at times.

“We are not in love with each but we love each other,” he said with a smile.

An Armenian official delegation headed by Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian attended the reopening of the Jesus tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Attending the event were Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, high-ranking officials from other countries, Christian church leaders, thousands of pious people.

Earlier the day Minister Nalbandian had visited the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem to meet with Patriarch, Archbishop Nurhan Manukian.

Archbishop Nurhan Manukian delivered a speech at the ceremony along with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Greek Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos II. A message from His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, was read out.

The tomb where Jesus is believed to have been buried was unveiled today following nine months of restoration.

Three main Christian denominations – Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Churches – jealously guard separate sections of the church, but they put aside their longstanding religious rivalries to give their blessing for the restoration. Armenian architects were involved in reconstruction works.

Armenia captain Henrikh Mkhitarayn will face former teammate Yura Movsisyan, as Manchester United take on Real Salt Lake on July 17 within the framework of the summer tour to the US.

Manchester United will play five games in the USA this summer, including matches against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City on the club’s Tour 2017, presented by Aon, according to the club’s official website.

United will kick off their pre-season in North America with two games against Major League Soccer sides, taking on Los Angeles Galaxy at the Stubhub Centre on Saturday 15 July, followed by a match against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium on Monday 17 July.

Days later, United will take part in the International Champions Cup (ICC), kicking off the tournament against rivals Manchester City on Thursday 20 July with the venue to be revealed in due course for the highly anticipated Manchester derby.

Jose Mourinho will then come up against his former club when United face Real Madrid at the Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, on Sunday 23 July.

The tour will then conclude in Washington DC with a game against Barcelona on Wednesday 26 July at FedEx Field, in what will be the first meeting between the two sides since United claimed a 3-1 victory in the sell-out clash in California two summers ago.

Ukraine has banned a Russian singer from entering the country to compete at the Eurovision Song Contest, Reuters reports.

Russian singer and composer Yuliya Samoilova has been barred from entering the country for the next three years, over a past performance in  Crimea.

“The Security Service of Ukraine has banned Yuliya Samoilova from entry for three years,” Ukrainian security services (SBU) said on Wednesday.

The SBU has blacklisted at least 140 other Russian artists.

Ukraine is due to host the Eurovision Song Contest in its capital Kiev, in May.

The Armenian Ministry of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources and the Ocean Holding LLC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, the Development Foundation of Armenia reports.

The cooperation will work towards developing the renewable energy sector in Armenia and will enable the Ocean Holding to make investments in solar energy projects.

Starting this year, Ocean Holding intends to invest 100 million USD in solar photovoltaic power plants in Armenia and operate them using the best technology available to the sector.

In return, the Ministry pledges to create favourable conditions for Ocean Holding. The investments will be made in several phases.

“Armenia has created favorable conditions for renewable energy; the country has invested its entire toolset to boost the sector. The Government continues to seek new opportunities to increase energy security to ensure supply, energy efficiency, new investments, new technologies, regional cooperation and a sustainable infrastructure,” Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructure and Natural Resources Hayk Harutyunyan said at the Armenia-UAE investment forum in Abu Dhabi.

Bastian Schweinsteiger is to join Chicago Fire as a deal has been agreed with Manchester United and the player, according to the club’s official website.

The 32-year-old German midfielder’s move to MLS is subject to a medical and a visa being obtained but Chicago are keen to finalise a swift transfer.

“I am sad to leave so many friends at Manchester United,” said Schweinsteiger. “But I am grateful to the club for allowing me the chance to take up the challenge at Chicago Fire.

“I have enjoyed working with the manager, the players and staff here and wish them all the best in the future. But I have to reserve special thanks to the United fans – whose support has been a very special part of my time in Manchester.

“I was delighted to be part of the squad that won the FA Cup for them last season and will always remember their energy and their passion. Now is the right time for me to start a new chapter in Chicago and I am looking forward to it.”

The tomb of Jesus has been resurrected to its former glory, the reports.

Just in time for Easter, a Greek restoration team has completed a historic renovation of the Edicule, the shrine that tradition says houses the cave where Jesus was buried and rose to heaven.

Restorers have now cut a small window from the shrine’s marble walls for pilgrims to see – for the first time – the bare stone of the ancient burial cave.

Gone is the unsightly iron cage built around the shrine by British authorities in 1947 to shore up the walls and the black soot on the shrine’s stone façade from decades of pilgrims lighting candles.

And gone are fears about the stability of the old shrine, which hadn’t been restored in more than 200 years.

‘If this intervention hadn’t happened now, there is a very great risk that there could have been a collapse,’ Bonnie Burnham of the World Monuments Fund said.

‘This is a complete transformation of the monument.’

The fund provided an initial $1.4 million for the $4 million restoration, thanks to a donation by the widow of the founder of Atlantic Records.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also chipped in about 150,000 euros each, along with other private and church donations, Burnham said.

The limestone and marble structure stands at the center of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, one of the world’s oldest churches – a 12th-century building standing on 4th-century remains.

The shrine needed urgent attention after years of exposure to environmental factors like water, humidity and candle smoke.

Three main Christian denominations – Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Churches – jealously guard separate sections of the church, but they put aside their longstanding religious rivalries to give their blessing for the restoration.

– The Armenian presence in Europe stretches from London to Larnaca, Lisbon to Lviv; the Armenian Catholic Mkhitarian Congregation is among the most impactful examples of that legacy and this year marks a three-century-long presence in one of Europe’s most iconic towns.

The vaporetto leaves from San Zaccaria to one of the most unique corners of Venice, a testament to the centuries of multi-cultural history of that magnificent city. The unique corner is really an island – Isola di San Lazzaro degli Armeni, or the Island of St. Lazarus of the Armenians. This year marks the 300th anniversary of that island becoming home to the Mkhitarian or Mechitarist Congregation.

Mkhitar was born in Sebastia (modern-day Sivas, in central Turkey) in 1676. He joined the Armenian Church at a time when it was facing the challenges of a modernising world. Drawn to Western Christianity and its already-established traditions of education and publishing, Mkhitar ran his own printing house in Constantinople (Istanbul), bringing together other like-minded individuals who longed to rejuvenate and invigorate a community at times struggling in the social and political milieu of the 17th century Ottoman Empire. Facing the resistance of the authorities, Abbot Mkhitar and his followers, who established the congregation named after the founder in 1700, spent some time moving from place to place – first to Greece, then up the Adriatic – before finally establishing themselves on what used to be a leper colony off Venice in 1717.

In the centuries that followed, the Mkhitarian fathers had a profound effect on research, education, and publishing in Europe generally, and for the Armenian world in particular. Still today, the monastery they founded continues to produce books; Venice is one of two cities in the world that can boast having published at least one Armenian book every year for three hundred years or more, with just a few interruptions (the other city being Istanbul). Whether as first-time publications of ancient manuscripts, translations of significant European works, or the other way around, the Armenian legacy has been showcased to the European and broader world through the efforts of these monks, and the doors of Europe have likewise been opened for Armenians thanks to their activities.

“The Mkhitarian Congregation has always served as a bridge,” says Father Serop Jamourlian, “both for tying the Armenian reality to the European world in terms of scholarship and spirituality, and also as a bridge of universal human values: it is a representative of the East in the West and the conveyor of Western ideas to the East.”

Perhaps the most significant impact the Congregation has had involves the development of language and identity. It was the Mkhitarian fathers who first published modern dictionaries of the Armenian language. Modern scientific approaches to research and education also owe much to these Armenian priests in Venice, who once upon a time ran a network of some thirty schools across Europe and the Middle East.

The reputation of San Lazzaro was so strong that Napoleon Bonaparte offered that monastery special permission to continue functioning even after he shut down other religious institutions in Venice in 1810. A few years later, the island’s most famous guest – Lord Byron – spent some months during 1816-1817 studying the Armenian language.

The Mechitarists have suffered some setbacks over the course of their rich history, such as a significant split in the Congregation that led to a second monastery being established in Vienna in 1811. They reunited in 2000. The two had meanwhile carried on Abbot Mkhitar’s mission diligently. Both Venice and Vienna are known as centres of learning for the Armenian world.

Although the Mkhitarian Congregation is not as active as it used to be, with a smaller membership and growing challenges within a generally more secular global environment, it continues to run four schools in places reflecting the footprint of the Armenian Diaspora: Beirut, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, and Istanbul. A school was established in Yerevan, in the Republic of Armenia, in the year 2007 – a good indication of the renewal of Diaspora-Homeland ties since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Special commemorations are planned for September during this 300th anniversary year – celebrations alongside the people of Italy and Venice. Father Serop emphasises that their welcoming and hospitable attitude towards the Armenians is based on the experience of many centuries of deep ties. What lies in store for the Mkhitarian Congregation? Father Serop says that the mission has always been and remains, “Service to the Armenian nation”.

Multinational content delivery network (CDN) provider Cloudflare has announced that it plans to launch a series of new data centres across five continents, beginning with a facility in Yerevan, Armenia.

The new centre will be Cloudflare’s 103rd data centre globally. The company hopes that the new deployment will allow for greater speed, agility and security for approximately 6 million internet platforms, serving traffic to Armenia and neighbouring countries.

“Yerevan, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, has a rich history going back all the way to 782 BC. Famous for its cognac, lavash flatbread, and beautiful medieval churches, Armenia is also home to more chess grandmasters per capita than most countries,” Cloudflare said in a statement.

 

President Serzh Sargsyan will travel to the United Arab Emirates on March 22 to participate in the Armenia-UAE investment forum in Abu Dhabi.

An agreement on the forum was reached during President Sargsyan’s official visit to UAE last year.