Crucea.ro

Bulgaria’s commission charged with announcing the names of people who collaborated with the country’s former communist-era secret services announced on January 17 2012 that 11 out of 15 members of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s governing body, the Holy Synod, had worked for State Security.

The commission also identified senior Roman Catholic clergy and Muslim leaders who had been communist secret service agents or who had collaborated.

Not among the Bulgarian Orthodox Church names was that of Patriarch Maxim, the church’s spiritual leader, who has headed the church for more than 40 years.

Source & more info, The Sofia Echo.

Un experiment de marketing care demonstreaza cit de lesne poate fi acceptat un cip RFID, daca ai o motivatie pe masura.

For the last time, Russia switched over to “summer time”. Clocks throughout the country went ahead one hour at 02.00 local time. On 8 February, President Dmitri Medvedev announced a decision to cancel the autumn transition to “winter” time later this year. Dmitri Anatolyevich noted that when the time switches back and forth, it violates the natural biorhythms of people and animals, it has a negative effect on health, and it isn’t economically justified. The first time that seasonal time variations were used was in the UK in 1908. Then, other countries followed suit. The idea of ​​saving energy by moving the clock ahead originated with the famous American statesman Benjamin Franklin, one of the authors of the US Declaration of Independence. In 2010, more than 100 countries had a variation between “winter” and “summer” time. In equatorial areas, such transitions were never implemented, for the length of the day is more uniform there throughout the year. For various reasons, Japan, China, South Korea, Georgia, and some Central Asian CIS republics opt-out of seasonal time variations, as well. Economists have long argued that the time switch brings economic benefits. However, in response, scientists stated that negative health effects neutralised all the positive effects. In Scandinavia, after the time change in Sweden, researchers found an increased number of fatal accidents. In Russia, for several years there’s been a discussion of abolishing the time change, but President Medvedev’s decision was still sensational. If, now, it’s almost imperceptible, in the winter, those who go to Europe will feel the difference. There, despite controversy, such a reform hasn’t yet been adopted, so, every six months, the difference between Russian cities and European capitals will change by one hour.

Source: Voice of Russia World Service via Voices from Russia

Vesti din Apus, unde Biserica Mitropoliei de Milan a decis sa treaca sub omoforul Mitropolitului Vladimir al Chisinaului. O lume mica, la urma urmei. In acest mod, B.O.R. e in comuniune cu ierarhii “Milanezi”, iar Patriarhia Moscovei isi mai asigura, via Moldova, un avanpost. Sintem in Postul Pastelui, 2011. Cine stie ce mai urmeaza?

Sursa:

Sua Beatidudine Evloghios ha celebrato la Divina Liturgia nella Parrocchia di Como. Comunicando ai fedeli presenti che la nostra chiesa di Como sarà concessa alla Chiesa Ortodossa Moldava posta sotto l’Omoforion di S.E. Metropolita Vladimir di Chisinau (del patriarcato di Mosca).

Unii oameni pur si simplu nu pot gindi in fata camerelor de filmat, altii gasesc greu resurse sa articuleze o idee sau sa inteleaga una articulata intr-un mod care nu le este intrutotul familiar. Tot atit de adevarat e si faptul ca esantionul de mai sus nu e cu adevarat reprezentativ: realizatorii au ales si montat in cascada doar cazurile convenabile pentru a zugravi o imagine caricaturala a felului in care inteleg romanii sarbatorile religioase. Cu toate acestea, am intilnit eu insumi (in comunitati rurale din Prahova) o sumedenie de oameni de acest fel si, uneori, am sentimentul neplacut ca se afla pretutindeni.

Exemplu de știre a zilelor noastre:

După ce a stârnit reacții dure in media, o preoteasă anglicană din Toronto și-a exprimat regretul că a împărtășit un ciobănesc german.

Sursa: BBC

A new University of British Columbia study says that an overreliance on research subjects from the U.S. and other Western nations can produce false claims about human psychology and behavior because their psychological tendencies are highly unusual compared to the global population.

Read the story here.

Agenția de presă a B.O.R. preia o relatare de pe site-ul Episcopiei Giurgiului, despre o vizita în Muntele Athos a unei delegații locale. Autorii își propun să evoce o slujbă în Sfântul Munte “cu cuvintele lor”. Iată ce-a ieșit:

Într-o atmosferă încărcată de misticism, generată, în penumbra din interiorul bisericii, de incantaţia tulburătoare venită parcă de dincolo de spaţiu şi timp, amplificată de mirosul dulceag de mir din aer, Preasfinţitul Părinte Ambrozie, alături de un ales sobor de preoţi şi diaconi, a săvârşit Sfânta Liturghie Arhierească, ocazie cu care a rostit şi un cuvânt de învăţătură în care a subliniat frumuseţea duhovnicească a vieţii monahale din Sfântul Munte. Aici, monahii se adună în biserică ştiind că nu sunt singuri, ci împreună cu toţi îngerii şi sfinţii, slăvind pe Dumnezeu.

Sigur că putem înțelege emoția naratorului. Dar, potrivit Dictionarului explicativ al limbii române, incantația este:

INCANTÁȚIE, incantații, s.f. (Livr.) Formulă magică, cântată sau recitată (pentru a obține un efect supranatural). ♦ Fig. (Stare de) încântare; farmec, delectare.

Dacă îmi îngăduiți o părere, cred ca acest pasaj e mai degrabă o expresie a alienării omului contemporan, care încearcă să compenseze prin ditirambi si artificii o carență duhovnicească esențială.

As mobile phones go to a fourth generation, with new features in each update, the inventor of the handheld phone said the handset of the future should aim to improve a user’s quality of life.
“Technology makes your life better, more convenient, safer, educates you, entertains you, and mostly makes you more productive,” said Mr Cooper.
“The future of cellular telephony is to make people’s lives better – the most important way, in my view, will be the opportunity to revolutionise healthcare,” he added.
“We could not have predicted the annoyance that people have when the phone rings at the opera, but it doesn’t take a cellular phone to make people be rude.”
In terms of the physical development of mobile phones, which have already shrunk from the size of a brick, he believes future users will be able to dispense altogether with the device.
“The cellphone in the long range is going to be embedded under your skin behind your ear along with a very powerful computer who is in effect your slave”.

Source & more here.

Greece is cracking down on major cash transactions and will impose a high levy on the influential Orthodox church in a scramble to boost tax revenue in the face of a debt crisis.
A new draft bill to be tabled in parliament on Tuesday imposes a 20 per cent tax on the Orthodox church’s real estate income, reportedly worth over  10 million euros ($14.8 million)  a year.
It also outlaws all business transactions of more than 1500 euros ($2220) conducted in cash, prescribing instead the use of credit cards and urging consumers to collect receipts in an effort to stamp out tax evasion that costs the state an estimated  10 billion euros a year.
‘‘The goal of our tax policy is a simple and fair system with uniform rules and without unjustified exceptions,’’ the finance ministry said in its report to parliament on Friday.
‘‘Our immediate priority is to deal with tax evasion, which is possibly the worst form of injustice in our tax system that hampers the operation of the state,’’ the ministry said.
The bill spells an end to special tax regimes enjoyed by several professional classes, including taxi and truck drivers, civil engineers, camping operators, doctors and athletes.
It also introduces income checks for owners of yachts, private planes and jets, swimming pools and other luxury items.
The Socialist government is trying to plug leaks in its budget – which last year ended up short by more than  30 billion euros – and bring an end to decades of fiscal waste that has produced nearly  300 billion euros in state debt.
AFP

Intr-o ironica smucire a istoriei, la 1 decembrie* 2009, Constitutia Europeana intra in vigoare, devenind coloana vertebrala a legislatiei statelor UE. Legile Romaniei vor fi facute dupa placul altora: dupa 91 de ani, noima Romaniei se va tocmi prin straini, in Noua Uniune Europeana.
Am trait s-o vad si pe asta.

* 1 decembrie in calendarul civil.