MEXICO CITY, MEXICO [OCA] - - Faithful arrived early at the Cathedral of the Ascension here on Sunday, January 8, 2012, as His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah presided at the Divine Liturgy and celebrated the Great Blessing of Water marking the diocese’s 40th anniversary.

Kirolos Andraws had every reason to be excited about the January uprising in his native Egypt, figuring democracy would bring hope for young people like him.

Then one day in February, says Mr. Andraws, a gang of thugs beat him and told him, "you deserve to die." His offense, he says: refusing to convert to Islam.

Many Christians struggle to balance their faith with the increasing emphasis on consumerism and material goods in today's society. In a keynote address Tuesday evening at AEI, the Orthodox Church in America's Metropolitan Jonah, Archbishop of Washington and Metropolitan of All America and Canada, discussed how Christians should respond to these societal pressures.

St. Nicholas Church, destroyed 10 years ago in the Sept. 11 attacks, will be rebuilt near the original site in Manhattan, according to an agreement signed Friday.

Is there a threat to Orthodoxy in the Middle East? Is there a need to revise statuses of Orthodox Primates? What is the way to avoid division between Orthodox Churches and to make all Orthodox Churches recognize the Orthodox Church in America as soon as possible?

SYOSSET, NY [OCA] -- A special web site devoted to the 16th All-American Council of the Orthodox Church in America went "live" and may be accessed at http://aac16.org or by clicking the Council log on the OCA home page at www.oca.org.

The center of orthodoxy in Japan, Sendai and the surrounding region, is the area most hard hit by the earthquake and tsunami.  In Japan the number of Orthodox is about 30 thousand, according to the Moscow Patriarchate. The Japanese autonomous Church was founded in 1870 by St. Nikolai (Kasatkin), who arrived in Japan in 1861 on the mandate of the Holy Synod.