 30 Giugno 2020Newsflash Antioch– JUNE 2020
We enter the fourth month of the Covid-19 era. After the drastic measures taken in the previous months, we had begun to look to the future with hope. Unfortunately, this has not turned out to be the case. Infection and deaths began to rise again and throughout the month there was a series of easing and then reapplying restrictions. Even in our region, the almost immune "island" of Hatay, the return of workers from the Arab countries, caused several outbreaks until the drastic decision was made, on the last weekend of the month, to impose a curfew.
In Antioch the Feast of St. Peter has always been an important event. For this reason, we had been preparing for some time to obtain the necessary permits for the Ecumenical celebration in the Grotto of St. Peter and everything seemed to be going well. Unfortunately, the resurgence of the virus convinced both us and the Orthodox Church, to cancel the celebration. Anyway, from June 13th we started to celebrate Mass on Saturday evening and Sunday ... but in the garden!
June 3rd.
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the killing of Mgr Luigi Padovese. There were several things planned in his memory but unfortunately everything has been overtaken by events! In the Mass this morning we honoured him with our prayers ... This is the last photograph taken of him!
June 12th.
The pastoral writings of Mgr Luigi Padovese during his years of ministry in the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia (2004-2010) are published.
June 13th.
Today we reopen the church for the celebrations of Saturday evening and Sunday. Following the indications of the Conference of Bishops in Turkey (CET) we celebrate in the garden.
June 14th. TRT 1 (a television channel) is preparing small documentaries about the most significant places in Turkey (87of them), including the Catholic Church of Antioch…. Today they do interviews and follow the Mass.
June 19th.
Turkish newspapers continue to report the possibility of transforming Haghia Sophia into a mosque again. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Armenian Patriarch have suggested allowing Christians to celebrate there too ... The decision will be taken in July. The only real obstacle seems to be the danger of losing the many millions of dollars that entry to the museum provides to the state coffers today!
June 27.
Today's Fides Agency reports the following news: "
Antakya (Agenzia Fides) - This year, in the city of Antakya - the ancient Antioch on the Orontes, currently in Turkish territory - baptized Catholics, Orthodox and apostolic Armenians will not be able to live together the intense moments of communion that in the past they used to share on the days of June 28 and 29, on the occasion of the liturgical memory of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The center of those shared celebrations had in recent years been the so-called "St. Peter's Grotto" (in the photo), the ancient rock church on Mount Silpius, which reopened in 2015 after many years of restoration. "But this 2020 - Capuchin father Domenico Bertogli, who carries out his pastoral ministry at the service of the local Catholic community, reports to Fides - also in Antioch we are experiencing this pandemic as a bad dream. On 27 and 28 June, a "curfew" will be imposed for everyone in Turkey, with the exception of students - almost 2 million. And we will not celebrate St. Peter's Day in the famous Grotto dedicated to him. There will only be a mass in the courtyard of the Catholic church in the afternoon, and a Eucharistic celebration in the morning at the Orthodox church. I, with some faithful, will try to go to the Grotto at least for a moment of prayer". In a few words, Father Bertogli's words outline the difficult and tense condition in which the entire population of the Hatay region lives, including Antakia, now in Turkish territory: "In addition to the pandemic - Father Domenico recalls - there are problems in nearby Syria. A local newspaper today points out that in Hatay alone, out of a population of one and a half million inhabitants, there are half a million Syrian refugees. These numbers are enough to make us understand the problems and emergencies that have to be faced. Many try to restart their activities after the lockdown due to the pandemic, and despite the increase in infections in the last few days. There are many people who live only from daily work, there is absolutely no tourism, so it is easy to imagine the difficult situation in which many families find themselves. Let us pray to the Lord, with the intercession of Saints Peter and Paul, that he may have mercy on all of us".
The ancient rock church of St. Peter still retains the physiognomy that the Crusaders gave it, who conquered the ancient Antioch on the Orontes in 1098. But the Byzantines had already transformed the place where the first baptized people met during the periods of persecution into a chapel, in the city where for the first time the disciples of Jesus were called Christians.
The restoration completed in 2015 put an end to the state of abandonment in which St. Peter's Grotto found itself. In past years, Patriarchs and Bishops were often present at the celebrations that took place there on the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Last year the local celebrations for Saints Peter and Paul were also attended by Archbishop Paul Fitzpatrick Russell, Apostolic Nuncio to Turkey, and by Bishop Paolo Bizzeti, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia. (GV)
June 29th.
Despite having permission to celebrate at the Grotto of St Peter with a maximum of 30 people, in agreement with our bishop Msg. Paolo Bizzeti and the leaders of the Orthodox Church, we cancel the official ecumenical celebration for this year There are however various celebrations in the churches – in the morning in the Orthodox Church and in the evening in the Catholic Church, associating it with Sunday Mass. In the late morning Fr Domenico with some faithful (17) and Fr. Darius from Iskenderun had a short Celebration of the Word in the Grotto itself. We were few, but equally "ecumenical": Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims and a Syrian family from Istanbul! Then in a restaurant in the city we met with the Orthodox priests and the leaders of the Churches of Antioch ...
The next day, still in the courtyard of the Catholic Church with the Abuna of Antioch (3 + a deacon and the head of the Orthodox Church), we had a banquet prepared by our collaborator Zeynep. Her 3 sons contributed by serving ... Amongst other things, in recent months, they have prepared and animated the celebrations of the Catholic Church and broadcast on Facebook!
This year we celebrated in an unusual way, but equally the "presence" of the Holy Apostles was not lacking, making us, as always, brothers in unity and love as the Lord asks us!
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