 01 Dicembre 2019December 2019 Newsflash of Antioch – TR
(Thanks to Glynn MacNiven for the help!)
2nd December. Antioch’s main street- Kurtulus Caddesi- which crosses the old city is to be restored and pedestrianized. The local authorities are there for the start of the work and the Prefect himself makes a symbolic start to the plastering.
Our church is involved because it is situated in the centre of the project as are the mosque and synagogue. Six to seven metres below this road lies the Cardo; this was the colonnaded main street which crossed the Roman city.
4th December. Visit of the catechists of the Neocatechumenal Way to make the Advent Announcement to our communities with suggestions of how to live the season fruitfully.
6th December. Mayor Ali Kilic of Maltepe, a district of the Metropolitain Municipality of Istanbul (on the Asian side), and some directors of his administration visit our church.
9th December. In the afternoon, 3 young Poles from the Oriental Study Centre came to interview Fr Domenico. They were accompanied by fr.Darius (first left), the new parish priest of Iskenderun, who is also Polish.
18th December. Yesterday, Florance, a French painter, came from Cappadocia with the crib she has restored, and set it up in the Church.
19th December. The local newspaper MedyaHataya is preparing a documentary on Antioch. Two reporters filmed the whole of the Mass yesterday and today they are coming to interview Fr Domenico.
20th December. The Kuwaiti ambassador to Turkey, Ghassan Zawawi, visits our church and stays for coffee. Although himself a Muslim, of course, he has a great respect for Christianity and says he feels a special presence of God in Churches.
21st December. The last printed edition of The Chronicle of Antioch. The digital edition will still be available on www. anadolukatolikkilisesi.org
22 st December. Swiss pilgrim and Focolari member, Rosanna Brusadelli leaves Antioch. In spite of her 66 years she has made the journey here on foot. Now she will fly to Amman (Jordan) via Istanbul before walking onward to Jerusalem.
23rd December. Dr Lutfu Savas, mayor of the Metropolitan Municipality of Hatay, brings around 40 Christmas presents for the children of the parish. The first is presented to Fr Domenico.
24th December. Christmas is always an important moment for the faithful who attend our church. For many years we celebrated at the cave of St Peter continuing the long history of Christianity here in that stark and beautiful place but, recently, for reasons of security, restrictions have been put in place – no chairs, the closure of the left side aisle to protect the mosaics etc. – so now we celebrate in the church even though space is very tight.
We began our celebration at 9:30 pm and the Orthodox church at 6:30 pm. The weather was cold and rainy. We began with scenes from the Gospels, with readings, dialogues and songs performed by our catechism children and their teachers, Kristin, Elena and Lidya. The congregation joined in the Mass and singing that followed..
At the end the gifts offered by the Municipality were distributed and everyone was offered a drink of warm salep. There was an impressive police presence on the street to control the large number of people coming. As well as local Christians, there were French, Croats and Syrians and several Muslims all of whom were welcomed with fraternal joy.
25th December. For us this is Christmas but in Antioch it is an ordinary day. It is cold and rainy. The local mayor has had a poster put up in the small street outside the church sending us good wishes for the season. In the morning civil and religious authorities come to bring official Christmas greetings to the Christians. Of course there is a photo taken which will appear in all the local papers. Finally at 8 pm, around 300 Christians celebrate Christmas in a restaurant in the city.
27th December. Tonight we have a kebab party. After vespers we serve doner kebab to everyone including around 30 policemen…
30th December. We close the year 2019 with a Mass of Thanksgiving for the past year. There are many reasons to thank the Lord for his love and mercy.
We give thanks in particular for Easter and the Feast of St Peter of course. These are fundamental to our community. Also for the three baptisms, two adults and a baby girl; and a Catholic wedding.
There were also three important pilgrimages. Two were for young people; one to Tarsus on the Feast of St Paul and the other in July visiting the places of Christian history beginning from Antioch and travelling to Cappadocia, Pamukkale and Ephesus.
The other pilgrimage, to Izmir and Ephesus, was made by the First Neocatechumenal community
Numbers of pilgrims coming to Antioch are increasing also. In all we had 35 groups including 2 from Africa (Angola and Benin). Three pilgrims, Maximilien, Marie and Rosanna passed through Antioch on their way walking to Jerusalem.
There was also Fr Paolo’s doctoral degree and other often unexpected but beautiful encounters. We truly thank the Lord with all our hearts.
Tomorrow night we will celebrate Mass after midnight to begin 2020 in the desire to be led only by HIM!
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