💭
'Standfast'
is a noun or verb phrase meaning a firm, fixed, or unyielding
position, or the act of refusing to abandon a belief, opinion, or
physical location.
An American
tourist (Dylan Standfast) was killed by a
lightning strike on Sicily’s Mount Etna while hiking Europe’s
largest volcano following a period of intense activity, Italian
firefighters said Monday.
The 29-year-old
man from Kansas was rescued by helicopter after being struck Sunday
evening in an exposed, barren area. He was later declared dead by
medical personnel. His name was not released.
The man was
found at about 1,400 meters (nearly 4,600 feet) in the Rocca Capra
area.
Authorities
have closed areas of the volcano’s slope to hikers due to the
volcano’s prolonged activity — which forced the closure of the
airport in nearby Catania for most of last week — but it was
unclear if he was in such an area.
Officials said
that more people have died on Etna from lightning strikes over recent
decades than from volcanic activity. The last eruption-related
fatalities were in 1987.
Dylan Standfast
enjoyed high elevations. Photos posted on his personal Facebook page
showed him happily posing earlier this month at Kelso Ridge,
Colorado, and last year in Glacier National Park in Montana.
Standfast, 29,
of Wichita, died after being struck by lightning Aug. 16 while hiking
Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, in Italy, authorities said.
The Catholic
Archdiocese of Wichita on Aug. 18 requested prayers for Standfast and
his family.
Standfast
earned a bachelor's degree in 2019 from Wichita State University and
was a programmer from 2016 to 2019 with the Wichita-based Kansas
Turnpike Authority, his LinkedIn page said.
Standfast was a
community activity coordinator from 2020 to 2022 at St. Paul
University Parish at Wichita State University.
Hiker's death
highlights unlikely danger
Standfast's
death highlighted an unlikely danger on Europe's most active volcano:
Lightning has killed more people there in recent decades than
eruptions.
Standfast was
hiking above the tree line on Aug. 16 when the strike occurred,
according to multiple media reports. His death comes after a week of
volcanic activity that sent ash high into the air, disrupted flights
across Sicily and prompted officials to restrict access to parts of
the volcano.
😇 Saint
Paul visited Syracuse in Sicily for three days around 59 AD
during his famous journey to Rome. (Dylan Standfast
was 29 years old)
Historical
Visit in Syracuse
❖
St. Paul brought Christianity to
Sicily during his brief three-day stop.
❖
He preached in the city in Greek.
❖
The San Paolo Apostolo, Siracusa church sits on the island of
Ortigia near the ancient Temple of Apollo.
🚨
Yesterday:
♰ Can an
Ancient Church Reach a Modern Generation Without Changing the Faith?
With Father Abai & Father Anteneh.
Father Abai and Father
Anteneh are priests from the Saint Paul Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Church, St. Temple Hills, Maryland. United
States.
❖ R.I.P Berlusconi –
Who Was Forced to Return The Axum Obelisk to Ethiopia After Lightning
Struck It
💭 Italians
Committed Terrible Crimes, Then Forgot Them, Repeated Them in
Ethiopia in 1880s + 1930s, Then Forgot Them, Ethiopians forgave them,
Now They Repeat those crimes vía The Oromos. History repeats itself.
🛑 Italy Invited a
Genocider, the Black Mussolini aka Ahmed Ali | Woe to Italy, Mount
Etna is Boiling!
Wearing her
traditional black veil and habit, Sister Mayela travels to work near
the site of a violent assault on another Catholic nun in Jerusalem’s
Old City — now accompanied by a Jewish volunteer for her
protection.
Christians
account for under two per cent of Israel’s population, and many
fear that visible expressions of their faith draw harassment, which
has worsened as regional conflict deepens.
"I’m
scared after the sister was beat up," said Sister Mayela, a
Mexican nun who has lived in Jerusalem periodically for more than 20
years. "Before, one could live with more confidence. Some people
spat, some said hi. Now we have to live trusting in God."
She draws
strength from her faith and assistance from local volunteers, yet
incidents continue; a teenager recently spat behind her as they
walked past ultra-Orthodox Jews. The youth insisted she was merely
clearing her throat, but the volunteer alerted police.
Such episodes
reflect the ongoing struggles faced by Christians in Israel,
especially after the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023 deepened
conflict and division. However, religious leaders and analysts cite
positive steps, including firmer policing, prosecutions, and the
selection of a Greek Orthodox government envoy to the Christian
world.
Across northern
Israel, some Christians feel the state offers inadequate protection
from crime because they are not Jewish. Nevertheless, these concerns
did not prevent Catholic groups from attending a recent celebration
on Mount Tabor, the site where the Gospels state Jesus appeared
transfigured with Moses and Elijah.
“In a world
where darkness is filling the hearts of people, we need to diffuse
God’s light to other people,” said Sister Muna, the nun who led
one youth group.
For many
Christians and Jews, protecting coexistence in the Holy Land is a
moral imperative after their own long histories of religious
persecution.
“I don’t
want Christians to go out of their house in Jerusalem … and have
fear,” said Yisca Harani, the Jewish Israeli educator and activist
who escorted Sister Mayela. “I’ve gone through this 2,000 years
in my Jewish history. I’m not going to let that happen.”
In the Old
City, Jewish men in black hats and tzitzit tassels, Muslim women in
hijabs and Christian priests in flowing robes walk past each other
daily in the maze of stone alleyways. Many are headed to pray at the
Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the Al-Aqsa Mosque
compound. These are some of the most sacred sites respectively for
Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and they are close to each other.
“If you
stroll around in your habit, sooner or later you’ll get some
spitting next to you,” said the Rev. Alberto Pari, who leads
interfaith dialogue and Christian-Jewish relations as secretary to
the Custody of the Holy Land, the Catholic order ministering to holy
sites across the region. “But it’s important not to generalize,
because that unleashes antisemitism.”
Religious
Freedom Data Center, the organization that Harani founded to track
harassment of Christians, has recorded a near-tripling of incidents
in Jerusalem from four years ago to the last three months recorded —
about one a day now — virtually all by Jewish religious
nationalists.
A Jewish man
from a settlement in the occupied West Bank was indicted in the
violent attack on the nun in April. The French Biblical and
Archeological School of Jerusalem where the nun is a researcher
expects “effective prosecution at the criminal and civil levels,”
said the school’s director, Friar Olivier Poquillon.
Among those
reaching out to Catholic leaders to denounce the attack and offer
support was Ambassador George Deek, Israel's new envoy tasked with
building what he calls the “special relationship” between
Christians and the country, to both keep Christians safe and partner
on issues like fighting antisemitism.
“We believe
that every incident against Christians is immoral, illegal and should
be prosecuted. That’s exactly what we are going to do,” Deek told
The Associated Press. “We want to make sure that Israel continues
to prosper and grow as a place where Christians can not only survive,
but they can thrive.”
Around the time
that the nun was attacked, two other incidents drew global
condemnation. An Israeli soldier smashed a crucifix in a family
garden and another stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the
Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon, where the military is fighting
Hezbollah militants. The soldiers involved received military prison
sentences.
Most Israelis
find harassment unacceptable. But Jewish religious nationalists,
particularly uneducated young men, remain a threat, said John Munayer
of the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue, an interreligious
organization in Jerusalem.
Their hostility
to Christians is grounded in the history of persecution of Jews in
Christian-majority European countries, in faith practices they see as
idol-worshipping, and in a “general intolerance” for anyone who’s
not Jewish near sacred areas like the Western Wall, Munayer said.
Then there’s
the overhanging trauma of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, since
most local Christians in Israel and the occupied West Bank are
Palestinian.
In Taybeh, the
last entirely Christian village in the West Bank, Jewish settlers
recently cut through house fences and destroyed fruit and vegetable
gardens, said the Rev. Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of Christ the
Redeemer Catholic Church.
“All the
people here are afraid,” he said. “Settlers come and go every
day.”
Israel’s army
declared the village a closed military zone earlier this week to curb
the attacks. But concerns about Israel’s ability and willingness to
rein in the settlers remain even among evangelicals, who are among
the staunchest Christian supporters of Israel.
“What happens
in Taybeh is really troubling,” said David Parsons, spokesperson
for International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. “Israeli leaders
have realized for some time that Christian support for their nation
is not only vital, it’s a strategic interest.”
And yet since
the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, “generalized fear and skepticism”
pervaded all interreligious work, Pari said. The interfaith music
institute he directs, Magnificat, was invited to play at a peace
march in Jerusalem. But when the Palestinian members saw that the
stage had been set up by an Old City gate flanked by Israeli flags,
they refused to play.
“I felt a
real failure,” Pari said. “We think that as Christians, we have a
very important role to patch things back together. ... It will be
difficult, but we can do it.”
That
faith-grounded resilience prevailed among the Mount Tabor pilgrims,
who gathered on the mountain to celebrate the feast of the
Transfiguration last week. Rising interfaith tensions and crime have
driven many of the area’s Christians to emigrate, several said.
“It’s very
difficult that we keep our identity as Christians in the Middle East,
but it’s the most important,” said John Akleh, 20, who came with
Sister Muna’s group.
Ten pilgrims
from nearby Nazareth — where Jesus grew up — started the climb at
4:15 a.m. led by the Rev. Fadi Shallufi in a yearly tradition they’ve
maintained even in wartime.
“We will have
a lot of sacrifice, but you will be sure in this land something will
change,” Shallufi told them as he celebrated Mass in the
mountaintop basilica.
⚠️ A Warning to
America on The Feast Day of the Transfiguration of the Lord | Hillary
is Coming to California
❖ Every year on Nehase 13 (August 19) Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord and
saviour Eyesus Kirstos Mount of Tabor (Debre Tabor). Our Lord
revealed the mystery of Mount Tabor when He was with his three
disciples Peter, James, and John. There were also three heavenly
witnesses: Moses, Elijah, and the voice of God from heaven.
EVERY year, around the
time of serving Holy Communion a miraculous cloud appears all of a
sudden (from a crystal clear night) and moves around wherever it
wishes. As you can see in the video, it was near the moon and also
flowing through the entrance of the monastery.
❖[Matthew 17:1-9 ]❖
1 And
after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and
bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
2 And was transfigured
before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was
white as the light.
3 And, behold, there
appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
4 Then answered Peter, and
said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt,
let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias.
5 While he yet spake,
behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of
the cloud, which said, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased; hear ye him.
6 And when the disciples
heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
7 And Jesus came and
touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
8 And when they had lifted
up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
9 And as they came down
from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no
man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
👉 Thus, the Old
Testament law requiring three witnesses to attest to any fact was
fulfilled: both on earth, as well as in heaven.
❖❖❖[Deuteronomy 19:15]❖❖❖
“One witness shall not
rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin
that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of
three witnesses, shall the matter be established.”
👉 The prophecy was
also spoken by King David.
❖❖❖[Psalm 89:12]❖❖
“The north
and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice
in thy name.”
The Feast of the
Transfiguration is also known as "Buhe" by the members of
the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Buhe (ቡሄ)
means "bald or bare." because it is around the time where
the continues rain, the fog, the clouds are start getting to stop and
the light shines. Hence Buhe marks the last days of the rainy season
approaching. Therefore, the arrival of Buhe celebration indicates the
darkness of rainy season pass, and it will lead to light and
brightness. There is a known proverb "after Bohe celebration,
there will be no rainy season after rooster crows, there will be no
night”.
The Feast of the
Transfiguration also called the Feast of Light to commemorates that
at the time of his Transfiguration his face shone like the sun, and
His garments became gleaming white. In Ethiopia parishioners light a
torch at night. This is an example of the divinity light seen on
Mount Tabor.
When Buhe
is approaching the children would start making whip sound is to
imitate the sound of the thunder that was heard in the sky, and when
they hear this sound mothers will start grinding their wheat to bake
bread for the festival. On the eve of the festival Nehase 12(August
18), children would go from house to house saying, “buhe Buhe blue
lejoch hulu – come out children sing bohe bohe “. The mothers
then pick up the bread and give it to them.
On the day of
Transfiguration, the shepherds did not return home because they
thought it was still daylight. Observing the children's delay, the
mothers lit a torch and took out bread. It is from this story that a
loaf of bread is given to the children and the torch is lit. Buhe
bread is given to a Christian child, son-in-law, mother-in-law, and
all relatives.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, One God, Amen ! Amen ! Amen !
🐎 The
3rd Horseman rode a black horse, bringing famine and economic
collapse In the Book of Revelation, the rider on the black horse is
the third of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, appearing in
Revelation 6:5–6 when the Lamb (Jesus
Christ) opens the third seal.
The rider and
his horse are symbols of famine and economic collapse.
"When the
Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say,
'Come!' And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a
pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in
the midst of the four living creatures, saying, 'A quart of wheat for
a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not
harm the oil and wine!'" (Revelation 6:5–6)
👹 Saudi
Arabia's Helel / Halal/ Lucifer Mobile McDonald's for 'Red' Trump |
The Four Horsemen Mounted
