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Iran Youth for Peace and Interreligious Dialogue |
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Written by Atefeh Sadeghi
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Monday, 05 November 2007 |
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Page 4 of 5
In response to a question concerning why there are four gospels in Christianity, while Islam and Judaism have only one holy bible each, Priest Komitas said: “Just like Muslims and Jews, the Christians have one holy bible too, rather than four ones. The holy bible is the same for all Christians, which includes 2 Chapters: Old Testament and New Testament. The Old Testament is composed of 47 books and the New Testament is composed of 27 books, of which 4 ones are the four Christian Gospels that were written by the disciples. But all of these books are not separate from but complementary to each other. The Gospel of Saint Matthew has been written to call the Jews to Christianity, the Gospel of Saint John states the divinity of the Christ and the two other ones, Saint Mark’s and Saint Luke’s Gospels, were written to call the Romans and Greeks to Christianity.”
He said about the Christian ceremonies and traditions during the Christmas, “Armenian Christians begin to fast two days before the January Celebration to the birthday of the Christ (Christmas) and avoid eating meat in their meals. The Lord’s Supper Ceremony is held on the sixth day of January too, and, after that, the Cross Honoring ceremony is performed, during which a cross (a symbol of Christ) is put in the water. Then a teenager brings the cross out of the water and keeps it for one year.
In continuation of the program, the Armenian Church’s choir group sings a carol about the Christ’s birth (Christmas) and his appearance in the world. Some of these carols are in fact those sung in the Lord’s Supper Ceremony.”
At the end of the program, Ms. Fahimeh Mousavinejad, Head of the Institute for Interreligious Dialogue, while extending good wishes for the Christian holidays of Christmas and New Year’s to all Christians attending in the meeting, wished the coming year to be a new opportunity to lay the ground for accomplishing religious dialogue and to achieve a world full of peace as a result.
The Jews and Zoroastrians participating in the meeting congratulated the 2005th birth anniversary of the Christ (Christmas) to the Christians.
Participation at Erfurt University Summer school: "Muslims in the West"
German Universities and Attempting to Introduce Islamic Culture
The German University of Erfurt has taken measure to hold summer courses of “Muslims in Western Countries” for three successive years. This 12-day course, has gathered 25 Muslims from Turkey, India, Sudan, Pakistan, South Africa, Iran and Malaysia as well as 15 German students from different universities. This summer program was held by German Academic Services Exchange Association (DAAD) to promote amicable coexisting and acceptance the others.
The focus of this program was, firstly, on the cultural clashes between Muslims and Westerns, and secondly on Muslim societies in their respective countries. The participants were divided into two groups, and all of the participants discussed the same topic.
Albert Foss, the Instructor of Islamic Studies Course in Erfurt, said, “This program was a suitable opportunity for the German students to get close to their Muslim counterparts. German students said that they had decided to join this program to learn more about Islam and study its real nature.”
Sebastian Harendesh, one of the German students, said, “The reason for which I was interested in participating in this course was the consequences of 11th of September happening which misrepresented Islam to the world. So I was encouraged to participate in such a course to increase my information. I think that attending this course we will have a chance to know each other better.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, 05 November 2007 )
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