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Editor’s Note:
I’ve heard of “the devil made me do it”, but “St Gregory of Nyssa made me do it” is a new one on me. Pass the jug and cross yourself… the world’s being its usual capricious, sardonic, and unpredictable self. However, the perp’s in the laughing academy where he belongs… I think that he did it deliberately to get back in. No lie; there are folks like that, kids. It DOES take all kinds…
It’s not usual for the GOAA to have “house churches”… they don’t go in for “small”. Yet, the church illustration on the GOAA site does look rather small, indeed… one wonders “why?”
BMD
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On Tuesday, a court ordered a man who set fire to a church in Rancho San Diego CA and attacked a cellmate four days after his arrest to spend seven years and four months in a state mental hospital. Last month, Darin Wayne Williams, 39, pleaded guilty to arson and assault with intent to commit mayhem. Following a full evaluation by two court-appointed doctors, attorneys on both sides agreed that Williams was legally insane at the time of both offenses. On Tuesday, Judge John Thompson ordered Williams committed to Patton State Hospital for the seven-year-plus term. Deputy District Attorney David Williams III, who’s not a relative of the defendant, said that Williams would “receive treatment for a major mental illness and the public will remain protected”. According to the prosecutor, if, after seven years and four months at the hospital, doctors determine the defendant still poses a threat to the community, he could stay there for two-year extensions for the rest of his life.
On 27 January, cops arrested the defendant within hours of a fire that caused about 250,000 USD (8.24 million Roubles. 262,000 CAD. 268,000 AUD. 186,000 Euros. 156,000 UK Pounds) in damage to St Gregory of Nyssa Greek Orthodox Church in the 1900 block of Maryann Way at Jamacha Road. According to authorities, Williams said that his patron saint, St Gregory of Nyssa, told him to do it. There were no injuries caused by the 04.00 PDT blaze, which the sheriff’s Bomb/Arson Unit and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated. Before the fire, church officials knew the defendant. Rev Simeon Corona, a Greek Orthodox priest, told reporters that Williams was in psychiatric hospitals before, but he released from one shortly before he set the fire. Fr Simeon told 10News, “He was a sick young man. He was a member as best he could be. We helped him as best we could, as well, but he was ill; off his medications and obviously got violent”. Rev Corona said that he and the parish forgave Williams, adding, “We still pray for him daily and at every service. We want the best for him, that he’ll get the help he needs”. According to the priest, Williams rented a room from a parishioner and became upset after his landlord told him that he couldn’t stay there unless he took his medication. His motive for attacking his cellmate was unclear. The parish is building a new church on the site; it hopes to complete it in time for Christmas services.
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On Tuesday, a court ordered a man who set fire to a Greek Orthodox church in unincorporated El Cajon CA sent to a state mental hospital for a seven-year term. Later, the perp attacked his cellmate in county jail. In October, Darin Wayne Williams, 39, admitted that he committed arson and assault with intent to commit mayhem in connection with both incidents. Two court-appointed doctors examined him and determined that he was legally insane at the time of the offenses. Previously, his lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Paul Rodriguez, entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity on Williams’ behalf. On Tuesday, at a sentencing hearing, El Cajon Judge John Thompson ordered Williams committed to Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County for seven years and four months. Deputy District Attorney David Williams III, who’s not a relative of the defendant, said in a phone interview that the defendant would receive care at the hospital “for his major mental illness, and the public will remain protected”. He said that if doctors determine at the end of that term that the defendant still poses a danger to the community, potentially, they could extend his commitment in hospital for the rest of his life.
On 27 January, Cops arrested Darin Williams, hours after the fire started at St Gregory of Nyssa Greek Orthodox Church. The blaze started about 04.00 PDT, under a patio in the back of the church off Jamacha Road near Hidden Mesa Road. The church building was a converted single-family home. Early estimates of the damage were close to 250,000 USD. The attack on Williams’ cellmate happened on 31 January.
Dana Littlefield
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19 November 2013
KGTV ABC 10 News
U-T San Diego
http://www.10news.com/news/man-who-set-fire-to-greek-orthodox-church-and-later-attacked-cellmate-scheduled-to-be-sentenced-111913
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/nov/19/church-arsonist-sent-state-hospital/
Voices from Russia 
Turkey and Greece Feud over Hagia Sophia
Tags: Bülent Arınç, Byzantine, Christian, Christianity, Eastern Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, EU, European Union, Greece, Greek Foreign Ministry, Greek Orthodox, Greek Orthodox Church, Hagia Sophia, Islam, Istanbul, Justice and Development Party, Orthodox, Orthodoxy, political commentary, politics, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Turkey
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On Wednesday, a war of words existed between Turkey and Greece over the possible conversion of Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul‘s most stunning landmarks, into a mosque. The feud over the 1,476-year-old UNESCO World Heritage Site is the latest to erupt between the two neighbours over religion. Greece reacted furiously to remarks by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç that he hoped to change the status of Hagia Sophia, which is now a museum. On Monday, Arınç said, “We’re looking at a sad Hagia Sophia, but hopefully we’ll see it smiling again soon”, describing the complex in Istanbul’s historic quarter as the “Hagia Sophia Mosque”.
Hagia Sophia, which dates back to 537, was a church for centuries… and the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople… before the Ottoman conquerors converted it to a mosque in 1453. After the emergence of modern secular Turkey, it opened as a museum in 1935. The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, “Recurrent statements made by high-ranking Turkish officials about converting Byzantine (sic) Christian churches into mosques offend the religious feeling of millions of Christians”. However, on Wednesday, Turkey bluntly retorted, “We have nothing to learn” from Greece about freedom of religion. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, “Greece’s spiteful treatment of Ottoman-era cultural artefacts and places of worship is well-known by all”.
Greece was once part of the Ottoman Empire; it and Turkey share a history marred by bitter territorial disputes and Christian-Muslim feuds. Mosques are a thorny issue in Greece, where the population is predominantly Greek Orthodox. Athens is one of the few European capitals without an official mosque. On Monday, Arınç, a member of the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) said that two other religious sites in Turkey, also named Hagia Sophia, would become mosques (here and here). Its secular opponents often accuse the government of forcing Islamist values on the predominantly-Muslim, but strictly-secular country.
20 November 2013
The Daily Star (Lebanon)
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Nov-20/238455-turkey-and-greece-feud-over-hagia-sophia.ashx