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"I do not
even God does in" (Phl 2,13)
From this
verse contained in the Letter of
Paul the Apostle, we proceed to give a brief history of the
establishment of the
Greek Orthodox Church in the State of precious Qatar. That
God wanted it to arise in the epoch of the enlightened
leadership of His Highness the Emir of the State of Qatar
the Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, May God protect him,
By
its wise policy preserves rights and guarantees freedom of
religion for all residents safely on the soil of this land,
which have outdone and resided in St. Isaac the Syriac, who
was born in the seventh century in Beit Qatria country (as
they were called Qatar old).
At the Easter 1997 AD, Ambassador American In the State of
Qatar
at
that time Mr. Patrick Theros - By the grace of God - gave
special invitation to the
Archimandrite Theophilos from the Patriarchate of Jerusalem
(which is now the Patriarch) to visit the city of Doha,
and Ambassador sought to obtain all the official permits
stakeholders to secure the arrival of Archimandrite
Theophilos and allow him to establish prayers of the last
three days of the holy week as well as celebrate the holy
Easter liturgy. To complete this initiative Ambassador
prepared his house and called all residents parish to
participate in these prayers making faith joy on the faces
of parish who have thanked God for what happened to them in
that year.
In the 1999 the late Patriarch of Jerusalem Diodoros the I
Triangle pities visit His Highness the Emir of Qatar State,
His Beatitude, where the official delegation at the head of
the bishops,
archimandrites and priests have welcomed by His Highness the Emir is
the best welcome and hospitality reflects the true Arab and
emphasizes the entrenchment of the spirit of religious
tolerance in the heart of the enlightened leadership of the
State of Qatar, from the heart of the tolerant teachings of
the religion of Islam.
Since
that
time,
Began to show signs of the establishment of the Greek
Orthodox Church in the State of dear Qatar, where the
Patriarch, Diodoros and who follow him- was succeeded by
sending a priest for the diocese of twice a year and to
establish prayers of Holy Week and Easter liturgy, and the
Christmas liturgy, and it has coincided with the
establishment of the State of Qatar licensing the Christian
communities to establish their religious rites, as well as
the emergence of the idea of holding an annual conference
for the dialogue of religions, which started organizing
since 2003.
On the
14th of October of
2004
were divine will let the Holy synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem
chaired by His Beatitude the
Patriarch Irenios to decide the appointed Archimandrite Makarios
Patriarchal Representative in Qatar for the establishment of
a lasting peace in the State of Qatar to closely care
spiritual affairs of the members of the parish and the
establishment of prayers and Divine liturgies regularly.
Since
then Father Makarios start the regulation of the Orthodox
parish, and visited the parish members and bless their homes
by the Holy Water and he was good supportive of the church
choir, which was founded one year before he came at the hands of
experienced in
reading Byzantine music. And in March of the year 2005 he engaged in the
establishment of the Sisterhood of Myrrh Bearers, which
includes a number of the ladies who take the initiative to
accomplish many of the social activities. The mainly were
organizing of bazaars
and spiritual
meeting. On the November 2005 with the cooperation of the youth group
of our Church, for the catechism of our youth, established
the Sunday school every Thursday evening. Nowadays in
cooperation with specialists from the youth of the parish
Father Makarios supervise the establishment and development
of this website, which reflects the extent of enthusiasm of
the youth of the parish and their cooperation and to trade
the weights and development grants awarded by them God,
which emphasizes that God is effective in Christ in all, and
he wanted to be branch in his vine.
In this
context we would like to point
out that our Orthodox Church in the State of Qatar is consisting out of
several nationalities of
its parishioners (Arabs, Cypriots, Greeks Serbs, Romanians and Russian
...).
How nice
to see all those races despite
the different languages habits, but they belong to the Christian faith
through the Holy Orthodox and Apostolic Church headed by the
Christ, who redeem all the peoples of the earth and gives
them the eternal life.Finally, it should be noted that our
Church still maintains the liturgies and prayers in the hall
of private
school in the city of Doha. It is currently seeking to build
a permanent church (the Church of St. Isaac and St. George)
which will hold
all church activities.
And we already get the approval for the church plans from
the official authorities to start the building process
May God
bless all
our parish members, and all who help in our Church
and all those that love the beauty of God holy house.
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