monastery

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Police Circle Village After Gunmen Storm Monastery

Gunbattles flare near Kosovo's border with Serbia

(Newser) - At least 30 gunmen killed a Kosovar Albanian police officer, then stormed an Orthodox monastery in Kosovo near its border with Serbia, setting off ongoing gunbattles that have left three assailants dead and raised tensions between the two former wartime foes as they seek to normalize ties. Police have surrounded...

Ukraine Raids 'Monastery of the Caves' in Its Own Capital

In effort to stop Russian sympathizers from using Pechersk Lavra complex for sabotage

(Newser) - If it seems counterintuitive that Ukrainian forces raided one of its own holy sites this week, it's strictly a preemptive strike. The BBC reports that the nation's SBU security service descended Tuesday upon Kyiv's Pechersk Lavra Christian monastery, a 1,000-year-old Eastern Orthodox church that, until recently,...

Greek Monastery Holds 25K Ancient Ottoman Manuscripts

They're now being studied for the first time

(Newser) - Deep inside the medieval fortified Pantokrator Monastery in the Mount Athos monastic Orthodox Christian community, researchers are for the first time tapping a virtually unknown treasure—thousands of Ottoman-era manuscripts that include the oldest of their kind in the world. The libraries of the self-governed community, established more than 1,...

Court Gives OK to Steve Bannon for Right-Wing 'Political Academy'

Ex-Trump adviser will set up Dignitatis Humanae Institute in centuries-old Italian monastery

(Newser) - Steve Bannon, President Trump's controversial former top adviser, has emerged victorious in his quest to set up a "right-wing Catholic political academy" in Italy, per Reuters . A ruling released Tuesday notes that the Dignitatis Humanae Institute will be able to set up shop in an 800-year-old monastery to...

30 Nuns and 1 Priest Stuck in the Snow: Don't Come Get Us

Austrian order has been cut off from the world for days

(Newser) - Authorities in Austria tried to reach dozens of Catholic nuns whose Alpine monastery has been cut off from the world for days because of heavy snowfall, per the AP . But public broadcaster ORF reported Thursday that the nuns say they've got enough food and fuel, and they want to...

ISIS Destroys Oldest Christian Monastery in Iraq

St. Elijah's Monastery is now 'a pile of rubble'

(Newser) - The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, another apparent victim of the Islamic State's relentless destruction of ancient cultural sites. Satellite photos obtained exclusively by the AP confirm the worst fears of church authorities and preservationists—St. Elijah's Monastery of Mosul...

Pope Evicts 'Loose-Living' Monks

Monks hosted concerts starring prancing nuns

(Newser) - Some party-loving monks have been evicted from Rome's Santa Croce monastery by order of the Pope. The monks, whose abbey was attached to a church holding some of Catholicism's holiest relics, staged concerts featuring a lap dancer-turned-nun, hosted VIP guests including Madonna, and opened a hotel with a...

Turkey Battles Over Christian Monastery

Dispute over ancient monastery's land could derail country's EU bid

(Newser) - A battle over an ancient Christian monastery could deal a fresh blow to Turkey's bid to join the European Union, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Syrian Orthodox Mor Gabriel monastery, built in southeast Turkey in 397 AD, is one of the oldest functioning monasteries in the world—but government...

Burma's Monks Forge Secret Relief Network

Monks lead aid effort pushed by government reluctance

(Newser) - Although Burma’s junta relented today and allowed in foreign aid workers, weeks of delays and restrictions have led to the formation of an underground network of volunteers led by monks, Internet activists, and pro-democracy students. The Wall Street Journal looks at their efforts, which risk the wrath of the...

Austrian Monks Nab Record Deal
 Austrian Monks Nab Record Deal
Mar 23, 2008 2:16 PM CDT

Austrian Monks Nab Record Deal

Austrian monks to record Gregorian chant album

(Newser) - Amy Winehouse and Cistercian monks wouldn't seem to have much in common, but now they've got the same record label, the BBC reports. Universal Music's search for "sacred singers" to record a Gregorian chant album turned up an Austrian monastery dating back to 1133. "It was beautiful, beautiful...

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