Earlier this year Israel’s Supreme Court ruled against the Church in a 14 year old case which looked at the purchase of properties at the entrance to the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem known as Jaffa Gate.

Churches in Jerusalem claim their presence in the holy city is under threat due to the legal ruling.

Church authorities say the buildings were sold by a rogue employee, who had no authority to do so, for $2.2m despite their estimated value of $6.7.

The employee, named as Nicolas Papadimas, has since fled the country.

The Church now says it has new evidence showing wrongdoing by the new owners Ateret Cohanim.

Announcing the legal action in a statement, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said: “Despite the fact that the planned legal action by the Patriarchate is rare and difficult, and despite the fact that the judicial proceedings regarding the above mentioned properties have exhausted the Patriarchate for a decade and a half, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem considers the Old City of Jerusalem a ‘red line’ and the core of the Christian belief, and the Patriarchate pledges that it will defend these principles and reclaim its properties; whether through judicial or diplomatic efforts, and in cooperation with the promoters of peace, joined by Christians around the world, protecting the Church heritage at the doors of the Holy Sepulchre and in the…

This comes after comments made by cultural historian Jon Lawrence, who has claimed that the ‘Facebook generation’ is more likely to forge worthwhile social connections than previous generations, because they are able to choose them.
 
The history professor at the University of Exeter said that because previous communities were built solely by proximity, people were often left isolated with no one else to turn to when disagreements occurred.

Mr Lawrence believes a small distance is healthy to build happy and mutual relationships.

Doctor Bex Lewis, Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at Manchester Metropolitan University told Premier the digital world exposes people to a wider community to learn from and grow with.

She said: “There are times when you kind of get cut off from other people and you need to deal with the situation but you don’t know how to and actually getting advice from people who are the other end of the country can be really, really helpful.”

Dr Lewis argued that communities no longer need to be defined by location and the digital space can be a positive way to bring people together.

The lecturer, who suffers from cancer, has found her online community has acted as a form of church family throughout difficult moments: “I’ve been blogging about my experience. I’ve been able to let people know on social media when I need help, if physically, I’m not…

The project is set up by Resound Worship, a group of British worship songwriters who want to equip the local church with lyrics that talk about caring for the planet.

Joel Payne, a songwriter and co-ordinator of Resound Worship, told Premier why they want to do it: “You only have to switch on the news these days for ten minutes to realise there’s a big crisis in our world in terms of the environment and as a group of songwriters we’re always looking at what we sing in church – the kind of language, the kind of themes and so on because they reflect quite a lot what’s important to us – and we’ve been really aware that we don’t have a lot to say in worship language, especially contemporary worship language in church, so we thought we’d better get onto it and try to write a collection of new songs which cover these kind of themes.”

Anyone can submit a song idea for £5 (maximum two songs) by Friday 18th October, by filling out an online form with the song title, lyrics, chord chart or mp3 file, or a note saying that the lyrics are to the tune of a traditional hymn.

Advice on the website guides entrants to make it sound like it could seamlessly be used in a church service and gives some suggestions of places in the Bible to go to for ideas, such as Psalm 104, Genesis 2:15 and Ezekiel 34:18, about enjoying creation without ruining it.

Mr Payne added that there may be…

The 35-year-old, who worked in commercial property law before her election to parliament in 2017, was jailed for perverting the course of justice last year by claiming someone else was driving her car.

A number of allegations were found proven by a misconduct tribunal on Tuesday, meaning she can no longer practise as a regulated solicitor.

Edward Nally, chairman of a three-member panel at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in central London, said: “As a parliamentarian makes the law so a solicitor must uphold the law and rule of law, and sadly in this case Ms Onasanya has failed in those duties.

“We must strike off Ms Onasanya from the roll of solicitors.”

The tribunal found she acted dishonestly, failed to act with integrity and failed to behave in a way that maintains the trust the public places in her.

Mr Nally went on: “That conviction we are aware has led to disastrous consequences for Ms Onasanya both personally and professionally.

“As a solicitor there are professional consequences that follow from a proven act of dishonesty that has been found by a jury after trial.”

The University of Hertfordshire graduate was also ordered to pay £6,562 to cover the costs of the prosecution by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

The SRA had originally applied for £22,762 after saying the case took 40 hours of preparation, but Mr Nally reduced it after saying he…