Brrr And Winter Starts Tomorrow?

It is a balmy 2^o F and according to the National Weather Service

WIND CHILL INDICES THIS MORNING RANGING FROM AROUND 10 BELOW, TO NEAR 15 BELOW ZERO MAY BE EXPECTED

which isn't really conducive to my crawling out from under the covers. But the lure of a caffeine fix did the trick. My plans include some work on the site which lead me to notice a headline (on the recently added 7AM New Feed -their link) Charges Against Turkish Patriarch Dropped (as reported by Newsday.)

It caught my eye since a branch of the family is Greek Orthodox and knew even from the headline it would involve their church. Greece, Turkey and Cypress are the Mediterranean version of the Irish, English, Protestant, Catholic troubles with a longer history and a tad less recent violence. The sad part is this a dispute between two Christian communities that found its way into the secular court of a predominantly Muslim country.

The bright note is Turkey is demonstrating that a Muslim nation can be secular and wise enough to rise above this squabble, particularly when it involves Greek and Bulgarian prelates. To put it into historical perspective

The Ecumenical Patriarchate dates from the Orthodox Greek Byzantine Empire, which collapsed when the Muslim Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople, today's Istanbul, in 1453.

Naturally, the lawyers for each side had the exact opposite takes on the outcome.