Abraham

President Vladimir Putin's decision to move one of Russia's holiest icons from a museum to a Moscow cathedral highlights his growing reliance on the Church as the Ukraine war drags on, but has also raised fears about the safety of the fragile artifact.

On January 1, Bulgaria's Orthodox Church celebrates the Circumcision of the Lord. Circumcision is an Old Testament sacrament that began at the beginning of the second millennium before Christ. It was introduced by the forefather Abraham as a sign of the covenant between God and God's chosen people, but it also appears as a type of Holy Baptism.

There were 5,102 people hospitalized for injuries while sacrificing animals on the first day of the Eid al-Adha across the country, Demirören News Agency has reported.

"The emergency rooms of hospitals were filled by inexperienced butchers," the agency said on July 10.

Muslim pilgrims cast pebbles in the "stoning of the devil" ritual marking the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday on July 9, as this year's expanded hajj pilgrimage was winding down.

From first light, small groups of worshippers made their way across the valley of Mina, near Mecca in western Saudi Arabia, to throw stones at three concrete walls representing Satan.

Within the scope of preparations for Eid al-Adha, the first animal market in Istanbul has been created in the Arnavutköy district, with prices of the sacrificial animals doubling and tripling compared to last year.

The rock-carved churches, monasteries and chapels at the Göreme Open Air Museum, visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors every year in Turkey's Cappadocia region, attract tourists with their historical texture and frescoes that challenge centuries.

Home to 12,000-year-old Göbeklitepe and Balıklıgöl, two of the recognized centers of faith tourism, Turkey's southeastern province of Şanlıurfa is waiting to welcome tourist once again in the coming spring season with steps for the gradual normalization to begin soon.

Şanlıurfa is believed to be the first place where Islam entered Anatolia.