al-Karma: The Church's Challenges between Extremism and Wisdom

Arabic original, which was published unsigned in the bulletin of the Archdiocese of Tripoli, al-Karma, here.

The Church's Challenges between Extremism and Wisdom

There are many challenges that the Church faces today throughout the world, and there is a great responsibility placed upon her priests to confront these challenges, especially with regard to preserving both the faith and the faithful from the blemishes that can filter into the life of the faithful and the Church.

There is no doubt that the spirit of the world, which is contrary to the spirit of the Gospel, is the greatest danger to members of the Church and to the Church's existence, since it is like water that enters into a boat through a little hole, sinking it.

In this way, the spirit of the world and the logic of the world unfortunately seep into the minds of the faithful and the thinking of the Church, which gradually leads to a transformation of the Church into a worldly church and turns her into a worldly social, humanitarian institution, depriving her of her fundamental purpose and mission in this world, for which she was founded: sanctifying and saving souls.

For this reason, the Orthodox Church is concerned with preserving her members from strange teachings about her upright, patristic faith, which she has passed down from generation to generation.

The way the Church confronts this situation must be decisive and indisputable. But at the same time, in order for this confrontation to succeed, it must be conducted with discernment and wisdom, placing before us on the one hand the goal of protecting the flock, and on the other hand attracting others to the truth.

In order to do this, we must acquire a language for speaking with the children of this age. We must know how to approach them, in a world that uses every means to deceive them and draw them to itself.

In this regard, we can say that the excessive zeal shown by certain pastors and members of the faithful leads to the opposite effect. Instead of defending the flock, we scatter it, and instead of drawing others to the truth that we are defending, we cause them to flee from it.

Therefore, if we want to defend the truth in the faith, we must be "as wise as serpents" (Matthew 10:16) and acquire the wisdom that the Lord Jesus Christ had. So let us take as our model his encounter with the Samaritan woman (John 4:4-42). This woman was an adulteress, as well as being a heretic according to the Jews' understanding. But the Lord did not use any hurtful word with her, neither with regard to her sin or with regard to the error of her faith. Instead, He roused her conscience with gentleness and tenderness. He told her the truth with gentle words far-removed from any hurtfulness when He explained to her that salvation is from the Jews and not from the Samaritans. But at the same time, by His love and His wisdom, He saved her from her previous life and her erroneous faith and brought her to faith in Him.

Likewise, in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) the Lord showed that the Samaritan, whose dogma was in error, surpassed in his goodness the priest and the Levite, who belonged to the Jewish faith, since he behaved correctly when he acted with mercy toward his brother in humanity!

When He healed the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19), the Lord praised the Samaritan leper who alone returned to give thanks!

What's more, the Lord praised the faith of the pagan Canaanite woman:"O woman, great is your faith!" (Matthew 15:28). He likewise praised the faith of the pagan centurion: "

The Apostle Paul acted with this wisdom when he addressed the pagans of Athens, since he did not hurt them by calling them pagans, infidels or unbelievers, even though this was the case, but rather, seeking to catch them for the Lord and draw them to the truth, with skill and wisdom he told them:

"As I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you" (Acts 17:23). Was Paul lying or compromising the truth?!

Always, like a skillful fisher of souls, he wanted to attract them to true faith in the Son of God.

And so our duty is to hold fast to the truth that is with us. Our responsibility is to proclaim it to the whole world, but with discernment, wisdom and respect for others' freedom, this freedom that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself respected when he said: "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!" (Matthew 8:10).

"If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16: 24), so anyone who does not so desire is free!