Notes on Arab Orthodoxy

A Wealth of Arab Orthodox History, for Free!

2012-02-08T19:56:00.000-05:00

Parole de l'Orient and its predecessor Melto is one of the most important journals for the study of Arabic and Syriac Christianity. Fortunately, its entire run up to 2009 is available in pdf's free online. Below I have linked to all the available articles dealing with Orthodox Christianity. Anyone interested in the history of Arab Orthodoxy would do well to browse through this literature........

In English:

Brock, Sebastian- A short melkite baptismal service in syriac (1972)

Makhlouf, Avril Mary- The trinitarian doctrine of Eutychius of Alexandria, 877 - 940 A.D. (1974)

Griffith, Sidney- Free will in christian kalam : the doctrine of Theodore Abu Qurrah (1987)

Sepmeijer, Floris- The book of splendor of the believer by Abdallah Ibn al-Fadl (1990)

Swanson, Mark- Some considerations for the dating of Fi tatlit allah al-wahid (Sin. ar. 154) and al-gami wuguh al-iman (London, british library or. 4950) (1993)

Griffith, Sidney- Reflections on the biography of Theodore Abu Qurrah (1993)

Sminé, Rima- The miniatures of a christian arabic barlaam and joasaph, Balamand 147 (1993)

Portillo, Rocio Daga- The arabic life of St. John of Damascus (1996)

Walbiner, Carsten-Michael- Accounts on Georgia in the works of Makariyus Ibn al-Zaim (1996)

Eid Bualuan, Hayat- Mikha'il Breik, a chronicler and historian in 18th century Bilad Al-Sam (1996)

Sahas, Daniel- Why did Heraclius not defend Jerusalem and fight the arabs ? (1998)

Griffith, Sidney- The Qur'an in arab christian texts : the development of an apologetical argument : Abu Qurrah in the maglis of al-ma'mun (1998)

Nassif, Bassam- Religious Dialogue in the Eighth Century : Example from Theodore Abu Qurrah Treatise (2005)

Khalifeh, Elia- A Project on the Antiochian Chalcedonian Orthodox Manuscripts : Syriac, Arabic, Cpa and Greek (2006)

Wannous, Ramy- Abdallah Ibn al-Fadl Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (2007)

Varsanyi, Orsolya- The Role of the Intellect in Theodore Abu Qurrah's On the True Religion (2009)

Righi, Davide- The Dialog Attributed to Abraham of Tiberias : new Research of his historical Environment (2009)

Nasry, Wafik- Is there a Relationship between Al-Mugadalah and Gami Wuguh al-Iman ? (2009)

Bualuan, Hayat el-Eid- The Rise of Druzism in Tarih bin Said al-Antaki Silat Tarih Utiha (2009)

Youssef, Youhanna Nessim- Melkites in Egypt According to Abu al-Makarim (XII Century) (2009)

Bahkou, Abjar- Kitab al-kafi fi al-mana al-safi, the Complete Book of the Proper Meaning : the Christian Apology of Gerasimus (2009)

Kaidbey, Naila- Melkites in the Writings of Muslim Historians of Bilad al-Sam (2009)

Walbiner, Carsten-Michael- Preserving the Past and Enlightening the Present : Macarius B. al-Zaim and Medieval Melkite Literature (2009)

After the jump, articles in French and a few in Italian and German:

Khalifé, Elie- Notice sur un manuscrit du poète arabe chrétien Sulaiman Ibn Hasan al-Gazzi (1966)

Basile, Basile- Un ancien témoin arabe des lettres d'Ignace d'Antioche (1968)

Basile, Basile- Une autre version arabe de la lettre aux romains de St. Ignace d'Antioche (1969)

Nasrallah, Joseph- Le couvent de Saint-Siméon l'Alépin : témoignages littéraires et jalons sur son histoire (1970)

Nasrallah, Joseph- L'orthodoxie de Siméon Stylite l'Alépin et sa survie dans l'Eglise melchite (1971)

Raheb, Abdallah- La conception de l'union dans le patriarcat orthodoxe d'antioche 1622 - 1672 (1972)

Hallit, Joseph- La croix dans le rite byzantin : histoire et théologie (1972)

Khalil, Samir- Le recueil éphrémien arabe des 30 homélies, sinaï arabe 311 (1973)

Nasrallah, Joseph- Médecins melchites de l'époque ayyubide (1974)

Breydy, Michel- La conquête arabe de l'Egypte : un fragment du traditionniste Uthman Ibn Salih, 144 - 219 A.H. = 761 - 834 A.D., identifié dans les annales d'Eutychios d'Alexandrie, 877 - 940 A.D. (1977)

Hallit, Joseph- La typologie de la croix dans l'hymnographie byzantine (1979)

Samir, Samir Khalil- Une apologie arabe du christianisme d'époque umayyade ? (1990)

Dick, Ignace- La discussion d'Abu Qurra avec les ulémas musulmans devant le calife al-ma'mun (1990)

Van Esbroeck, Michel- La vie arabe de Saint Théodose le Cénobiarque (1993)

Troupeau, Gérard- Un ancien guide arabe des lieux saints (1996)

Outtier, Bernard- A propos des traductions de l'arabe en arménien et en géorgien (1996)

Obeid, Joseph- Ignace d'Antioche, lettre aux romains : versions syriaque et arabe (1996)

Suermann, Harald- Sulayman Al-Gazzi, évêque melchite de Gaza XIe siècle, sur les maronites (1996)

Slim Abouelrousse, Souad- L'impact de la chute de constantinople sur les mentalités arabes chrétiennes à Alep au XVIIIe siècle (1996)

Rassi-Rihani, Juliette- Sources arabes du Livre de l'abeille, Kitab al-nahlah, de Makariyus Ibn Al-Zaim (1996)

Heyberger, Bernard- Un nouveau modèle de conscience individuelle et de comportement social : les confréries d'Alep XVIIIe - XIXe siècles (1996)

Abras, Michel- Vies des saints d'Antioche de Makariyus Ibn Al-Zaim, patriarche d'Antioche 1647 - 1672 (1996)

Pizzo, Paola- L'islam e i musulmani nella difesa delle icone di Teodoro Abu Qurrah (1997)

Zilio-Grandi, Ida- La refutazione della profezia di Muhammad e del miracolo coranico di Qusta ib Luqa (1997)

Klein Wassilios- Das orthodoxe katholikat von Romagyris in Zentralasien (1998)

Walbiner, Carsten-Michael- Ein christlich-arabischer bericht über eine pilgerfahrt von damaskus zum Berge Sinai in den jahren 1635/36, Hs. Balamand 181 (1998)

Abras, Mikhail- Un riche recueil melkite inconnu, Dayr el-Sir 809 (2002)

La Spisa, Paolo- Una citazione di Giovanni Damasceno in Sulayman Ibn Hasan al-Gazzi (2002)

Slim Aboulrousse Souad- Les manuscrits Magmu' du monastère de Balamand et des monastères grecs orthodoxes du Mont Liban (2002)

Rassi, Juliette- La première lettre du patriarche Macaire Ibn al-Zaim 1648 - 1672 au roi de France Louis XIV datée du 19 nov. 1653 (2002)

Hosri, Laure- Les icônes melkites de l'école de Jérusalem au XIXe siècle (2002)

La Spisa, Paolo- I trattati teologici di Sulayman al-Gazzi : per una nuova edizione critica (2005)

Tamcke, Martin- Die Union der Apostolischen Kirche des Ostens mit der Russischen Orthodoxen Kirche aus der Sicht der "Lutherischen Nestorianer" (2006)

Binggeli, André- L'hagiographie du Sinaï en arabe d'après un recueil du IXe siècle (Sinaï arabe 542) (2007)

Rassi, Juliette- Le "Livre de l'abeille" (al-Nahlah) de Macaire Ibn al-Za'im, témoin de l'échange des cultures (2007)

Nasry, Wafik- Abu Qurrah, Al-Ma'mun and Yahya Ibn Aktam (2007)

Féghali, Paul- Abdallah Ibn al-Fadl al-Antaki et le commentaire de l'Evangile de Saint Jean (2009)

Rassi, Juliette- Le manuscrit arabe Sinaï 385 : s'agit-il des Pandectes de Nicon de la Montagne Noire (Xie siècle) ? (2009)

Slim, Souad- Yahya Ibn Said al-Antaki, entre tradition et renouveau (2009)

Jabre Mouawad, Ray- Une approche différente de la langue arabe par les melkites et les maronites du Liban d'après un poème d'Ibn al-Qilai (XVe s.) (2009)

Ghoneim, Hanna- Ein Bischofsweiheritus in der melkitischen Kirche nach einem Dokument aus dem 15. Jahrhundert, Inhaltsverzeichnis (2009)

Fr. Georges Massouh: Basilios Nassar and the Best Jihad

2012-02-02T16:24:00.001-05:00

The Arabic original can be found here.

Basilios Nassar and the Best Jihad

He was a fighter, but he was not like other fighters. He was a warrior, but he did not resemble any other warrior. He was armed, but his weapons are not of this world. He was a revolutionary, but his revolution was not of this world, even if it was in this world. He followed the example of his Jesus. His age was on the threshhold of thirty years. His name was Basilios Nassar and it has become the Martyr Basilios Nassar.

He was from the village of Kfarbahom in the district of Hama. He grew up in his village and studied theology in the St. John of Damascus Institute at Balamand University. He obtained a master's degree in theology and then returned to serve his village church. He was killed by treacherous bullets last week while performing humanitarian work, attempting to bring relief to a wounded member of his flock.

Father Baslios' weapon was the Holy Gospel and his armor the life-giving Cross. His sword was absolute truth and his arrow righteousness and piety. His citadel was the Holy Church which the Lord acquired with His holy blood. He carried love as a banner that sheltered him against hatred and prejudice. He raised up hope as a wall against oppression and coercion. He declared his faith in a teacher who left no law other than a single commandment: "Love each other as I have loved you."

Basilios believed that "the servant is not greater than his Master." Christ spoke these words when He washed the feet of His disciples on the night of His crucifixion. Basilios carried his apron and went around serving the poor, the destitute, the needy, the indigent, the sick, the widows, the orphans, the elderly... On his final trip, he wanted to be like that Samaritan who cared for the one who had "fallen among robbers," wounded and struggling with death. He went beyond what the Samaritan did, since it was not enough for him to give money for the wounded man's care. He paid for redemption with his blood, to save a person from death. He died so that someone else may live and so reached the limits of martyrdom.

Like his crucified teacher, Basilios did not believe in violence as a way to defend the oppressed. He believed in the Word of Truth and in human dignity and in the freedom that is the image of God in humankind. He did not carry a weapon to defend the children of his flock, but he carried his white shroud. He did not carry a white flag with which to surrender before blind hatred and the strife that has ignited among the children of a single nation and a single city and a single village. Rather, he carried the banner of love which alone destroys hatred and conquers it. A person does not conquer hatred with hatred. This is what Basilios said to us in his martyrdom.

Basilios comes from a Church that has produced thousands of holy martyrs, from a Church that considers bearing witness with blood to be the loftiest witness. He comes from a Church whose golden age was not an age of alliance with the state. Rather, her golden age was when she lived and spread and evangelized in the shadow of persecutions that the tyrannical Roman state unleashed against her children. He comes from a Church whose children say, "In Him (that is, the Lord) we live and move and have existence" and in no other.

It is important for us to know which side killed the Father Basilios the New Martyr, even if that is difficult in the midst of civil wars. However, it is more important for us not to traffic in his pure blood and not to profit from it in the bazaar of internal conflict. That said, the bitter reality indicates that an honorable Syrian citizen was killed by Syrian bullets fired by a Syrian citizen. This is the most painful thing, that the children of a single nation attack each other with bullets.

Blessed is the Orthodox Church to whom the beloved Basilios belongs, in the ranks of her righteous martyrs. Blessed is he because he completed his quest and fought the good fight. Is there anything more glorious than this jihad?

Fr. Georges Massouh is Professor of Islamic Studies at Balamand University.

Met. Elia (Saliba) of Hama's Eulogy for Fr. Basilios Nassar

2012-02-02T15:33:00.000-05:00

The Arabic original can be found here. I can't tell if this is the entire eulogy or simply excerpts. If anyone can find a more complete Arabic version, please let me know.

All thanks, gratitude, and respect to our master His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV Hazim, who, from the very first moment he heard about our loss contacted me to console his family and the faithful, and sent Bishops Mousa and Ghattas to participate in the prayers. I thank them and I thank you all for taking part and I ask God to comfort us all.

The loss of the dear spiritual son Father Basilios Nassar is a difficult experience for all of us, especially for his family and for his metropolitan. But what can be done, this has occurred and there is no power and no strength except in God, from Whom we draw help, strength, and patience and in Whom alone we take refuge in hardship and adversity, saying with the Psalmist, "O Lord of Hosts, be with us for there is no helper in sorrows but You. O Lord of Hosts, have mercy on us." We are in need of help and of God's mercy at every stage of our life, in joy and sorrow.

Beloved, all of you know Father Basilios, this dear son among the clergy, disciplined, intelligent, gifted, enthusiastic, helpful... He was undertaking a service for others when he was martyred... He went as a sacrifice to undertaking his duty, knowing precisely that our Church is the Church of martyrdom and bearing witness, bearing witness to the Lord Jesus and martyrdom for the sake of faith in Him.

I am puzzled, dear ones, as to whom to console. Should I console his family? I am even more in need of consolation. His family offered him to the Church and he was a point of love and appreciation. All know this, whether he was here or in the metropolitan's residence. He brought his enthusiasm to all the Archdiocese...

Let us all ask for great mercy and rest in the Kingdom for him and consolation and patience for all of us. God is the only comforter and He is with those who are patient.

Elia (Saliba)
Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Hama
January 26, 2012

Communiqué from the Patriarchate of Antioch on Violence in Syria and the Killing of Fr. Basilios Nassar

2012-02-01T09:32:00.000-05:00

The Arabic original can be found here. This English translation is unofficial.

Communiqué from the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch

As the Orthodox Church of Antioch looks at what is occurringin Syria, she regrets that the language of violence is overcoming the languageof love and brotherhood, which we have long believed in on the basis of ourdeep eastern roots which bear the message of love, brotherhood, andinterconnectedness.

At the very heart of Orthodoxy there is a yearning to builda single humanity united by faith in the one God, without making anydistinction within God's creation, regardless of color, race, or religion. Orthodoxyhas practiced this faith in her relations with the members of the singlenational family.

As we stand shocked at the killing of innocents and theincrease in bloodshed, this is because every drop of blood which falls on thesoil of this nation from which we come and to which we belong pains and sorrowsus. Here we refer to the killing of one of the priests of our Church in Hama,the Reverend Father Basilios Nassar who offered himself as a martyr on thealtar of service, imitating the Lord who said, "The Good Shepherd laysdown his life the sake of the sheep."

Also, we condemn any attack on holy places and religioussymbols such as the Monastery of Saydnaya, as they are holy and inviolable.

We are a community that is conscious of its faith and of thefact that its children belong to their various nations where they work withtheir brothers in citizenship, trusting and hoping to establish peace andstability.

Beloved, let us stand firm in our faith, lifting up prayerto God with fervor so that He will inspire all to what is right and to proceedwith a message of love and brotherhood.

Damascus, January 31, 2012

Office of the Patriarch

Two Christmas Letters by Met. Ephrem

2011-12-24T16:45:00.003-05:00

The first letter was sent out to the email list for the Archdiocese of Tripoli. The Arabic text of the second letter, to the Lebanese people, can be found here.

A small Christmas greeting on occasion of the nativity of Jesus

Beloved children,

Nativity is the first appearance of God among humans.

Jesus, whose name means "God saves" is the one who saves us from death, sorrow, despair, and anxiety...

The words of the angels to the shepherds keeping watch: "I bear you good tidings of great joy..."

"Today is born to you a savior, Christ the Lord.. glory to God in the highest and on earth peace
among people of good will." (Luke 2:11-14)

The one who is born is the divine sacrifice for our sake. Electric lights remain on the outside, but divine light is hidden in reading the word of God.

About the Gospel and the divine sacrifice. At that time, the one who is born enters the cave ahead of us and illuminates it.

Jesus was born as a child in poverty. He is the friend of the poor and destitute. During the feast, let us strive to go to them and comfort them.

Beloved, on the occasion of Christmas and the New Year I wish for you bodily health, success in the affairs of your life, and peace and joy in your soul.

The Lord Jesus Christ our God remains our final point of reference and the Church is our solace. She is in your service as much as is possible for her. I hope that you will not be far from her.

You are in my prayers,
Merry Christmas.

Tripoli 20.12.2011

The Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Tripoli and el-Koura, Metropolitan Ephrem addressed this Christmas letter to the Lebanese people in general and to Christians specifically:

A new child is born in a cave in Bethlehem. His bed is a manger for beasts, because there is no place for him in the village inn.

In the wonder of this absolute humility, do you see who that child is? And what is this black cave in which shined the light of the world? Yes, it is the light that illumines the darkness of our life, the shadows of existence.

He came to this scattered humanity, hungry for bread, hungry for truth, hungry for tranquilty for a soul with worn-out faculties, wretched with propaganda for bodily pleasures and raising conflicts and wars. He came to give it true comfort, overflowing with peace and love. But does peace inhabit the world through your coming? Will poverty be lessened and will the wealthy be generous to the opressed? Will the powerful have pity on the weak and will icy hearts melt? Will modern technology and its means of relaxation and pleasure eliminate our hearts' dryness?

It adds: You came in poverty to put an end to the misery of the impoverished. You came in humility to erase the haughtiness of the proud. How, then, should we celebrate you? You gather together the divided into one, so shall we heed your call? You teach us that humankind is one, even if their beliefs differ. The poor want to eat. Children want to learn. The sick want to be healed... All want to live together in peace and security.
The earth is one. The nation is one and good things are shared. So why division between people? Is there anyone who makes light of lofty virtues? Who rejects peace? Who rejects love? Who rejects kindness and gentleness? There is no law against things like this.

Come, beloved brothers, let us acquire the virtues of this newborn one. Come, let us help each other in every good work. We believe in one God. He is the God of peace, mercy, and love. Let us enjoy the joy of the feast. It is an occasion for meeting together, an occasion for us to do one social, humanitarian work.
In the Nativity there is divine disclosure, hope, and joy. A hope that surpasses human logic and human experiences. A joy that joins together the angels' songs with the wise men's prostration, the shepherds' keeping watch, and humankinds' joy. Yes, the feasts of Nativity unite believers, unite mankind.

It concludes: Our joy in the feast is not complete unless we open our hearts to all without exception because the Nativity teaches us to be humble, to pray that peace covers territory of our country Lebanon and likewise in all our Arab surroundings and in the entire world. Joy is not complete unless all share in it, especially those in need-- that is, the poor, widows, orphans, the sick, the oppressed, the suffering, and the sorrowing, all who depend on God's mercy and brotherly consolation. All of us are one in this suffering humanity. We rejoice and we sorrow together. May God give us in this feast and in the new year that He makes us always one in our beloved nation.

Three Links

2011-11-01T12:07:00.002-04:00

Here are three links for today, all related to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

The first is a link to a list of Syriac manuscripts held at the library of Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The list isn't scientific, and leaves much to be desired, but it is still of interest.

The second is an essay about the problem of xenocracy in the Patriarchate of Jeruslaem, by NOCTOC.

Finally, here is an article from the AP about the changing demographics of Christianity in the Holy Land.

Communiqué from the Holy Synod of Antioch's Fall Session

2011-10-31T00:44:00.003-04:00

This translation is in no way official. The official Arabic version can be found here.

At the invitation and under the guidance of His Beatitude PatriarchIgnatius IV, the Antiochian Orthodox Synod held its regular session in thepatriarchal residence at the Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand from the 25^thto the 27^th of October. Present at the meeting were metropolitans:Spiridon (Khoury) of Zahleh and Baalbek, Georges (Khodr) of Jbeil, Batroun, andtheir dependencies, Youhanna (Mansour) of Lattakia, Elias (Audi) of Beirut,Iliya (Saliba) of Hamah, Elias (Kfoury) of Tyre, Sidon, and Marjayoun, Antonius(Chadraoui) of Mexico, Damaskinos (Mansour) of Sao Paulo and Brazil, Saba(Esber) of Bosra, Jebel al-Arab, and Hawran, Georges (Abu Zakhem) of Homs,Boulos (Yazigi) of Aleppo and Alexandretta, Silouan (Mousa) of Argentina,Youhanna (Yazigi) of Europe, Basil (Mansour) of Akkar, Ephrem (Kyriakos) ofTripoli and al-Koura, Archbishop Niphon (Saikali) patriarchal representative tothe Patriarchate of Moscow, Bishop Ghattas (Hazim) abbot of the PatriarchalMonastery of Our Lady of Balamand and dean of the St. John of DamascusTheological Institute, and Economos Georges Dimas, the Synod’s secretary.

The current session of the Holy Synod was held in delicatecircumstances, which the countries of the Patriarchate of Antioch and the ArabMiddle East are experiencing, especially Syria and Lebanon, where the Orthodoxare the majority of Christians.

The meeting began with a word of welcome from His Beatitude,in which he emphasized the importance of the unity of the Antiochian OrthodoxChurch in Lebanon, Syria, the Middle East, and the diaspora and the priority ofworking to provide satisfactory responses to her children who, along with theirpartners in citizenship, face many problems and challenges, as His Beatitude laidout in the intensive meetings which he held in Lebanon regarding theorganization of the Orthodox community so that it can take its due place incenters of political and administrative decision-making.

Starting from the basis of a single, faith-based approach tothe effective Christian presence and the genuine witness of Christians, the Synodis concerned to emphasize the role of the Church in her capacity as aconscience for all the faithful and so it continuously calls to mind what Godwills for the good of humanity. The Church cannot stand with her hands tiedregarding the oppression and discrimination that peoples and groups are facing.

Starting from the basis of the Orthodox Church having beenpresent in these countries since the spread of the Christian gospel and on thebasis of the proactive role that the Orthodox have taken across the ages in therevival of their country as a nation and a civilization, the fathers call ontheir children to participate actively in forging effective solutions forexiting the crisis and embarking on the path of flourishing and their nations’advancement.

The fathers of the Holy Synod examined the phenomenon ofpolitical changes which are sweeping the region, asking God to inspire those responsiblefor the fate of the countries of the region to take the right decisions tolessen the citizens’ pains, to ease their life’s circumstances, and to ensure aflourishing future for their children. In this regard, the Synod emphasized:

1. Work in faith and hope for the sake of bringing peace,social justice, and the building of a civil state on the basis of equality ofrights and responsibilities for all under a single law to which all children ofthe nation submit without exception.

2. That the children of the Orthodox community hold on totheir homes through Church- and social-solidarity between the flocks of thenation and the emigration.

The Synod likewise studied internal issues, including:

1. The internalstatutes of the See of Antioch: They emphasized that these statutes must takeinspiration from the unity of the people, which is enclosed in secrets around itspastors, so that they can offer service pleasing to God. They called attentionto the importance of applying these statutes, the basic purpose of which is toensure opportunities for the faithful’s partnership together, each according tothe gifts he has been given. Through this it is possible for all to participatein planning the work of the Church, being involved in it, and bearing responsibilities.

2. The pastoral situation and the necessity of reforming it:The technical developments which the world is witnessing make it necessary forthe Church to adopt new positions with regard to pastoral questions thattranscend habitual forms and adopt advanced means for helping the faithful to ensurean honorable life and to employ their abilities in general life. In thiscontext, the establishment of productive enterprises is one of the ways to rootchildren of the community. It is likewise possible for educational and socialinstitutions, those existing and those yet to be founded, to ensure, bysecuring opportunities for work, spaces in which the Church can bear witness tothe particularity of her service to the world and her love for it.

3. The state of church media: Media must play a central andimportant role in solidifying interaction and cooperation between the Churchand the world. In order for media to be interactive, it must leave space openfor communication in order to determine the reality of the situation and theideas and proposals that today’s society is producing concerning everyone’sfuture. Likewise, church media has an interest in building bridges ofcommunication within the single nation and between the societies of the differentnations that make up the Antiochian sphere. Likewise, the fathers of the Synodemphasized the universal role of church media and the importance of the Church’staking initiative in responding to the needs of the flock and of society.

In closing, the Synod expressed its hope that the leadersand peoples of the Arab Middle East will work together to ensure stability,freedom, and a promising future for this region as well as its hope that theOrthodox community will play an effective role in this.

Published by the secretariat of the Holy Synod of Antioch

Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, October 27, 2011

My own comment: For the sake of effective church media and the strengthening of bonds between the Antiochian Church in the Middle East and abroad, it would be nice if official English versions of statements like this were published. It would also be nice if a representative of the Archdiocese of North America went to meetings of the Synod....

Met. Ephrem's Sermon for October 23, 2011

2011-10-27T19:36:00.000-04:00

This sermon was originally given on Sunday, October 23, 2011 in Kfar Hazir. The Arabic original can be found here.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,amen.

Beloved, you heard this passage from the Gospel according tothe Evangelist Luke, which talks about this insane person, and it says that heis insane because there were demons in him. This is something surprising anddifficult to comprehend because everything that has to do with demons and evilspirits is difficult and generally hard for a person because man is materialand corporeal.

This passage from the Gospel is read more than once in ayear, perhaps because of its importance. It says that this person came to theLord Jesus Christ who expelled demons from him and the person became well. Itmentions that when he was insane and ill he would behave strangely, notreturning home but going to tombs and not wearing clothes but remaining naked.And this is what we notice among many people who are mentally ill. So how arewe Christians to understand this?

Science says that man has a mind, a body, and a spirit andthat insanity, as doctors describe it, is an imbalance or confusion in themind, in the brain. God created the brain, the mind, so that man can be able toorder his life. He created the body to bear man in his life on earth. And Godalso gave man of His spirit in which there is life. Life comes from the spirit.It does not come from the mind and it does not come from the body because thisspirit is God’s spirit and life comes from God. But the spirit, according tothe research of modern scientists, this spirit, this soul, is reflected in themind, in the brain, and in the body. It is reflected in the health of the mindand the body. If a person lives through God’s spirit, his mind becomes well andhis body also becomes well and healthy. But when a person lives by a spiritother than God’s, by the devil’s spirit, by the spirit of this corrupt world, bythe spirit of evil, this is reflected negatively in his mind which becomesconfused and its activity becomes unbalanced. It is also reflected in his body,which becomes ill. Sin, for our holy fathers, is an illness.

For this reason this passage from the Gospel is important,because it warns us Christians and it asks us to live by God’s spirit and notby this spirit of this corrupt world. It is at that point that we remain well.Peace remains in us. Joy remains in us. Our mind remains well and our body alsoremains well.

This is why this insane man, when he sees the Lord Jesus whohad mercy on him and expelled from him the spirit of evil—which is active inthe world today—he becomes well. He puts on clothes and becomes calm. He ishealed of his illnesses of mind and body and follows Jesus. So when evil leavesa person, he becomes calm and is healed.

Beloved, let us Christians return to the way of the Lord, inwhich there is life and health, the health of mind and soul. Amen.

Orthodox Liturgy in Syriac: The Sinai Manuscripts

2011-10-26T12:30:00.000-04:00

On an earlier thread in this blog, there was some discussion about the Syriac heritage of the Patriarchate of Antioch, where it was asserted that Syriac is the sole provenance of the other Near Eastern churches, but has no role in the Orthodox heritage, which is imagined to be purely Greek. This is a popular but dangerous discourse, as it feeds into two false discourses about the history of Christianity in Syria: The first is the "perpetual Orthodoxy of the Maronites" where it is claimed that the Maronite Church always accepted Chalcedon and was never Monothelite and that it broke off from the Byzantine Church because it wanted to maintain itsSyriac heritage rather than being Hellenized. This discourse is proven false by the fact that the Maronite liturgy is demonstrably descended from an anti-Chalcedonian liturgy, as well as the widespread use of Syriac by Chalcedonian Christians in Syria. The second false discourse is that the dispute between pro- and anti-Chalcedonian factions ultimately boils down to an ethno-linguistic dispute between Greeks and Syriac-speakers. Again, this is shown false by both the central importance of Greek-speakers such as Severus of Antioch in the anti-Chalcedonian camp, as well as the widespread use of Syriac by the pro-Chalcedonian rank-and-file in Syria. Instead of seeing ecclesial affiliation among Syrian Christians as somehow being a function of ethnicity, we should recognize that while Greek was the main language of culture among Chalcedonian Orthodox prior to the end of the 8th Century, dialects of Aramaic such as Syriac and Christian Palestinian Aramaic (a language whose literature was purely produced in pro-Chalcedonian milieux) were the main everyday languages of the majority of ordinary Orthodox Christians in Syria and Palestine. This is how Arabic came to be the main cultural and liturgical language among Orthodox around the turn of the 9th century, centuries before the other Christians of the region started using Arabic liturgically: the transition from one foreign language of government and culture to another was not so great a leap, especially when the new language was much more similar to what people were speaking at home.

One presumes that the reason that the place of Syriac in the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch (and Palestinian Christian Aramaic in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem) is not widely recognized is simply because it has fallen into disuse in the past few hundred years, really coming to an end only in the 16th or 17th centuries. If we look earlier, however, we can find ample evidence of the liturgical use of Syriac among the Orthodox in the form of the large numbers of Orthodox liturgical manuscripts extant in Syriac, we can start to get a feel for the huge importance that that language had among the Orthodox Christians of Syria.

By far, the largest collection of medieval Orthodox manuscripts in Syriac is the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. The Syriac manuscripts found in St. Catherine's Monastery are listed in the volume Catalogue of the Syriac mss. in the Convent of S. Catharine on Mount Sinai, which was published in 1894 and, being well out of copyright, can be read and downloaded on Google Books here. In the 1950's, most of the manuscripts at Sinai, primarily in Arabic, Georgian, Greek and Syriac were microfilmed by a project sponsored by the Library of Congress and so have generally been quite easily available on that format simply by ordering copies of the films from them. However, a major leap forward has happened recently, and many, though not yet most, of these microfilms have been digitized by some good folks in Louvain. This digitized collection can be accessed for free here.

I thought it might be useful, in the context of discussing the use of Syriac by Orthodox, to give links for all manuscripts from Sinai of liturgical texts in Syriac that can be accessed online. Although the earliest manuscript listed here is 9th Century and the latest is 15th Century, 13th Century manuscripts have a very notable preponderance in the collection. This is directly related to the Mamluk conquest of Syria at that time, which led to the destruction of Antioch as a cultural center and the dispersal of manuscripts from the region. As it was with pre-Iconoclastic icons, Sinai is also nearly the sole safe haven in the region against the vicissitudes of time, and thus there is a very large collection of manuscripts from Syria that wound up in Sinai following the turmoil of the 13th Century.

The list of manuscripts and links can be found after the jump.

Anthologion:
Sinai Syr 111: undated.
Sinai Syr 126: 13th Century, not yet digitized.

Euchologion:
Sinai Syr 42: 12th Century.
Sinai Syr 109: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 113: 13th Century.
Sinai Syr 114: undated.
Sinai Syr 115: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 117: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 123: undated.
Sinai Syr 140: undated.
Sinai Syr 152: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 171: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 173: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 174: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 177: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 178: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 224: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 239: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 258: undated.

Horologion:
Sinai Syr 43: 12th/13th Century.
Sinai Syr 106: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 116: undated.
Sinai Syr 130: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 142: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 150: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 151: undated.
Sinai Syr 153: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 158: undated.
Sinai Syr 166: undated.
Sinai Syr 169: undated.
Sinai Syr 179: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 249: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 264: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 278: 13th Century, not yet digitized.

Irmologion:
Sinai Syr 40: undated.
Sinai Syr 64: undated.
Sinai Syr 69: 11th Century.
Sinai Syr 122: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 141: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 154: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 273: 13th Century, not yet digitized.

Menologion:
Sinai Syr 18: 11th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 22: 12th Century.
Sinai Syr 36: 13th Century.
Sinai Syr 44: 11th Century.
Sinai Syr 78: undated.
Sinai Syr 84: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 85: undated.
Sinai Syr 86: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 87: undated.
Sinai Syr 88: undated.
Sinai Syr 90: undated.
Sinai Syr 91: undated.
Sinai Syr 105: 13th century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 110: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 182: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 185: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 188: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 191: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 195: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 198: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 204: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 206: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 212: undated.
Sinai Syr 233: undated.
Sinai Syr 237: undated, not yet digitized.

Octoechos:
Sinai Syr 72: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 73: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 79: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 97: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 107: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 156: undated.
Sinai Syr 197: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 208: undated.
Sinai Syr 210: undated.
Sinai Syr 263: 13th Century, not yet digitized.

Paraklitiki:
Sinai Syr 187: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 209: 13th Century, not yet digitized.

Pentekostarion:
Sinai Syr 163: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 243: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 248: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 252: 13th Century, not yet digitized.

Sticherarion:
Sinai Syr 25: 11th Century.
Sinai Syr 48: 10th/11th Century.
Sinai Syr 50: 12th Century.
Sinai Syr 118: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 133: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 148: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 175: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 221: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 250: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 274: 9th Century, not yet digitized.

Triodion:
Sinai Syr 4: 12th Century.
Sinai Syr 70: 12th/13th Century.
Sinai Syr 71: 11th Century. (With Pentekostarion)
Sinai Syr 77: undated. (With Pentekostarion)
Sinai Syr 80: undated. (With Pentecostarion)
Sinai Syr 183: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 190: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 207: undated.
Sinai Syr 211: 13th Century, not yet digitized.

Typikon:
Sinai Syriac 129: 1255.
Sinai Syraic 136: 13th Century.
Sinai Syriac 192: undated, not yet digitized.

Services (Unspecified in the Catalog):
Sinai Syr 21: 11th Century.
Sinai Syr 45: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 83: undated.
Sinai Syr 93: 15th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 95: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 96: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 104: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 119: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 127: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 131: not dated.
Sinai Syr 137: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 138: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 146: undated.
Sinai Syr 147: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 167: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 168: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 180: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 184: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 186: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 193: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 196: not dated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 202: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 203: undated.
Sinai Syr 220: undated.
Sinai Syr 235: undated.
Sinai Syr 251: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 254: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 255: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 256: undated, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 261: undated.
Sinai Syr 262: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 265: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 270: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 276: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 277: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 280: 13th Century, not yet digitized.
Sinai Syr 281: 13th Century, not yet digitized.

Met. Ephrem on the Parable of the Sower

2011-10-26T10:23:00.002-04:00

This sermon was given in the Monastery of Our Lady in Bkeftine on Sunday, October 16, 2011. The Arabic original can be found here.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

You heard, beloved, this parable that is known as the Parable of the Sower. The Lord wants to speak to man by pointing to what is in nature, as man is usually taken with what is material and does not often understand deep spiritual truth and so this is why the Lord takes the parable from agriculture.

This farmer takes his seeds and casts them-- some fall on the road and the birds come and eat them, some fall on stone where there is no soil and moisture so they wither, some fall on thorns which grow and choke them. The disciples come and ask him, "What is the meaning of this parable?" He says to his disciples, "It has been given to you to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven." Before explaining the parable to them, he said, "You are the diciples, meaning the faithful, you will understand the parable and what is behind this parable is the secrets of thing kingdom." What does "the secrets of the kingdom" mean? It means that which God intends by His divine grace. Each one of us reads the Gospel but few of us understand it. What is required of man for him to understand God's words? Man, in his weakness and materiality is not able to understand everything that God says. He is in need of God's grace, of God's power, in order to be able to understand. We come to church not understanding everything that is said and chanted, unless we are enlightened. If we are faithful, spiritual people, if we are purified, pure of heart, and repentant, then we understand everything.

Then he begins to explain the parable to them, saying, "The ones that fall on the road are those who hear the Word of God and go and do not care about it." How many people hear the Gospel and read it and it does not mean anything to them! The ones that fall upon stone they are those that hear the Word of God but who have no root and no soil to bear them, and so the demons come and immediately snatch them away. The ones in the thorns, they are people taken with the cares of this life, the thorns and pleasures of this life. They have many cares and occupations which choke the Word of God, as the Gospel says; such a person can no longer hear God's Word. As for those who are like good earth, like good soil, they are the ones who hear God's Word and keep it, bearing fruit in patience. They hear like the Virgin who, "heard the word of God, kept it, and acted upon it." Such are those who are good, productive soil, bearing fruit in patience. Why did he say, "bearing fruit in patience"? Because even one who understands the Word of God must always persist and strive in order to be able to keep it and live it. We ask God to give us this grace so that we will understand His Gospel and live it, amen.

Met. Ephrem's Sermon for October 9, 2011

2011-10-16T17:19:00.002-04:00

The Arabic original can be found here. It was originally given in the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Kousba.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Beloved, this event in the Gospel talks about the Lord Jesus’ passing by a funeral for a young man who was the only son of a widow. The Lord approached the funeral procession—here the Lord represents the procession of Life! The procession of life meets the procession of death. Life meets death.

The Lord Jesus, as it says in the Gospel, had mercy on this widow who was weeping and went and said to her this word of consolation: “Do not weep.” The he touched the dead boy and he arose at once, and he gave him to his mother. Then the people glorified God who worked such a great miracle.

What does this event mean for us humans? Death entered into man by force when he was disobedient and fell, because in the beginning man was not created for death. He was created for life, but because of the weakness of human nature and the fall of man, he became mortal and so the Lord came down from heaven. God, the Creator was incarnate and became man in order to comfort us from this catastrophe that the Apostle Paul calls “the enemy of man.” Death is man’s enemy and life is his hope.

The Lord Jesus came to give us life anew. But the Lord our God who suffered, died, and conquered death, did not erase bodily death. This is wisdom from our Lord, but He has given us the hope of the Resurrection. Through the Resurrection He has given us hope.

A faithful Christian, even if he weeps for someone he has lost, still has hope in the Resurrection. By his faith he considers death in Christ to be a passage to life. This is our consolation, beloved. We die, but the Church does not say, “We die,” but rather, “We repose. We go to sleep,” because we have hope in the Resurrection. The hope of our faith and our comfort is from God. This is why a faithful person, in his prayer and in his faith, is able to have a connection to those who have died, and to be comforted.

We ask God to always comfort our hearts with this faith and this fervent prayer. Amen.

Christians of the Holy Land: Between the Hammer and the Anvil

2011-10-15T00:03:00.003-04:00

The Russian original, with pictures, can be found here.

Christians of the Holy Land: Between the Hammer and the Anvil

By Maria Senchukova

Gavriil Nalbandian lives in Jerusalem. By day he paints icons in a small apartment by the Monastery of the Holy Archangels in the Old City, two steps away from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. At night he returns home, to his wife and children. There is nothing unusual in this lifestyle, but among the pilgrims and the local clergy Gavrill and his family have become a kind of celebrities.

A few years ago, on the eve of the Dormition of the Theotokos a procession went from the Holy Sepulchre to the tomb of the Theotokos. Among the crowd of pilgrims was a student from the Sechenov Medical Academy, Daria Kozlova, and, as they say in the old books, it was pleasing to God that she meet a young man in a choir robe, singing the stichera for the feast in the procession. That was Gavriil.

Now they have two charming sons, in whom is mingled Arab, Russian, and Armenian blood. On the surface, they do not resemble any one people and from birth they have heard a number of different languages.

Gavriil himself comes from a mixed family—his father is Armenian and his mother is an Orthodox Arab. The combination is unusual for us, but here it is not uncommon. Gavriil’s own choice appears exceptional: baptized in the Armenian Apostolic Church, he consciously adopted Orthodoxy and entered the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem.

The Miracle of the Icon

He bears an Armenian name. As of recently, he possesses Israeli nationality. He prays in Greek. With his parents, he speaks Arabic and with his children and wife, Russian. He hangs a Russian flag in his car and is thinking about moving to Russia.

For many years, Gavriil—at first single and then with his wife and oldest son—lived in his workshop. But with two children in 15 square meters including the kitchen and bathroom, it was already cramped. Now Gavriil only works here, doing metalwork and painting and restoring icons.

In the workshop it smells of wood and paint. Along the walls there are icons, and there are portraits of the current patriarchs Theophilos of Jerusalem and Kyrill of Moscow and the previous patriarchs Diodore of Jerusalem and Alexei of Moscow.

Gavriil labors below the face of the Savior. I sit beside him and watch.

--Is it really so well-preserved? He shows an icon of Saints Cosmas and Damian that is cracked with age.

I nod approvingly—the better part of my knowledge of art is not enough.

The iconographer smiles mischievously and tells his secret:

--In fact, it is a forgery. A pastiche. Only the board is old. I painted it myself.

--Do you make your work materials yourself?

--No. I order the paints in Greece and Russia. I know the method for making them. Unfortunately, there is no time for making the paints myself. I buy the boards, but I prepare them myself. Oak is the best of all, but oak is expensive. Now I paint on walnut.

--Where did you learn iconography?

--At first with my father, from the age of 11, starting in 1986. In 1997 I was sent by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem to study on Athos and then in Thessaloniki. After that, once I was married, I studied for a year in Moscow, in Saint Tikhon University.

--You learned Russian there?

--I started studying Russian even earlier, in Bethlehem, in annual Russian courses. After studying for two months, I knew the grammar and wrote, but it was not enough practice. But then I married Daria, and the practice appeared.

--Do you usually work to order, or by the call of the heart?

--To order, but also by the call of the heart. This is also an icon.

--Who are your main customers?

--All kinds of people. I work in churches and monasteries. For example, I painted the Church of Saint Gregory in Ramla and the icons there are mine. I worked at the order of the former hegumen of the Tomb of the Theotokos.

The Russian Ambassador (we are often in communication) ordered four icons: for himself, Medvedev, Lavrov, and, it seems, Putin.

Sometimes, I paint as a present. A few years ago, I painted an icon of Saint Alexei of Russia especially for Patriarch Alexei. Patriarch Kyrill is coming on an official visit. If it is possible, I will try to also paint something for him.

The Path to Orthodoxy

--In what faith were you brought up?

--My mother would take my brothers and me to the Orthodox church, but I was baptized in the Armenian Church because my father belongs to them and my parents’ home is located by an Armenian monastery. It is assumed here that one baptizes and raises a child in the father’s confession.

A mixed marriage here is something ordinary. Almost no one understands theological differences and those rare people who do understand do not think about it. My father, for example, is very serious about the faith and about dogmatic theology… but he tries to forget about it.

--Why did you decide to go over to the Greeks?

--I read the holy fathers. I thought. I wanted to become a monk. I wanted to enter the Lavra of Saint Savva. But that did not come about (again Gavriil smiles widely) since I got married.

But such a moment was decisive. I vacillated for a long time. I read the holy fathers over and over again. I did not yet have confidence. Then I started to pray to God, “If the truth is in Orthodoxy, give me a sign so that I will have confidence within myself that I am not mistaken.” In 1992 I was with friends in Ramallah. There they told me that there was a myrrh-streaming icon of the Theotokos. I went to venerate it, and I saw that it was my icon. And I understood that that was God’s sign.

My father also paints icons. He also taught me. (In fact, the Armenians are iconoclastic, but there is a strong Greek influence). He is a very strongly-believing person. He prays very much, but he does not have wonder-working icons. It is because he is a heretic (in the basic, churchly understanding of the term), but I am not.

--How did your father respond to your decision to change confessions?

--For a long time he resented it. Up to now, he considers me a traitor. He says that understanding theology is not our affair. The important thing is to believe that Christ came to save us and the rest is not important.

--Among the Orthodox is there also such a naïve theology?

In different ways. The Greeks, the majority of whom are more or less educated clergy, are well-versed in theology.

As for the Arabs, I can give an example. Many Orthodox Arab children go to Catholic schools. There they have to go to the Catholic church or else there are big conflicts. Theology is not anything for anyone. In one day they can go to both the Catholic and the Orthodox church. They think it is even necessary to do this—you receive more blessings.

--How did they Greeks accept you?

--Very well. They taught me the Greek language and Byzantine music. I did what I wanted to do. I had an excellent relationship with the former patriarch Diodore. The former Patriarch Irenaeus helped me very much—it was through him that I obtained this workshop.

Between Israel and Palestine

--So you speak several languages fluently: Arabic, Armenian, Greek Russian, Hebrew…

--No, Hebrew not fluently. I studied Hebrew in order to obtain Israeli citizenship. It was necessary for me in order to travel easily. Then we went to Russia and I forgot a lot of it. But I speak it alright.

--Tell me, how do Palestinian citizens travel? Since they can never leave through Israel…

--For ten years now they cannot. They travel through Jordan—there are no borders between Palestine and Jordan. Before, there had been an airport in Gaza but they bombed it a long time ago.

--Do the Arabs who live in Israel, such as your mother, have a citizenship status? Does she not want to live in Palestine, in her country?

--It is all the same to those like my mother. She was born in Beit Sahour. She got married in Jerusalem. She does not think about politics. All her family members live in Palestine and she can go and visit them—she has a Jordanian passport.

Palestinians are worse off. Some of them have an entry permit into Israel three or four times a year, for holidays. There are people who live in Bethlehem who have not been to Jerusalem for twenty years, even though it is fifteen minutes away.

Before, it was easier. If there was a marriage between an Israeli citizen and a Palestinian, the Palestinian received a residency permit for Israel. Now that is not possible.

Christians between the Hammer and the Anvil

--How are the relations between Christians and Muslims in Palestine?

--Very tense. The Muslims consider us to be pagans. I do not want to generalize—We rented a house in an Arab neighborhood and with our neighbors, wonderful people, we visit each other and have very warm relations. But if there is an Islamic government, we cannot live here.

--But does Israel protect the Christians?

--Up to a point. You know, this is how cats play with mice. If there is here Israel without Palestine, it would be the end for us. We are not necessary for them. Here they will build a purely European state. If there is an Islamic Palestine without Israel, this would also be the end for us. They will just destroy us.

--But there are many examples of coexistence. In Hebron, for example, there is a Muslim population, all the women are veiled, but it is calm there.

--In Hebron there are very many radically-minded Muslims. There are simply no Christians there. This is why it is calm. There is only a Russian monastery and the locals think that the Russians are only there temporarily.

The most offensive thing is that no one is concerned with the Christians’ problems. Do many people know what is happening in Gaza? A few times they have burned churches and killed Christians. They prohibit the Orthodox Arab women from going out with their heads uncovered.

There is a Christian bookstore in Gaza. They went to its owner and said, “Either you close this shop or we kill you.” He responded, “No, I will not close it. We are Christians and we live here just like you.” They cut off his head on the spot. Did any of the media talk about this?

Even in Bethlehem (!) you cannot eat and drink in public during Ramadan—they will beat you for it.

Beside Bethlehem is the Monastery of Saint Theodosius. The abbot was beaten several times and they tried to drive him out of these places. He remains there. If only there was someone to intervene! The Palestinian Authority takes no action. Understand it as you like.

When there were hostilities between Israel and Palestine, they fought like this: they would go into Christian homes and from there they would shell Jewish neighborhoods. Of course, the Israeli soldiers would respond by shelling the Christian homes. They also do not care about the Christians.

From the Jewish side, the treatment is no better.

When I had only just met Daria, we went to a Romanian monastery. To get there, you have to go through an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. When a child saw us there, he noticed Daria’s cross and started throwing rocks at us. I myself did nothing.

Everyone has heard about the murders of Archimandrite Philoumenos and Matushka Anastasia.

The Christians here are not a political force. For this reason no media report about our problems. No one is interested in us. Here there are religious fanatics of all stripes, and we are between them, like being between a hammer and an anvil.

A Hellenocentric View of Orthodox Politics in Lebanon

2011-10-14T18:13:00.002-04:00

Cypriot friend of the blog NOCTOC provided this translation from Greek
of a rather less commonly-heard viewpoint on the political and ethnic identity of Lebanese Orthodox. I feel safe saying that it is a minority viewpoint, but it is still an interesting read nonetheless.

October 3. 2008
A call for help by the Greeks in Lebanon
By Rodrigue (Dimitri) El Khoury

■ Orthodox Party (Lebanon)

The Lebanese society as we know, is a pluralistic society. There are Syrians, Arab Muslims and Greeks, known as Rum. It is true that they all now speak Arabic, after the Arab conquest, but these communities have maintained their identity.

The Greek Orthodox community in Lebanon, has many connections with our own people in Greece, since we have the same history,the same national heroes, the same faith, the Greek language in our liturgies, the same saints.In addition, many Greek saints are from Antioch. We reserve up until today a frank and sincere dedication to modern Greece. A testimony of our Greekness is the language of our religious ceremonies. Up until today we use Greek, alongside Arabic. We also know that many areas of Lebanon have Greek names.

The Arab conquest succeeded to obligate our community to speak Arabic, but even today we retain the consciousness that we are Greeks who have been forced to become Arabized. The danger today is that the Arab propaganda has managed to convince some of the Orthodox of Antioch, that they originate from pre- Islamic Arab populations and that we should maintain this identity in the present and in the future. This propaganda is been made by political parties in the region, and from this our youth are been put into risk. Why? Due to the failure of the existance orthodox political parties.

Each community here have their own parties, the Maronites have the party of the Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb, the FPM, the Marada, the Sunnis also have some partie (future Islamic organizations), the Shiites have Amal and the Hezbollah, the Armenians have Tashnak and Hanshak, the Druze the PSP, the Democratic Party and Attawhid. Only the Orthodox do not have parties. For this reason, our youth have been enclaved to all of these parties. Adopting at the same time the stand of these parties on our identity. There is no political party in Lebanon, saying to the Greek Orthodox youth that they are the successors of the Greek Antiochians, and that they are Greeks from the Hellenistic era. Most of these parties say we are Orthodox Syrians or Arabs.

What we are trying to do is to find a political party for the Greek Orthodox community, which aims to:

■ Go back to our true identity, the Greek identity.
■ Strengthening our presence in the Lebanese political scene.
■ Connecting the Greek Antiochian youth with our own people and brothers in Greece.
■ We need to teach the Greek language to our youth.

We should insist on Hellenism and Orthodoxy, to save our nation from Arab and Islamic assimilation. The problem is that some priests and bishops who were swept away by Arab propaganda, have become proponents of Arab nationalism and say to the Greek Orthodox Youth that they are Arabs, not Greeks. And some others who have been affected by the propaganda of the Maronites, say to our youth that they are Syrian and not Greek.

Our community in Lebanon is as follows:

■ constitutes about 7% of the total population.
■ is the second largest Christian church, and the fourth largest religion in Lebanon.
■ Our effectiveness in the political field is lacking.
Our community, like most Lebanese communities is living in poor economic conditions. So our orthodox youth have been absorbed in non-Orthodox parties in order to recieve money from them.

The Lebanese political reality is sectarian. Every religious community has some power. The president is a Maronite, the prime minister is a Sunni, and the chairman of parliament is given to the Shiites. The Greek Orthodox have the deputy prime minister and the vice-president of parliament, but do not have any significant power under the Constitution. The Electoral Act calculates several communities of Lebanon, but does not calculate the Orthodox. Why? Because we do not have an organized political body to speak on behalf of our community, as with other communities.

I am communicating with you on behalf of the Greek Orthodox community of the areas belonging to the Patriarchate of Antioch and the Patriarchate of Jerusalem in an attempt to create a party or an organization that will work for these purposes. I've also finished a book in Arabic on the Greek identity of the Orthodox Church of Antioch (with over 100 historical bibliographical references).

In fact the lack of a party is the cause of forcing our youth to join Arab parties and are now saying that we are Arabs and create problems between our Greek brothers and the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Land, supported by the Arab parties and ploted by the Jews.

If you support us will become stronger. Do not forget that a large number of your people live here. If we forget that Greece might lose another piece of the vast empire built on blood and sacrifices of our Greek ancestors.

Thank you listened to our appeal.

Met. Saba (Esber) on Preparing for Communion

2011-10-13T08:49:00.003-04:00

The Arabic original, published in this month's Majallat al-Nour, can be found here.

Some Words about Going up to Receive

Forty years ago, the predominate custom was for the faithful to go forward to partake of mystery of the Eucharist infrequently, since the predominate understanding said that one should only partake of the Eucharist a few times each year, such as on major feasts... In my childhood, I would hear the grown-ups say that the maximum permissible number of times that the faithful could partake of the holy things was once every forty days, while following a number of requirements.

They based this on man's being unworthy of this dreadful mystery. Without a doubt, for them this conviction stemmed from great honor given to the divine mystery and a realization of their own sins, which required the faithful to prepare with total sincerity in order to partake of the holy mystery. Since the faithful were not able to undertake this preparation continually, they refrained from approaching the holy chalice rather than approaching without having prepared as they should.

I remember that my grandmother would bathe on the Sunday in which she would receive the holy things, after having visited the homes of all her neighbors, asking their forgiveness if she had sinned against them. I likewise know a very faithful man who is not absent from the Divine Liturgy unless he is extremely ill and bedridden. He did not go up to partake at all during the time he practiced his career. His argument was that his job required him to lie constantly, since he worked in real estate. He was convinced that he was unworthy as long as he was going to go back and lie the next day.

In addition to what we have briefly mentioned is ignorance about the mystery of the Eucharist and its place in the life of the believer and his spiritual advancement, as well as ignorance about the concept of the Church and the communion of believers.

With the beginning of the revival that occurred within the See of Antioch after the middle of the twentieth century, the concept changed under the influence of the teaching and preaching of the clergy, especially those who studied theology in institutions of higher education. We came to witness a concern for partaking, and regularly approaching a regular feature among the faithful. However, we also came to witness great negligence in preparing for the great mystery on all levels, to the point that many of those who arrive at church very late approach the chalice without scruple. As for fasting, abstaining from food and drink before partaking, it was left by the wayside.

There is no doubt that the path of moving people from one practice to an opposite practice required the expenditure of enormous effort, but it unfortunately did not give the same importance to the issue of the necessary preparation and worthiness. Unfortunately, emphasis was put on the Church's proper understanding of frequent partaking without giving personal preparation the preaching, education, and effort that it deserves. The new teaching gave all concern to the theological side and to witness to the necessity of frequently partaking and not refraining from it, on the basis of Eucharistic theology and the texts of the divine liturgy themselves, which announce that the sacrifice has been undertaken for the sake of all those present. As for the life of repentance, it was ignored and this is what has brought us to a situation where we see thousands going forward to partake at every Divine Liturgy they attend, while the great majority of them do not practice the mystery of repentance and confession at all, not even once a year.

There is a great distinction between correct theoretical teaching and the pedagogical path that leads to living it in its fullness. Possessing intellectual knowledge of a given matter does not mean living that matter or having experience with it on an existential level. For me to know, for example, the Gospel's view of forgiveness does not mean that I have experience with that forgiveness. This is the case for all the other virtues. So I must be trained gradually in order to arrive at the level of Christian forgiveness.

The Importance of Education

Many of us have ignored or forgotten the importance of practical education. Here I recall that many have come to say that we are the children of God and that we are free in Christ, and this is a true teaching of the Gospel. But the result is that the love of God of which we speak has not led us to behave like His children. At the same time, fear of God has been banished from our hearts and no defense against sin remains that would prevent it from dominating us. This is why we witness today a decline in morals and a breakdown in homes.

The Apostle Paul says, "When I was a child I ate what was for children, but when I became an adult, I started to eat what is appropriate for adults." Ignoring this basic rule within the Church has led us to formalistic spiritual practices. We have come to talk about virtue, forgetting the difficult training that we must live daily in order to arrive at it.

In education there is a clear progression and no one possesses the virtues simply through theoretical knowledge of them. The life of repentance does not deviate from this rule, since it cannot be lived without it. Hence we must pay attention to the importance of preparing our souls and our bodies for total participation in the mystery of the Eucharist, but in the measure of our preparation and our personal life of repentance. This is something where there is no general rule that is applicable to all the faithful in all places and at all times. Here the mystery of repentance and confession serves for our spiritual progress. It is determined for each believer by a father confessor who has final say in guiding the believer as to when to approach to partake and when to refrain. At times the spiritual father may, in order to discipline the believer, resort to forbidding him from the mystery of the Eucharist, with the goal of raising his spiritual level. These matters cannot be defined in a general essay, but rather through personal confession and guidance, between the believer and the father confessor.

Between Worthiness and Preparedness

There is common a confusion between worthiness and preparedness. One who refrains from the holy chalice on the grounds of being unworthy confuses worthiness and preparedness. No human is worthy for God to dwell within him and to be united to Him. What human is completely pure and spotless and without sin? No human deserves this great grace. God's dwelling among us and within us is only because of his overwhelming mercy and his extreme love and his condescension which cannot be grasped by human reason. This is why there will never come a time when I will be worthy of this great grace, the Eucharist. No, and when I think that I have become worthy I have fallen greatly-- I have fallen pride, the mother of all evils.

As for preparedness, it is the work of preparing myself to receive the Lord. Just as one prepares to receive an important person into his home, by cleaning himself and his home, and by putting on appropriate clothes, so too the believer prepares to receive the Lord within his being. I go forward in the spirit of worthiness and with the conviction that I am a sinner and never worthy. But God's vast mercy causes us to go forward, relying upon Him. Because God is merciful to this degree, I require of myself the preparations that the Church has set down generally, and that my father confessor has set down for me personally. This is so that I do not slacken and take advantage of God's mercy, forgetting my obligation to strive for the salvation of my soul.

The Mystery of Confession and the Service of Preparation for Communion

On the basis of the Gospel's teaching, the Church has set down a number of things that help to prepare for partaking. There is the mystery of confession, the prayer before partaking, making peace with those with whom one has a dispute, and setting right the sins that one has committed, in addition to fasting and refraining from all food and drink from the midnight before the divine liturgy and participating in the divine liturgy from the beginning... Adhering to these teachings is required for approaching the honorable body and blood of the Lord.

The Apostle Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, "One who has eaten the bread and drank from the cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord." So what then should be done? The Apostle responds, "Let a man examine himself and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup" (1 Corinthians 11:27-29).

In some Antiochian churches in America, letters at the top of the first page of the Sunday handout in bold letters there is written a warning that a believer does not have permission to enter the nave of the Church if he arrives during or after the chanting of the trisagion (Holy God, Holy Mighty...) and thus does not have permission to partake. In a country where the faithful travel many miles in order to get to their church on Sunday morning, you constantly see people who arrive late for reasons beyond their control following the liturgy from the narthex, without giving excuses that may very well be valid. Why in the East do we not obey any teachings and create within ourselves superficial emotions of faith?

The Relationship between the Eucharist and Repentance and Confession

As for the relationship between the mysteries of the Eucharist and of repentance and confession, it is not a canonical relationship, but rather a living practical relationship. While some call for no approaching the Eucharist except after confession, some others do not see the necessity of making this connection canonically. For you to continually partake without ever confessing, this is something that is not permitted at all. For you to go for repentance and confession prior to every time you regularly partake, this is something that is not possible outside the life of the monastery. The best way remains for you to go to confession and the Eucharist according to the guidance of your spiritual father.

Do not forget to search your conscience well the night before the Divine Liturgy. This activity will put you on the right track and keep you from falling into a routine of partaking, and keep the flame of love for Christ burning within you.

Approach the divine mysteries with a broken heart, convinced that you are unworthy because you are a sinner. Rely completely on God's mercy, saying "Lord I am not worthy for you to enter into my home, but your expansive mercy compels me to approach you." Approach with fear of God, that fear that is found in lovers so that they do not lose their beloved. The fear of God keeps you in continual communion and closeness with Him. The prayer of preparation before communion says, "If you have resolved, O man, to eat the body of the master, approach with fear lest you be burned, because it is fire. And if you have resolved to drink the divine blood, first make amends with those who have grieved you. Then all mystical nourishment is assured."

Do not forget the words of the Apostle Paul, "He who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment unto himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason many among you are week and sick and many are asleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged" (1 Corinthians 11: 29-31).

Metropolitan Ephrem's Sermon on October 8, 2011

2011-10-12T09:51:00.001-04:00

This sermon was given to the meeting of priests in Shakka on Saturday, October 8, 2011. The Arabic original can be found here.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Beloved, you heard this passage from the Gospel according to the Evangelist Luke in which the Lord calls the fifth disciple, the tax-collector Levi, that is the tax-collector Matthew, who was considered a sinner, after calling the first four disciples who were fishermen.

This passage from the Gospel reminds us of the basic Christian mission. The wisdom of the Lord, God's wisdom, is not the wisdom of men. He calls illiterate fishermen to become fishers of men and here he calls someone that people consider to be a sinner, a tax-collector, a thief, to follow him and to become holy through repentance. This is God's wisdom and by it we are pointed toward the Christian mission, to his mission and to our mission too. When they gathered in the evening, the scribes and Pharisees started to grumble, how could the Lord sit with sinners and tax-collectors and those outside the law? Then Jesus came and revealed his mission saying, "The healthy are not in need of a doctor but rather the sick. I did not come to call the righteous and the prominent, but rather sinners to repentance." Here the Lord Jesus means by "the prominent" the Pharisees who considered themselves prominent in following the law, while sinners were separated from society.

This is Christ's mission and our mission. We do not search for those who are prominent people. The mission of the priest, the mission of the Christian is not just to search for prominent people in this world. He must instead search for the sinners that have been rejected by society because he is a physician and he must call those who have been rejected, the sick and the poor, to repentance.

This is the meaning of holiness according to our holy fathers. Saints are not important people and dignitaries in this world. Saints are those who repent. This is why the Lord Jesus said, "I did not come to call the righteous but rather sinners to repentance."

We, beloved, in the world in which we live today, must know what our mission is, the mission not only of the priest but of every Christian. If one wants to follow Christ and to help others, one must first repent of one's sins and after that also care for the sins and afflictions of the people and to look after them. At that point the Lord comes and says, "Come, you will be among my disciples. You will be saved with me and you will inherit eternal life." Amen.

Met. Ephrem on Martyrdom

2011-10-11T09:46:00.003-04:00

This sermon was given on the Feast of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, October 6, 2011 in Kousba. The Arabic original can be found here.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Beloved, today is the martyrs' day, the feast of the martyrs Sergius and Bacchus, and your feast as well, because it is expected that you will also be witnesses for Christ.

The Gospel and the Epistle talk about bearing witness to the faith. The passage from the Gospel which we read is from Chapter 11 of Luke and it comes after a passage in which the Lord Jesus talks about the last days. The Church chose this passage from the Gospel to be read on the feasts of martyrs. The martyr bears witness to his faith and the martyrs Sergius and Bacchus were martyred in the fourth century during the period of persecutions that were widespread in the first centuries. Martyrs are those who are killed for their faith, since they look beyond this world, they look to the last days.

What does the word "faith" mean? One of the fathers says, "Faith is looking into the distance." Just like someone who wears glasses isn't a person that looks into the distance, someone who does not have faith doesn't look into the distance because he only sees what is near to himself on this earth and he holds on to it. Someone who has faith looks into the distance, to what is to come. For him this life is transitory, a prelude to eternal life and this is why he does not give up his faith. As for a person who holds on to this world, if he is persecuted for his faith he will deny it and fall into atheism. Those martyrs were martyred for the sake of the name of Christ. One who denies Christ is a person without faith, a person who does not look to the distance.

At the end of the passage, the Lord says, "Through your patience you will gain your souls." That is, one who lives by his faith must have patience and long-suffering. For these saints, patience is awaiting Christ, awaiting the second coming, awaiting the Resurrection. They live on this earth as though they were in the kingdom. They have a foretaste of the Resurrection. Their body is on the earth but their mind has abandoned this earth. This is why they have the power of the kingdom, a super-human power. When they are tortured and killed, they do not feel like they are in pain, but they go to death with joy because they are crossing into the kingdom and eternal life, amen.

Carol Saba on the Orthodox in Lebanese Politics

2011-10-09T13:39:00.002-04:00

The Arabic original, which appeared in an-Nahar about two weeks ago, can be read here. Although the plan put forward by some Orthodox politicians in Lebanon for sectarian voting has apparently been shot down, the question of the Orthodox place in Lebanese politics is an ongoing one...

The Orthodox of the Middle East: Sectarian Dangers and Secular Hope

The Arab Middle East is living through the birth-pangs of renewal. We hope that it is the dawning of a Middle East that is authentic, democratic, pioneering, and respectful of man, his rights, his honor, his religion, and his honorable livelihood. Naturally, there are fears of fundamentalisms of various types. Naturally, there are legitimate concerns and dangers that must be taken into account. Everything is possible and nothing is guaranteed. Governments’ policies are based on their interests. Do we stand there tied up, talking about conspiracy theories and national interests, or do we build things upon “the hope that is within us” in the words of Saint Paul and peacefully struggle to create consciousness, to link together strengths, to fortify national unity in order to avoid mortal dangers or do we strive for a courageous, forward-thinking reading of a pioneering role for Middle Eastern Christians, through which we can produce a second Arab renaissance, lifting up our voice locally, regionally, and internationally so that there will be an Arab Middle East in which the Christians are not “protected” but rather are citizens of a civil, fraternal state, equal to their Arab brothers in rights and responsibilities?

Within this shifting framework, the Orthodox community is witnessing movement over the necessity of “recuperating” rights and positions within the Lebanese system which, unfortunately, is still based on dividing up the “cheese”, in the words of former president General Fuad Chehab. This movement might have merits and legitimacy or it might also be political speech that has something of a dangerous tactic to it. The danger here lies is making the Orthodox—in the shadow of a reality in which the national character has declined and narrow sectarian interests have multiplied—into “a sect like all the other sects” that approaches the current reality and the future from a pathological sectarian, minoritarian, perspective that is based on fear of losing influence and which strives to preserve its own existence and gains. Through this we will have exchanged the logic of the “bridge” community, which we have always been, for the logic of a “fortress” community, which is foreign to our faith and our witness in the world.

Does leaving sectarianism now call for raising its banner as Orthodox, treating the illness with a cure that was itself the ailment?* Can one who tailors for himself the robe of his sectarian nature urge one who wears similar clothing to take it off for the good of the national garment, wrapped in the national colors? The Orthodox are not a sect like the other sects: they are the Church of Christ.

The religious community does not sum up the Church, since she is always opposed to deviating toward sectarian self-centeredness. The religious community, in our Middle Eastern societies, is the heir to the Ottoman millet system, meaning that each group seeks its own interests, religiosity prophets at the expense of religion and chauvinism at the expense of faith. But as for the Church, she is a state of faith which strives to build man up spiritually and to gradually bring him to what is better. That is, from the “natural” man, which in the words of St. Paul is sin, toward the “spiritual” man, who is of Christ. The Church struggles and strives to bear witness to Him rather than to gain a central position, and to transfigure the world rather than to resemble it. The danger grows in times of frustration, when the society of the Church starts to look at itself as a sectarian community that struggles for its existence more than as a Church that reaches for the Kingdom starting from the present reality, in order to elevate it.

But as for the community’s present situation, it appears that it is very much in question as it attempts today to regain in this talk about rights, a glorious past in which Lebanon’s Orthodox community was, naturally, a pivotal, central, diverse community, that produced a “non-sectarian” national political elite. What is required of the Orthodox today is to go against the stream. That is, to make pilgrimage for the nation while everyone is making a sectarian pilgrimage. What is required of them is to be the vanguard in creating national paths for leaving behind hateful sectarianism while everyone else is rushing to enter their own narrow, deadly alleys. What is required of them is to defend the logic of the civil state and the great state that is more powerful than the little statelets, the federation of sects and their parties, no matter how strong they are. What is required is to fortify the bases of Orthodox existence in order to make it flourish and so that the Orthodox will look at themselves not as a community that makes demands, but as a community that is needed in the pioneering role that they have always had in Lebanon and the Middle East in unity and diversity as a “bridge” and as a driving force for better societies. This requires from the Holy Synod of Antioch that they take the bold initiative of starting preparations for a general Antiochian Orthodox conference that would gather together all the Orthodox’ talents from among the clergy and laity. It would take place in 2012 and establish the basis for an Antiochian approach to the coming period in light of an objective reading of the trials of the past, the considerations of the present, and the challenges of the future. How can we see the various existential crises that are occurring in Europe and the world and what is occurring within our Middle Eastern environment and not see that the civil, democratic state that separates religion and state with a positive interplay between politics and religions is neither available nor possible within its Middle Eastern context if it is not accompanied in religiously diverse societies by a secularism that embraces faith and all religions. How can we not see that it is the path to gradually escaping the sectarianism that tears at the Arab and Lebanese body and that through citizenship, equality and constitutional rights and responsibilities it protects all from the various fundamentalisms that we all reject? The Orthodox need to move with a form and substance that transcends sects and groups and they must be as they have been, a progressively-minded, non-sectarian elite steadfast in Orthodox faith and intelligent in humility, an elite with diverse capabilities and talents, which boldly adapts to present reality and reads the future with confidence, trailblazing in global outlook but rooted in the Middle Eastern reality, progressive in approaching western modernity without repudiating Arab authenticity, and defending Arab concerns.

*A reference to Abu Nuwas’ most famous wine poem.

Met. Ephrem on Loving Our Enemies

2011-10-08T11:52:00.002-04:00

This sermon was originally given in the village of Bsarma, al-Koura on October 2, 2011. The Arabic original can be found here.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Beloved, let us be very attentive, so that can hear and understand the word of God in the Gospel, because the word that He put in His holy Gospel is the word of life! When a person, and especially when a Christian, wants to understand the meaning of his life, why he lives, he should pay attention, listen, and understand the word of the Gospel.

What does the Gospel say today?

This passage is taken from the famous sermon that the Lord Jesus gave, which is known as the "Sermon on the Mount": "Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven." In this sermon, according to the interpretation of our holy fathers, we find the heart of Christian teaching, we find the most important teachings that the Lord Jesus gave to his disciples and to us as well because we are among his disciples.

What does he say to us today? "If you love those who love you, what credit is it to you? Even sinners do this. If you do good to those who do good to you, then what credit is it and what payment is it? Because even sinners and pagans do this." This is why he gives us this difficult commandment: "Therefore I say to you, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who do evil to you. Pray for them." This is the Christian teaching that distinguishes us from others. This step sets us apart. This is the thing that is added to what is known in the law, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The other religions are religions of law, of system. We are not satisfied to follow a system or a law. We Christians, if we desire to live as Christians, to know the deep meaning of life, to have a foretaste of the kingdom, we must transcend the law. We must not be content just to love those who love us. That is something of this world. This is something human. Our Lord wants us to transcend our humanity, transcend our weakness. Despite this, he does not want to force us to love our enemies. A person who respects his enemies, who receives them and prays for them, this person has risen above his human weakness. This is the meaning of Christianity. The Lord Jesus finishes by saying to his disciples, "Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful." Mercy is great love, expansive love. Just as a woman's womb [rihm] envelopes the fetus, so God's mercy [rahma] envelopes all people, both the sinners and the righteous. When the Lord sends rain, he sends it to all people and does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. Likewise, he tells us that our love should be for all, for those who love us and those who do not love us. In this way we acquire God's mercy and blessings, amen.

Patriarch Ignatius IV Meets with Representatives from Hezbollah

2011-10-06T07:29:00.001-04:00

From today's (tomorrow's) an-Nahar. Arabic original here. (Some of the quotes from His Beatitude were terse to the point that I may not have followed them correctly. If anyone wants to suggest better alternate translations, I'm all ears.)

Hazim Recieves a Delegation from Hezbollah:
We Are Firmly Rooted in the Region and Without Fear We Live a Common Life

Tripoli- An-Nahar
Greek Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius IV Hazim received a delegation from Hezbollah that included members of the party's political council, Sheikh Muhammad Saleh and Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, at the patriarchal residence at Balamand yesterday. After the meeting, Ignatius said, "This meeting does not happen every day and I believe that the divine presence that all hear is the truth that we live. We are all partners in accomplishing things for the glory of God and it is necessary to look at the state of humans who represent God's will." In response to a question about events in the region and fear for the Christians, he said "I refuse for there to be fear for the Christians. We exist in Lebanon and Syria and we have no fear for the Christians. We only have fear when forces work for our destruction. We are firmly-rooted in the region and we are not at all strangers to each other. We live a common life with all. Our presence does not represent a fiction. We all live with each other and without this we all depart." He added, "We live in Syria and it is our country. We shall remain there and we are not concerned by other things which are designed to have other roles."

Abu Zeinab described the meeting as "a good opportunity that allowed for meeting with Patriarch Hazim, in which there was much love." He said, "The meeting treated the totality of common national issues and there was complete agreement between us and His Beatitude on everything that was mentioned, since His Beatitude has an insightful view of everything that is occurring and he is at ease, reflecting our being at ease." With regard to general conditions in the region, he said, "There are interests at play in the region and it is only when we are united with one heart and one hand and we discern those who wish us evil that we are able to confront them without being effected by the course of events."

And from the English-language Daily Star, here.

No Fear for Christians in Lebanon, Syria: Hazim

by Antoine Amrieh

IVKOURA, Lebanon: Greek Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius IV Hazim said Wednesday that there is no fear for Christians living in Lebanon and Syria but only of forces “working to destroy us.”

Following a meeting with a Hezbollah delegation at the patriarchate in Balamand, Hazim said “I refuse that there be fear for Christians.

We are present in Lebanon and Syria, and we have no fear for Christians; we only fear when there are forces working on destroying us.”

Hazim added that Christians will remain in Syria and will coexist with everyone as they are no strangers to the region.

Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, a member of Hezbollah’s political bureau, described the meeting as a good opportunity to discuss national issues.

Fr. Georges Massouh on the Orthodox and Sectarian Politics

2011-10-06T07:28:00.000-04:00

The Arabic original can be found here.

Orthodox Frustration and the Worries of the World

As coming from the highest authority in the Church of Antioch, the letter addressed by the Holy Synod of Antioch to "our children" the Orthodox at the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War constitutes a kind of synodal guidance. This letter, published on August 24, 1975, calls to memory the shared history that binds Orthodox to all their fellow citizens from all religious groups and casts a vision of what their role can be in the future. The letter calls for a struggle to eliminate sectarianism and for allocating jobs on the basis of competency and not on the basis of sectarian affiliation.

In the midst of the sectarian wars that were raging at the time, the letter itself confirms the importance of a common life shared by Muslims and Christians and rejects "any Christian [...] or Christian essence for Lebanon". For this reason it praises the Orthodox who "refuse to establish Orthodox sectarian organizations or for there to be an Orthodox political party." The letter likewise praises the consciousness of the Orthodox who "carry along with other fellow citizens the torch of national (Arab) liberation since last century (the 19th century)." It does not ignore commitment to the issues of Palestine and Jerusalem and "unconditional loyalty to Lebanon." Within this context, Metropolitan Georges Khodr, one of the drafters of the synodal letter, affirms these bold positions and refuses for the Christians to be a single bloc against the Muslims "because the Christians," in his words, "are the bloc of love and not the bloc of sectarianism" and that "your presence is not in opposition to the Muslims but rather with the Muslims." He himself says in another place, "There is no Arab Christian who grows more profound in knowledge of Christ or whose contribution to the politics of his country is strengthened merely because Christians-- or a group of them-- assume the reins of governance in Lebanon."

It appears that these anti-sectarian positions of the Orthodox Church have become disagreeable for a group of politicians or for a group of politically-interested Orthodox. These people ignore the failure of all sectarian solutions or of all solutions based on sectarian allotment from before the establishment of the modern Lebanon up to our own day. Without any doubt, these solutions only lead to frustrations being transferred from one sectarian community to another and to threats of coming wars. Has the level of frustration for the Orthodox reached the point of denying their presence and witness in Lebanon?

Have the Orthodox, or those among them who join sectarian gatherings, done away with their uniqueness for the sake of sectarian realignment and become advocates of sectarian cantons or advocates for a sectarian-based federalism, without a specific geography? Is the call for each sect to elect its representatives not a sort of return to discordant cantons, so inimical to the idea of a universal nation? In this call is there not a rejection of the position of Patriarch Ignatius IV Hazim who rejects "the principle of cantons"? Does this call not deny what Metropolitan Georges Khodr went so far as to say, that "the Christian's struggle is to not remain a Christian neighborhood in the Islamic world but instead for all to become citizens in nations, equal in honor such that no one has any advantage over another in existence and freedom"?

The proposal of some Orthodox and those fundamentalists of the idea of intense sectarianism is a proposal that contradicts the most important basis of citizenship and contradicts the deeply-rooted thought of the Church. Patriarch Hazim says, "the basic task of the Orthodox is to be the bridge of harmony." So why do some of them try to blow up this bridge?

Met. Ephrem on the Amazing Catch

2011-10-05T13:04:00.003-04:00

The Arabic original can be found here. It was given on September 25, 2011 in the Church of St. Barbara, Ras Masqa.

The Amazing Catch

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Beloved,according to the tradition of our Church, this Sunday which falls after the first Sunday after the Elevation of the Cross we begin reading the Gospel of Luke. This passage which we heard talks about the calling of the first disciples. This account is specific to the Evangelist Luke and differs to a certain degree from Matthew, Mark, and especially John.

The Lord Jesus begins his evangelism along the shore of the Lake of Tiberias, among the simple fishermen. The question that is posed is: Why, what is the Lord's wisdom in choosing these simple, illiterate people who were fishing? He came over to them and boarded Peter's boat and said to him, "Cast your net." Peter had gone the whole night without catching anything, then he cast his net into the lake and caught many fish, to the point that he was shocked and amazed! Those with him wondered who this man was, who with a single word was able to fill their nets with an abundance of fish. He called the other brothers, John and James the sons of Zebadee, in order to help them bring in these fish.

What is important in this event is the attitude of Peter, who was distinguished among the disciples by his zeal and love for the Lord Jesus, since he came and bowed before the Lord and said to him, "Distance yourself from me, Lord, since I am a sinful man." He felt his own weakness, his sinfulness, and confessed it before the Lord Jesus, before this divine power that had appeared in front of him. What was the Lord Jesus' response? He said to him, "Do not fear, Simon Peter, for from this day on you will be a fisher of men. You were a fisherman, but from today on you will be a fisher of men!"

What does this passage from the Gospel teach us, such that when we leave the church we have taken from it provisions for our life? We learn from Peter's attitude that one who is zealous and loves our Lord with all his heart and comes to church, this person confesses his weakness and sinfulness before the greatness of God. That is, he is a humble person. A humble person is one who confesses God's power and not his own power and at that point the Lord says to him, "From now on you will be a fisher of men!"

This is the commandment that the Lord Jesus gives us: if we actually love him then each one of us is a fisher of men. But how do we fish for them? Is it by killing them, in the way that we hunt birds? Naturally not... It is by siezing them for Christ, bringing them to Christ. In this way, if you love the Lord, especially you who come to church, then you will go and fish for those who do not come to church. This is one of the most difficult arts, since how can a person bring another to the Lord Jesus, especially in our difficult times? But this is the Lord's call to us to be humble and to love Him and the Church, and for every one of us to go and gain someone for Christ and for the Church. At that point he will have great favor and the Lord will bless him and his family. Amen.

Met. Ephrem: Two Sermons on St. Thekla

2011-10-02T18:55:00.002-04:00

This sermon was originally given at the vespers for the feast of St. Thekla September 23, 2011 The Arabic original can be found here.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Beloved, today we celebrate the feast of this martyr, this great one among the martyrs, the equal-to-the-apostles Thekla, this saint of our country, who was the first woman to be martyred for Christ. For this reason the people love her very much and she has worked many miracles for those who believe in her. Miracles do not come out of the unknown. They come out of faith.

Saint Theka was one of the good young women who left the things of this world in order to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. She was called “Equal to the Apostles” from the first centuries because she was a disciple of the Apostle Paul, who attracted her with his words and preaching.

If you read her life, you see that her mother opposed her and wanted to marry her off. She was betrothed to a person named Homer but despite this she followed the dictates of her heart and her faith and so she fled from her country, which was in Asia Minor, today Turkey, and went to the city of Antioch and attached herself to Paul. From Antioch—to which we as a church belong—the apostles went to evangelize the entire inhabited world of that time. She became attached to the Apostle Paul as she sat by the window listening to him speak. He would talk for long periods of time since in ancient times they would spend hours preaching the words of the Lord and people would listen, but today people are annoyed if the priest speaks at length.

When the people of Antioch learned that she was a Christian, they seized her and took her to the area of Ma’lula. There some wicked people took hold of her and wanted to kill her, but the rock split and she went into the rock and was martyred there. Her body remains in that region and those who visit her monastery in Ma’lula bow down at her grave there.

Saint Thekla bears witness to this bravery that today we are very much in need of from our young men and women, those who prefer their faith to the empty spectacles of this world and who are martyred for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and for their faith, who give us a good example of holiness which alone is able to win the kingdom of heaven.

We ask for her intercession and for the intercession of the great saint whom we also celebrate today, Saint Silouan the Athonite, who has a beautiful book that I advise you to read. Pray to them this evening and read their stories, so that the Lord will bless you and your families, amen.

This sermon was given on the Feast of St. Thekla, September 24, 2011 in Kfarsarun. The Arabic original can be found here.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

On this blessed day we celebrate the feast of the martyr Thekla who is loved by many of the faithful. You also love her, since she suffered and died as a martyr. Where does this love come from, and from where this honor? The Apostle Paul was her teacher and she left her fiancé and her family in order to follow him. He attracted her with his words, since he was one of the greatest of the apostles who established the Church and he suffered and was martyred with Peter in the city of Rome—Paul’s head was cut off and Peter was crucified.

What did Paul say in the epistle? “All those who want to live in piety and faith in the Lord Jesus will be persecuted.” This means that each one of us who wants to live in this world today, in the hardships of this world, as a true Christian according to the teachings of Christ, must expect to be persecuted and to be tormented because he lives in an upright fashion according to the teachings and commandments of the Lord Jesus, to the point that he might be tormented by his very family, just as Thekla was tormented by her mother.

The Lord Jesus said, “He who loves his father or his mother more than me does not deserve me.” He also informs us that the way to Christ is the narrow way and that usually people—as you see and witness in the news—on account of their weakness—and we are all weak—want to walk along the easy way. They want to obtain money without toil. They want to lie, to be jealous and combative, and also to kill.

For this reason Saint Thekla reminds us not to fear, even death. They threw her to the wild beasts, but because of her faith the beasts were not able to kill her. In the end she fled and the stone opened and swallowed her and she died a martyr. In this way Saint Paul and Saint Thekla teach us to preserve our faith and our love for the Lord and to always remain faithful to Him. May the Lord keep us from evil through their intercession and the intercession of the Virgin, amen.

Met. Ephrem's Sermon for September 18, 2011

2011-09-23T21:55:00.000-04:00

The Arabic original can be found here.

Beloved, today on this Sunday after the Feast of the Elevation of the Honorable Cross, you heard this passage from the Gospel that talks about the Cross. From it you can derive an understanding of the Cross of Christ and of his Cross in our life. The Church chose this passage from the Gospel of Mark chapter 8, and Mark has 16 chapters so it is the middle of this gospel. It is a symbol of the Cross’ place in the Church which is always, as you see, placed in the center of the church. Moreover, it is placed at the center of being and it is placed in the center of our life and the center of our heart. Those who believe in the Cross, that is, in the One Crucified, and those who do not believe in the Cross, they live at the center of our life-- this cross, the Cross of Christ, who is the Creator of being.

If we meditate upon this passage from the Gospel and its place in the eighth chapter, we see that there is a chapter that precedes it wherein the Lord Jesus talks with his disciples and prophecies to them that he will suffer and die and rise on the third day. Peter was amazed by these words and said to him, “God forbid that this happen to you.” The Lord Jesus replied to him, “Get behind me, Satan. Your words are the words of men and not the words of God.” After that comes the passage where Jesus says, “Let him who wants to follow me deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Saint John Chrysostom says, “Christ was not satisfied to prophecy to his disciples about what would happen to him. Instead, he called them to the very same path, if they wanted to follow him.” He cites the words of the Lord in the Gospel of John: “A grain of wheat that falls to the earth, if it does not die, it will not bring much fruit.” He adds, “Christ not only prepares them for his death, but for their death as well!”

We know from the holy fathers that self-denial is the hardest thing for a human. Who is able to deny himself? What does it mean for a person to deny himself, if he wants to follow Christ? A person can push away and avoid the temptations of this life, but for him to deny himself, to hold himself of no account, for him to not cling to his own will and opinion, this is something very difficult. Something that helps a person in this work—according to the monastic fathers—is for him to cut off his will. Cutting off one’s will in other words is obedience and submission. But obedience to whom, in the end? To God’s word, to God’s will!

Let us obey our leader. It is only a kind of training, that is a practical way for us to be able to obey God. This is the true faith, not for us to obey the experts of the world and what people say, but to have conviction, to believe, and to live the world of God, the commandments of the Lord Jesus. However, it is not enough for a person to obey and it is not enough to submit. Saint Cyril of Alexandria says, “In order for a person to be able to obey and to deny himself, he must love, he must have love of God and love of neighbor.” Love alone helps us to deny ourselves and to sacrifice for the sake of others.

Thus, beloved, the Cross reminds us of this truth, the truth of obedience to the word of God and the truth of great love. In this way we come to resemble the Lord Jesus Christ who was obedient to the point of death, death upon the Cross. Amen.

An Interesting Take on the Orthodox in Lebanese Politics

2011-09-22T20:47:00.003-04:00

This article is by Philippe Skaff, president of the Lebanese Green Party. It is within the context of recent demands by Orthodox leaders for greater representation Lebanese government and administration. For example, this. The Arabic original, published in an-Nahar, can be found here.

Not Us Orthodox Too!

Although I am among those who use three fingers to make the sign of the cross over their face, I allow myself to begin with this frank title, first of all because I still believe in Arabism, second because I still believe in Lebanon, and third because I am convinced that sectarian representation turns the principles of democracy into an unexemplary farce… I did not believe it when communiqués were issued by Orthodox dignitaries under the banner “We are not sectarian but we want sectarian representation.” The story of the three-finger group is close to the oft-told story of a tall, good-looking young man who anxiously asked a fortune teller, “I am alone in this world even though I am wealthy and cultured. Read for me the coffee-grounds about my love life.”

The fortune teller looked at what was left of the coffee and said, “I see a beautiful girl… You will fall in love with her.”

He asked her, “Will we get married?”

“Of course!” came the reply.

“Will we have a long life together?”

“Unfortunately, no. You will get divorced, because she’s very bad-natured.”

“And I will remain alone?!”

“Of course not! You will fall in love with and marry a woman even more beautiful than the first.”

“And will we remain together?”

“No, because this one will have an even worse nature than the one before her… You will divorce her too.”

“And I will not marry again after that?”

“No, no… You will get married to a third woman.”

“And…?”

“You will not divorce her because you will have gotten used to bad-natured, uncouth women.”

It appears that in Lebanon the history of the Orthodox has reached this third stage. They have passed through two divorces, the first with the Rome of the West because their Eastern Christianity refused to allow the West to conquer the East. So they helped Saladdin to liberate Jerusalem in 1187 and fought in his army against the Crusaders. However, this unorthodox marriage faltered with the fall of Constantinople. Their second divorce was with the oppressive Turks, and so the Orthodox revived Arabism during the time of the Nahda , for which they were the undisputable pioneers. Their third marriage was to intellectual and political secularism and the call to build up Lebanon within the framework of an Arab nationalism that ties together language, land, history, and a common destiny. Today there can be no divorce because they have gotten used to the evils of religious and sectarian prejudice that surround them. Why are they desperate and miserable, those who were the first to believe that deviation in religion leads to division and to a decline of the people and that it is the weapon of the mobs who when they revolt become ferocious beasts…. My fear is that the sole remaining intellect in Middle East will become ignorant!

Two Sermons on the Cross by Met. Ephrem

2011-09-18T16:39:00.001-04:00

This sermon was originally given on September, 11 2011 at the Church of the Dormition, Kfar Aqqa.The Arabic original can be found here.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Beloved, we meet today in this beautiful, blessed church consecrated in the name of the Theotokos Mary, and on this occasion you have heard a passage from the Gospel that talks about the Cross because today is the Sunday before the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. It is possible for a faithful person to think, “Why did the Church establish these feasts and arrange them in the summertime, such as the Feast of the Transfiguration and then the Dormition of the Theotokos, then the Nativity of Our Lady and the Feast of the Cross?” The Church arranged these feasts in a logical manner, since each feast is connected to the last and all the feasts are connected to each other and complete each other because “the mystery of God” is one in the Church and we come to know it and live it in all its aspects. Today it is the aspect of the Cross and the Virgin is the aspect of the saints, since she is the holiest of the saints, that is the person who has most come to resemble the crucified Christ and who has been glorified as he was glorified on the Cross. So first of all let us understand the Feast of the Cross, which we will celebrate this coming Wednesday. Every feast has two aspects. One is the historical aspect which is the event that happened in the past, for example Christ’s crucifixion. The commemoration of the “Exaltation of the Honorable Cross” occurred historically when it was found by Saint Helen, the mother of Saint Constantine the Great, and you can read the story in the Synaxarion.

The other aspect of the feast is the essential part, the concept that the feast teaches us. What is the meaning of the Cross and of the Exaltation of the Cross? As you see, in every church we raise it up above the iconostasis, in the hope that we will raise it up in our life! What is the importance of the Cross? And why do Christians hold fast to their faith in the Cross? This is an important and central question. The faith of the Christian in the Cross is not faith in a piece of wood or metal or in the sign of the cross. It is faith in the crucified one, in the Lord Jesus. This is why in our Church we do not use the Cross without the one crucified and so the cross in our church is either painted or engraved because our faith is that the Lord Jesus Christ is God and not only man. For this reason he is able to save us, since he saved us through his death on the Cross, where he manifested his ultimate love. He suffered and was crucified for our sake. You heard in this gospel passage this important phrase that we also say in the divine liturgy, if we listen closely to the hymns, “You loved your world so much that you sacrificed your only-begotten son so that those who believe in him will not perish but will have eternal life.” The Apostle John says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten son so that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” God manifested His ultimate love for the world, for every one of us, for those within the Church and those outside it, for every Christian and for every person in the world! Our Creator who created existence came and manifested His love for the whole world. Eternal life is the life that transcends this earthly life and it transcends death because for the Christian there is no death, since death is always tied to the Resurrection and suffering is tied to joy. There is no joy without suffering. There is no resurrection without death. This is why we also say, “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ let us bow down to the Holy Lord who alone is free of sin… To your Cross, O Christ, we bow down and we glorify your Resurrection.” We also say, “Through the Cross joy came to the whole world.” For this reason we hold fast to the Cross and wear it upon our breasts. Every baptized person is given a cross by their godfather to accompany him throughout his life. One who knows to bear the Cross and to bear the pains of this world, to be patient with them without grumbling, will have joy, because through your cross comes joy, not the joy of this passing world, but true joy, and one who believes in Christ crucified will acquire true, eternal joy and when he reposes will be transported to eternal life. Amen.

This sermon was originally given on September 14, 2011 at Holy Cross Church, el-Danniyeh. The Arabic original can be found here.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Today is the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy, Honorable Cross. You heard today in this gospel passage that talks about the Crucifixion about how the Lord Jesus was lifted up and died on the Cross. During the year, there are a number of feasts for the Cross. In the middle of Lent we commemorate the Cross and during the Summer we commemorate the Elevation of the Cross.

Our faith is that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God. He is God who became man and did not abandon his divinity. The Jews crucified him because he claimed to be equal to the Father, that is equal to God. We believe that the Lord Jesus is man and is God and that he is our God. But why does our God die no the Cross?! The great, basic reason for this death is his love for man who fell in the time of Adam through the trickery of the serpent, who symbolizes the devil and evil.

The Lord Jesus was raised up on the Cross on the day of Good Friday and this is why a believer fasts every Friday, because Christ was crucified at the sixth hour, which is at mid-day, which is the same hour when Adam fell, being tricked by the serpent through Eve. The Lord wanted to be crucified at the same hour that Adam fell. This is what the Evangelist John means when he says, “It was the sixth hour when they crucified him.” According to the Gospel, the Lord was crucified at Golgotha, meaning the place of the skull because according to tradition Christ was crucified in the place where Adam was buried, that is the place where Adam’s skull was. This also means that the Lord Jesus came to give life to fallen Adam and the Church calls Christ “the New Adam.”

Adam represents every person because every one of us is fallen and sinful. Every person who believes that the Lord Jesus was crucified for our sake becomes “a new Adam,” that is he becomes a new person. This is the meaning of the gospel passage that you heard today! This is the meaning of today’s feast.

Every person who believes in the Lord Jesus, if he keeps the commandments, becomes a new person and is victorious over evil just as he was victorious! We hope that this feast will renew our souls so that we can live a new life with the Lord Jesus. Amen.

Met. Georges Khodr on the Feast of the Cross

2011-09-18T14:44:00.002-04:00

The Arabic original is from here.

The Feast of the Cross

On the fourteenth of September the churches celebrate the Elevation of the Cross. It goes without saying that Christians do not worship the wood of the Cross, and they only put it in their churches when there is an icon, that is a drawing, of Christ on it. Every mention of the Cross during worship brings us back to the one who died on it. Why do we have this feast? There are two types of Christian feasts: Feasts of concepts, like the Nativity and Easter, and feasts celebrating historical events to which a theological concept has been attached.

What we call the Elevation of the Cross commemorates first of all the discovery of the Savior’s Cross buried under the ground of Golgotha where he died. It was discovered by Helene, mother of the Emperor Constantine, who built the Church of the Resurrection and the Church of the Cradle. The wood of the Cross was placed in the Church of the Resurrection until May 4, when the Persians stole it during the time following their occupation of Jerusalem. In 628, after defeating the Persians the Emperor Heraclius returned it to the Holy City. The Church elevated the Cross before the faithful, and the feast began. The Cross was divided into very tiny pieces and was distributed to believers throughout world, meaning that today it is mere relics for thousands of Christians.

The liturgical aspect of this feast is extremely beautiful in the Orthodox tradition. Before the liturgy, the priest raises the Cross above his head and lowers it to the ground five times, amidst lengthy chanting. After each believer kisses the cross, the priest gives him a flower that had been placed around the Cross while it was carried in the procession that brought it to the table where the veneration takes place.

With varying levels of liturgical pomp and splendor, all Christians express their faith, not only with words and hymns, but also with symbols, to the point that it could be said that eastern liturgy is a kind of religious theater in which there are various art forms, prostrations, bows, and motions such as making the sign of the cross over the face and chest. In worship there is also water, bread, wine, oil, flowers, crowns for the bride and groom, oil and soil for a corpse, and robes of different colors according to the season, robes particular to each rank of clergy, icons and wall paintings, so that the faithful feel that they are giving glory to God with their souls and their bodies together—this is because of their belief in the resurrection of the body.

There is a necessary tangible quality that you have to know in order to understand Christianity as it was embodied in the first millennium—and everything we do today existed in the first millennium. You should understand people as they understand themselves.

You can accept Christ’s death or you can reject it, I won’t debate you. However, if you want to coexist with Christians, you have to understand their profound faith in the Crucified One. You will not understand a single speck of their faith and you will not be able to love them unless you understand their secret, namely what profoundly motivates them, and you remain free to believe or disbelieve in the event of the crucifixion. All the warmth of love in Christianity has only come to them through the crucifixion of the Savior. All their prayer, the purity of some of them, their intellectual achievements east and west, the testimony of millions of martyrs, generation after generation, their abstinence and asceticism, all forgiveness and peace in the soul and loves that sacrifice to the point of death, all of this comes down to them from the Crucified One. If it were not for him, then Christianity would be just another Jewish sect.

There is nothing in their Gospel apart from this event, whatever the language or styles of the Gospels. Their language appears simple but their theological content is extremely complicated. It is based on the dialectic of Christ’s death and resurrection, that is his glorious manifestation and his lordship over hearts.

This crucifixion is what makes Christianity a faith in a person named Jesus of Nazareth and not the basis for belief in books. The Nazarene did not write a single letter and his followers believe in him because he did and then rose. They wrote down the Gospels a few decades after his death (the fourth gospel after the year 90). Before they wrote them down, the single faith existed and the blood of the martyrs flowed not because of books but because of love for that person.

Through his passion, he became the high priest and took upon himself the sins of mankind in order to end them through the new life that he gives them through his entrance into the kingdom of death and his descent into hell, to the depth of the curse that affects all those who died before and after him. This is because “the wage of sin is death,” which became the death of the Son of Man.

These pains that he bore are the pains of all people, their transgressions. He took them upon himself in order to save them from them. “In baptism buried with him to death so that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too can walk in renewal of life.”

However, before you receive eternal life, your condition is that of fallen, suffering man. This means that you too are crucified and you will not be saved from any cross that is put on your shoulders except through his cross and you will rise from the life you are in to his life so that you can become a new creation. You did not invent suffering. It comes from this world that is under the power of the evil one. It causes you pain and anxiety until Christ’s Resurrection falls upon you with repentance, which is you returning with all your wounds to his face. This is perfect faith, which spurs you on to hope and in love for Jesus, which it pours bountifully upon you so that you go to him and become a Paschal being.

“Let him who wants to follow me deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Christ does not put a cross on you. It comes to you from the circumstances of your existence on earth. If you bear it, you will become a heavenly person. This is why the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross has always been your path. Every day you are burdened and every day the Resurrection lifts your burdens from you.

From this vantage point, this feast extends through you every day. Do the children who light fires on the evening of this day know that they are thus called to carry light to the world, to become people of the Resurrection? Does that reflect their identity?

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross is nothing else but a love story, the greatest love story in history because it was written in blood. It is the marriage of the Savior with all humanity. His beloved is not limited to the Christian groups. It is purified mankind, from all corners of the earth. It is his body, that is his being, baptized in water or baptized in the Spirit. Those who believe in Jesus believe in love and all people are their beloved because all people come from Christ in one way or another and by his blood he carries them to his Father and his Spirit, so that God may be all in all.

Met. Ephrem on the Nativity of the Theotokos

2011-09-16T10:16:00.002-04:00

The Arabic original can be found here. This sermon was given in Tripoli on September 8, 2011.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Beloved, we are still at the beginning of the Church year, since the year begins for the Church in September. The first great feast is the one that we celebrate today, the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos. You notice that on all the feasts of Our Lady Mary, her Nativity, her Dormition, her Entrance into the Temple, this passage from the Gospel is read and along with it this passage from the Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians. This Epistle says that the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming like a human, and humbled himself to the point of death, death on the cross. Why do you think that the Church chooses this Epistle for the feasts of Our Lady Mary? And what is the intimate bond between the Lord Jesus and the Virgin Mary? And what is the importance of the Virgin Mary in the economy of salvation?

This Epistle is connected to the mystery of the Incarnation. The Lord Jesus is the Son of God who was incarnate and became man in order to suffer, to rise, and to save us from the weight of death and sin. And so he came down! This divine self-abasement is what the Apostle Paul is expressing when he says “He emptied himself”. This is the mystery of the divine plan, how the God empties himself , “He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming like a human, and humbled himself to the point of death, death on the cross.” But what did the Virgin do? The Virgin is a human like us, but in her purity, faith, and obedience she did more than any person on the earth in the past, present, or future, and resembled the Lord Jesus in self-abasement, obedience, humility, and self-emptying. The Bible describes this human person as the divine ladder, Jacob’s ladder, that connects earth to heaven and also connects us to heaven because by the grace of God she did what Christ did, but in the opposite direction, since she began as a human person and was elevated and divinized by God’s grace. This is the teaching of the Church, that this woman “the Virgin Mary” was divinized and elevated from earth to heaven and thus by God’s grace became a divinized person.

This is the way that we must look at Mary. We must come to resemble her, that is, be obedient. The Gospel says that she is blessed through all generations, but the Lord says is today’s Gospel passage, “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” This means that the Virgin Marry is blessed because she heard the word of God and kept it. She was obedient to God’s word and to the Gospel and his is what gave her patience, love, and obedience and this is why she said “behold I am the handmaiden of the Lord”—the word ‘handmaiden’ means ‘servant’. That is, she came to resemble Christ who became a servant in order to save us. How lovely it would be if we had this grace to be humble and to heed the word of God, to keep it, and to apply it in our life. Amen.

Fr. Georges Massouh: No to Tolerance, Yes to Citizenship

2011-09-09T17:21:00.002-04:00

The Arabic original can be found here.

No to Tolerance, Yes to Citizenship

Most religious discourse about the other is dominated by the concept of “tolerance.” Religious jurists and thinkers never tire from repeating and popularizing the story about Islamic tolerance over the ages for those belonging to the “People of the Book.” We may concede, for the sake of the argument, the textual and theoretical truth of this story, even though its truth is weakened if we look at some periods of Islamic history when religious extremism dominated and the other was rejected to the point of total annihilation.

In our critique of the concept of tolerance, we cannot ignore a basic question that is connected to tolerance being imposed under certain unjust conditions concerning the right and freedom of groups. At the head of these conditions come things related to the building of churches and the role of worship, the exclusion from certain positions in the state, mixed marriage, and everything resulting from it. If we look back at times when extremism grew strong, we can mention poor treatment of dhimmis who were required to wear specific types of clothing and to carry weights around their necks, and were not allowed to ride horses as a form of humiliation and insult.

Then they never tire of talking about tolerance! Their evident proof is that non-Muslims were permitted to practice their rituals and worship and to have their personal status regulated by according to the rules and customs of their religious communities on the condition that they paid the jizya in exchange for not entering the army for the protection with Muslims of their homes. Any person who strives for full citizenship will reject this tolerance. It is not acceptable to any person who rejects conditions that fall short of complete equality for individuals within a single society, without any distinction on the basis of religion, creed, ethnicity, or sex.

Even if this tolerance was useful in bygone days, it is still something that belongs to bygone days. Our societies cannot remain backward relative to a modernity whose most important components include respect for the individual as a basic social value for human society, without which no society can stand. In our countries, the individual still has no value. He is incorporated, whether he likes it or not, into his religious, sectarian, or ethnic group. No weight is given to this individual unless he is included within his group and his weight comes from its weight. Whatever he may create or express within his field, he will remain relegated and marginalized within the boundaries of his group.

A healthy society is based on mutual rights and responsibilities among all its individuals, without dismissing any of them. In our age, it has become harmful to use an expression like “religious or ethnic minorities” and to negotiate over their rights and responsibilities and over tolerance for their existence and their religious practices and worship. Those who belong to these “religious minorities” long for a state in which they can live as individual citizens on the basis of equality with their partners in the nation, without pleading for tolerance or terms resembling it.

Islamic thinkers continue to approach the topic of the state and society through the lens of relations between religious and sectarian groups and not through the lens of the individual citizen and they still approach it through the lens of the majority’s toleration of the minority. This will return us to the era before the modern state, to the age of tribes and clans and ignorance.

Citizenship is what we desire and it requires universal respect and total equality without legislative or judicial reservations. In his book “Islam is Freedom and Dialogue” (Dar an-Nahar, 1999, p. 95), the Tunisian thinker Muhammad el-Talebi says, “Religious freedom is not a gift of charitable or benevolent tolerance that we grant to people who are in error.” We hope that we will arrive at a day when no citizen grants another citizen tolerance as an act of charity on account of the predominance of his religious or sectarian group.

Met. Ephrem on the Rich Young Man

2011-09-09T15:18:00.002-04:00

The Arabic original can be found here. This sermon was originally given on September 4, 2011 in Rashayya el-Wadi.

As you can sense, I am very happy to be with you and I hope I will be even more so. We have a secret key through which we connect to the whole world, especially to those we love, and this key is prayer. This prayer that gathers us together today, it is not only human prayer and this joy is not human joy. It is heavenly joy. We in the Orthodox Church celebrate—especially on every Sunday—what we call “the Mystical Wedding.” This is because of our faith that this liturgical gathering transcends time and space and that a Christian person ascends in his thought and his heart toward what is beyond this world. This is part of God’s bounteous grace.

To return to the passage from the Gospel and to connect it to this prologue, the Gospel talks about this rich young man, who comes to the Lord Jesus through the crowd. He is a young person like the young people of today. Earnest, intelligent young people today search for truth, for sincerity, because in this world we see a lot of artificial, untruthful things. The new generation today searches for something true and sincere. This young man comes and asks Jesus, “What must I do in order to inherit eternal life?” This young man was Jewish, and the Jews, according to their law, searched for eternal life and said that it could be acquired through good deeds. But what is the meaning of eternal life? Eternal life is life that transcends death and transcends this earthly life.

You know how attached we are to this life. All of us are attached to this life. Why? Psychologists say that it is because of the fear of death that we cling to it and enjoy it. We cling to our wealth as if it will last forever. We cling to our pleasures as if they were true joy. But at root man strives for eternal life, and this is deep in the conscience of everyone. Man feels as though he will live forever, but illness comes and death comes and they strike him.

This young man comes with this spontaneous question and the Lord says to him, “Do you know the commandments? Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother…” And the young man responds, “I have done all these things.” And perhaps most of us do them. But the young man is not satisfied with the law, with these commandments. It is not enough for him. He wants something more that will satisfy his thirst and give him a better life. So the Lord Jesus says to him, “If you want to become perfect—if you are searching for this life that lasts forever-- sell everything, distribute it to the poor, and come follow me.”

But how can a person strip himself of all his wealth? How can a person strip himself of all his lusts? This is something that is difficult for every one of us. Man is attached to this material life and this is what is destroying the world today. They have wars and fight for material goods, but we Christians are not satisfied with this worldly life. We want more. This is why the Lord Jesus came, but this more costs us much…

“If you want to be perfect, sell everything, distribute it to the poor, and come follow me.” This does not mean that we no longer work, that we no longer earn money, that we no longer get married, that we no longer acquire a home, etc. It means that every Christian, every person who looks beyond, must constantly try to not be attached to his possessions, to not be a prisoner of his possessions. At that point he becomes free and tastes this divine grace. We believe that if we want to rise up and rejoice, we must empty ourselves. The person who does not strip himself of his selfishness will not taste eternal life. This is why we ask the Lord to give us this Orthodox point of view, so that we can have unending life. Amen.

Met. Ephrem's Sermon for the Feast of St. Moses the Ethiopian

2011-09-09T12:48:00.002-04:00

The Arabic original can be found here. This sermon was given on Sunday, August 28, 2011 in Qalhat el-Koura.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Beloved, in this first part of the Divine Liturgy we always hear the word of the Gospel. The Gospel does not only speak of events that actually, historically happened. It speaks for the sake of each one of us. This requires us to listen attentively- for this reason we publish our newsletter “The Vineyard” as a companion to your reading of the Epistle and the Gospel. Today you heard this parable that says that the Kingdom of Heaven resembles a king who goes to call his servants into account. Naturally, the king is a symbol for God who will call us into account on the last day, each one of us according to our works. The first servant comes and he has a great debt. What is this debt? According to the interpretation of some of the Fathers, the debt is the sins that we have committed against God through our actions in this life. His debt is great, and so he casts himself at the feet of the king and asks for forgiveness. He pleads so much that the king, that is God, has pity on him—the Bible says that he has pity on him, that his heart was touched and so he forgave him all his debt. Then this first servant goes to his fellow servant who owed him a small debt. That is, he had committed some small sin against his comrade and he asks his forgiveness. But the first servant does not forgive him but rather compels him to pay his debt. The king hears, God hears, of how the servant upon whom he had had mercy and forgiven did not forgive his comrade a small debt. The king came to him on the day of reckoning and said to him, “You wicked servant, were you not obligated to forgive your comrade a small debt just as I forgave you all your debt?” This is what God does with those who do not forgive each other. Peter went and asked the Lord, “How many times must we forgive our brother for sinning against us?” The Lord replied, “Seven times, nay seventy times seven times.” That is, we must always forgive our brothers. The big question that many people ask is, “How will the Lord call us into account on the last day?” We say, and the other religions say as well, that He is merciful, that is forgiving, and that He is just, that is He calls us into account. So how does God harmonize mercy, calling into account, and judgment? This is God’s wisdom. Those who read “The Vineyard” can find there an attempt to explain this divine wisdom, this divine forgiveness, that the Lord forgives us our sins but at the very same time He will call us into account for everything we do in this life.

At the end of the Gospel passage, the Lord punishes this wicked servant and the wicked servant goes off to torment.

Does God punish, does God torment a person who sins? This is a question to which our holy Fathers say that a person through his sin torments himself. On the last day, God will appear to him face to face. His face will be light to those who did good deeds and at the same time it will be a fire burning those who sinned and did not repent of their sin. Beloved, this is the parable from the Gospel on this day when we celebrate this righteous and great one of the Church, so that we will have an example in Saint Moses the Ethiopian, who sinned and had a great debt before God but who despite this repented and became one of the holiest saints. Also, the Holy Fathers explain to us that this divine forgiveness, God’s mercy, is connected to our prayer. This saint spent his life in prayer. One who prays from the heart is easily forgiven, not because he is good but because he draws divine goodness and forgiveness from the Lord. When one prays, God’s mercy comes down upon him and he begins to forgive others easily and have mercy on them. Amen.

The Independent on Christian Fears for Syria's Future

2011-09-06T11:05:00.002-04:00

Life after Assad looks ominous for Syria's Christian minority

Not everyone is supporting the uprising against the country's brutal regime. Khalid Ali reports from Damascus

Monday, 5 September 2011

In the gift shop of Damascus' Chapel of Ananias, a middle-aged Christian man called Sari explained who he thought was to blame for the stories of government brutality emerging from his country.

"All the international media are liars," he said. "Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN – they are all lying. There is no trouble here in Damascus."

Syria's more than 2 million Christians account for around 10 per cent of the total population and are just one minority in patchwork of different creeds. But in interviews this week, some of them said many in their community were uneasy about the anti-government protests convulsing their country.

Read the rest here.

Fr. Georges Massouh on Antiochian Witness in the Contemporary Middle East

2011-08-24T15:46:00.001-04:00

The Arabic original can be found here.

Between Existing and Witnessing to the Truth

"Antioch" is not merely a city. It has become a civilizational, religious, and historical symbol. "The City of God, Antioch the Great" is the city in which was born the name by which the followers of Jesus of Nazareth came to be known: "And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians" (Acts of the Apostles 11:26). One cannot speak of Christianity in the Arab East without talking about the great influence left by Antiochian theology and figures of the Antiochian Church on the entire Christian world.

The role of the city of Antioch declined, but it remained a symbol affirming the unity of Christians living in the Eastern Arab nations that constituted, according to ancient administrative divisions, the geographical unit of one local church whose affairs were governed by a Holy Synod composed of her sons. Modern states were established after the dissolution of the Ottoman state, but the church remained Antiochian and was not divided according to the newborn states. Rather, she insisted that she transcended borders and nations. The unity of her Arab Christian children, Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi, Palestinian..., is too strong for its bonds to be broken by political or administrative boundaries.

These words do not come from partisan motives or from current political considerations. They are rooted in the Antiochian Church's consciousness of her identity and witness. No one can doubt the loyalty of the children of the Church of Antioch toward their nations. However, the majority of them believe that their national loyalty in no way negates their commitment to the causes of the rest of the children of their church who belong to the entire territory of Antioch. Thus, we see the importance of the role that the Antiochian Church can play in the events that the nations of the Arab East are witnessing.

During what is called the era of the Arab renaissance in the 19th century until the middle of the 20th century, Antiochians adopted ideas produced by the European Enlightenment. In civil society, secularism, socialism, Arab and Syrian nationalism, they saw common linguistic, civilizational, cultural, national, geographical, social, or human bonds with their fellow-citizens and partners from among the Muslims and other people of the region in a single destiny. They saw in these ideas a way to liberation from the domination of a state clothed in religion that forbids them from their natural right to enjoy full citizenship without any disability. They were the point of the spear against ignorance, colonialism, and narrow sectarian affiliations and against the domination of backward religious thinking and the confusion of religion and politics.

Today we notice a regression on the level of the role entrusted to the Antiochian Church and to Antiochians, especially in matters connected to her witness and mission based on the living Antiochian heritage, from the Gospels to the writings of the fathers and teachers of the Church. In the context of events that will change the face of the region and the disappearing-- or almost disappearing-- stability of the future for its residents, the voice of the Church comes out with the truth.

For various reasons, the number of Middle Eastern Christians has continuously declined for four centuries. The Church's silence or at times her collusion, resulting from her fear for the fate of the Christian presence, will inevitably lead to the death of her witness and mission in today's world and at the same time it will in no way preserve the Christian presence. Fear over continued existence will lead to the loss of that existence and that witness at the same time. If only the Knower of the Unknown knows the future of existence, then "Antiochians" must not fear anything except losing their witness. Between existing and witnessing remains the hope that they will be able to carry out their witness without fearing for their existence.

Press Release from Patriarch Ignatius IV's Meeting with Orthodox Politicians in Lebanon

2011-08-23T14:11:00.003-04:00

Arab original here.

Press Release from the Patriarchal Residence

On the Occasion of the Meeting of His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV

With Orthodox Deputies in Lebanon

Balamand Monastery, August 12 2011

His Beatitude Ignatius IV (Hazim), Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, held a meeting with his children, ministers from the Orthodox community, on Thursday, August 11 at the Greek Orthodox metropolitan’s residence in Beirut. He held a meeting with his children, deputies from the community on Friday, August 12 at the patriarchal residence at the Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand. During the two meetings, there was an extensive dialogue about the Orthodox role in Lebanon in particular and more generally in the Arab East and the emigration.

This is the first time that such meetings have been held in the presence of the patriarch and they will be repeated on account of the delicate historical stage through which the countries of the Arab East are passing and on account of the leading role of the Orthodox, not only because they are the largest and most widespread Christian community in the region, but also because they are distinguished by their openness to Muslims and Christians of other Middle Eastern Churches.

It is natural for the leader of the Orthodox community to meet with those who represent the community to Lebanon, who bear the concerns of their community and who seek the good of those whom they represent. Each one of them has his place and his role in the community and in Lebanon.

His Beatitude expressed his love for those present and his respect for the responsibilities put on their shoulders, stressing the role that the Orthodox in Lebanon, in the Arab East, and in the emigration must play in the mother countries. This should be on the basis of their faith, their moral principles, their belonging to their nation, and their role in directing overall policy. His Beatitude likewise affirmed the special place that Lebanon and the Lebanese, Christians and Muslims, occupy in his heart and mind and their permanent presence in his prayers and supplications.

The patriarch, the ministers, and the deputies who were present agreed that the Church respects political diversity and complete freedom for all her children in choosing their political orientation, though they are all called to a single common denominator that is loyalty to the nation, striving to develop it on the basis of freedom, justice, and equality, and working with their brothers in citizenship for the good of the nation and of humanity.

With regard to the Orthodox role in directing general policy and offering administrative services, His Beatitude, the ministers, and the deputies who were present agreed to work so that the Orthodox community receives its rights in terms of recognized political and administrative positions. This is not in order to serve narrow self-interest, but in order to secure what is soundest and most effective in politics and administration, knowing that the Orthodox community has many members who are competent and capable of assuming positions in all fiends. They likewise stressed that securing opportunities for service in general departments in Lebanon for citizens from the Orthodox community should not come through quotas but through making them available to the community so that it can have the honor of serving the nation in the best way.

In closing, those present again affirmed the efforts of the Orthodox in Lebanon since its founding toward building a nation and establishing a state for all, without division or discrimination.

Fr. Touma Bitar on the Episcopacy and Love of Authority

2011-08-22T12:46:00.002-04:00

The Arabic original can be found here.

The Episcopacy and Love of Authority

No one should take the words in this essay personally. Our words here are about a rampant sate of illness that most of us suffer from!

The love of authority is a passion, and there is none closer to man’s heart. The reason for this is that it is closest to what the serpent—Satan-- falsely promised him in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 3:5), that if he, that is man, disregarded God’s word and rejected His commandment, his eyes would open and he would become like God, knowing good and evil. For this reason, every other passion besides the love of authority in practice is born from it and leads to it!

It has been said that “the love of money is the root of all evils,” and the love of authority is behind the love of money and thus it is what gives all the evils a purpose and a definite direction on the way to sin.

The opposite of love of authority is obedience to God in the person of one who is marked with God’s will for us, in an act of complete emptying from our own personal will. It is not necessarily the holiness of the other person that shows us God’s will with certainty in the person of another. Rather, it is our complete emptying of our personal will in God’s name, through the other person.

Every person who does not obey God in the way outlined above cannot help but be governed by the love of authority, either openly or in a disguised way. In contrast to this, for every person who obeys God there is nothing easier than to obey others. Obedience to God, obedience to God alone, obedience in its deep sense, in Spirit and in truth, is behind eagerness to obey guides or authorities (Hebrews 13:17) and likewise our submission to each other (Ephesians 5:21). This is not exclusive submission and so it is not degrading. Rather, it is a submission obedient to God, in love, in others and so it is blessed! Here is hidden the ultimate power of the soul in a human, not the ultimate weakness and humiliation, as it appears to those who do not know!

Within this perspective fall the relationships between a man, wife, and children within a single household or between a worker and his supervisor or between an employee and his boss or between people, all people, in the world, regardless of the situations they are in.

Just as in the world, so too in the Church. Within the Church, all the faithful without exception are subject to this existential struggle between the love of authority and obedience to God. Within the episcopate, is seems that this matter is even more clear with regard to its position within the life of the Church. What are the signs of desire for the office of bishop within the framework of this perspective?

It has been said that “If one desires the office of bishop, then he desires a good work (1 Timothy 3:1)” and so the basis of this desire, scripturally and historically, is obedience to God and its basic framework is keeping the commandment. If keeping the commandment is not the basic framework and obedience to God the basis for a believer’s desire for this, then his wanting the office of bishop is not blessed and is not at all counted as a good work, but rather an act of showing off and intrusion! In this case, a man is seeking the office of bishop for himself, motivated by love of authority and he is not seeking it out of love for God. In its true meaning, the office of bishop is not in the titles, not in the consecration, not in the robes, and not even in the administrative function and social position. The office of bishop, at its base, is in service to the Lord Jesus and his Church with all one’s heart and all one’s soul and all one’s strength! This is exactly what has guided the Church, generation after generation, toward care, great care, in choosing bishops, so that the Church does not inadvertently choose for Christ’s flock a wolf instead of a shepherd, an exploiter instead of a servant, a corrupter instead of a pious teacher, and thus an agent of Satan rather than a witness for the Lord’s Christ. This is why, in his letter to Timothy the Apostle Paul followed the words above about desire for the office of bishop with words about the attributes, or rather the prerequisites, for a worthy bishop. “Blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, clear-minded, forbearing, not given to anger, not a lover of money, ordering his household well, whose children are obedient to him in all honor, not new to the faith, with a good testimony from those on the outside” (1 Timothy 3:2-7). These qualities would not be enumerated if the purpose was not to make a careful consideration of the characteristics of a candidate for the office of bishop, in order to make sure that they are found abundantly in his person. Up-close knowledge, especially with regard to his spirit, is an absolutely necessary condition for choosing a bishop. Thus it is unacceptable to be negligent in making a serious examination of a candidate for the office of bishop. Nor is it acceptable to be satisfied with generalities, passing impressions, or someone or another’s superficial testimony about him before including him in the list of eligible candidates! This is to not even speak of the influence of centers of power, from within the Holy Synod or from without, on deliberations that are not always of a churchly nature or with pure intent! Once, one of the metropolitans commented in front of me about choosing new bishops, saying, “We always come to the sessions of the Holy Synod like schoolboys who haven’t memorized their lessons like they should! Decisions are made arbitrarily and hurriedly. Elections are held and some don’t know who they are electing and what sort of person they are voting for!”

It is likewise unacceptable for a bishop to be accountable in his private affairs to God only and not to the Church of Christ, synod and laity. One who makes a review of the canons of the Church notices that the Church follows and takes an interest in minute details of the life of a bishop, so that the bishop will remain truly without blame, as the Apostle taught, and so that he will not be a cause of scandal for the faithful. An example of this is canon 25 of the Canons of the Holy Apostles: “Any bishop found to have committed fornication or a false oath or theft, let him be deposed of his office.” In canon 70 of the Council of Carthage: “Bishops, priests, and deacons must not approach their wives during their period. If they disobey this, let them be removed from their rank in the Church.” There are canons that affect bishops if they consume intoxicants, practice usury, strike someone, or take up worldly employment. Even if a bishop, a priest, or a deacon is a habitual backgammon player, he should stop this or be deposed (Canon 12 of the 7^th Council…). Likewise, if he prays with heretics he should be cut off (Canon 45 of the Apostolic Canons), and likewise a priest!

Thus it is essential to be sure of the spiritual identity of a candidate for the office of bishop before anything else. Then a continued examination of the bishop is necessary after he becomes a bishop so that he will remain blameless under penalty of being deposed. Otherwise, we treat the matter in the same way that the people of this fallen world deal with it in backward countries, and the way they treat employees in public and private offices. What can result from this in the Church is dangerous, whether on the level of the health of the flock, the level of the soundness of the Orthodox faith, or on the level of the soundness of canonical practice. Neglecting to choose a bishop carefully and also examining his behavior after choosing him are both unacceptable and should be strongly protested because ignoring corruption is negligence toward Christ’s Church! Its consequences are dire, not only for the Church’s present but even for her future and her continued existence!

Here is a very painful point in the Church, the subject of bishops’ celibacy. During the past forty years I have noticed, indeed I have personally experienced, that the Apostle’s statement to Timothy about the bishop being the husband of one wife is far removed from the idea that this was the ancient practice and that with time it was replaced by a celibate episcopate. It is my conviction that this is chronologically imprecise. Bishops’ being married and likewise bishops’ being celibate were, other than in exceptional circumstances, both within the framework of piety and Orthodox faith and worship. Thus, love of God and zeal for His house were the context. Bishops’ celibacy had an evangelical, monastic, spiritual content. Celibacy in itself was never the value. For this reason the unmarried bishop was looked upon as free for divine knowledge, worship, prayer, and fasting and likewise for the service of teaching and pastoring in Christ’s sheepfold. One did not exist without the other. Being satisfied with the conditions of celibacy, performing the services well, and with a little bit of superficial personal fasting and prayer, combined with a university diploma here or there, is a disfigurement of the unmarried episcopacy! This, in the context of today, is a worldly episcopate with absolutely no connection to authentic episcopacy! Before the celibate bishop are basically two paths: either to actively strive to be filled with the fear of God and obedience to Him, and thus with His Spirit, and to undertake service for the flock entrusted to him within this personal framework, or to be a person motivated by love of authority in what he thinks and does, in his opinion, and thus the flock becomes his plantation and grist for his whims! One who does not direct his vital energies upward must live on the level of the lusts of his soul and body. This could be exemplified in secret, illicit relationships with women, in deviant relationships, in a passion for accumulating wealth, in easily slipping into selling divorces and sacraments, and in preferring the wealthy. Or the celibate could be afflicted with feelings of haughtiness and pride, have a deviant personality in one way or another, or be afflicted by mental illness! It is impossible for a celibate bishop to have chastity of heart and to be spiritually healthy outside the framework of monasticism or quasi-monasticism in the Church. Indeed, the celibate episcopate, as it is practiced today, more than not counts people obsessed with love of authority and displays of pride, expensive robes, crowns, places of honor in the Church, and that people call them “my lord, my lord!” Corrupt practice encourages corruption! Naturally, exceptions exist, but they are very rare. I was shocked when I repeatedly met people who prepared their robes for the episcopate and the priesthood in advance, sometimes at a very high price, even as I have seen in how they stand in the church, in their tone of voice, in how they treat and talk to people, their lack of suitability for the episcopacy that they think is inevitably coming to them, like actors on the stage! There are even those who think that they were born to be a bishop! I know a bishop who was made bishop as a consolation prize because he expressed before the powers that be his feelings of hurt that all his companions besides himself had become bishop, as though the Church had wronged him! Likewise, I have no doubt that if one submits to the passion of love of authority, even if he is outwardly imbued with praiseworthy qualities, the passion of love of authority will corrupt all the good within him and make his purportedly praiseworthy qualities into material for deception and play-acting. If this is the situation to which the celibate episcopacy has to a large degree led, then I do not hesitate to say that in our Church’s current climate, that if someone desires the office of bishop, seeks it, or strives for it, then his desire is suspicious and he should be completely kept away from the episcopacy. As long as this is the current climate for the episcopate, then it is a thousand times better for us to choose blameless bishops from among pious married men who are firm in the Orthodox faith, good managers of their households and capable of ministering to the faithful, than for us to choose celibate bishops who are useless, who treat divine and spiritual things lightly, and who have, sometimes secretly and sometimes openly, and sometimes barefacedly, a way of life that causes scandal to the faithful, alienates them, frustrates them, and makes them wag their tongues, causing blasphemy against God’s Church!

There is no doubt that, faced with this tragic reality, we are suffering from a situation that is not only aberrant but also an illness, a spreading epidemic because we see that there is an insensitivity and an acceptance of things as natural that are turning into corrupt thinking and practice in this matter! Do we depart from the group when the signs of the times say that there is no hope for its uprightness?! By no means! Rather, we always witness the truth to the Church and work for the truth, strive for the truth, until the truth is revived! The Church remains the Church of those who walk in the way of the truth, not of those who strangle the truth with falsehood.

The word remains so that the Lord God will open the ears of the deaf!

Archimandrite Touma (Bitar)

Abbot of the Monastery of St. Silouan- Douma

August 14, 2011

Met. Saba (Esber) on Giving to the Poor

2011-08-19T19:55:00.002-04:00

The Arabic original can be found here.

The Poor are Our Gateway to the Kingdom

Some readers might be surprised by this title, but it expresses the theology of our Church and our view of the poor. I will rely first of all on a simple testimony from the great theological saint Gregory of Nyssa, who spoke the very words of this title, “the poor are our gateway to the Kingdom.” He says, “These poor are the ones who store away the good things that we look upon. They are the gatekeepers of the Kingdom. They open the gates before the merciful and shut them in the face of the cruel ones who do not do good. They are the strongest accusers and the best defenders. They do not accuse and defend with words, but the Lord sees what is done to them. Every action cries out in a loud voice before God, the searcher of hearts.”

When we approach fasting, its complete foundation is the dimension that today we call “the social dimension” which in the Gospel is “the dimension of love”. In order to enter into the holy fast, we must be aware that we have to fulfill within it the dimension of love. From the beginning of Christianity, we have abundant testimonies starting from the second century that Christians had in the church a “common box”. When one of the faithful was in need of help, they would fast, cutting themselves off from food and subsisting for that day only on bread and water. They would bring the price of the food to the church and put it in the common box and it would then be distributed to believers in need.

So the dimension of love is the foundation. The first Christians understood this and embodied the words of the Gospel, which often speaks of love and of serving the needy, whatever their need is. Here we need to make a simple review of the concept of poverty in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments. Through it, we will touch on some of the testimonies found in the Bible about the importance of giving, serving, and helping.

The Poor in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, when people did not know the full dimension of faith in Christ and their life was focused on the earth more than on the heavenly kingdom, they looked at wealth as a blessing from God and at poverty as a curse from God. However, in the Old Testament the Bible emphasizes the necessity of helping those in need and of taking care of strangers, especially widows, orphans, and the poor. This emphasis on helping the poor was even though poverty was a curse from God and a sign of God’s displeasure with a person. This was until the prophets in the Old Testament changed this view and condemned the rich who exploited the wealth of the poor and profiting from their account. They rebuked them for their hardness of their hearts since they were not concerned with helping the poor. The Prophet Isaiah said in chapter 58, “Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’”

And so with the prophets began the connection between helping the needy and perfecting worship. That is, helping the needy became a part of worship and worship by its very definition was not accepted by God if it was not connected to serving the needy. The Prophet Isaiah mentions this in another text, in the first chapter of his book, where he mentions that we must care for the poor and have justice for the orphan. “Defend the fatherless, give justice to the oppressed, plead for the widow. ‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’” The Prophet Isaiah said these words after rebuking the people for their luxurious worship, which God loathed and turned His face from. He said to them, “I turn my nose away from the smell of your incense so that I will not smell it. Your songs are abhorrent to me and your fasts are heavy for me.” That is, all the worship that the people undertook was unacceptable to God because they did not care for the orphans, the widows, the poor, and the needy. So we see a great development with the prophets of the Old Testament when they began to show the believing people that love, living love for the poor and needy, is a part of worship and that worship by its very definition, whether it is prayers or fasting, is unacceptable when it is not actively connected to love.

In the Book of Daniel, the prophet says, “Break off your sins with alms, and your iniquities with mercy to the wretched. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity.” This is the very same idea that continues with us to today and doing good is taken into account by God, who when He notices it gives the one who does it good things in return. There are many who love to give and to offer help and donations, but the reason for them doing this is not love for the needy so much as selfishness: if I give, God will bless me and give me more. The Bible is in agreement with this viewpoint and confirms it to the degree that in the New Testament the Fathers of the Church consider almsgiving and assistance to the needy to bring about forgiveness of sins.

The Book of Jesus ben Sirach says, “Just as water puts out fire, so too does almsgiving do away with sins.”

And in the Psalms, “Blessed is the one who looks after the poor. On the day of evil, the Lord will save him.”

In the Book of Tobias, “Prayer is good with fasting and almsgiving because almsgiving saves from death and purifies one from sins.”

The words of Jesus ben Sirach, “prayer with fasting and almsgiving does away with sins and brings blessings” reminds us of the Sermon on the Mount where Christ talked about the three pillars of the Christian faith: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

The Poor in the New Testament

In the New Testament, the idea of the prophets, which came about in the seventh century before Christ and continued to develop until the New Testament, was perfected and the viewpoint became different from the Old Testament. In the New Testament, wealth was no longer a sign of God’s blessing and poverty was no longer a sign of God’s curse. Instead, poverty came to be blessed because it helps people to not be attached to the bonds of this world. And so with the New Testament, poverty came to have a spiritual aspect: we are able to use poverty, if we find ourselves in that state, to rise above the things of this world. Poverty is not in itself blessed, but according to the New Testament, if we are poor then we are able to use are poverty in order to ascend spiritually. This viewpoint connects with some of the fathers, such as Saint John Chrysostom who considers poverty to be a very important Christian virtue. Not all are capable of it and it is not given to all. Poverty is no longer a curse from God, but the New Testament stresses that poverty must be combatted and that the poor must be aided. This is what the first Christians understood and continued to understand.

We know that Christianity is the religion that distinguishes itself in love more than any other religion and it has produced many very great people who gave up their entire life for the sake of love and for the sake of the poor. Christians are the ones who established all what we call today humanitarian institutions. All the concern for the human condition, human dignity—and humans need to live in dignity and respect—all these concepts and institutions that were founded on the basis of them came from an evangelical, Christian background.

Thus, in the New Testament, we have the parable of the Judgment that we read in the Church on the Sunday before Lent. In it, Christ goes so far as to say “I am the poor and I am the hungry. I am the thirsty and I am the sick. I am the imprisoned and I am the naked.” He completely identifies himself with the needy. For this reason, he considered every gift and assistance offered to the needy to be offered to his own person. Thus, the Christian understanding is that when one encounters someone in need, he should see it as an encounter with Christ because Christ says, “Everything that you have done for one of these little ones you have done for me.” And he says, “Everything that you have not done for one of these little ones, you have not done for me.” This means that we will be judged, not only on the basis of the work of love that we have done and for which we will receive recompense, but we will also be judged and receive punishment for the love that we could have offered but did not. Thus, with the parable of the Judgment the issue of poverty and the poor in Christianity reaches its apex, to the point that it becomes personal service to Christ.

Chrysostom says, speaking for Christ, “You have heard about me that I am robed in light, but when you clothe one naked I feel warmth and I have been covered. You believe that I sit at the right hand of my Father in heaven, but when you go to the prison and take care of the prisoners you see me sitting there.” Chrysostom also talks about giving, to encourage people to do it: “Because he is poor, feed him so that you will have fed Christ.” There is a complete identification between the poor and Christ. “If you see a wretched person, remember that even if it is evident that he is not Christ, He is the one who asks you and receives from you, in the form of the other.” This is how the poor reached a very high rank among Christians, because they are the means by which we are able to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. We will mention some of the attributes or names that the Fathers of the Church give to the poor. Chrysostom says, “How great is the place of the poor, since they are like God’s inner room. The inner room is the bedchamber, the room of God the Creator, may He be exalted, in which He is hidden. The poor extend their hands begging, but it is God who receives your alms.” In this way Christianity came to look upon the poor as having honor and as being worthy of respect, just like any wealthy person. For this reason Chrysostom also says that if our Lord deemed the poor worthy to share with Him at his table (that is, in the Lord’s table, in the holy chalice, that is the Eucharist), then by what right do you have to prevent the poor from sitting at your table, if you are rich?

When Saint John the Merciful (Patriarch of Alexandria in the seventh century) became patriarch, he wanted the people to hold a celebration for him and he told them, “Invite to the celebration my masters.” They said to him, “Master, you are Patriarch of Alexandria, you have no masters. You are master over all.” He said to them, “No. I have many masters. Invite for me my masters to the banquet of honor that you want to hold for me.” They did not understand him. They thought that he wanted them to invite the authorities of the country, important people and celebrities. The deacon came and told him that they were thinking of inviting so-and-so and such-and-such a person… He said to him, “My son, I said to you to invite for me my masters. My masters are the poor. They are the ones who will grant me entrance into the Kingdom. They are the ones whom Christ made equal to himself. We only have one Lord. Every person in whom is the Lord is a lord for us.” He always said these words until they stuck with him.

On this basis honoring the stranger, the needy, the poor, the visitor, is considered to be the basic virtue for Christians and in monasticism it is considered to be giving honor to Christ directly. For this reason monks in monasteries are very concerned with the virtue of hospitality and so they accept all people. In Orthodox monasteries especially, people visit and sleep there and if they are hungry they eat, not feeling that they are in a formal institution because what is within the monastery is an offering from God to all people. This is how this tradition has come down: In every monastery there is a large hall with all the furnishings called “the guest-house” (or in Greek archondariki) where all the guests of the monastery stay and sleep.

Thus Christianity gives very great honor to the poor. All worldly thinking that we are unfortunately influenced by from time to time talks about giving from above. It says, “we give somewhat what we are able” as though we are doing good for him. We give him alms. There is nothing called ‘alms’ or ‘charity’ in Christianity or in the Gospel because this means that you are giving without feeling. That is, when you give alms or charity it is because you feel an obligation without love springing up from within you. Giving in Christianity is giving in love. Otherwise, it has no value because you are giving to Christ himself. You are unable to give to Christ when you are dry-hearted. It does not mean anything for you to give without looking at the person, without caring. Unfortunately, sometimes in Christianity we have experiences that are not successful in Christian terms. There are groups that have founded organizations and charitable institutions that give with very much sincerity and honesty but they do not love the poor who benefit from their services and instead hate them because they are giving from above. Sometimes you see where someone has posted the saying “beware the evil of one for whom you have done good” on small boards in stores. Why? Because we give to them from above. Meaning: It is true that they take the material gift that they need in order to buy medicine or food or to educate their children, but the gift has no feeling of love. It humiliates them and they feel ashamed, like they have been rejected, and so they have a reaction against the one giving. This is not Christian giving. Christians cannot say “beware the evil of one for whom you have done good” because they love those for whom they do good and that love is also reciprocated.

What are the images of the poor?

The first image that Christ gave us is that of the Good Samaritan: the enemy who becomes, through an act of mercy, a neighbor. The Samaritan was an enemy of the Jews, but because he loved the Jew who was wounded and left for dead and saved him, he became his neighbor more than any Jewish priest and more than any Levite serving in the Temple. That is, he became his neighbor more than any authority of the religion to which he belonged, more than his own people, the people of his own religion. Thus, it is the enemy who becomes the closest neighbor to us.

The second image is very beautiful. It is given to us by Saint John Chrysostom, who says that the poor are the porters who carry us. He says that all of us, when we move to a new house, want to move our possessions and we are in need of porters to move our possessions for us. When we move to our heavenly abode, we have those who move all the valuables that belong to us and that we need in our heavenly abode above, without us paying them and without complaint. They are the poor. He says literally: “How can we not awaken from our sleep and realize that we reside in a strange country and that we will soon return to our homeland. Until now, we were not paying attention to carrying our wealth and transporting our possessions there. Those who undertake moving to their country from a foreign land have to pay for the voyage and for transport and they take great trouble to send their belongings safely. But here we encounter those who transport our belongings without trouble, without complaint, without pay and without provision, and they send them safely to our homes through the dangers of the road. And despite this, we reject them? They are the poor.”

Another very widespread image among Christians is that “the poor are intercessors.” They intercede for those who help them. And so when we do a work of mercy, we gain for ourselves an intercessor. We often notice that the poor pray for those who give to them “God give you success”, “God give you health”, “God save your children”… These prayers are very important because they come from a wounded and sincere heart. When we give, we ourselves profit. This is why the Bible says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Giving contains joy and those who become accustomed to this joy are never sated by it. They take pleasure in giving, not in receiving. Our culture today is the opposite, being based on possessing and receiving. Thus, “one who loves the poor,” says Chrysostom, “is like one who has an intercessor in the judge’s house. One who opens his door to the destitute holds in his hand the key to God’s door. One who loans money to those who ask him is paid back by the Lord of All.”

The poor are also a living example for us and in this way they preach to us. We often talk in sermons about the transient nature of this world and how it will not remain for anyone and that at any time we are subject to falling ill or become disabled or fall into problems or an accident could happen to us. Why do we preach this? We preach this because we want to free the faithful from their material circumstances in which they live, which draw them only to worldly cares. It is the duty of the Church to preach to people and to open their eyes to another side of life. Life is not only worldly cares. Before us is the Kingdom of Heaven, where we desire to live, eternal life. We must be aware of the transience of this world so that we do not become very attached to it. Some of the Fathers of the Church also say: It is true that preachers speak these words, but the poor truly show you. They show you in reality. For this reason they are the true preachers before you and living examples who show you what the Bible tells you, that you should not be attached to the world and “let us cast aside all earthly cares and receive the King of All.”

Giving in Christianity

The Christian viewpoint is connected to considering the poor to be preferable to the rich because by helping them the rich receive a blessing by which their sins are forgiven, they become more sensitive, they are saved and so enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Who is the one who benefits? The one who pays a little bit of money or the one who receives God’s grace and His blessing? Thus giving, in the Christian understanding, is giving from below not from above. There is no preference in it. When I give, I should be completely convinced that the person to whom I am giving is actually serving me rather than me serving him. The predominant view in society is exactly the opposite. For this reason one of the effects of giving and service to the poor is that it saves us from judgment. The Bible says, “Break off your sins with alms, and your iniquities with mercy to the wretched. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity.” It also says, “One who gives to the poor is not in need, to one who covers his eyes from many curses” (Proverbs).

Alms, or giving, also causes us to resemble God because God gave Himself and not only the good things of His creation to mankind. He gave Himself to mankind and He died for their sake on the cross. Thus when we give from what we ourselves need, from what we lack and not from our surpluses, we resemble God. This is why Chrysostom says, “One who has mercy on the poor makes a loan to God” and the Lord will repay us on the last day. And so every act of giving is a debt for God that He will return to you on the last day. This is why he does not say, “One who has mercy on the poor, the Lord will have mercy on him or the Lord will bless him” but rather says that he makes a loan to the Lord because He will return the loan at the appropriate time.

Blessed Augustine says, “How can you ask of your Lord, you who do not respond to your equal?” The poor is your equal. He is a person just like you. He asks from you and you do not respond to him while at the same time you stand there and ask God to bless you and give to you, but you are not like God. Thus, in Christian spirituality the Gospel says, “Do not turn away anyone who asks from you.” That is, do not say “no” to him. Today, many people see this to be difficult and so we say, “He does not deserve it. He is a liar. We know him.”

Giving also grants us spiritual and material blessings because in exchange for this small blessing that we have given, God gives us great blessings. Here we recall the parable of the widow who put her two mites in the poor-box. Christ said to his disciples that she put “more than anyone”. The disciples were naturally surprised by these words because they saw how people gave gold coins and large sums and they said to him, “How can you say this, teacher? She only put two mites in.” He said to them , “She was in need of her two mites to feed her children, but despite this she denied herself and her children and gave them away. For this reason her offering is accepted by God more than those given by others in their surplus. She gave out of her need.”

The subject of giving is very important on a human level. Each one of us needs to pay heed to how we must deny ourselves some things so that we may give to others, even if we have plenty. Do we have much? Then we give much! However, we must train ourselves to deny ourselves something in order to give it to others, because this benefits us. It frees us from within, from every attachment that we have.

Saint Justin (2^nd century) mentions in his apology for the Christians, “We Christians, who as humans have loved the ways of acquiring wealth and property over everything else, now offer what we own to the common box and we share it with every person in need. And so there was an official box in the Church from the second century which is what we call in some parishes today the “box of love” or the “poor box.” In another apology, he says, “We have turned our attention to the outcast and the ignored. Our active love has become the bond that distinguishes us before the enemy… Look at what the pagans say about us. They say: How they love each other and how they are ready to sacrifice their life for each other!” This is why wealth is considered by Christians, and especially great Fathers of the Church, to be a grace insofar as it permits the one possessing it to give, to do works of mercy, and to help greatly. The understanding of wealth is changed, from being a blessing from God that we deserve, to being a grace that God gives us so that through it we can receive many blessings. How do we receive the blessings? It is when we give, and not when we store up. This is why the Christian tradition looks at wealth as trusteeship and not as a personal possession. Christ said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” His disciples asked him, “Then who is able to be saved?” He responded by saying, “For humans, it is impossible, but for God everything is possible.” The Fathers of the Church explain this by saying that wealth is a way, a means, a possibility, for us to receive God’s mercy, when we distribute it and give it to the needy because in the measure that we give we receive a blessing. If we are rich and we have great ability, then we receive blessings to the degree that we give of this wealth. This is why wealth is considered to be trusteeship that God has entrusted us with to distribute to His needy children. It is not our own property. This is the deep theological viewpoint.

Saint Cyprian says: Possessions are a trusteeship and the rich are their trustees. They must imitate God’s munificence and generosity in sharing material things with their neighbors so that all may have food and so that the earth may be a common possession for all.”

Chrysostom says, “Those whom I attack are not the rich, they are those who use their wealth poorly. Wealth is one thing and desiring others’ wealth is something else. It is possible for you to have wealth and to use it for acts of love and it is possible for you to have wealth that you store up.”

Saint Ambrose says, “Alms from a miser are merely the restitution of stolen goods.” This means that when I give a needy person a loaf of bread, I am only restoring to him the loaf that I stole from him.

However, on a personal level each one of us must think: How many things do I have that I don’t need? And how many times do I go back and accumulate more! In this way I can see many things that I have stolen from those who have nothing!

The saying from Saint Ambrose is very harsh. However, in reality it is good for people to live as they pray, “give us this day our daily bread.” We pray this every day. But do we put it into practice?

After this survey of the Old and New Testaments, we hope that we can apply some of these sayings, each one of us as we are able.