Met Elias (Audi)'s Speech about Jerusalem

Arabic original here.

The address of His Eminence the metropolitan of Beirut, Elias Audi, at the al-Azhar International Conference in Support of Jerusalem.

Janaury 17 and 18, 2018-- Cairo

First of all, I would like to salute the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, chairman of the Council of Muslim Elders, Dr Ahmed al-Tayeb, and thank him for inviting me to attend this international conference in support of Jerusalem, which is currently being subjected to a plain aiming to change its identity, obliterate its history, and defeat and displace its people.

The absence of justice suffocates the voice of truth. Earthly justice, whatever it is called, is imperfect, but falsehood is fleeting and the truth will inevitably shine forth and the oppressed will prevail.

What Israel is attempting to do, supported by the latest American decision, aims to present an image of Jerusalem that is contrary to its history, in addition to the architectural, demographic and political changes to the face of the city that it has undertaken in past decades. This causes it to lose its individuality and collective memory, transforming it into a city without a past and without a history.

Jerusalem has been and shall remain in our Christian, ecclesial consciousness the city of peace, the city where the Lord Jesus' feet trod from His childhood, in the corridor of whose temple He prayed, where He proclaimed the good news, and where He sacrificed Himself for humanity in order to save it. How can this city lose its identity and become a place that witnesses persecution of those who believe in God and their being crushed after the expulsion of their parents and grandparents?

We do not look at Jerusalem as a mere place, but as an essence that bears a spiritual meaning that transcends the vicissitudes of history and politics and their enmities and wars.

For us, Jerusalem is the holy city that witnessed the crucifixion, death and resurrection. It shall remain the place where glory is raised up to God Most High unto the ages.

Many have sung of Jerusalem and written poems about it, enumerating this city's qualities and the feelings it provokes. It is not by chance that it has been named "the flower of cities" because it is a white flower that brings together in its folds brothers in God, Christians and Muslims, since there is no true brotherhood except in God. It is the city of prayer, the city of all who believe in the one and only God, which we all long to visit and walk along the path of Golgotha where the Lord stepped, to receive a blessing from the Church of the Resurrection, the site of the ascension, the place where the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, the tomb of the Mother of God, and the other places of Christian and Islamic pilgrimage that abound there.

Human beings are our greatest concern in Jerusalem, which must continue to belong to is people, the Palestinians, and remain the city of prayer and peace, a place of coexistence between religions and peoples.

Here I would like to emphasize that as Antiochian Orthodox, we have always considered ourselves as the first to be in Jerusalem and the first to be concerned with it and its fate. We believe that the Palestinians are the masters of the house and have been made strangers and homeless.

As Middle Eastern Christians, we seek to please God and we seek God's face wherever we are, especially in Jerusalem and in the faces of our brothers, its children. We strive to realize truth and justice, to work to raise man's condition, and to preserve his freedom and dignity.

We are a people who believe that God created us free, that He became incarnate to deliver us from evil and sin and to return us to the bosom of the Father, making us His children by grace given to us from Him.

For us, man bears a divine breath. He is the locus of love and respect because he is created in the image and likeness of God. He is precious in the eyes of the Lord and the eyes of the Lords' beloved ones. Everything that strips man of his being an end in himself is a departure from God's will and His boundless love. Anyone who restricts man's freedom and deprives him of his rights contradicts heavenly teachings. Jerusalem is the right of its children just as Lebanon is the right of its children and so too in every country of our Middle East and the world. Therefore it is the right of the Palestinian people to live in their country, in their land, in their Jerusalem.

Here I recall the words of Patriarch Ignatius IV of thrice-blessed memory at the Islamic Summit in Taif in 1981: "Jerusalem is the heart of our humanity and what afflicts it afflicts every human being to some degree." In Lebanon, we have been afflicted by the wound of Jerusalem and of Palestine in general. We have opened our land and our hearts to our Palestinian brothers. We hoped that our hosting them would be brief and that they would afterwards return safely to their homes. But over a half-century has passed and they are still strangers on the earth. The world ignores them, the Arabs sleep, and Jerusalem still sorrows over the loss of her children.

Jerusalem, like Lebanon, is a place where brothers encounter each other, Christians and Muslims. It is a place where ideas, cultures and religions interact. Jerusalem concerns Christians just as much as it concerns Muslims and the concern for its fate is shared. From Jerusalem Christianity went out to the ends of the earth. There the Lord Jesus commanded His disciples, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20).

And so we are natives of Jerusalem just as the Lord Jesus is and no one can ignore history.

The true face of our Middle East, and of Jerusalem especially, is not authentically manifest if two voices are not raised together: a Christian voice and an Islamic voice, which constitute Middle Eastern twins that demand Palestinians' right to their land and Christians' and Muslims' rights to their holy places.

Our Middle East will not be sound in its essence if this core is not sound. And Jerusalem loses its meaning if it loses any one of its spiritual elements.

Let us together refuse for Jerusalem to be a political plaything or the launchpad for goals in which interests prevail over truth, integrity and justice. Let us not allow the earnestness of those who wish to rob us of Jerusalem to be stronger than the earnestness of our will to regain it.

Finally, we repeat with Fairouz:

The house is ours and Jerusalem is ours
And by our hands we will regain the splendor of Jerusalem

In the hope that the Lord God will extend the hand of His mercy to us, stop the bleeding in our homelands, heal our wounds, and spread His peace in our Middle East and throughout the entire world, I wish you every good thing and blessing from Him.

Met Elias (Audi)'s Christmas Sermon 2017

Arabic original here.

At the Christmas liturgy, Audi calls for strengthening Lebanon:
The world is advancing and we are falling behind.

The metropolitan of Beirut and its dependencies, Elias Audi, presided at the Christmas liturgy at the Cathedral of Saint George in Ashrafiyya.

After the Holy Gospel, he gave a sermon, in the political portion of which he said, "We are living in an age dominated by darkness. Wars, killing, hatred, revenge, deliberate starvation, forced expulsion-- the list is long. Despite the coming of Christ, the evangelism of the apostles, and the piety of the saints, man is still drowning in sin. How can man, who is redeemed by God's blood, abandon his being a son of God and go back to being a slave to his passions and failings. The sun of justice has come to put an end to souls' darkness, but those called are many and those chosen are few, because those who accept grace with the fullness of their wills are few. God's graces are many and He inundates us with them, not because of our worthiness but because of His boundless love and mercy. But He does not violate our freedom."

He continued, "The Lord has given us a beautiful nation whose importance we have not realized and which we have not kept as we should. I fear that we will weep over it if we do not quickly set things aright. Lebanon belongs to us all. It belongs to all its children with all their groups, religious communities, and affiliations. If something bad happens to it, it happens to everyone, not to one group but not others. If we exhaust its finances, the consequences will be reflected on all of us. If we neglect its forests and harm its environment, we will all pay the price. If we break international agreements and the law of the United Nations, then the one accused will be all Lebanon. That is, all Lebanese, not one specific group or religious community. All of us are responsible."

He pointed out that "the world is advancing and developing, while we are increasing in backwardness, poverty, ignorance, economic decline, moral dissolution, and social fracturing. Where is the creative capacity that motivates people and pushes them to pose questions, to rebel, to constructively criticize, to be creative? Where is the faith in God that sews love and hope in the heart?"

He said, "We are all required to work tirelessly to rebuild the united, free, independent, distinguished, democratic Lebanon, far from bargaining, patching up, and special interests. We are required to fortify Lebanon against division, encroachment, auctioning, liabilities, quotas and deals. It must once again become a capital of culture, peace, tolerance, dialogue and freedom-- freedom of belief, freedom of sound and responsible expression, and of justice, the renunciation of violence and extremism, respect for diversity and difference, modernity and creativity. All are required to fight against corruption in the soul first, and then in others. Public debt is piling up and threatening the country's future, while there is enormous wealth, deals and suspicious activities. Why are the laws not enforced? Sloganeering is not enough. What is needed is a serious commitment from everyone and a renunciation of private interests for the sake of the common good, the good of the nation and its citizens."

He pointed out that "constructive criticism corrects deviation, so it is incumbent on all to pay attention to where faults are located and to fix them. Someone might say that Lebanon is living in the middle of a region that is in blazes and no device is at hand. We reply that it is within our capability to reform our internal house by enforcing the laws for everyone without differentiation and not only against the weak while the strong are always exculpated, along with those who are affiliated with them. It is within our capability to spread justice everywhere, to reduce the public debt by adopting transparency in the awarding of contracts in order to remove from the minds of citizens doubt about the conduct of officials, to protect national industry, reduce pollution of the air and water, reforest regions, prevent encroachment on the environment, deal with the traffic crisis, road congestion, unemployment, and other matters necessary for protecting citizens."

"We are in need of an internal workshop to save us from everything that impedes us from attaining the dignified life that every citizen hopes for and which he has a right for the nation to provide him with. This citizen no longer believes in his state's ability to function. This state that has not managed to deal with the electricity problem or the trash for decades, is it capable of eradicating corruption from souls and morals? But we all live in hope."

Audi concluded, "In this blessed feast, we lift up prayer to the divine Child, that He will have compassion for us and help us, both officials and citizens, to work silently and effectively to return Lebanon to the level of advanced, civilized states. We ask Him to inspire officials to cooperate to raise the country up and to change the painful current situation that citizens are enduring with wisdom, integrity, honesty, respect for values and laws, and the fear of God and dependence upon Him because He alone is our help and our Savior. We pray that the Lord will preserve our rulers, our army and all citizens and guide them to do all good. We also pray for all the oppressed, the missing, and the sick, that they may find their consolation in the Lord, the Savior whom we ask to return to us our brothers Metropolitans Paul and Yuhanna safely, to return Jerusalem to its people, and to return all to their homes. At the feast of the birth of the Lord Jesus, our eyes are fixed on Jerusalem and our hearts are lifted to the Lord of Lords, to establish His peace in His holy city and to spread His justice upon it and upon the entire inhabited world because the justice of the land is lacking and Jerusalem is its first victim. Is not the commemoration of the Savior's birth our being transported from the old, corrupt life to newness of life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen."

Met Elias Audi: Our Church Does Not Bless Wars

Arabic original here.

Met Audi: There is No Holy War and Our Church Does Not Bless Wars

The Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut, His Eminence Elias Audi, presided at the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of Saint George and after the Gospel he gave a sermon in which he said:

Jesus said to His disciples, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and falsely say all manner of evil things against you for My sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven..."

When the Lord says these words or lives this life before us, it is in order to strengthen us and cause us to live a life in which we respond to evil with good and injustice with love. This is why He said to His disciples and those who believe in Him: If you want to be My disciples or if you are truly My disciples, you must act like Me and be in My image because you are united to Me. For this reason, the Church absolutely does not bless those who fight others or those who harm others. The Church does not bless those who kill others because human life is the possession of the Lord and when someone kills another person, it is as though he wants to kill God. In reality, the one who is killed goes to the Lord, while the killer's heart is unjust. The unjust is inhabited by Satan and Satan will not enter the kingdom of God. Therefore the Church also does not bless wars and does not say of them that they are holy. That is, it does not sanctify wars and does not accept such a statement. Every church must be like this if it teaches the Lord's teaching or if it hears His words. For this reason, we Orthodox, especially in Antioch, even as we suffer, are expelled from our homes, and are reviled, we do not fight our enemies. And as we see, our people in this region are leaving and abandoning their homes and living a miserable existence and some are even departing, but they are not returning evil with evil. Therefore, let it be clear that our Orthodox Church in which we are members does not bless and does not sanctify wars and does not say of any war that it is holy. I doubt that anyone who has said such a thing has heard the words of the Lord Jesus, "Love your enemies. Bless those who persecute you. Do good to those who hate you..."

Met Elias Audi's Easter Sermon

Arabic original here.



On this blessed occasion during this season of joy, let each one of us return to himself, ask the question and respond truthfully to it. If his answer is affirmative, let him ask himself, if I truly believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God risen from the dead, am I following the path that He laid out? Am I acting according to His commandments? Am I truly wearing Christ, whom I accepted at baptism? Does His light flow forth from my words, my deeds and my life so that the world may know that I am His disciple? I pose this question now to you and to all who call themselves Christians in this country because our nation is at an impasse and the only ones who can pull it out of this impasse are people who truly believe in God and act according to His will. The Apostle Paul tells the Colossians, "Put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another... As the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another... put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were called..." (Colossians 3:8-15).

Do the people of this country, the Christians among them especially, behave with humility, kindness, love, meekness, peace, long-suffering and temperance, all of which are fruits of the Holy Spirit? Do they cast off their hatred, anger, jealousy, lying and self-serving, all of which prevent their encounter with the other? Do they do this for the sake of their nation, for the sake of their children and grandchildren who will inherit this nation? We need to be conscious of the dangerousness of the situation in which we're living and we need to make the interest of the nation triumph over every other interest. Flames are blazing all around us and it behooves us to ward off the danger from our Lebanon by uniting. Our standing together is a shield that will save our country from the fire. What is needed of us as believers-- and by this I mean all who believe in God, the Creator-- is to draw inspiration from our faith to be good citizens in the beautiful country that the Creator has given us and entrusted us with. It is needed of us to act not as believers in religions or sects but as citizens living in a stable state with laws that apply to everyone. Our religions and sects are the motivation for us to be good citizens who are loyal to their nation, faithful trustees of its land and its constitution, sincerely devoted to it and to its people.

True faith cannot be a cause for discord and hypocrisy. The true believer cannot live in a sectarian bubble because true faith is openness to the other (whoever this other may be) in whose face we see the face of God. Around us we are witnessing massacres and crimes against humanity in the name of religion. Civilizations are being wiped out and peoples are being threatened with extinction because of intolerance, violence, terrorism and rejection of the other. Do these barbaric acts have any connection to religions? Is the destruction of historical monuments, places of worship and the treasures of history part of religion? Is the rejection of anything pertaining to civilizations part of faith? Is it not incumbent upon people of the 21st century to preserve humanity's heritage rather than eliminate history, thought and art? Religion is not a political ideology. It is faith in God and behaving according to values, principles and morals. Religion is tolerance, open-mindedness and a loving heart. Do we not all believe that there is no compulsion in religion, that man was created free and responsible for his words and deeds? If God, the Lord of heaven and earth, created man free and left him the freedom to choose, who are you, O wretched human, to compel your brother to do something that he does not want?

Extremism, intolerance and the rejection and uprooting of the other are acts that destroy the other and the self. Therefore, I turn to my Muslim brothers and fellow citizens and ask them to stand firm in the face of extremism, takfirism and the destruction of the diverse face of this Middle East. If Christians go extinct in this region because of their being persecuted and uprooted successively from the countries of the Middle East, how will this Middle East be without them? Christianity is deeply rooted in this region. Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born in Bethlehem, lived in Nazareth and wandered throughout Palestine and Lebanon, teaching people, healing their sick and raising their dead, until he accepted suffering, was crucified, died and rose on the third day according to the prophecies. Is a Middle East without diversity, without tolerance and without interaction between religions and cultures capable of life? Is it capable of interacting with Europe and other continents and of advancing and developing if it is not able to have interaction between its own people?

It is very good for a person to believe in God, but it is necessary for us to hold firm to freedom of religion and belief, to respect and preserve the freedom of others, and to not make religion into a vehicle for political interests and narrow affiliations. All of us are created in the image and likeness of God and He causes the sun to shine upon the wicked and the good and causes it to rain upon the righteous and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). He redeemed all with His precious blood. Here I will say to my Christian brothers in the region: do not allow hardships, however great, political and sectarian conflicts, and power struggles to frustrate you and to cause to to emigrate. Do not seek a visa for your passport that will pluck you from your countries from your land that you have watered with sweat and blood since ancient times. You are rooted in this land, the land of your fathers and grandfathers and the land of your children and grandchildren. Do not leave it, even if circumstances are difficult. Believe that our God has conquered death and that in Him we are called to triumph and to true life "because all who are born in God overcome the world" (1 John 5:4). We affirm that you are in our hearts and our thoughts and that we raise up constant prayer to the Lord God that He may preserve you by His grace, keep from you every evil, wrath danger and hardship, and bring you out of this ordeal unharmed.

What applies to the region as a whole applies to Lebanon, whose children have lost a happy life under a strong, just, united state and laws that apply to everyone. This is because of the extremism of some and the intransigence of others or their hatred, their connections, the advancement of their interests, or their clinging to their acquisitions and the list goes on... We all know that the reason for where we are now is the fact that there has not been an election of a  president who would keep things under control, ensure the implementation of the constitution, and protect the nation. Therefore I will turn to our beloved members of parliament, the representatives of the people, and address their consciences, reminding them that history is not merciful and that they have the sacred duty to elect a president as soon as possible so that he can take the reins. Is electing a president so difficult that in twenty-one sessions of parliament and almost a year, it has not been possible to for the representatives of the people to elect a president, even as the people who delegated them cry out in suffering and the country gradually collapses. Are there no longer people in Lebanon capable of taking responsibility and who have the necessary votes to be elected? Do not let lust for power cause you to lose the nation. The nation is more precious than positions and benefits and the destructive ego. The nation is more precious than ambitions, desires, greed, personal interest, and dependence on anything else other than the nation.

Have we come to the point of living off of memories of a nation, the nation of the great men of the past who, because of their knowledge and culture, had high morals and and clean hands, who did not bequeath things to their sons or relatives, and who did not exploit authority for personal interest or to make a fortune, but were only loyal to Lebanon, its people and army. Have such men dissapeared? I do not believe so. Therefore, on the blessed day of the resurrection, I call upon everyone to rebel against this situation and reject it. I call for rebellion against political, financial, and intellectual feudalism, against the moth of corruption, dullness of intellects and ignorance. I call for a return to conscience and the fulfillment of the duty to overcome political decadence, moral obscenity, economic decline and social complacency. We need a peaceful revolution that will eliminate neglect, improvisation, the lack of planning, and the lack of respect for constitutional limits and national duties. I call for a cry for knowledge in the face of ignorance and faith in the face of extremism, a cry for truth in the face of falsehood, for light in the face of darkness, for honesty in the face of lies, a cry for democracy in the face of political vacuum, a cry for morals and conscience that will judge all immoral actions against humanity, nature, the environment and history. Remember the Lord's question to Cain: "Where is Abel your brother?" (Genesis 4:9). On the day of judgment, the Lord will not ask us about ourselves but about what we have done to our brothers and about what we have done with the graces that God has given us. He who buries his share will be punished and he who makes it bear fruit will be rewarded many times over.

Lebanon is a precious gift from God and it is the duty of every one of us to preserve it to the best of the ability God has granted us. The greatest responsibility of members of parliament, as our constitution stipulates, is to elect a president. So do not fail, do not make exucuses of sins and do not look beyond the borders. Are you not worthy of the responsibility and of making a decision? Lock yourself in parliament and do not leave until the task is achieved. Redeem the nation. Live up to the responsibility and to the hopes of those who elected  you, not of those whom you are eager to please. Here I must express my sorrow and regret when I here some of those who claim to be Lebanese defend the president of this or that state and the interests of this or that state, acting proudly and cursing on television those who do not agree with them. Where is their nation in all of the shouting and insults that we see? Do they not have shame, those who defend a country that is not their own, an army that is not their own, a flag that is not their own, those who do not respect their country, their president and their army? Can they honestly respect others?

On this  day of the resurrection, our prayer is that our Lord who is risen from the dead will inspire the children of this country, officials and citizens, to come together and work honestly and sincerely for the rebirth of Lebanon. We ask Him to protect our army and security forces, to strengthen the resolve of the vulnerable, to balm the hears of the sorrowful, to return all the displaced to their homes, and all those who have been kidnapped safely to their families. We likewise ask Him to return to us our brothers Metropolitans Paul and Yuhanna, to spread His peace in our region and the world and spread the light of His resurrection in the hearts of all humankind.

Met Elias Audi's Christmas Sermon

Arabic original here.



Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut and its Dependencies Elias Audi presided at the Christmas liturgy at the Cathedral of Saint George in central Beirut. After the reading from the Holy Gospel, Audi gave a sermon in which he said:

[...] More than two thousand years ago, God became incarnate to save man. What has man done? Has he understood this salvific message and accepted it or is he still languishing in disobedience and wallowing in sins? On a day such as this in a previous year, I said that Lebanon has become a house without doors and I am afraid that it will also be without a roof. Its children are close brothers who prey on each other instead of joining hands to fend off winds and adversities. Has anything changed in Lebanon and its surroundings? Perhaps, but only for the worse, because the winds have strengthened and are almost destroying everything. Hatred and blind prejudice have become more vicious and extremism captures weak souls and reaps the innocent with kidnapping, slaughter, abuse and torture. The things we have witnessed in the past year cause us sorrow: rampant terrorism in Lebanon and the region, the loss of innocent lives for no reason, unjustified assaults on people's dignity and unchecked disregard for the lives of citizens. Add to this the assaults on holy places, the destruction of churches and monasteries, the erasing of heritage and memory, the elimination of those who are different, the imposition of a single kind and a single religion, mass expulsion of people who have committed no crime other than being different, to the point that some people rival beasts in their violent tendencies and the destruction that they wreak. In the 21st century, very far from ages of ignorance and backwardness, is it reasonable for a man to kill his brother only because he disagrees with his opinion or has a different religious or political affiliation? It is very saddening that there is silence about the brutality of the killers and the barbarism of the extremist groups, as though those who kill, torture, oppress and expel were insignificant flies or insects. Even if we have heard a voice from some quarters in the world, it is a very timid voice and almost inaudible.

[...] In Lebanon, the country still has no head or it now has twenty-one heads. Regional and international rivalries are still reflected in the Lebanese parties, which prevent the election of a president for the republic. The president of the republic is a symbol of national unity who ensures respect for the constitution and preserves the independence, unity and territorial integrity of Lebanon. This is what is stipulated by Article 49 of the constitution. Now, eight years later, the unity of the nation has no symbol and there is no president to ensure respect for the constitution and preserve independence. Does this situation not impede the work of the state? Does this not detract from its reputation abroad? Does it not pose a threat at home? The Lebanese are in a strange situation. When presidential elections took place through intervention by foreign countries, they were restive. When they had an opportunity to elect a president of their own because other countries were occupied with other priorities, they missed the opportunity on account of excuses by which they camouflage their sins and private interests." [...] "Is the agreement that some call for democracy? Is the obstruction practiced by some democracy? Is clinging to a position without regard for the interest of the nation the behavior of adults?"

[...] The vacancy of the position affects all of Lebanon without exception. The Lebanese have the right to a republic with all its parts that is respected, capable and effective.

Do Lebanon and the Lebanese not deserve to be free from those who demand leadership out of private interests and minor considerations and to transcend their ego and sacrifice it for the sake of the public interest, the interest of all. We need a little humility, a lot of love, feelings of responsibility and self-renunciation on the part of those who are responsible so that the nation will be saved. Lebanon has not run out of men who are competent, patriotic, wise and capable. They are many. So why do deputies not agree on an issue that lies at the heart of their duties: gathering to elect a president from among this number of qualified men? Is this not the democracy of which they sing? Since they met to extend their term of office (and it is strange how the quorum was ensured), why did they not undertake this heroic deed once more, setting their interests and calculations aside and only looking out for the interest of Lebanon and its people, who are also their people? Here it must be stated that being a deputy is a mandate granted by the people for a specified period of time and that extending this mandate is to appropriate a decision that belongs to the people and to violate their right to elect their representatives. Did the deputies not wonder when they left the session for extension, why people were protesting in various ways? Did they not wonder why they were being called various names? Were they not affected by these protestors, despite their small number? Did they not read what was written in social media? Is disrupting the work of parliament and preventing a session to elect a president one of their rights or duties as representatives of the people that they have a duty to perform to the fullest? Is an employee in public administration or the private sector not punished if he neglects to do his duty or is absent from his job? So why do the representatives of the people disdain citizens and their rights?

[...] Here must be repeated what we always say. The people must also be aware of their responsibility and to hold their leaders to account, not be led along behind them unthinkingly. The people must know their interest because this land that is their nation is a gift to them from God and they must preserve it and not squander a single inch of it. They must choose their representatives well to govern this land that through the people becomes a nation and through its strong institutions becomes a state. If one of them fails, they should hold him to account and if one of them performs his duty completely, they should thank him. But the problem is that we are living in a state of political and social decay and general indifference. Even the laws in Lebanon have to be formulated for officials, even if it comes at the expense of citizens. [...] For example, we have been hearing about the food safety law for more than ten years, but it is still shelved because ministers cling to their powers. What about the health of citizens? Must politics corrupt everything in Lebanon, even that which pertains to citizens' health? Can you believe that the ministers still differ over the necessity of passing a law concerned with food safety? A minister's power cannot be touched, but there is no problem if citizens' health is affected, their dignity is trampled and their lives are threatened. Yesterday, we saw in the  Beirut airport storage rotten foods and medicines that one of the officials called garbage. Of course, we must thank every official who conscientiously bears his responsibility and exposes every violation of the law and public safety. We hope that all officials will have zero tolerance for anything that harms public welfare and will cooperate together for the common good. Having clean food doesn't matter. Having clean hands doesn't. Having a clean conscious doesn't matter. Having a clean environment doesn't matter. It seems that there is an ancient enmity between the Lebanese and cleanliness. In the context of talking about responsibility, I would like to draw the attention of the Lebanese media to the need to be faithful to the mission that they have chosen and that this faithfulness is reflected in telling the truth and nothing but the truth. Media is a two-edged sword. If they do good, they contribute to building up humanity and the nation and if they do wrong, their wrongdoing is devastating. So they must always search for the truth and express it in a constructive manner. The responsibility of members of the media is great because media enters into every home, so it must not be a vehicle for one person, a mouthpiece for one person, a means for violating privacy, or wantonly insulting dignity for no reason.

[...] The season of Christmas is a season of reconciliation between God and man and between man and all creation. Through Christ's incarnation, our nature is no longer the prisoner of evil, but rather the path to divinization has been opened before it. God's will is that no one remains outside the path of salvation. The incarnate God has prepared everything for our salvation. It remains for us to accept the call. Let us cast aside our old man with all his sins and failings and let us raise our eyes to Christ who bowed the heavens and came down to us to lift us out of the abyss of death and bring us into the life of the kingdom. Let us empty ourselves of our selfishness, our affiliations, and our interests and extend our hand to others and work together for our nation and its people. May God return this blessed season to you in wellness, health, peace and stability. May He return to us our bishops Yuhanna and Paul safe and sound, just as we ask Him to return all those who have been kidnapped to their families and all those who have been displaced to their homes, to heal the hearts of those sorrowing, to strengthen the resolve of the oppressed, and to accept into His kingdom the spirits of those who fell defending this nation, especially those from the army and all the security forces who were struck by the hand of evil and deprived of the breath of life.

Met. Elias (Audi)'s Sermon for Palm Sunday

Arabic original here.




Audi at the Palm Sunday Liturgy: I Want a President who  Loves Lebanon, without Hatred or Malice in His Heart

Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut and its Dependencies, Elias Audi, presided at the liturgy for Palm Sunday at the Cathedral of Saint George in Nejmeh Square in the presence of a large crowd of the faithful who carried palm and olive branches and children.

After the Gospel, Audi gave a sermon in which he said, "Beloved, next Sunday we shall see the Lord rising from the dead after having suffered excruciatingly, having suffered unto death. Today, however, we see Jesus coming into Jerusalem as the people welcome Him as a king and as the Son of God, the Christ whom they awaited. But this king did not come on a horse or a chariot, but rather on a donkey, in order to teach Christians who follow Him that power does not come from any authority other than the authority of humility, meekness, love and brokenness. [...]"

He continued, "Talk has been focusing lately on who will be the next president of the Republic and who they will place in this position or that. However, I have not once heard an official emphasizing that you must be a true citizen. That is you must love your country first and your brother first, and afterward seek positions. I want those who address our children to build them up with morals and to teach them how to be good citizens. The nation is not a nation except through its citizens. This is why in Lebanon we need schools that teach citizenship. Then there will be no need for talking about sectarianism because the citizen will become a brother to every citizen. We have not yet cast our robes before God, before Jesus who became incarnate for our salvation."

He said, "They often ask me, 'Why do you not speak?' My reply: I am not a politician. I am a man of religion who teaches the teachings of Christ who did not talk about politics. Why don't we go back to the book that inspires us on how to talk, how to behave, and how to be Christians in the image of Christ? We hear a lot of talk and speeches about politics, but we have not heard a single speech about morals or citizenship. [...]"

He added, "I was recently asked, 'Who do you want to be president of the Republic?' I said: I want a president who loves Lebanon. I want him to be peaceful, a man of peace, without hatred or malice in his heart, but rather as the Apostle Paul said, I want him to be pure, just, faithful to his nation, someone who loves people. And I want all his helpers to be like this. Beloved, if you are truly Christians then Jesus is your king. If you follow Him, then you will not even fear death because the apostles who followed Him did not fear death. A few days ago we heard that a brother priest [i.e. Fr Frans van der Lugt] been killed. He knew he  was in danger but he did not leave his monastery, his parish and those he cared for. When we sense danger we flee. [...]"

He concluded, "We must thank God for all the graces that he has given us and continues to give us, even as we ask Him to preserve Lebanon and to grant its children the grace of thankfulness for all things, the grace of love, citizenship, giving, of reognizing the other and respecting his freedom and dignity."

al-Akhbar on the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister's Visit to Beirut

Arabic original here.



"Prince Vladimir's" Emissary forms the "Russian Party"

by Ghassan Saoud


Who loves Russia more than the member of the Orthodox Gathering Samir Naima? He has transferred his whispers from the ear of Cain to that of Abel (or vice-versa), in transferring from the political machine of the candidate for the Orthodox seat in Ashrafiya Michel Toueini to the machine of his brother and candidate for the same seat, Nicholas Toueini. "Nicholas is more honorable," they say in Ashrafiya. 

Naima intones, "Russia, you are our holy country... Russia you are our beloved country... You are an ancient union for brother-nations." As soon as the Russian national anthem ended, the competition began: the president of the Orthodox Scouting Association, Elias Hasbani, loves Russia, naturally as does the president of the Lebanese Greek Orthodox League, Nicholas Ghulam. All those who found it difficult to get up from their chairs on account of their old age were the "League". Not to forget Nicholas Toueini, who yesterday defined himself as the representative of the Orthodox families of Beirut, who does not forget the Russian czar's standing with his forefathers against the Ottomans in 1904 and against the Turkish massacres in the region. As for the president of the municipality of Amioun, Jirji Barakat, he does not mention Russia without following it with the adjective "the great": "Russia the great has not ceased for a day to love the people of Lebanon." Aside from the municipal council of Amioun, Barakat heads the "Imperial Lebanese Cultural Association" and expends more sweat than anyone just thinking about monetary proceeds for the Russian spiritual intentions of reviving the "Imperial Russian Society", which was concerned with countering Ottoman political and educational influence in the region. At the invitation of "Orthodox associations" to a meeting with the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian embassy in Beirut has done something unprecedented in terms of sectarian activity that no other embassy has done. The date of the meeting, at the beginning of Bogdanov's visit, which goes until this coming Sunday morning, indicates its importance for the embassy, noting that the only invited group that was absent, under the pretext that they do not participate in political gatherings.

In his speech, Bogdanov revealed aspects of Russian policy and diplomacy that had been hidden for many: "I am the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and at the same time I am the deputy of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society." This makes clear the weight of the connections between the Russian political position and the feeling of this group of Russian diplomats of a religious duty that requires them to turn to the Middle East. The society, which was founded in 1882, was concerned with countering Ottoman influence in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan, as the Russian Empire was awakened to the danger of Ottoman influence in this region. However, it withdrew when the of the French and British mandates took control over these countries, and it was practically dissolved during the days of the Soviet Union. Today, however, it is under the leadership of former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, who is now the chairman of the Accounts Chamber of Russia, and his statements give the impression that "regaining what Russia has lost" in the region is a national duty.

In a statement that Bogdanov addressed to those present, "We are joined by a unity of faith and a unity of purpose and vision." The majority of those present do not understand the Russian language that the the Russian functionary spoke. However some of them, such as Nicholas Ghulam, Salah Rustum, and Gabriel Harmouch nodded their heads in agreement with what he was saying even before it was translated for them. When the translator made an error, Bogdanov corrected him, amidst the laughter of the audience. In the speech, the former Russian ambassador to South Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Occupied Palestine noted the worry in Russian society (first) and the Church (second) and leadership (third, in his enumeration) about the kidnapping of the two bishops in Syria. He promised to relay what he heard to his leaders in order to convince them to strengthen bonds, not only between Lebanese organizations and their Russian counterparts, or between the organizations and the Church, but also between the organizations and the diplomatic apparatus.

In the hotel overlooking the Bay of Saint George, a Roman military leader that the Orthodox Church considers to be one of her chief saints, it was clear that Russian diplomacy should be numbered as one of the pillars of Russian influence in the region, in addition to the military apparatus in Syria. In the opinion one of observer, there are many friendships between Russia and Lebanon, but the Russian state is no longer content to support its relations through a party that owes ultimate allegiance to a regional state or to another state. It must have a special group that understands Russian interests very well and that works to deal with them by applying the Russian line first and last. They are Orthodox interests before anything else, based on fear of an Islamic blockade around Moscow.

In that hall at the Phoenicia, the characteristics of the "Russian party" in Lebanon became clear, after the characteristics of the other parties had already been known: Saudi, Iranian, Syrian, and American. It became clear that there are two chief forces that Russia can count on, the Party of the Levant, which is a group of young activists led by Rodrigue Khoury recalling the Orthodox Youth Movement of fifty years ago; and the Orthodox Gathering, which includes the majority of Orthodox former ministers and deputies, among whom Nicholas Saba plays the role of secretary-general. Khoury grabbed the first photo-opportunity, by entering the hall accompanying Bogdanov, without it being known whether this was coincidental or if he had really arrived with him. The second photo-opportunity was taken by Saba, when he embraced the Russian guest and gave him an icon of his patron, the Archangel Michael, who bears in his right hand the sword of justice and in his left hand the whole world. In his speech, Saba recalled the long history of Christian-Muslim coexistence in this region, bringing up "the Islam of tolerance, mercy, and love." In contrast to others who were content with generalities and flattery, Saba defined the requests of the Gathering: scholarships for Lebanese University students in Russia, support for relations between the Russian and Antiochian Orthodox Churches, encouraging the Russian state to purchase substantial land in Beirut a major Russian church educational facility. As for Khoury, he distinguished himself from the other speakers by his calm voice, precise expression, and looking up from his papers to make eye-contact with Bogdanov. Khoury recalled the spread of Orthodoxy in Russia, after "Michael the Syrian" in the year 988 convinced "Prince Vladimir" of it and he thanked "Vladimir the Russian" for sending in the year 2013 "Michael the Russian" to the Middle East. Khoury outidid himself and all the others in his courtship of the Russian embassy by recalling the testimony of a Russian visitor to Lebanon in 1896: "The love of the residents and their children for Russia almost reaches the point of madness. There are children who start to cry if anyone curses the Russians in front of them," without making it clear whether this Russian was distributing money or sitting behind a canon so that "the residents and children" would love him that much. After that, Khoury took a half-step back, making eye-contact with Bogdanov, and said, "Beloved, we here are the sons and grandsons of those children.  It is up to you to assess how we have grown up and what collective memory we bear." The Russian ambassador and the Deputy Foreign Minister were almost crying, they were so strongly affected. As for Ferzli's tears, they were ready to confirm Khoury's words: curse the Russians and you will make the former deputy prime minister cry.
----




 And from an-Nahar, here.

Bogdanov after his meeting with Audi: We will work to free the two bishops

After his meeting with Metropolitan Elias Audi, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov declared: "We are greatly affected by the His Eminence's assessment of what is occurring in the region, especially with regard to the situation of the Christian community. These problems raise the concern of Russian citizens and Orthodox Church circles... We in the Russian political leadership seek to strengthen the bonds that tie us to the Christian communities in the Middle East." Bogdanov condemned the kidnapping of the two bishops, affirming that "we will make the utmost effort to learn the fate of the two bishops and to secure their release."

Met. Elias Audi's Easter Sermon, 2012

Arabic original, taken from here, after the jump.


Today is the day of the Resurrection. Let us be radiant in the season. Let us embrace one another. Let us say "brother". Let us forgive all things to those who hate us in the Resurrection. Let us cry aloud, saying, "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life."
Thus we chanted today to express our faith and our joy in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who descended to the lower parts of hell in order to rescue Adam and all his progeny from it.
Pascha is a crossing over. It is a movement from the darkness of the grave to the light of the kingdom. This crossing over was achieved at a very steep price. God shed His blood so that we might be saved from the clutches of sin and evil. We rise up to a new life governed by love and the fruits of the spirit. Our Lord went down by his own will in order to bring us over from death which is caused by sin to the life for which man was created.
From the beginning, God created man in His image and likeness. He caused him to live in paradise and gave him rule over creation. But man gave in to temptation and fell. His freedom was the cause of his fall. By his own free will he desired to place himself above God's will and he denied God's surpassing love. But God, in the greatness of His mercy and the profundity of His love did not leave this creature that was puffed up with pride to flounder in sin and in the hell where he had placed himself. Rather, he went down, emptying Himself, adopting the form of a slave, taking on the semblance of humans, in order to save them. He gave Himself upon the cross in order to free them, to free us all. He went down to the depths of darkness in order to raise us up to the new life that we gained in His resurrection.

"Behold, by the Cross joy came to all the world." With His death, the Lord redeemed all and with His resurrection He opened to us the gates of the kingdom, making us children of the Resurrection and the light if we follow His path by our own will. We are God's children. We are in His image and His likeness, free in our decisions. Do we choose the darkness of hell or the light of the kingdom?
Unfortunately, humans take pleasure in sin and always choose the easy path. The path of repentance and return to God is fraught with difficulties. One who chooses to follow the risen Lord must empty himself of his ego. He must clear himself of all selfishness and pride and embrace love and sacrifice. He must love God with all his heart and all his mind and all his power and he must love his neighbor as himself (Mark 12:30-31). This means that he must hope for others what he hopes for himself and that he must distance himself from all that harms his fellow man, in order not to harm the image of God in the face of his brother, in order to not harm himself. Where are we in this regard? Where are we with regard to purity of heart and calmness of conscience? Where are we with regard to the love that seeks recompense and the peace that covers the face, reflecting on others?

What saddens us is that the Feast of the Resurrection comes once again while there is an ache in the heart because peace continues to be distant from hearts and from the corners of the earth. We continue to suffer from hatreds and divisions. We witness wars, killings, forced displacement, hunger, violence, the violation of rights and dignities. Man is still bloodthirsty, avaricious for wealth and power, trampling on the body of his brother and on his dignity. Self-intrest runs wild within humans. Hatred guides them and pride leads them. God said to Adam, "The earth is cursed because of you" (Genesis 3:17). It seems that man is still the cause of the curse that has afflicted the generations since the first ancestor, because he has not rid himself of the old man within him, of his sins and his failings. We chant in the service of baptism, "As many as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ." The Christian who has received baptism has buried his old man and has died in Christ in order to live with Him as a new man, rising above the petting things that harm his new life. One who puts on Christ is one who aspires to perfection because our Lord is perfect, free of sin. Do we Christians strive for perfection or do we act like children of this age?

The problem of the Christian is that he forgets the baptism that he recieved and the chrism (that is, the annointing of the Holy Spirit) with which he was sealed. He does not strive to be the salt of the earth and the little leaven that changes the face of existence.
Our Lord was born in a cave in order to teach us humility, but we have grown in pride and narcicism. He recieved circumcission on His eighth day in order to teach us to obey laws and regulations and to cut off from ourselves everything extra and unnecessary. But we have only become more attatched to things that are transitory and false and have rebelled against regulations. He obediently accepted death in order to break the shackles of sin that bind us, and so we are born for new life. But we have only grown in evil and and sin. Indeed, animal instinct has become dominant within us over everything else. Its result is this monstrousness that our evil works have left behind. Are not dessication, drought, hunger, illnesses, killing, death, and the destruction of nature the works of man?
We are in need of the warmth of love and the light of holiness, of openness of heart to heart, of listening to God's voice and obeying it with the innocence and trust of children. We need to speak less and to do more. Words are empty while deeds bear fruit. Let us not forget that hatred is begotten of hatred, evil from evil, violence from violence. Love alone bears the fruit of humility, meekness, goodness, and peace.
Our nation will continue to bleed if we leave a place in our hearts for hatred, selfishness, and self-interest. But our love for one another and our trust in the nation and nothing else will make us into a united people, standing as an impregnable wall before all adversity.
We must work together, all of us, in order to get out of the situation we are in. Are we not ashamed of the disasters that we hear about, afflicting us daily-- buildings collapsing on the heads of their residents, spoiled food killing people, spoiled milk and rotten medicine, with no monitoring and no accountability, contaminated water traded by one person on another's account? They ration electricity and announce that there is even more to come. Those who own generators are not satisfied. Fuel prices double. High-tension electricity wires are a sword extended against the neck of citizens. This is in addition to the deals and commisssions and the waste of public money, the poor management of natural resources, the corruption that permeates what is left of government agencies. Do we forget the infringement of civil liberties, the thefts, the compromises, the breaches of security, the settling of scores, the abuse of history and of nature and even the abuse of elderly women?

When will our ambition go beyond security and bread, beyond freedom, freedom of thought, freedom of expression, the freedom to live in dignity? Are these not obvious things, things that every person living in the nation receives? Some countries, which we in our pride and narcissism considered to be backward, have surpassed us by great strides in the fields of science, innovation, and civilization, while we still gasp after bread, fuel oil, electricity, and water, and we dream of safe, lighted roads free of potholes and the consistent application of laws and fair laws about rent. When will we return Lebanon to being a nation for its children and a developed state, governed by justice, equality, and laws that appy to all, on the principle that no one is above the law and no one is greater than the state? When will we be done with rhetorical excess and mutual accusation, where the truth is lost and no one is concerned with it? When will we transcend self-interest and narrow policies, and put the good of the citizen and his honorable life at the head of our concerns?



We have arrived at this impasse because over the years we have not worked to build a state. We have not monitored and we have not kept account. We have not penalized and we have not acted justly. Instead we have divided up the spoils of a defeated people. Do we not remember that human beings are equal before suffering, before sorrow, and before death? Does the one who trades in people's souls, their life, and their strength, realize that someone may come who will treat him in the same way? Does one who oppresses people recall in which manner he will face the just judge on the last day?
Lebanon needs a moral, cultural, social, and political revival. It must rise from this muddy swamp in which it flounders. This can only happen through everyone coming together, those responsible and citizens, their concerted efforts, their learning from past mistakes in order to build a better future.
Here we must remind you that one who has no history has no future. The writing of history must be objective and scientific, not selective. It should be delegated to objective, academic researchers, impartial historians who recount events without commenting on them and who leave judgment to future generations. It is the right of future generations to write our history according to its truth, with its faults and its points of pride, without aputation and without beautification, apart from the quotas that intervene in our affairs and distort them. If a party protests or students demonstrate in order to express their opinion about the writing of history, then it behooves the state to listen to them and have a dialogue with them, relying on reason and logic to convince them rather than shutting their mouth by force, surpressing them, and beating them.
Because we celebrate the Feast of the Resurrection and because our Lord did not exclude woman from the work of salvation, but rather woman had a prominent role in human salvation through the choice of the Virgin Mary for the Son of God to become incarnate within, thus becoming the Mother of God whom we honor, I wonder how it is possible in the twenty-first century to deny a law that forbids opression and violence against women, dominating them, enslaving them, abusing them? Women are mothers, sisters, daughters, granddaughters, wives, and colleagues at work. So how can one permit himself to harm them or to limit their freedom or to perpetrate violence against them or to rape them? Can any man allow his daughter or granddaughter to be mistreated? So why does he mistreat someone else's daughter or granddaughter?

In Christianity women are equal to men and their partners. They are honored and respected in the image of the Mother of God. Our Lord, risen from the darkness of death appeared to them first when he appeared to the Myrrhbearers who came early to annoint Him. Women deserve all esteem and respect. They must preserve their honor, purity, and virtues in order to assure their presence and acquire their rights and to keep away all exploitation.

And as for the other vulnerable element in society, children, they have the right for the state to forbid their exploitation and trafficking, and violence against them. Children today are adults tomorrow and the pillars of the nation. Among their most basic rights are their rights to obtain shelter, knowledge, care, and a secure and
dignified life.

On this blessed day, we ask our Lord who is risen from the tomb to raise up all from their sins and failings from selfishness and greed, from hatred, oppression, and enmity, unto love and life, unto light and openness and giving. We likewise ask Him to preserve our nation and its children, to spread His peace in our hearts, in our nation, and in all the world, to preserve us from calamities, trials, and from everything that takesus backward. It is our hope that the era of killing and assassinations has passed, never to return. It is our hope that we will return to being brothers, each one of us preserving the life, dignity, and freedom of his brother.
We Christians are a people who believe in freedom and proclaim it.Webelieve that God created us free and that no one has the right to limit the freedom and the life of another. Killing is unacceptable and assassination is unacceptable and they are both condemned. How can a person sleep if he has killed another or has been the cause of harm to another? There are those who cannot bear the killing of an insect or the cutting of a tree. So how can a person cut off another's life?
May the Lord God who rose from the tomb keep you and return this blessed feast to you again in health, goodness, and peace.
Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen! Does this not make us children of life and of the Resurrection? Amen.

Met. Elias Audi Calls for Moral Renewal in Lebanon

From today's Daily Star, here. Read the whole sermon here.

BEIRUT: Beirut Metropolitan Orthodox Archbishop Elias Audi expressed dismay Sunday over the country’s current social and political conditions, calling for a moral renaissance and asking people and politicians to stand together for the sake of a brighter future.

On the occasion of Easter Sunday for Christian denominations that follow the Eastern calendar, Audi lamented the series of woes that has befallen the country.

“Are we not ashamed of what we hear daily of calamities? Buildings collapsing on their residents, spoiled food killing people, spoiled milk and rotten medicine, and no monitoring and no accountability?” he asked during his sermon in the St. George Orthodox Church in Downtown Beirut.

“What about what we hear of deals and commissions, the waste of public money, corruption in administering our natural resources that plague the administering of the state?” he asked.

Audi also said that it was time for the ambition of Lebanese to transcend security and other basic needs.

“Lebanon is in need of a moral, cultural, social and political renaissance and must rise from this muddy quagmire in which it flounders,” he said, adding that the only way to achieve such a resurrection is when people and officials come together and learn from the mistakes of the past to build a better future.

The bishop also criticized opponents of a draft law aimed at protecting women from domestic violence, asking: “How can it be that in the 21st century that a [draft] law combating the oppression of women and violence against them is rejected?"

He also bemoaned the lack of a proper educational system and health institutions and said that children have a fundamental right to live a decent life.