Who is Met Saba (Esber)?

Yesterday, the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America announced its list of eligible candidates for the office of metropolitan, in time for the initial vote to be held at the Special Convention on January 13, which will decide on a list of three candidates to send to the Holy Synod. Alongside the list of bishops and archimandrites who are currently active in the Archdiocese, the list also includes Metropolitan Saba (Esber), who has for the past 23 years been metropolitan of Bostra and Hawran in southern Syria, where he has stood out for his remarkable management of the Patriarchate's most materially impoverished archdioceses under almost unimaginably difficult circumstances. I will reproduce below his official biography from the North American Archdiocese's website, in pdf on the site linked above, but I would also like to call readers' attention to some of his writing that has been translated on this blog previously, available here. In particular, I would suggest reading:

Maxims on the Cross

On the Issue of the Orthodox "Diaspora" (written during the preparation for the planned Council of Crete)

Some Words about Going up to Receive 

On His Vision for the Church of Antioch and the Youth Movement

Metropolitan Saba (Isper)
Curriculum Vitae
- Born in Lattakia, Syria in 1959.
- A graduate in Civil Engineering from the
University of Lattakia.
- A graduate of the Saint John of Damascus
Institute of Theology at the University of
Balamand.
- Ordained to the deaconate in 1984.
- Ordained to the priesthood in 1988.
- Served in the parish of Saint Michael in Lattakia
from 1990-1998.
- Elevated to Archimandrite 1994.
- Publisher and Editor of the Orthodox magazine
“Farah” for children in 1993, and the magazine
“Farah” for the family in 1994.
- Elected as an assistant bishop to Patriarch
Ignatius IV in 1998 and consecrated episcopacy
that same year.
- Appointed by the Holy Synod of Antioch as
Metropolitan for the Diocese of Bosra Hauran and
Jabal Al-Arab in 1999 

- Teacher of Pastoral Care and Introduction to the Old Testament at the Saint John of Damascus Institute of Theology University of Balamand from 1995-2006

- Established a publishing house in the
Archdiocese, the "Al-Arabiya" magazine for
adults, and continued issuing the "Farah"
magazine for children. A special version of it was
issued in English starting in 2010.
- Author of a weekly article on his Facebook page.
-Author of many articles of various topics in "Al-
Noor", "Patriarchal" and "Al-Arabiya"
magazines.
- Author of many books in different fields of
pastoral life and theology.
- Developmental projects and Charitable
endowments for the Archdiocese include:
• A charitable medical clinic in the city of As-
Suwayda
• Dormitories for university students in As-
Suwayda and Daraa (150 students)
• The House of Love for retirees prepares 48
studios

• Agricultural projects throughout the
Archdiocese
• A spiritual retreat center (Bethany) in the
village of Kharaba
• Bread for All, an association for the
distribution of food to the poor of the region
irregardless of religion
• The Good Samaritan, a multifaceted
charitable organization for members of the
Archdiocese displaced or otherwise affected
by the recent wars.
Author of the following publications:
- "Words from the Heart"
- "For the sake of a living church"
- "Contemporary Christian reading of the Old
Testament"
- "Condolences, my people"
- "Beware of idols"
- "His path to Him"
- "On the Way to Salvation" 4 Volumes
- "Orthodox spirituality"
Translator (from English into Arabic) of the
following: 

- "Saint Raphael of Brooklyn"
- "The mystery of faith" (Hilarion Elfayeve)
- "Lenten Spring", "Winter Pascha" and "A Brief
History of the Church" (Thomas Hopko)
- "From Baptist to the Byzantine World" (James
Early)
- "Our Faith" (Elder Ilia Cleopa)
- "In Love" (Olivier Clement)
- "St. Tikhon of Zadonsky" (Nadezhda
Gordotsky)
- "St. Seraphim of Sarov" (Valentin Zander)
-"The year of the Lord" (five parts) (Theodore
Stylianopoulos)
- "Spiritual Talks, My Journey to Orthodoxy"
(Kalistos Ware)
- "I Believe in God" (Anthony Bloom)

Met Saba (Esber)'s Speech at the Sochi Peace Conference

Arabic original here. 

The following text is the speech given on behalf of the delegation of Christian clergy by His Eminence Metropolitan Saba (Esber) at the Syrian National Dialogue conference held in Sochi on January 30, 2018

An Appeal and a Vision

In December 2011, we Syrian Christian clergy went to Geneva in response to an invitation from the World Council of Churches so that they could listen to us, because they wanted to know more precisely about what was happening in the country. When one of us said in his speech that the issue contains three aspects: internal, regional and global, he was met with a sharp rebuke from most of the non-Syrians in attendance, since at that time they only saw the internal aspect of what was happening in Syria and only through a narrow and limited lens. Three years later, letters of apology started to arrive from those who had refused to look comprehensively at what was happening. Today, after seven years of our people's indescribable suffering and massive destruction of the country's capabilities, we have come to dialogue at the welcome initiative of the Russian state and the good faith and hope of all those attending, as our people hope for good tidings of relief from this encounter.

Permit me to address you in the name of this long-suffering and authentic people, the Syrian people, who over the course of history have always constituted a cultural and religious mosaic, whose experience of peaceful coexistence the contemporary world needs.

Anyone who has studied history knows that the Levant has been a theater for the struggle of great powers since the 13th century before Christ, the beginning of recorded history. This global struggle has produced terrible suffering on our land, which our great people has transformed into a rich and profound cultural cross-fertilization, as proven by the fact that over the course of history, Syria has not witnessed a single civil war.

Despite the close proximity of different religious, sectarian, intellectual and political affiliations on its territory and interventions of those near and far, Syrians have lived together in good times and bad and have cooperated against hardship of life and the cruelty of history. If we were to recount the bright stories that have taken place here and there in the past seven years, we would need several volumes.

We hope that this meeting will be a foundational conference that will produce the general outline of the Syria of which we all dream and which all Syrians are expecting from us today, awaiting a sign that brings them renewed hope.

We have the right, as Syrians, to build our country with our own hands. Our hospitable people, who love peace and truth, have the right to live in peace and prosperity. If they are given peace, then they are capable of enriching the world with much of what it needs and lacks.

The time has come for our people to enjoy happiness and stability, for their torment to end, for their night to brighten, and for their suffering to stop.

Let us confirm to them that they are really the most important thing. Nothing is more important than the human person and the land of the nation. God's creature is the most precious thing in existence and he deserves to live in his homeland with honor, freedom, dignity and peace of mind. Let us remember that all regimes, about which people may differ, were established for the sake of man and not to sacrifice him for their own sake.

Let us be apostles of reconciliation, dialogue and construction. Let us start by casting off the garments in which we have been falsely dressed and working to reveal what we really are: a good people who love and are faithful to their homeland and human values.

We are a people that lives the dialogue of life... Let this meeting be the start of our rooting and embodying the essence of our lived heritage, as dictated by our patriotic, humanitarian and religious conscience. Let us be constructive in speaking the life-giving word to our people and our country. History will not forgive us if we are not of the stature our people expect of us.

We have had enough of killing and death. A people that have produced civilizations of life and resurrection, from Tammuz to Adonis to Christ, only deserve life, indeed, true life.

I leave you with the hope that we will start out from here declaring that the path of Golgotha is closed and the way of the resurrection has been opened.

Met Saba (Esber): Lord, Do not Rebuke Us Harshly

Arabic original here.

Lord, Do not Rebuke Us Harshly

Master,

Perhaps the most difficult thing in Your Gospel is that you leave the wheat among the tares until the final judgment. You have made us understand that Your Church on earth is not a collection of saints so much as a group of strugglers who seek holiness.

They may not attain it. They may only see it from afar. Many times, they may not ever see it.

You wanted Your Church to be a group of seekers of truth. You are the Truth and in you it is seen. We are amazed that it is persecuted and contested until the end of the age.

Our struggles and our sins which we attach to You cause us to imagine that we are defending You and Your body on earth.

The reality, however, says: we are for this one or that one of Your servants more than we are for You.

You have also taught us that holiness is only given when it is truly sought on the narrow way.

Thus we have learned that we must be hard on ourselves and not on others and that we must require truth and uprightness of ourselves before anything else.

Then You offered Your life so that truth, purity and sacrifice might have the highest place in Your creation. Your sacrifice was a real translation of Your words.

And because You effaced Your person with Your word, Your whole life was a condescension.

You only went up twice.

The first time was so that the enormous crowd could hear Your teaching, when You went up the mountain to give them the new Law.

The second time was upon the cross. On the hill of Golgotha, You let them raise You as a martyr, to embrace the world with Your hands stretched out to it.

Your being lifted up like this was the apex of condescension, because it led you to the tomb, in a cave of earth.

By this ultimate condescension of Yours, You rose again and caused life to dawn, that light of which You said in Your Gospel, that you came in order to give to us, that we may have its fullness.

But we often act in the opposite way to You.

We love to show off and puff ourselves up, for people to see us as leaders more than as servants and fathers!

We want followers, even if we lead them to perdition!

Because we are small, we make ourselves big not through You but through them in order to feel that we are doing something, that we are influential, that we have status.

If Your children, in their love for us, only know us from the outside, what excuse is this for us when we know ourselves and we know how much stupidity, meanness and filth there is within us?

Did You not teach us, Master, how we should go down in order for You to raise us up?

Do You not direct us towards knowledge of the high station that is fitting for Your people and Your servants?

Is it not enough for us to be at Your feet?

Is not all fullness in our listening to You as Mary did, and she attained the good portion that is not taken from her?

Amidst our intoxication with ourselves and our ego, we often forget You, O Master, and we replace You with our followers.

We are occupied with the demon that dwells in us and we follow his whispers, so we no longer see You or hear You. In this way he leads us to false glory, to our doing what we believe to be the truth, when it is really only our own transgressions.

We no longer distinguish, O Master, between our whims and our zeal for Your house.

My Lord, do not let the turmoil drive us to acting against Your Gospel.

Have pity on us and our hardness of heart. Pour out Your abundant mercy upon us.

You have given us a terrible responsibility because You were pleased for Your Holy Spirit to be in vessels of clay, we who are quick to shatter.

How do we keep our vessels uncracked, when it is very easy to slip and imagine that we are Your followers who have been charged with reforming Your Church, when the world is very seductive?

My Lord, how many times have we been tempted to act against Your Gospel in order to best serve Your Church?

And how many times have we violated Your Gospel when we sanctified a means to an end?

And how many times have we betrayed You when we used You as an instrument for our own interests and desires?

Teach us, my Lord, that we are not better than You because no servant is better than his master.

Help us to accept Your example, the example of the servant who is oppressed and does not oppress.

Strengthen our steps so that You may be our first love.

Make us listen to You move than we talk about You, so that we may distinguish well between Your will and our passions.

Master, over history you have often taught us that You permit outward and inward persecution when we evade the truth and stray from the straight path.

Do not rebuke us harshly, my Lord, because we almost cannot bear it.

Preserve for us a remnant that bears witness to You, to the fullness of the life that You desire, and to the joy that Your angels have proclaimed since You honored our earth with Your visitation.

My Christ, the people of Your Church have grown weary on account of us. Forgive us and lead us to the straight path.

We desire You, my Lord. Do not let us distract ourselves from You with the things that pertain to You.

Met Saba (Esber): Meditations on the Transfiguration

Arabic original here.

Meditations on the Feast of the Transfiguration

The Feast of the Transfiguration is the feast of glory. It is the feast of glorification, of man's glorification by his return to how he was in paradise, before the fall of Adam and Eve. Indeed, it is the return to the perfection of glory that they would have attained had they not fallen.

If man was created to live for some number of years on earth and then to do, what is the meaning of his life? He was created for divine glory. He was created to put on this glory.

Knowledge of glory is the deepest and most deeply-rooted need in man's heart. It is his need that is constantly attached to his nature. Even children long for glory, even if it is without knowledge, as when they want to stand out. Adults find in it a motive for excelling and for great deeds or, if they are wicked, a motive for evil deeds.

Man cannot be satisfied with his situation and accept it. He constantly longs for something better. Man is better than his situation, even if he doesn't know this. Within him is a beauty that he covers with ugliness. But he senses this beauty and feels it in special cases. He strives for it by seeking glory but, far from God, he continues to long for it, no matter what glories he achieves.

There is glory and then there is glory: the glory of the world and the glory of the kingdom, the glory of man and the glory of God, momentary glory and eternal glory, outward glory and inner glory, glory established upon the cross and glory established on the crucifixion of others, glory that comes through the cross and glory that rejects the cross. Do you know what kind of glory you desire?

The glory that God has promised us is to "partake in the inheritance of the saints" (Colossians 1:12). It is the glory of holiness, which God has made possible for us through the cross. "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18) and "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17). Therefore Moses and Elijah spoke with Him "of His exit which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem" (Luke 9:31).

The word "exit", in Greek "exodos", indicates His death. Christ's death is intimately tied to the glory of the transfiguration because Christ is glorified in His death (cf. John 12:23). In the annual liturgical cycle, the Feast of the Transfiguration comes forty days before the Feast of the Cross, demonstrating the connection that exists between Christ's glory and the cross. The word "exodos" reveals that Christ's passion is the realization of the Passover of the Old Testament and the true exodus from slavery to salvation.

The unveiling of this divine glory likewise confirms that Christ's imminent death is not something forced on Him by outside powers, but rather a free offering of love, because no soldier would have been able to resist such a glory, when Jesus was arrested, had Christ not remained silent (cf. Matthew 26:53). We chant in the kontakion for the feast, "Your disciples, insofar as they were able, beheld Your glory, so that when they should see You crucified, they would remember that Your suffering was voluntary."

The account of the event of the transfiguration is preceded by the Lord's speaking to His disciples about His impending passion and of the value of self-denial for salvation. The account begins with the words, "After this discussion..." This is an indication of the connection between the cross and the resurrection. The event of the transfiguration was an anticipatory revelation of Christ's glory in order to strengthen the disciples who saw Him and make firm their faith in their teacher and His being the Messiah. The Gospel recounts that the Lord took His chief disciples, Peter, James and John, so that they might see this glory of His.

The troparion for the feast says, "When You were transfigured on the mountain O Christ God, You revealed Your glory to the disciples as much as they were able." This confirms that the disciples saw to the degree that they were able to see. The Holy Spirit had not rested upon them yet.

This glory is attained by one who has passed through the glory of the cross. That is, one who has been freed of the hateful ego and from self-love. Rejecting the cross causes a person to seek glory in self-affirmation, and so his glory then remains a worldly glory destined to fail. It does not give him the fullness and satisfaction that he seeks. This is evident in his dissatisfaction with any profit that he gains and in his constant striving for more of what he already has.

"For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things" (Philippians 3:18-19). "The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). We do not limit the word "eternal" to the life after death as it also includes earthly life too.

Earthly glory is by definition passing, a mirage in the life to come, and a cause for perdition. But the promised glory, the glory of man's transfiguration in God's light is the perfection of the image with the divine likeness, is the lasting and original glory, the reason for the creation of man. If this glory, the purpose, does not exist, then what justifies human life? And what makes people bear their personal suffering and the suffering of others? And what gives them the capability to continue with the painstaking effort of life? Life without this divine purpose becomes a heedless passing between strangers who uselessly go along their way, life "from the belly to the grave." History becomes merely a succession of vain mirages. Life, the life of every person, is a short series of events with no justification for its past, no meaning to its present, and no possible end to its suffering. Mention of human suffering and the torments of humanity becomes something unbearable and impossible to bear.

But we know that this is not the case. God declares this in His having also become human. He will show His disciples the transformation that will happen to mankind in His kingdom of heaven, when they too will enter into glory. "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it... For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works" (Matthew 16:25, 27; cf. Luke 9:24, 26) and also, "But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:27), "till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom" (Matthew 16:28). 

The transfiguration, then, is a sample of man's natural state. It is the beauty of humanity restored, the beauty of original, undistorted creation. Many new this beauty, this glory and experienced it here on earth. The Prophet Moses knew it when his face shined and the Hebrews were not able to look upon him. Many enlightened persons knew it, those who in the purity of their life and their struggle were liberated from the corruption of their fallen nature and became temples for the indwelling of God, such as Saint Seraphim of Sarov and many others.

May God make us worthy to seek this glory. Amen.

Met Saba (Esber) on Demons

Arabic original here.

On Demons

There is a strong tendency toward denying the devil and not regarding him as an existent being. Some people, especially those regarded as intellectuals, believe that the devil is a human creation and that evil fundamentally only exists in man and not outside him. But those of this inclination do not sufficiently explain the reason for the inclination toward evil in man and they do not give a clear answer to the constantly-raised question, "Where does limited man get this terribly destructive boundless capacity for evil?"

This is all normal if those who deny the devil's existence are nonbelievers, but it seems in recent times that some preachers and teachers have come to deny the devil or they erase him and his effect on the life of believers. They are motivated in this either by personal conviction, forgetting that they belong to an integrated system of faith, or out of a desire to remove fear of him from the consciousness of the faithful. The influence of worldly thinking has started to invade the Church and what we are talking about right now is just one sign of that invasion.

This tendency is countered by another tendency toward blaming all the causes of evil on the devil,  exculpating man from any personal responsibility for it, and neglecting effort toward explaining actual evils and identifying their various causes. What does the Christian faith say about these two contrary tendencies?

Demons, according to the Christian faith, are living, bodiless beings. They were originally angels who rejected God, so they fell from His presence and became enemies to Him and to anyone who follows Him.

Divine revelation does not disclose to us how and why the demons fell. The Bible merely hints at a great catastrophe at the dawn of creation, before the creation of the visible world and after the creation of the angels, about which we only know the consequences and results. Some angels placed themselves in a position of opposing God, so they fell and became enemies of all that is good and holy. "And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him" (Revelation 12:7-9).

In the Revelation of John it likewise says, "A great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water" (Revelation 8:10).

Therefore Christian tradition calls the leader of this rebellion "Lucifer," which means "light-bearer," meaning that he was an angel and fell because he transformed by his personal will from his natural state to an unnatural state. He placed himself against God and fell from good to evil.

Denying the existence, activity and influence of the devil is incompatible with the Gospel. The Lord Jesus' teaching is very clear in this matter. He called him "the ruler of this world" (John 14:30) and He confronted him personally during the temptation after His baptism and forty days of fasting (cf. Matthew 4: 1-11, Luke 4:1-13). He likewise spoke frankly of him in the parable of the sower, "The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels" (Matthew 13:38-39).

We will limit ourselves to two citations from the Apostle Paul. "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:11-12). "Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light"(2 Corinthians 11:14).

The word "satan" in its Hebrew and Greek roots means a number of things, all of which relate to evil: the adversary, because he is the enemy of man; the recalcitrant, because he resists God and His will; the divider, because he is behind every schism and division; the swindler, because he defrauds man in order to cause him to fall into sin in countless ways. In the Gospel, Christ calls him "a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).

The question many people ask is, "Why do we not see the devil or confront him personally?" The Christian response is very simple: he doesn't need to reveal himself to humans. Instead, it is enough for him to beckon them or to suggest an idea to them so that they can easily respond to it. Here response in the sense of human weakness spiritually, not that they invite the devil into their homes personally. Nevertheless, we know from the experiences of great spiritual figures that they confronted him personally and that he opposed and fought them. This is because he could not defeat them with thoughts and suggestions.

All this does not mean that ordinary people do not experience the devil's presence and activity around them and in them. This is because any one of us is capable of observing himself spiritually, of noticing an invisible power that pushes him toward evil, either completely or partially. Decide to give an amount of money to a person in need who deserves it, then notice how many thoughts come to you, pushing you to reduce the amount, from the moment that you make the decision until you carry it out!

It remains a live question, what is the attitude that we should take towards the devil? The Eastern Christian spiritual tradition in particular advises on the one hand that we do not exaggerate his role and on the other hand that we do not take him and his activities lightly. Likewise, we should not use him as an excuse not to look for personal, individual and social causes that lead to evil and misery or for natural causes that lead to disasters, plagues and diseases.

Exaggerating the devil's role and avoiding personal responsibility for the evil that besets us contributes to the growth of the tendency to deny his existence and puts man in a position of being unable to resist him. Likewise, taking the devil and his influence lightly places us unconsciously under his influence and authority. In such a case, he guides us without our being aware.

Our spiritual tradition also advises us not to use him as an excuse to exculpate ourselves from our personal responsibility for the evil that is around us. We believe that man, after the fall of Adam and Eve, became subject to the evil that dominated him. However, we also believe that through Christ risen from the dead we are no longer under the direct authority of the evil one, so long as we do not renounce Christ and our baptism and willingly give ourselves over to the devil.

So the Christian must confront the evil that is within him and strive earnestly to be rid of it, replacing it with the good that is opposite to it. Our spiritual heritage says that it is not enough to uproot evil from the soul, but rather calls for replacing it with the corresponding virtue. Therefore a person's effort to purify and elevate his soul is based on taking care to acquire the virtues. The relationship is positive in this regard: to the extent that you are filled with love for God and the virtues, the evil within you is lessened.

Our world will remain a battleground between the victorious power of God and the powers of the demons until the last day. We face this struggle first of all within ourselves and on a personal level. The Lord taught us with the parable of the sower, where the wheat and the tares will be separated on the last day.

The great spiritual figures attribute every evil in the world to themselves, believing that if they were purified in the necessary manner then things in this world would be better. A contemporary theologian has said, "The problem is not that everyone isn't a Christian. It's that not all Christians are saints." This is how believers deal with the evil one.