an-Nahar on Lebanese Christian Parties' Silence about the Russian Intervention

Arabic original here.

Systematic Christian Silence on the Russian Intervention,
in order to prevent the repeat of tragedies and civil wars
by Pierre Atallah

All Christian political parties, movements, and blocs are avoiding taking any public position about the Russian military intervention in Syria, despite the fact that the division between Christians over the Syrian crisis is clear, as is their division over every issue. There are those who support the regime and hope for its victory and there are those who are still betting on the victory of the opposition and the defeat of the regime, in addition to a a third group who see both the regime and the opposition as having failed. With the exception of a lone statement by the leader of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, that the Russian intervention is in order to prevent the fall of the regime in Damascus, the other parties such as the Free Patriotic Movement, the Phalange, the National Liberal Party, and even the institutional Church are still keeping a systematic silence about the issue. Policy statements issued by them are deliberately ignoring the whole issue without even making a hidden reference to it.

This political Christian silence does not mean that public opinion is unconcerned about what is happening. The matter is on everyone's lips in Christian circles. The statement attributed to the Russian Orthodox Church only sharpened the debates and raised them to unprecedented levels in a society that just a short time ago was fearful of the arrival of takfiris and ISIS in the Lebanese arena. This terrifying prospect, to which is added images and reports in the media about the suffering of Iraqi Christians and Yezidis and the humiliation to which they were subjected after their women were sold in slave markets, in addition to being treacherously murdered by their neighbors. All of these reports have contributed to lowering morale and raising tension.

In the opinion of political activists the policy of silence among Christian parties is justifiable, since no one wants to make a public bet on one side or the other while the Syrian conflict rages, repeat the tragedies and civil wars that occurred in the past, and pay the price in damage to economic and trade interests and damaging Lebanon's relations with the Arab countries which, despite their crises and divisions, have room to distinguish friend from foe. What is spreading over social media only belongs those posting it on a personal level, not groups or parties. More importantly, nothing is a foregone conclusion in the Syrian conflict and the limits of the Russian intervention are not clear, nor is the feasibility of this intervention resolving the conflict for the whole of Syria and re-imposing the regime on regions outside of its control. Will Russian and Iranian forces remain permanently deployed in Syrian cities and villages in order to preserve the regime?

Before analyzing the position of the parties and the silent Christian leadership, one must examine the position of the churches of all denominations, both Catholic and Orthodox, which have not been pleased-- so as not to say disapproving-- of the behavior of the "Syrian Opposition", especially after the direct harm done to Christians in Syria, including the abduction of Metropolitans Paul Yazigi and Youhanna Ibrahim and dozens of priests, in addition to the dozens who have been kidnapped by ISIS since its assault on Assyrian towns and villages in the Khabour region of Syria. In this sense, the churches cannot stand with those who kill their members and threaten their very existence and so they are in favor of every effort that will lead to the return of order and remove the threat to Christians in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. The position of the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov during his meeting with Orthodox figures at the Phoenicia Hotel last year is still fresh in people's ears: "We shall not let the Christians fall and be exterminated in the Middle East." At the time, many didn't realize that the Russians weren't joking.

Fr Georges Massouh: Holy Wars... Ridiculous!

Arabic original here.


Holy Wars... Ridiculous!

"My kingdom is not of this world" and not "My kingdom is not in this world" was Christ's response to Pilate when he interrogated Him before handing Him over to be crucified. Christ denied that His kingdom was "of" this world-- that is, in the image of this world, in the image of the kingdoms of this world.

Christ did not despair, despite His objectivity, of man's ability to attain perfection. He did not want to completely close the door in man's face. Rather, He wanted him to try to establish a kingdom that would be up to the standards of the Gospel. The "Christian state" in its various forms and identities has failed, from its establishment under Constantine the Great down to our present day. This state failed because it was "of this world"and was unable to be different from what prevailed among the nations. Indeed, with their brutal practices and the atrocities that they committed, Christian kingdoms have perhaps provided the ugliest examples among nations.

Christ realized this before it happened. He realized that nations are not built on sincere intentions, on righteousness and piety, or on lofty teachings. A state in this world means a state of this world. He did not have the slightest doubt that when Christians obtained power, they would be like all people who obtain power. They would be scornful, exploitative, despising the vulnerable. The logic of the state is not the logic of the Gospel. The Gospel calls for tolerance, forgiveness, love, and giving freely. The state calls for punishment, prison, law and taxes...

Christ realized this when He disdained and mocked political authority. On the day when He was crowned as a king, the day of His entrance into Jerusalem, unlike the custom of ancient or modern kings, He rode a donkey. He rode a donkey after having previously fled from the crowd when they wanted to make Him king. His closest disciples, like that crowd, did not understand Christ's logic, since they asked Him who among them would sit at His right and His left in His glory and almost quarreled over this question. They asked for an authority for themselves that they did not receive from Him.

Christ realized this, and nevertheless He called on Christians to be committed to the affairs of the world and of people, to defend values and virtues and proclaim the truth. Christianity, contrary to what some may imagine, is a religion that is not only concerned with spiritual matters but also strives for a better world where peace, justice, love and mercy reign... This requires struggle against evil and sin. Even though historical experience is discouraging in terms of the possibility of this promised, ideal kingdom, its realization is not impossible, even if it is difficult. A church historian once said that Christian emperors ruled more harshly than pagan emperors because a pagan emperor considered himself to be a god among many gods, while a Christian emperor considered himself to be the one God's sole representative on earth.

Christ did not establish a kingdom "of" this world that launches holy wars led by His successors, heirs or followers. There have existed what some consider "Christian" empires, but even apart from their assaults on non-Christians, they committed massacres against Christians opposed to them and their policies. The [Holy] Roman Empire launched Crusades that targeted Eastern Christians alongside Muslims. The Byzantine Empire persecuted Syriacs, Copts and even Chalcedonian Orthodox (during the reign of Heraclius), just as the Byzantines and Bulgars slaughtered each other while both were unquestionably Orthodox and Protestants and Catholics slaughtered each other in Europe... and in the modern era--- and here we have no desire to open old wounds-- we can point to the Christians in Lebanon fighting and slaughtering each other in the name of Christianity...

In reality, today there is no "Christian" state and no "Christian" president or leader in the image and likeness of Christ on the face of the earth. Therefore the wars of this state and this ruler are not in any way "holy". People are free, in matters of politics, to support this or that state in their wars, but not in the name of Christianity or in the name of the Church and not under the pretext of protecting the existence of Christians or under the pretext of defending minorities. The logic of the Church must be other than the logic of this world.

Carol Saba on "Holy Wars"

French original here. 

Russian "Holy" War in the Eastern Mediterranean and Syria?

The Middle East is once again demonstrating its international geopolitical and geostrategic centrality at the intersection of Asia, Africa and Europe. This is shown by the start of Russian intervention and airstrikes in Syria, but also by the forces of the Western coalition, the Chinese navy, without mentioning the consequent regional military forces of Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel and so on. This center of the world that is the Middle East constitutes a strategic crossroads of influences that pivot on a central geopolitical line of three B's-- Berlin, Byzantium and Baghdad-- that can cut the world in two.Since the earliest times, this center has not ceased to be a crucible where the appetites of the great powers manifest themselves, meet and kill each other.

Today, the confrontation between all these powers that are gathering in the Eastern Mediterranean around the Syrian conflict, raging in this threatened and threatening region, is at its peak under "open skies". An impressive deployment of fleets, friendly or hostile, that are concentrating unprecedented military resources, whether logistical, intelligence-gathering or command posts. A theater of operations where nations and their most divergent interests oppose each other and where the most voracious passions and tensions are growing. A veritable inferno stoked by explosive regional and international embers, threatening the region with general conflagration at any moment.

There is, of course, the context of the internal Syrian conflict, but also the conflict against Syria. There is also the regional context of an Arab world imploding from within with nation-states long dominated by dictatorships and draconian autocracies. Nations-states of the Arab world that were unable to remedy the situation with a liberating Arab Spring are today decaying and giving way to a vacuum that is being filled by an extreme religious radicalism that gleefully wields unspeakable terror on a regional and international level and does not hesitate to reawaken all the old demons. Thus it reawakens and stirs up at will the old internecine wars of Islam, between Shiites and Sunnis. Thus it exploits the sacred for political purposes without restraint and disenters the old demons of the historical subconscious of this region that is still traumatized by the memory of the Crusades and colonialism, associating the Western coalition fighting it with the Crusaders.

Entering into this powder-keg context a few days ago came a communication from the spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, commenting on the military operations that his country has commenced in Syria from the point of view of the Russian Orthodox Church. These statements were repeated, commented upon and crossed the world like lightening, launching a war of the airwaves. Some did not hesitate to carry over into his comments a language of "holy war", while for others it was not a question of "holy war" but of a fight against terrorism that the spokesman described as a holy struggle. In any case, the unfortunate statements which were corrected by a subsequent declaration by His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow, provoked a terrible shokewave and over-excitement in the media, on social networks, and in public opinion both East and West, with extreme opposing reactions of approval and disapproval, with some not hesitating to compare the Russian deployment to a Muscovite crusade in the manner of ISIS.

Clearly, this unfortunate incident highlights the risky nature of any attempt to use the sacred in the current explosive context of the Middle East, something that can only unleash murderous passions. More than ever, we must pay attention to the power of the words that we use because words, in our world of digital revolution, are weapons that kill long before the guns kill! More than ever, churches must maintain a positive distance from these risks in order to avoid any unfortunate amalgam that could result when the interests of nations and powers are at play. More than ever, churches must keep intact their fundamental capacity, in accord with their evangelical mission, to act intelligently and courageously for peace and reconciliation.

No, there is not nor can there be in Orthodoxy any theological, strategic or tactical legitimization of war, even if it is described according to the situation and the era as "holy", "just", "justified" or "justifiable". Clearly, for every Orthodox Christian, every war is reprehensible and should be condemned because they are and only can be the expression of evil in the world. War is at once a failure and an evil. The Lord reminds us in Matthew 26:52-53, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?" Did Christ not have the possibility of calling upon legions of angels to save Himself from death? His Church is called in every era and according to the specifics of every situation, to intelligently and sometimes pragmatically follow His absolute Model and One Thing Needful, remembering that true "holy war" is that which is invisible, spiritual warfare, the pnevmatikos polemos that Saint John Chrysostom so often mentioned in his homilies. 

I will conclude by evoking the words of the late Patriarch Pavle of Serbia who reposed in 2009, a saint of our time, who in his time as patriarch during the conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo, had to face the terrible trials of war and the irrational and murderous passions that it unleashes. His teaching to his own flock was always imbued with the spiritual tension that the Christian must keep within himself in order to "remain human even amidst those who are not."

"It is our responsibility," he said,"to do everything in order to be really prepared, even among wolves, to be Christ's sheep. God sends us so that through our life and our faith we may lead the wolves to become, if they so desire, Christ's sheep. But, in any case, the most important thing is that we do not become wolves. This principle will allow us to subsist both biologically and morally. And if we must disappear, we accept to disappear, all while remaining human to the end."

In the Fall of 1992, he had to intervene with the Serbian population of Eastern Bosnia so that they would let through a humanitarian convoy bound for the Muslims of Sebrenica. It was in these eloquent terms that speak for themselves that he addressed them: "It is as a father that I beg the Serbs of the Drina region to clear the way for the international humanitarian aid convoy bound for Sebrenica. Even if you think that this aid is more necessary for yourselves and your suffering families, it is better to suffer injustice for the moment than to inflict it yourselves on others, on your brothers of a different religion who are just as miserable as you. Let us all be human beings, children of God, and let us have more trust in His justice than in our own anger, however justified it may seem. In the name of the evangelical love of God and of our Holy Church who teaches it, I send you my blessing with faith that aid will also arrive to relieve your suffering, insofar as crime does not respond to crime, and that before the most terrible trials we may behave as a Christian people, the heirs of Saint Sava."

Il Folgio on Middle Eastern Catholic Bishops' Support for Russian Intervention in Syria

Italian original here or here.

The Middle Eastern Bishops Deployed with Putin: A Problem for the Vatican
by Matteo Matzuzzi

In an interview with Swiss television, the Melkite Greek-Catholic archbishop of Aleppo, Jean-Clément Jeanbart, praised Vladimir Putin's military action in support of Syrian president Bashar al-Asad. As he explained it, the Kremlin's escalation "is a source of hope for the country's Christians." Putin, in the opinion of the bishop, "serves the Christian cause" and the presence of Russian troops in support of Damascus represents "renewed confidence" for the entire non-Muslim community in the region. The Russian president "is solving the problem," he added. This is a position that contrasts sharply with the line taken by the Vatican's Secretary of State, who is geared towards reducing to a minimum any tensions (even verbal) with the parties involved in the delicate chessboard of the Middle East, starting precisely with Russia and the United States, especially after the unauthorized overflight of Turkish-- and therefore NATO-- airspace by two of Moscow's warplanes. In late September, the Secretary of State, Pietro Paolin, had met with his American counterpart John Kerry at the White House.

The evolution of the situation in Syria and Iraq likely dominated that meeting, even though nothing was revealed to the press, not even the traditional communiqué drafted in order to summarize the contents of the conversation in brief. Of course, given the long letter sent in September 2013 by the pope to Vladimir Putin, at the time president of the G2, it is in the interest of the Holy See that the tensions between the United State and Russia be quickly resolved. Yesterday, opening the General Congregation of the Synod, the pope addressed the issue, calling on the fathers to dedicate the morning prayers to "the intention of peace and reconciliation in the Middle East. We are painfully affected," said Francis, "and we follow with great concern what is happening in Syria, Iraq, Jerusalem and the West Bank, where we see an escalation of violence that involves innocent civilians and continues to fuel a humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions."

The secretary of state himself revealed how the problem was "truly complicated" and "probably no one has the solution at their fingertips." The prelate spoke about the issue of immigration but added that "there are so many simultaneous causes of this phenomenon" and also "so many solutions that can be immediately realized and others that need more time." Tones and arguments quite distinct from those of bishops from the Middle East, including the bishop of Erbil, Bashar Warda, who already last winter asked Great Britain to send its troops to the region. Paolin, however, insisted on the need to "resume everything possible, including from the diplomatic point of view." The Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, Louis Raphael I Sakko, currently in Rome as a father of the synod, has also taken a clear position. "In his latest book, Stronger than Terror, published in Italy by Emi, the prelate lambasted the silence of senior Islamic authorities before the slaughter and devastation perpetrated by the militias of the so-called caliphate and called for soldiers on the ground to put an end to the chaos.

"The military solution is inevitable in order to overcome ISIS. There is a need for immediate and precise action," he said in an interview with the news program Tv2000. Sakko went further, judging bombing to be "ineffective" and hoping for the immediate deployment of ground troops to Iraq and Syria. The street, in his opinion, could consider "requesting a contribution from Arab countries which know the mentality and the language." In any case it should be clear that "apart from chasing ISIS away, it is also necessary to destroy that terrible ideology."

The Newly-Elected Metropolitan of Zahleh: Younan el-Souri

Arabic original here.

Archimandrite Younan (el-Souri) Metropolitan of the Diocese of Zahleh

On the second day of the Holy Synod of Antioch's session held at the patriarchal residence at Balamand, the members of the Synod elected the abbot of the Monastery of Our Lady of Bkaftine, Archimandrite Younan (el-Souri) as metropolitan of the Diocese of Zahleh, Baalbek and Their Dependencies.

Who is Metropolitan Younan (el-Souri)?

Antoine el-Souri was born in Mina, Tripoli on June 20, 1970. He studied at the National Orthodox School Mar Elias in Mina.

In 1994, he graduated from the Faculty of Engineering of the Lebanese University, receiving a degree in electrical and electronic engineering.

He studied theology by correspondence with the Institut Saint-Serge in Paris through the Diocese of Mount Lebanon. He graduated from this institute in 2006 with honors.

He worked at various jobs before entering the priesthood. On June 24, 2001, he was ordained subdeacon at the church of the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Douma by His Eminence Metropolitan Georges Khodr.

On March 20, 2005, he was ordained deacon at the Cathedral of Saint George in Mina by Metropolitan Elias Kurban of thrice-blessed memory.

On July 24, 2005 he was ordained to the priesthood in the parish of Mina. He was priest for the youth in the Diocese of Tripoli and Koura.

On September 7, 2008 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite during the service of vespers for the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos at the church of the metropolitan's residence.

A member of the Youth Movement from childhood, he was active in the group under the guidance of Costi Bendaly. He held various positions in the Orthodox Youth Movement, including:

2001-2003: Assistant General Secretary to Raymond Rizk.
2001-2003: Responsible for mentoring programs in the general secretariat.
2002-2004: Head of the Mina branch.
2004-2008: Head of the Tripoli center.

He was vice president of Syndesmos, the international league of Orthodox youth movements. He participated in several local and regional conferences.

He was active in the choir of Mina and was trained by the Protopsaltis of the See of Antioch, Dimitri Coutya.

On June 19, 2011 he became abbot of the Monastery of Our Lady of Bkaftine. Since that time, he has conducted significant renovations of its buildings. He prepared a small church dedicated to Saints Anthony the Great, Arsenius the Cappadocian, and Nectarius the Wonder-Worker. About two months ago, he restored the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the monastery.

On June 16, 2012, he received the angelic great schema, taking as his patron the Prophet Jonah, during the divine liturgy celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Ephrem Kyriakos.

He collaborated with the publishing house Ta'awwuniyyat el-Nour to publish a documentary entitled "The Monastery of Our Lady of Bkaftine: Holiness and Ancient Roots" about the history of the monastery from its foundation to today and its pastoral and cultural role in the region of Koura.

He is the author of several articles in Majallat el-Nour, including "Youth and Life", "Between Proselytism and Evangelism", "Meditations on Monasticism", "World Orthodox Youth Day", "The Issues of Homosexuals in the Priesthood".

He is the author of theological articles and studies in al-Karma, the bulletin of the Diocese of Tripoli and Koura.

He has taught various subjects, including Old Testament and the Epistles of the Apostle Paul at the department of theological preparation at the Pastoral Center for Orthodox Patristic Heritage in the Diocese of Tripoli.

On October 7, 2015, he was elected by the Holy Synod of Antioch as successor to Metropolitan Spyridon Khoury as metropolitan of the Diocese of Zahleh, Baalbek and Their Dependencies.

Met Georges Khodr: Love for All

Arabic original here.

Love for All

Today's Gospel reading speaks to us about our love for all, even our enemies, and makes love something that does not seek anything in return when it says "be merciful even as your Father in heaven is merciful."

 Christianity is merciful. We must realize its essence in order to make use of it, for it not to remain just a slogan, something we brag about in front of people. The question posed to us every day is: what is the source of our love? By what power are we able to love? It is not within us foundationally, since man tends toward ruthlessness and revenge. Man is hostile and hostility is ingrained in us. Man is inclined to antagonize people and the Lord asks of us something beyond nature. He insists that we love and that we love always, the we love our enemies. He tells us that it is possible, but not from the dust from which we were shaped. It is, however, possible from the Holy Spirit if it flows upon us from His bounty.

Christianity alone teaches love. You can wander all over the world and read all the books and teachings, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone is what has revealed love in all its great dimensions that we know. It is what made love unconditional-- that is, independent of people's emotions. Jesus says to love people whether they love you or hate you. Your love is not focused on flesh and blood or people's emotions. Love is not from you or from them. It comes from your Father in heaven. Love is possible in Christianity alone. Elsewhere there is compassion and mercy. In the Gospel of Jesus love is perfect, constant, unceasing. Love comes to us from God's heart and it remains in us as long as God is in our hearts.It is what changes the face of the world and that to which the world aspires. It is the end of everything. If someone obtains it, he does not strive for anything else. The development that people talk about, the advancement that they seek, has the goal in the end of people living in love. If we realize love, we have arrived at the goal of human development and advancement and we have no need for anything else.

"Love one another as I have loved you." This is the secret of the entire process: "As I have loved you." That is-- I have loved you unto death. I have revealed to you that God is love and that if you are in Him, then you love. But if He is hidden from you or if your sins have hidden Him from you, then you are not able to love. Love found its perfection in Christ's death. A person who as faith in Christ's death, in His perfect sacrifice, then this is a person who loves because he knows that the other person before him is weak and in need of treatment.

Since Christ is the Physician of humankind, He made those who belong to Him physicians for people. If a sick person is brought to a physician, the physician might not know his name. He might not see his face and ask about his identity, his religion, his race, or his background but he has before him a sick person that he treats. Then another sick person comes and he treats him with the same care and attention. In this way each of us is a sick person. Each of us is spiritually sick and the other person, the person in front of us or near us-- our neighbor, our friend or our enemy-- has been appointed a physician by God to give him attention and care. So it does not matter for us whether or not they spoke ill of us, whether or not they beat us, whether or not they treated us unjustly. The person before us was put there by God for care. Love in Christianity is care.

Christ came to save people but He wants each one of us to follow up on the mission of salvation, to be a savior to those around us. Christ is not only active from heaven: all of us are His hands and His eyes and He has given us the Gospel so that within us and at our hands it will become a glorious reality. In this way, if we love people, then they feel that God loves them. We love so that people may draw near, not only to us but to God. We do not love in order to be loved ourselves. We love so that God may be loved.

Die Welt: Islamists Threaten Christians in German Refugee Centers

German original here.


Islamists Threaten Christians in Refugee Centers

In German asylum centers, Christian refugees are exposed to assaults from fanatical Muslims who live according to Sharia. Fundamentalists are even threatening them with murder.

by Freia Peters


Said from Iran sits below a picture of Jesus on the cross around which is Persian writing. It is a quotation from the Bible: John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. He that follows Me shall not walk in darkness."

Said is a kickboxer. He crossed Turkey on foot. He never would have thought that his problems would only really begin in Germany. "In Iran, the Revolutionary Guards arrested my brother in a house church. I fled from the Iranian secret police because I thought that in Germany I could finally live my religion freely," says Said. "But at the home for asylum-seekers, I cannot openly admit that I am a Christian. If I did, I would feel threatened."

Said lives in a home for asylum-seekers in southern Brandenburg, near the border with Saxony. It is one of the so-called "jungle-homes", without any connection to a bus line. Mainly Syrian refugees live there-- mostly devout Sunni Muslims. "They wake me up before dawn during Ramadan and say that I should eat before the sun comes up. If I refuse, they say that I am 'kuffar', an infidel. They spit on me." Said says that he has called the security service. They were not interested in his problems. "They are also all Muslims."

Pastor Gottfried Martens sits beside Said in the community hall of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Berlin-Steglitz, a stack of papers on his lap. They are his letters to the heads of various refugee centers, to the office of social security, to the Berlin State Office for Health and Social Services, which allocates the refugees to temporary shelters. The writings are cries for help, in which Martens asks them to protect members of his community or to move them to another home. "Sometimes the director of the home tries to help. Sometimes I get no answer," says Martens.

Around 600 Afghans and Iranians belong to his church. He baptized most of them himself. Almost all of them have big problems in their homes," says Martens. "Devout Muslims teach the view their that 'where we are, there rules Sharia, there rules our law.'" Christians cannot cook their food in the kitchen. Those who do not pray towards Mecca five times a day are bullied. "Above all, Christians who have converted from Islam have to suffer as a minority," says Martens. "And they ask themselves the question, 'What happens when the devout Muslim refugees leave the home? Must we as Christians in the future hide ourselves in this country?'"

The fanatics sound like the murderers of the Islamic State.

Said's story is one of many in recent weeks. In Hemer, Sauerland, Algerian asylum-seekers attacked an Eritrean and his pregnant wife. Both were wearing their baptismal crosses around their necks. One of the Algerians struck the Eritreans with a glass bottle.

A young Syrian in a preliminary refugee center in Giessen reported threats. He is concerned that among the refugees there are followers of the terrorist group the Islamic State. "They shout verses from the Qur'an. They are the words that the Islamic State shouts before they cut off people's heads. I cannot stay here. I am a Christian," he says. In Ellwangen, Baden-Wurttemburg, there was a mass brawl between Christians, Yezidis and Muslims during Ramadan.

The case of an Iraqi Christian family housed in a refugee center in Freising, Bavaria is especially dramatic. The father told a television crew from Beyerische Rundfunk about beatings and threats from Syrian Islamists. "They yelled at my wife and beat by child. They say, 'We will kill you and drink your blood.'" The family lived like prisoners in a room of the home until they were no longer able to bear it and returned to Mosul in Iraq.

However in the meantime, Christians can no longer live in Islamist Mosul. The family was displaced a third time and have moved with two small children to Erbil in Northern Iraq. "They are doing very poorly," says their lawyer, Christian Salek from Munich. "I would have liked to help them and I have written to the Ministry of the Interior, but there is no way to bring them back to Germany." Anyone who applies for asylum and then leaves the country has to sign that they will not ask to be received a second time.

The underreporting of cases is high.

"One might have been able to protect the family," says Simon Jacob of the Central Council of Eastern Christians. Stories like this no longer surprise him. "I know of very many reports of Christian refugees who are under attack. But that's just the tip of the iceberg," says Jacob. "The number of unreported cases is high. We must anticipate further conflicts that refugees bring to Germany from their homeland. Between Christians and Muslims. Between Shiites and Sunnis. Between Kurds and extremists. Between Yezidis and extremists." Jacob argues that refugees should initially be accommodated separately by religion. But this could not be a long-term solution.

Jacob calls for formulating a guiding principle for Germany, in which are anchored the fundamental values of democracy and a pluralistic society. Freedom of religion. Freedom of expression. Equality between men and women. "We need a clear statement as well as orientation for refugees, also to help them differentiate themselves from extremists," says Jacob.

"Of course, refugees bring along their own experiences of conflict, for example between Shiites and Sunnis or Christians and Muslims," says the renowned historian and researcher on migration, Klaus J. Bade. He calls for socio-political vision and future-oriented concepts for the imminent issues of integration. He also calls for an enhanced guiding principle, with which Germans and also the refugees can and must identify. "This is the price that each immigrant who wants to live in Germany must pay. Bade calls for an integration course tied to orientation help, tailored to the respective country of origin.

Christians and Yezidis are most at risk.

"Frequently the aggression comes from Afghans or Pakistanis, who are often even more Islamist than some of the Syrians and Iraqis," says Max Klingberg of the International Society for Human Rights who has been active in caring for refugees for 15 years. He believes that the violence in the refugee centers will continue to increase. "We must rid ourselves of the illusion that all those who arrive here are human rights activists. No small proportion of the current new arrivals are at least at the level of the Muslim Brotherhood in their religious intensity."

The closer people live together, the sooner religious and political conflicts break out. "Reports are being made of threats of decapitation by Sunnis against Shiites, but the hardest hit are Yezidis and Christians," says Klingberg. Among Christian converts who do not conceal their faith, the likelihood of becoming a victim of assault or bullying is about 100 percent."

The only state that is currently trying to accommodate refugees separately by origin is Thuringia. The decision was made by Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (Left Party) after an outbreak of violence in a refugee center in Suhl last month.

Implementation is difficult. "We pay attention to conflict-sensitive housing and try to distribute people from different countries on different floors," says the Justice and Migration Minister of Thuringia, Dieter Lauinger (Green Party). "In the current crisis situation, this is only possible in a restricted way, but we want to expand it, once the influx once again arranged in an orderly way."

However, Lauinger believes that a separation according to religion is wrong: particularly intensely religious Muslims must learn to live with other religions. "It is a balancing act between providing separate accommodation to prevent conflicts and the clear requirement to tolerate other cultures and religions."

Ali Reza Rahmani from Iran wears his baptismal cross around his neck and a multicolored ribbon around his wrist. Because he no longer feels safe in the home, Pastor Martens has given him shelter in the church. "I can no longer hide the fact that I am a Christian," says Rahmani, who in the church is called by his baptismal name Elia. "As a Christian, I'm not safe in the asylum center."

The hostility toward Said and Elia are not isolated cases, says Martens. "It has long been a problem nationwide." In the church, the refugees feel safe. But this cannot be a permanent situation. Nevertheless, Martens has bought new mattresses on sale.