Fr Georges Massouh: Holy Wars... Ridiculous! (2015)

 Arabic original, written in 2015, here. May Fr Georges' memory be eternal!!!


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.

Melkite Catholic Patriarch Yusuf al-Absi on the Zoghby Initiative and Orthodox-Catholic Relations

Arabic original here. My translation is, of course, unofficial, but I think is necessary because of the importance of this speech as a response to Patriarch John X's speech at Balamand last October and for Patriarch Absi's very clear statement that from his perspective "in dogma and canon law, we are Catholics, and in liturgy and sacramental life we are Byzantines", quite different from the vision of "Orthodox in communion with Rome" sometimes promoted among followers of the late Metropolitan Elias Zoghby.

The Speech of His Beatitude Yusuf in Honor of Metropolitan Yusuf al-Kallas

Sunday, April 7, 2024

al-Liqa' Centre, Rabwa, Lebanon

My speech today at this gathering in honor of His Eminence, the beloved brother and father Yusuf al-Kallas, former metropolitan of Beirut, Jbeil and the dependencies for the Melkite Catholics, centers on the book that he has worked for months to prepare together with the Rev Basilian Fr Nicholas Bustros under the supervision of the Rev Fr Gabi Hachem, which was published about a week ago with the title The Effort for Fraternal Reconiciliation in Antioch: History and an Analysis of the Initiative of the Melkite Greek Catholic Synod, 1996-1997. The book and my speech are thus both abut the initiative that was born in the mind and heart of His Eminence Metropolitan Elias Zoghby, of thrice-blessed memory, which was adopted by our church's synod and proposed to the Synod of the Byzantine Antiochian Orthodox Church.

The initiative that we are discussing is, in short, for the Melkite Catholics to belong at the same time to the Catholic Church and to the Byzantine Antiochian Orthodox Church, for them to have a double affiliation, such that the desired unity between them and the Greek Orthodox takes place while they remain in communion with the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, they did not precisely or finally define how this affiliation would be in practice and how it would be arranged, remaining content to make some observations.

The initiative was launched with a declaration of faith agreed upon by Metropolitan Elias Zoghby and Metropolitan Georges Khodr, according to what Metropolitan Cyril Bustros says (p. 7). The declaration, on the part of the Greek Catholics says: "First, I believe in everything that the Eastern Orthodox Church teaches. And second, I am in communion with the Bishop of Rome, within the limits confessed by the holy fathers of the East as first among bishops during the first millennium and before the schism" (i.e., in 1054).

Discussion of this initiative as it was formulated above, what happened after its announcement, its progress and its conclusion would be very lengthy. The time allotted now and the circumstance do not permit it and it can be found in the book. I will content myself with making a few observations from within the initiative and a few from outside it.

1. Observations from outside the Initiative

1.1 Those who elected Cyril Tanas most likely did not intend or have in mind that they were splitting from the Antiochian Church and establishing a parallel or substitute church. Instead, they thought they were doing what had been done after the death of a patriarch, that they were electing a new patriarch and consequently that the Patriarchate of Antioch would continue as usual, even if they were inclined toward unity with the Apostolic See of Rome. They also were not thinking that Constantinople would appoint another patriarch. Likewise, Constantinople, when it appointed Sylvester as patriarch for Antioch, most likely did not think that the new patriarch, Cyril Tanas, would persist and that other patriarchs would succeed him. Thus, it did not think that a new church would emerge in parallel to the existing Antiochian Orthodox Church, since there was more than one precedent for there being two patriarchs in the history of the Patriarchate of Antioch.

1.2 Our church continued in this manner, as an apostolic church-- that is, its head going back to the Apostles Peter and Paul, founders of the Church of Antioch-- and over the past three centuries it has done much good and great things. It has had an ecclesiastical, civil, social, cultural, literary, scientific and spiritual presence on various levels, inasmuch as it has had and continued to have illustrious members, prominent people nationally and globally in every field. What has distinguished our church, and continues to do so, over the course of its history is that it is an open church that transcends everything that seeks to limit it, hold it back, or cause it to isolate itself, shrink back, or reject the other. It is a church whose children belong to it without being chauvinistic about it, a church of dialogue and encounter that builds bridges and does not erect walls, a "universal" church, as we describe the Church in general in our Creed.

1.3 We wonder whether Patriarch Tanas and the movement for union that was with him, when they requested that the See of Rome recognize them-- and recognition means communion-- were clearly aware as to whether this communion was with Peter or under Peter. Did they believe that the Patriarchate of Antioch would remain as it had been with the See of Rome, that is, as between equals? The position of Patriarch Gregorius Yusuf at the First Vatican Council gives the impression that the answer is yes, that communion in their view was, until that council, between equals. But it seems that in the end Patriarch Gregorius Yusuf affirmed the acts of the council and it has become clear that communion in the view of the Roman See is between a leader and those led.

2. Observations from within the Initiative

2.1 The initiative taken by the Melkite Greek Catholics was, in short, that we Melkite Greek Catholics be in communion with the Antiochian Greek Orthodox and the See of Rome at the same time. We reconcile, in our opinion, our eastern, Antiochian Byzantine identity and our communion with the Church of Rome. In my opinion, this initiative was incorrect from its very beginning because the solution is not in our hands alone, but also in the hands of the Orthodox and the Catholics. It is a trilateral solution that requres the agreement of the three sides. Those who called it an emotional initiative, fated not to succeed, were correct. The proof is that the Orthodox set their conditions and we were led toward them on the one hand. Fr Gabi Hachem says, "The striking new thing in Metropolitan Zoghby's discourse is his adoption of the Orthodox position" (p. 105). The proof is also that on the other hand the See of Rome is the one that imposed its opinion and we submitted to it. Fr Gabi Hachem says, "[This See] stressed that the Greek Catholic Church is in full communion with the Catholic Church and that the plan for dual communion is incompatible with it" (p. 103). Thus we found ourselves between two options: either the Greek Orthodox or Rome. We preferred to retreat, since perhaps we had not realized that and were not yet capable of declaring where we wanted to position ourselves, since perhaps we were struggling between two identities. Did Metropolitan Zoghby and so also our church's synod not know this and realize that their initiative to put a foot on one side and a foot on the other would lead to a dead end? The Rev Fr Gabi Hachem says, "Metropolitan Zoghby was not versed in the details of theological matters" and "Metropolitan Zoghby's declaration of faith in a dual communion was a personal declaration not based on theological data" (pp. 102-103). Metropolitan Georges Khodr expressed the theological impediment when he stated in general, "We cannot enter into communion with a church that has completely Catholic dogma" (p. 58).

2.2 The failure of the initiative was expressed in strong terms by Metropolitan Kallas: "the termination of Metropolitan Zoghby's initiative" and also "the collapse of the initiative" because both the opposing sides in dialogue with us held fast to their position in a way that caused some to describe the solution as impossible and which caused Metropolitan Cyril Bustros to conclude that "Our step was perhaps hasty, but it showed us that the great distance that separates us from our Antiochian Greek Orthodox brothers remains great" (p. 86). He adds, "Therefore I propose to turn our efforts toward meetings between the Catholic churches and the Orthodox churches in the east and to leave the issue of reuniting the Patriarchate of Antioch until after a comprehensive union is announced between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches" (p. 86). This is also the position of the Orthodox Church, as explained by Metropolitan Georges Khodr when he said, "The Church of Antioch cannot unilaterally reconcile with the Catholics in isolation from the Orthodox of the world. The reconciliation of the Orthodox Church requires the reconciliation of all the world's Orthodox" (p. 52). Moreover, Metropolitan Khodr adds that the reconciliation of the Greek Catholics cannot take place individually, without the reconciliation of all the Eastern Catholic churches, because these churches have a single faith and a single canon law, placing them all on the same side of the scale.

2.3 In its failure, this initiative once again raised the issue of our church's identity. In fact, the initiative for "fraternal reconciliation in Antioch" was nothing other than an attempt to define a new identity and role for us as Greek Catholics, perhaps because we still feel that we are not at ease in our situation, even after three hundred years. But the attempt failed because the identity that we dreamed of was greater than the reality. For this reason, the other characterized our initiative as being ambiguous. Metropolitan Georges Khodr says, "What is required of the Greek Catholics is to move past the fog and explain Orthodox dogma to their people," revealing that "the fusion of the two churches is a serious matter requiring a great deal of care. Unity cannot take place arbitrarily. There are differences that must be resolved" (p. 56). I believe that the issue of our position was settled from the time that we restored union with the Church of Rome, but perhaps we do not want to say it explicitly: in dogma and canon law, we are Catholics, and in liturgy and sacramental life we are Byzantines. We wanted, in all sincerity, to be a bridge, but in reality from the very beginning we planted our feet on the Western side. This is what the Orthodox Church believes, as indicated by His Beatitude Patriarch John X in his speech at the international academic conference held at Balamand on October 16, 2023, when he said, "Fraternally, I leave it to those who departed from us and joined the West, in accordance with an agreement that allowed them to preserve their rituals and maintain their patriarchal system, to evaluate the results of their choice."

2.4 The unity of the Byzantine Antiochian Church is the demand and desire of both sides and effort toward it is being made by both sides. Both sides welcomed the initiative to realize it. Our Orthodox brothers continue to desire it and work towards it. As His Beatitude Patriarch Yazigi stated at the closing of his speech mentioned above, "It is our hope that this conference will add to the foundations we have put in place in order to restore unity and harmony between our church and the Rum Catholic Church." We have failed, but the failure will not put an end to the hope that unity will occur, whether at the level of the Patriarchate of Antioch or at the level of the international committee for dialogue between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

3. Conclusion

3.1 "An Effort for Fraternal Reconciliation in Antioch". This is what Metropolitan Yusuf al-Kallas wanted to title his book. Indeed, our church has worked and made initiatives along the lines that Patriarch Maximus IV al-Sayegh, of blessed memory, spoke about around sixty years ago when he said from the Vatican, "For many of the world's bishops, the union of the churches might be an important and lively dilemma, but they only feel it theoretically. As for us, the wound of separation is something that we feel acutely and constantly...The issue of unity is our greatest concern, the first of our tasks, and the deepest desire of our heart. It is the goal we aim for with every fiber of our soul... It seems to us that the effort for the unity of the churches is the cause of our existence and the primary mission that divine providence has placed upon us, collectively and individually" (al-Masarra 1967, p. 744). 

3.2 The initiative did not succeed, but hope remains. Reconciliation shall remain our goal until it happens. Our church's initiative was doomed, but there is another option available today, as it seems from reading the book that both sides have come to hope will bear fruit and outside of which neither side shows any effort toward reconciliation, at least at the present time and in response to the initiative. This is the global theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches. This option, for us Melkite Greek Catholics, means a reorientation. Until today, we counted ourselves as interlocutors between the Catholic and Orthodox sides and we said of this dialogue that we were the bridge that connects them. But the failure of the initiative in the way that it happened blocked the path and posed questions for us that we should not be afraid to put a finger on now: Does this failure threaten our mission? Do we remain suspended over the bridge that we have built? Has the time not come for us to plant our feet on this or that side of the river?

3.3 In the effort to regain our unity, the effort for reconciliation, we can blaze more than one trail. Thus there was the proposal of the Catholic theological commission that met in Jerusalem on October 1, 1996, advising effort and progress at the moment along a local, pastoral path "which concerns the easterners in their daily life ... to engage in ecumenical activity, to turn theological understandings (as in the Balamand Declaration, for example) to practical applications that appear on the ground. Therefore, the dialogue of life and pastoral care must progress to the greatest degree possible and in a bold and realistic manner. Realizing these practical applications, if they take place between the two churches, will be a strong factor for advancing the ecumenical movement on the global level" (p. 73). We add that it is perhaps also possible for us to have joint activities such as studies about Antiochian identity and its distinctive features.

3.4 After what became of our church's initiative, Metropolitan Yusuf al-Kallas states that Metropolitan Elias Zoghby, the author of the initiative, took the opportunity to say at the the meeting of our church's synod in July 1996, "In any case, Christian history will preserve about the Church of Antioch, which was always a byword for reconciliation, cooperation and peacemaking, that it refused for the second millennium of Chrisitian history to come to a close while the burden of the schism between the Christian East and West weighed down upon the entire Church, and that it once worked to solve the dilemma by removing it, inasmuch as it made an initiative to restore unity to the Antiochian Church" (p. 88).

4. Postscript

In closing, it remains for me to thank the brother and father, Metropolitan Yusuf and the Rev Frs Gabi Hachem and Nicholas Bustros for publishing this valuable book since the "initiative" that the book is about is covered from every aspect, from the cradle to the grave, from its opening to its closing, not leaving any room for anyone who wants to add to it, which makes the book a precious resource for researchers, who do not need any other resource for everything pertaining to this initiative, not only with regard to the presentation of its history, but also with regard to commenting on it, explaining it, and expressing opinions about it.

I will permit myself at this celebration that we are holding for His Eminence Metropolitan Yusuf to wound his humility and single him out with warm thanks on behalf of myself and of our entire church for what he has offered to our church and for his spotless priestly and episcopal career. He has offered a great many works in various fields that many of us know about. In particular, he has offered us a model of how to be a priest in the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostle Paul. Innocence, purity, zeal, humility, impartiality, effort, precision, conscience, determination, love, listening, silence, hiddenness... Abouna Yusuf is a school where many have learned and grown up, and I have had the grace myself to be among them. Thanks be to God who has given him to the Church. May the like of him multiply. 

Abouna Yusuf, thank you. May God give you perfect health and prolong your life.

Met Ephrem (Kyriakos): Death

Arabic original here.

Death

One who believes in God does not die. He reposes. After his repose, he encounter's the Lord's face and hopes for His mercy.

Entering into heaven or the kingdom is something connected to divine mercy. Our spiritual father once told us students, "You will not enter the kingdom after you die unless you bring with you have with you a friend that you have drawn with you to God during your life." During your life, you are responsible for fighting the passions and practicing the spiritual exercises of prayer and charity, but entering into heaven or the kingdom is something connected to divine mercy.

A secular person clings to the health of the body and fears death. Contemporary people have become secularized, this culture of the flesh, thus the fear of death.

Our faith states that man is eternal through God's grace. The believer surpasses death by thinking of the resurrection.

This Body that we receive in the divine sacrifice is the cause of new life. When we receive, the priest says, "The servant of God receives the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his sins and for life everlasting."

The Evangelist John says, "He who eats of My body and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him forever."

Christian preparation for death is through seeking forgiveness. That is, through the mystery of confession, without diminishing the importance of doctors' work.

With regard to old age, scientists today work to lengthen human life and to a certain extent have succeeded in this effort. Within this domain, however, the philosophy of hedonism is a philosophy outside the Church, since it claims that life is only centered on health and wealth and not on the spiritual life and obedience to God.

Old age is a mystery of great humility. In it, the Church reminds us of our life's entire meaning as a work of repentance and preparation for eternal life.

Earthly happiness has taken the place of the believing Christian's concern for receiving the gladness of God's giving eternal life.

+Ephrem

Metropolitan of Tripoli, al-Koura and their Dependencies

Daniel Ayuch: The Vision of Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch about the Diaspora

Daniel Ayuch, "The Vision of Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch about the Diaspora. A Thematic Survey and An Analysis of His Homilies and Publications," Ökumenisches Forum 43-46 (2024), 157-171.

Abstract:

There is a new demographic distribution of the Orthodox parishes in the world, and today the Orthodox people form part of different cultures, some of which are far away from the traditional milieu of the Mediterranean basin and the ancient world. Patriarch Ignatius noticed the depth of this radical change in the structure of the Church he had to serve and planned for the challenges to come not only for Antioch but also for the Pan-Orthodox world. The present article offers an analytical study of his sayings according to three essential aspects: the unity of the Antiochian See, witness, and education, and the future of the diaspora.

 

Read and download the article here.

Met Ephrem (Kyriakos): The Fast is Forgiveness and Reconiliation

 Arabic original here.

The Fast is Forgiveness and Reconciliation

The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee points to humility. Without humility, and spiritual work loses its value.

The purpose of the fast is to make one humble, to "deny oneself" (Mark 8:34).

The Sunday of the Prodigal Son points to repentance and to God the merciful Father.

The Sunday of the Last Judgment points to reckoning and salvation.

The Forgiveness Sunday is tied to mercy, love and reconciliation.

The word of reconciliation is the word of life (cf. Philippians 2:16 and 1 John 1:1).

Mercy and forgiveness lead to reconciliation with God and with others, push away resentment and hatred, and bring reconciliation.

"God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:19).

"God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18).

This reconciliation is reciprocal, but God's mercy is first of all His initiative, by means of the mystery of redemption, which causes us sinners to take the initiative to reconcile in Christ Jesus.

All of this is through the mystery of repentance, humility and forgiveness and it is also through love, mercy and redemption.

The fast is springtime for souls, when man is renewed and nature is renewed.

It is when joy, a springtime joy, must spread.

After all this, we hope and advise that mercy and forgiveness, and not resentment and hatred, prevail in every affair, for the sake of reconciliation in the mystery of Christ's redemption and great love. Amen.

+Ephrem

Metropolitan of Tripoli, al-Koura and their Dependencies

Bp Constantine Kayyal: Meatfare

Arabic original here.

Meatfare

The topic of today's Gospel passage is love.

The Lord Jesus gives a parable about the Last Judgment and affirms to us that the standard of judgment is love, personal and tangible love for the people that God puts along our way.

Love that corresponds to our social, economic and political interests and concerns is good and useful, but it is not pure and uniquely Christian love.

It is true that we are called to establish a just society governed by equality and brotherhood, but the true Christian love to which the Gospel calls us and on the basis of which humankind shall be judged is "that we love one another" and reconcile with one another so that all may know that we are Christ's disciples.

This is the true Church, the living Church of Christ, not a social or national institution.

The sole standard of judgment is man's relationship to his fellow man, not only man's relationship to God. Our sole path to heaven is through our fellow man.

Yesterday we prayed for our departed loved ones. We pray for them because we love them and so that we may encounter them in Christ who is love and in whom there is no difference between living and dead because all are alive. When we love Christ, we also love His elect because He endured disgrace and crucifixion for the salvation of all humankind.

Today we also remove meat from our tables in order to prepare to enter into greater struggle through fasting, prayer and self-discipline in order to make the soul close to others in order to draw closer to God.

The purpose of refraining from meat and its derivatives is to make money more available to give to our brothers in need out of love for them. This is the most important expression of true love and of the communion that exists between the members of the Church, the body of Christ.

Let us pray that our mighty God may grant us the strength and love to pass through this holy forty-day fast and to bear love for our brothers in our hearts and minds every day and every moment, so that we might be worthy to attain the most sublime goal, the fullness of the stature of Christ Jesus.

Bishop Constantine

Abbot of the Patriarchal Monastery of Mar Elias Shwayya

Met Ephrem (Kyriakos): Faith and Prayer in the Thinking of the Fathers

 Arabic original here.

Faith and Prayer in the Thinking of the Fathers

"Faith is the substance of things hoped-for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

Faith is also perfect trust in Christ, a trust that comes from His love for us and from His love for all creation.

Prayer comes out of our faith in Christ.

Saint Seraphim of Sarov says:

Prayer can bring down the Holy Spirit who transforms the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, and it can preserve the world's equilibrium.

Faithful prayer has an apostolic activity, in faith and through prayer we acquire great power.

All this results from our perfect trust in Christ.

We have said that faith is tied to prayer. Prayer leads one to God. At that point, grace leaks into one's heart.

Salvation is in Christ by His redemption and His love. "Your faith has saved you," said Jesus to the blind man of Jericho (Luke 18:42).

In the Bible there are many parables that reveal the power of faith which works miracles. All of them are tied to perfect faith in Christ.

The Lord Jesus said to the pagan Syro-Phoenician Canaanite woman (Mark 7:26): "'O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.' And her daughter was healed from that very hour" (Matthew 15:28).

Saint Gregory Palamas says, explaining this miracle: "Her tongue was moved by the Holy Spirit."

This means that her faith in Christ caused her to bring God's power to heal her daughter who was afflicted by the demon. Of course, all this was helped by her deep humility.

Faith in Christ only occurs and is active through one's liberation from the passions, especially through rejecting one's egoism.

The Canaanite woman also connected her faith to prayer when she cried out, "Lord, help me!"

Therefore, Saint Gregory Palamas says, "Humility is always tied to faith in Christ. Humility is fitting for the faithful and faith is fitting for the humble."

Faith in God grows and increases through repetition of the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!"

+Ephrem

Metropolitan of Tripoli, al-Koura and their Dependencies