Met Saba (Esber): The Fullness of Time

Arabic original here.

The Fullness of Time

The Epistle for the feast says, "When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Galatians 4:4-5). What is the fullness of time? It is the most appropriate time for the coming of the Savior. Why? Is the Savior in need of an appropriate time? Of course He is not in need, but those for whose sake He has come are in need. They are not prepared, not capable of seeing and accepting Him at just any time without preparation.

The coming of the Savior means that the act of salvation has started to be realized. Salvation is for us to become children of God, "that we might receive adoption." Is this adoption (that is, salvation) realized for people who reject it or who do not know it? Is it realized in those souls who do not await it or do not desire it? Is it realized in souls that are busy with other things to the point that they forget their salvation? The fullness of time is the time in which Christ became incarnate. It was the time in which Christ was truly born, within a specific human being. It is the time in which man became aware of God's presence within him, the activity of His grace in his life, and so he is born again in a true, spiritual birth.

Historically speaking, this expression means the time in which God was able to become incarnate among people and to live with them. This is what God did, with incredible divine longsuffering. The Holy Bible informs us that God began, in practice, first by offering Himself to Abraham, then Isaac his son, then Jacob, Isaac's son. This was the beginning of divine disclosure, which continued for eighteen or so centuries, until it was completed in the incarnation of the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, Christ. At that time, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).

Divine disclosure was gradual because humankind has always been in need of spiritual progression in order to become capable of truly understanding God and of responding to the requirements of His presence in them and among them. Inner hardheartedness prevents man from knowing God. Satisfaction with earthly and bodily things blinds inner sight from the light of God. Knowledge of god needs a refined, spiritual person who realizes the importance of love and forgiveness, a person liberated from earthly things, who longs for spiritual things. The lustful person dies in his lust if he does not transform it into desire for eternal life. The man of dust remains dust and does not see the beauty of heaven.

Those who are to be saved must have a sense of the need for salvation. If not, then what are they saved from? Thus God caused humankind to progress by degrees, and gradually progressed with them in His self-revelation, step by step. To the degree that they became spiritually elevated, He showed them Himself with greater truth. Pagan polytheism, which humans invented out of longing for the source of their life, which they did not know, impeded their knowledge of the true God. This may be hard for some to understand because we live in a culture that has been monotheistic for centuries, but it was very hard for people to realize this before Christ.

The prophets struggled for centuries with the people of the Old Covenant in order to make them realize God's oneness and His presence in every place and time. Despite what God did for them and His saving them from slavery in Egypt-- which was a symbol and an image of spiritual slavery-- no sooner had they settled in Canaan then they hurried to engage in worshiping Baal. They understood, according to the mentality of the time, that their God who had accompanied them and saved them in the desert was a god of desert, war and hardships and that agriculture was not his specialty. The people discovered, after entering into the settled world, their need for agriculture, so they learned it from the Canaanites, who were vastly more advanced than they were. So they took up Baal as a god alongside their God (that is, the Lord), without sensing any duality between the two because each had his "specialization"!

God worked slowly and patiently to change peoples' minds, hearts and morals so that it would be possible for them to know Him as He is, not as they imagined Him or desired Him to be. This is also what He has done with each of us, since He permits us to go through various experiences so that we are purified, come to discover Him present with us, and seek our salvation.

Does this mean that God only worked among the people of the Old Covenant? The earliest fathers of the Church teach us that He used this people to be a leaven of salvific faith for the rest of the peoples. That is to say that He-- to Him be glory-- revealed Himself to humankind through this people, whom He charged with it as a responsibility and not a privilege. But He cared for other people in ways appropriate to their cultures and civilizations.

Pagan Greek philosophy, as well as Egyptian religion (the religion of Akhenaten), for example, were fields for God's hidden work, which we have come to learn about because of the abundance of relics that have come down to us. Greek philosophy arrived at belief in one God. The altar mentioned in the Book of Acts (Chapter 17) dedicated to the unknown god that the Apostle Paul saw on the streets of Athens, on the basis of which he started evangelizing the people of the city was nothing other than an image according to that philosophy's degree of advancement, on the path of seeking the truth. For this reason some churches in the West place images of the great Greek philosophers on the walls of their outer entrances, on account of the fact that their philosophy played a role in preparing the way for Christ.

As for the similarity between Christ's birth from a virgin and the births of other important people in ancient religions, such as Syrian and Egyptian religions and Buddhism, even if these are legends that have attached themselves to some religions and are not officially recognized, this affirms that the enduring human dream of a savior who comes not from earthly lust continues to be a human dream. God speaks to us from our actual situation. He comes to us from our loftiest aspirations and speaks to us in our human language, through our truest hopes and longings. He is not a God who is arrogant with us, but just the opposite, a loving and humble God. As we came to know Him in Christ, He is a God who constantly condescends in order to make Himself known to us. Is not Christ's entire biography a condescension? He condescended to our bodiliness, to a manger, to a poor and simple life... He was only elevated once in His life and this elevation upon the wood of the cross was the apex of His condescension, or what we call in theology His self-emptying, a word taken from the Apostle Paul: "He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant, coming in the likeness of men,
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him" (Philippians 2:7-8). And at the lowest point of His condescension, He reached the resurrection, by whose power He saved all humankind.
This meditation during His nativity leads us to contemplate ourselves. How may we receive Him today? How should we prepare ourselves, our hearts, and our inner realities so that we may see His salvific light? How should we prepare ourselves and open ourselves to Him so that His grace may be active in us? Let us replace hardheartedness with love, selfishness with sacrifice, hatred with forgiveness, miserliness with generosity, isolation with cooperation... He has given us all the ways we need to truly and effectively receive Him, so shall we ignore Him and be content with Christmas festivities invented by humans, which have become for many the entirety of Christmas?!

Met Georges Khodr: The Light of Knowledge

Arabic original here.

The Light of Knowledge

The feast has once again revealed the light of knowledge. Our night is all light, an ascension into the profundities of God. The Savior was born at the heart of the world's tragedy, into cold, nakedness and prejudice. His birth provoked Herod's jealousy and hatred for Him reached the point of crucifying Him. The traditional icon for the Nativity places the Child in a manger, wrapped as though for a burial, as though He were cast into the manger for pain and death, as He bore all pain and death.

The Master of the feast does not want us to turn our eyes from the current situation around us, from people's brokenness. Christ is always the newborn child of this brokenness, forever cast into it. Wounds are His companions and in them He reads peace. The peace that the angels sang, Jesus gives to the sick and the thirsty who bring ruin to falsehood by their presence because they demonstrate the truth and follow in His path, the way of wounds.

Those dedicated few who accept on earth the bow of heaven bear witness that we are dust and light all at once, dust called to be aglow, life proceeding from death, lordship proceeding from total brokenness. In the Nativity, God came to us in the form of a servant. In this brokenness, He exercised His lordship over the world, He shone in this world as light. There is no other way than this poverty to sublimity, this humility to greatness, this death to life.The light of the world, its beauty, its salvation from passing away is in there being christs inhabiting it, reflecting the light of Christ, who are born every day through God's kindness and forgiveness.

The issue is no longer remembering Jesus in people's time, as though He were merely an image with which houses are decorated. The issue is whether or not we are with Christ and in Him, for the world to be saved by His coloring and those who are colored by Him. In them alone is the universe saved from darkness and death, rising in the light of the resurrection.

As I strive for sincere devotion, I see You, O Master, as the splendor of the universe and so I cover my face because I am a man of unclean lips, rooted in the world, drowning in my self, taking pleasure in its deceitful enchantment. I turn about it in and I suffocate, as though my hope were defeated. Before what You give, O Lord, I am barehanded. Have you not accepted my poverty as a gift? Your humble presence in the manger is all my wealth. Remind me of this when I am prideful or when I try to acquire something. Say that You are the wealth, O Master.

What is becoming of me in my weakness, when the world in us is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the bloatedness of existing? All these things rage in the secret parts of the soul. Your nativity reveals that you are cast into this frightful furnace that is the heart in order to transform it by the dew of Your presence into a peaceful abode.

Do not let this stubborn sin that nests within us storm to the point of vertigo, and we delight in our torment. Do not nail us to anguish and remorse, but turn us to Your forgiving face so that, if we contemplate it, we may immune to ugly deeds.

O God, do not let transgressions remain defiant and do not let souls be soured by them. Give us tears with which we may wash and be quenched. Touch our mouths with the ember of love, so that they may be familiar with your mercy and repent to you with joy.

Patriarch John X Celebrates Christmas in Aleppo

Arabic original, with pictures, here.

His Beatitude Celebrates Christmas in Aleppo

His Beatitude Patriarch John X arrived in Aleppo on Saturday, December 24, 2016 to celebrate Christmas with the children of this steadfast diocese, who are wounded by the absence of their shepherd, His Eminence Metropolitan Paul.

His Beatitude entered the church in a solemn procession to the beat of a brass band that played and to the great joy of the faithful. He served matins and the divine liturgy at the Cathedral of the Prophet Elias in Aleppo, assisted by Bishop Nicholas Baalbaki; Archimandrite Mousa al-Khasi, Metropolitan Paul's vicar; Archimandrite Alexei Shehadeh, director of the Patriarchate's Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development; and many priests and deacons from the diocese.

Archimandrite Mousa welcomed His Beatitude with the following speech:

"Our master, Your Beatitude the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East John X, more than five years have passed of our beloved country of Syria's suffering, more than four years have passed of our beloved city of Aleppo's pain, more than three years have passed of the bleeding wound of our Diocese of Aleppo and Alexandretta with the kidnapping of our shepherd Metropolitan Paul, and today, amidst this suffering, the Lord visits us with divine consolation, the consolation of your presence among us, and your blessing for us at this Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus.

The nativity of Christ is the inauguration of a new stage in the life of the human race. God created man to live with Him in intimacy and in communion of love. Man chose to separate from God and to fall into sin, but God's love did not leave him to his inevitable fate. Christ became incarnate in order to bring back this intimacy and to inaugurate a new stage of human life, the stage of the human race's rebirth and resurrection. On this year's Feast of the Nativity we experience this sense of rebirth and resurrection.

Today, our city shakes off the dust of harsh circumstances from her shoulders as she inaugurates a new stage, a stage of rebirth, a stage of healing and building. Today, the Diocese of Aleppo and Alexandretta begins in Aleppo the path of healing from her wounds, despite the open wound that remains in her heart, the absence of her shepherd. But this Diocese of Job has learned that the pain of wounds does not mean that she must surrender to them, but is rather a constant reminder to continue along the path of healing.

Our children of this diocese have suffered daily in Aleppo, Idlib and Tabaka from their lack of physical safety and they still suffer the impact of difficult living circumstances, as well as displacement and alienation with all the suffering and hardship that they bring, along with their brothers in Alexandretta, Mersin, Arsuz, and every corner of the world. The question today, with the start of this new stage in the life of Aleppo, is: has the time come for us to rest? Yes, Your Beatitude, the time for rest has come, but we have learned that rest is not in momentary relaxation, but the soul's rest is in striving to seek the resurrection with its redeemer. Therefor, we the children of this diocese make a pledge before you today, Your Beatitude, before our absent-yet-present shepherd, and before the entire Church, from this place, from the Church of Saint Elias in Aleppo, which has not abandoned her children and whose children have never abandoned her, despite the dangers and frightful hardships: we shall not rest except in resurrection. We shall not rest except in rebirth. We shall not rest except in healing. We promise you that the blessing of your presence among us will be the inauguration of the rest of this healing.

When Aleppo was passing through the greatest dangers and the darkest circumstances, two great men entered, challenging all these dangers and circumstances: her pastor, Metropolitan Paul, who refused to not celebrate the Resurrection with his children, so he was kidnapped as he was on his way to them, but his way continues on the path into their hearts, since day after day he is more present in their hearts, their prayers and their hopes; and her patriarch, John X, who, by being present in 2014 to celebrate Christmas with his children in Aleppo, epitomized all courage, daring and sacrificial love. Today, on Christmas 2016, you have come, Your Beatitude, to inaugurate for us by your presence among us this new stage, the stage of striving and hope-- striving for work and building and hope that your blessed presence among us will be an earnest of a presence that will bring our shepherd together with his children always, to celebrate Christ's resurrection and theirs.

I hope that you will permit me to offer you in all humility, in the name of the diocese of Job, her shepherd, priests, parish councils, and faithful, this mosaic icon made by Aleppan hands lifted up for the glory of your patron, Saint John the Theologian as he stands before the cross of our Lord, in the hope that just as John the Beloved once rested on the breast of his Beloved at the Mystical Supper and prayed with Him on the cross, that you will bear us in your holy prayers whenever you celebrate the Church's mystical supper at the divine liturgy and you pray before the cross of our Lord Jesus.

Many years, master!"

In his sermon, His Beatitude spoke explaining the significance of the feast and Christ's incarnation for the salvation of humankind. He wished that this feast will bring peace to Aleppo, in union with the soil of the entire Syrian nation. He stressed the resolve of the people of Aleppo, their steadfastness and their dedication to their land and their nation, and his hope that we will celebrate it in the presence of Metropolitan Paul very soon.

The service of prayers for the feast was attended by the governor of Aleppo, the president of the city council, and a delegation of officials. The divine liturgy was followed by a festival in the churchyard, after which His Beatitude went to the church hall where a cake was cut and the faithful who had come to receive His Beatitude's blessing and to congratulate him on the feast were welcomed.

His Beatitude will continue the schedule of his visit to Aleppo during the coming days.

Met Ephrem (Kyriakos)'s Christmas Message 2016

Arabic original here.

The feast comes once again this year. There are many people in the world today who search for an answer to their many questions. There is a great spiritual thirst that cannot be quenched by anything or anyone. This is the tragedy: many are at the brink of despair and some wonder where the wave of terror today is coming from! It is as though modern life has no meaning. Where can we find consolation that will free man from the fog, when "one thing is needed" (Luke 10:42)?

Christians in the world today, both east and west, "have a form of godliness but deny its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). Most of them, in terms of their leaders, place us in the Middle East in a furnace of hellish flame.

Into such a climate comes the feast, the feast of the birth of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ in a manger for livestock. Is this eternal truth born in our hearts amidst worldly clamor? Of course, we will seek distraction in the temptations of this world in terms of food, drink, clothing and gifts... I am not here to make a condemnation of human customs. But I wanted to warn the faithful about a lifestyle dominated by the destructive spirit of consumption, in which they forget their painful situation on the one hand, and the truth of their divine faith on the other hand.

Beloved, today we are living amidst a new paganism. Worship is not given to the true God, nor is there worship of idols carved from stone. Rather, we have placed before ourselves the god of money and of contingent, material things, the god of war and of many ways of killing with airplanes and advanced warships...

My hope, beloved brothers, is that the holiday season will not pass without us contemplating the meaning of the feast and its benefits for our life, which help us amidst the surrounding social activity to find time for ourselves for quiet, conscious prayer, whether in personal contemplation or at a service in the church. The feasts of the saints preceding the feast help; the story of the feast of the Lord in the Gospel, as well as its service at vespers and matins also help. What does all this inspire us to? How should we live? How should we behave? How do we read current world events in light of divine revelation? These are all questions that can be pondered which will help us weak humans to ascend to God's heaven. Perhaps we will embrace in our hearts this coming divine Man who emptied Himself and humbled Himself to the point of death for our salvation.

+Ephrem
Metropolitan of Tripoli, al-Koura and their Dependencies

Jordanville Visits Balamand

 Pictures after the jump.

Holy Trinity Seminary Press Presents a new book in Lebanon

With the blessing and under the patronage of His Beatitude, Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East, staff of Holy Trinity Publications (Jordanville, NY) participated in a week of festivities culminating in the patronal feast of the St John of Damascus Institute of Theology at the University of Balamand (Tripoli, Lebanon). The focus of the week was the recently released scholarly work, Arab Orthodox Christian Under the Ottomans, 1516-1831 by Dr Constantin A. Panchenko of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. On Wednesday, November 30th, Nicholas Chapman, director of Holy Trinity Publications, gave a lecture entitled “From Antioch to America: Levantine Christianity and the New World 1500-1800” in which he surveyed the surprisingly vast network of connections between the Orthodox Church in its ancient homeland and the West. The next day, Dr Panchenko drew from the research in his book with a presentation titled, “A Melkite Proto-renaissance: A Forgotten Cultural Revival of the Melkites in the Late 16th Century”. Finally, the two previous speakers joined Dr Souad Slim of the University of Balamand for a seminar on Saturday morning to discuss important facets and themes of the recently-published book. The lectures and panel discussions will be broadcast on Ancient Faith Radio in the near future.

Throughout the week, the visitors toured ancient villages and cities on the Mediterranean coast and Mt Lebanon, visited early Christian monasteries, recently revived with active monastic communities, and explored archeological sites where centuries-old frescoes have recently been restored.

On Saturday evening, following patriarchal vespers at the monastery church, the staff presented two of Holy Trinity Publications’ newest releases to His Beatitude, Patriarch John X. They also discussed Dr Panchenko’s book, for which His Beatitude provided a Foreword. On Sunday, Dcn Peter Markevich joined His Beatitude and local clergy in serving the Divine Liturgy.

Holy Trinity Publications is deeply indebted to the Institute of Theology, its dean Fr Porphyrios Georgi, the staff and seminarians, for their selfless hospitality and to Dr Panchenko for joining us for the festivities. His book, Arab Orthodox Christians Under the Ottomans, 1516-1831, is available directly from the publisher or from any good bookseller.

With the blessing and under the patronage of His Beatitude, Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East, staff of Holy Trinity Publications (Jordanville, NY) participated in a week of festivities culminating in the patronal feast of the St John of Damascus Institute of Theology at the University of Balamand (Tripoli, Lebanon). The focus of the week was the recently released scholarly work, Arab Orthodox Christian Under the Ottomans, 1516-1831 by Dr Constantin A. Panchenko of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. On Wednesday, November 30th, Nicholas Chapman, director of Holy Trinity Publications, gave a lecture entitled “From Antioch to America: Levantine Christianity and the New World 1500-1800” in which he surveyed the surprisingly vast network of connections between the Orthodox Church in its ancient homeland and the West. The next day, Dr Panchenko drew from the research in his book with a presentation titled, “A Melkite Proto-renaissance: A Forgotten Cultural Revival of the Melkites in the Late 16th Century”. Finally, the two previous speakers joined Dr Souad Slim of the University of Balamand for a seminar on Saturday morning to discuss important facets and themes of the recently-published book. The lectures and panel discussions will be broadcast on Ancient Faith Radio in the near future.

Throughout the week, the visitors toured ancient villages and cities on the Mediterranean coast and Mt Lebanon, visited early Christian monasteries, recently revived with active monastic communities, and explored archeological sites where centuries-old frescoes have recently been restored.

On Saturday evening, following patriarchal vespers at the monastery church, the staff presented two of Holy Trinity Publications’ newest releases to His Beatitude, Patriarch John X. They also discussed Dr Panchenko’s book, for which His Beatitude provided a Foreword. On Sunday, Dcn Peter Markevich joined His Beatitude and local clergy in serving the Divine Liturgy.

Holy Trinity Publications is deeply indebted to the Institute of Theology, its dean Fr Porphyrios Georgi, the staff and seminarians, for their selfless hospitality and to Dr Panchenko for joining us for the festivities. His book, Arab Orthodox Christians Under the Ottomans, 1516-1831, is available directly from the publisher or from any good bookseller.

Fr Georges Massouh: "I am of the Party of those who have Died"

Arabic original here.

"I am of the Party of those who have Died"


"Talking about war has come to be corrupting, like war itself. But I belong to the victims of Sin el-Fil and with the same feeling I belong to the southern Dahieh and to the camps. I am of the party of those who have died. All of them are at the same distance from God because those tormented are of the wounded body of Christ who sits at the right hand of God. My brothers died in Sin el-Fil. Husayn is martyred in the Dahieh and the funeral of Palestine is in Lebanon" (Metropolitan Georges Khodr, "From Sin el-Fil ad the Camps," in an-Nahar, May 28, 1985).

We recall the words of Metropolitan Georges Khodr during the Lebanese wars in order to talk about Aleppo. Khodr identified with the Christian dead of Sin el-Fil, the Shi'ite dead of the Dahieh, and the Sunni Palestinians dead. He said that he belongs to "the party of those who have died," the party of the victims. He regarded them all as brothers. He did not sorrow over the Christian more than he did over the Muslim. He did not gloat over the dead, no matter what  side they belonged to. They all came to belong to one body, "the wounded body of Christ." What the world had separated, the blood of Christ, shed for all the world, brought together.

I belong to the victims of West Aleppo and East Aleppo equally. I belong to the victims of all Syria, Syria the grieving mother who "does not want to be consoled" (Matthew 2:18) because her children are no more. Death has taken them from her breast. She is my mother and all of them are my brothers. How can I separate one brother from another? How can I love one of them more than the other? How can I be glad at their death? How can I hate them? How can I rejoice at their misfortune? My God, "You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain" (Ezekiel 11:6).

Let us return to Metropolitan Georges Khodr, the greatest person to have written about hope in the time of war. He says, "The nation is not an inheritance for profligate children to scatter... God did not entrust the nation to dirty hands. They misappropriated it... Nations are threatened by their sins. They have all grown weary of war and talk of war, of initiators and those responsible, of traitors and those with interests. What remains of acts of heroism if 'they divided My garments among them and for My clothing they cast lots'? The amount of blood and the amount of terror cancels the quality of every song that they have distorted into a war anthem" ("This is the Testimony," in an-Nahar, May 6, 1979).

Syria was scattered by her profligate children, profligate with corruption, love of power, tyranny and self-deification. Syria was misappropriated by dirty hands coming from every direction, from within and without. What is the value of acts of heroism and victories if the Syrian citizen alone is the one to pay the price with his own blood and the blood of his children? Has Cain (in Islam, Qabil) triumphed over Abel?

We close with Metropolitan Khodr, because we are in dire need of someone to remind us of political and national morals. He says, "On the moral level, it must be said that those who have contributed to the destruction of the country cannot govern it because they have lost their credibility. People have grown weary, weary of masks... They seek faces. Lebanon [Syria at the present] will expel every war criminal, for the coming generations will not bear the country's responsibility so long as it does not completely reject the merchants of death."

Syria will not be made by wars. Syria will be made by those of her children who strive for peace. They are her worthy children. They are the witnesses of her unity and her inevitable resurrection.

Fr Georges Massouh: "The Poor We Have With Us Always"

Arabic original here.

"The Poor We Have With Us Always"

There is no doubt that Saint Luke stresses in his gospel more than the other three evangelists the importance of care for the poor and needy. Where Saint Matthew recounts Christ saying in His Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3), we see Luke transmitting the same words of Christ in the following form: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20). "The poor in spirit" becomes simply "the poor" without any qualifier.

In this context, Christ says to one of the leaders of the Pharisees, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just" (Luke 14:12-14).

At the threshold of the glorious Feast of the Nativity, we need to recall these words and to act according to them. When Christ affirms the necessity of inviting every sort of poor person, He means to tell us that if we want to invite Him to join us in the feast, then we must invite all the poor to the feast and in this way we will have sent Him a special invitation and their presence at the feast will be His own personal presence.

Two weeks before Christmas, we read in the Church the Parable of the Banquet (Luke 14:15-24), which comes directly after the passage taken from the Gospel of Luke above, so as to place even more importance on the centrality to obtaining salvation of love for the poor. Or, as Saint Cyril of Alexandria said, "Because they were hard-hearted, Christ gave them a parable in which He explains to them the nature of the time that He establishes for them." As for the parable itself, it talks about a man who throws a lavish banquet and invites many people to it. None of those invited accept his invitation, making various excuses. He then sends His servant into the town squares and streets in order to invite "the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame," who immediately accept his invitation. At the end of the parable, the one making the invitation says, "none of those who were invited [and refused the invitation] will taste my banquet."

The one making the invitation in the parable symbolizes God. As Cyril of Alexandria says, "The comparison here represents the truth and is not itself the truth." Cyril then wonders who the servant represents in the parable. He answers, "Who is the one sent? He is a servant. Perhaps he is Christ. Although God the Word is God by nature and the Son of God who proclaimed Him to us, He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant."

The tradition of the Church has realized that in this parable, Christ identifies with the poor of every kind-- that is, with those invited. At the same time, He identifies with the servant who was sent to invite them. Christ is the one inviting and the invited at the very same time! We said that He is the inviter and the invited because the one making the invitation is identical to his servant because his servant is of no less dignity than he is.

At Christmas, we are called to imitate Christ, Whose feast it is, so we invite Him to the dinner by inviting His loved ones among the poor. In this way, we resemble Christ twice over: by playing the role of the one making the invitation and by caring for the poor who are invited just as we care for Christ Himself. Here we are met with Christ's words to His disciples shortly before He was arrested: "The poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always" (John 12:8). Yes, the poor we have with us always and in them we have Christ with us always.

The Situation of the Orthodox Church in Aleppo

Arabic original, posted November 29, here.

Archimandrite Mousa al-Khasi to Telelumière:
Our Diocese in Aleppo Deserves to be Called the "Diocese of Job"

"He established in our Archdiocese of Aleppo, Alexandretta and Their Dependencies a good seedling and institutional activity without peer. In his absence, just as in his presence, the deposit of this good seedling flourished. What we see today in terms of clinging to the land and the Church and holding fast to the faith and values is the result of the nurturing that members of the diocese received at the hands of our pastor, Metropolitan Paul Yazigi and his approach will continue, as we hall hope for his return."

With a lump in his throat, with great hope for the return of Metropoltian Paul Yazigi, his vicar Archimandrite Mousa al-Khasi spoke to the television channel Telelumière from the offices of the Greek Orthodox diocese in Aleppo, saying, "Our diocese has been subjected to tragedies and great hardships, to such a degree that it deserves to be called 'the diocese of Job'. The first of these tragedies was in Tabaka, from which around 180 families fled. Then the tragedies reached Idlib, with the same suffering in terms of destruction and forced expulsion, but the apex of these tragedies was in the city of Aleppo, where we lost ninety percent of our properties, which were subject to vandalism and destruction. And the great pain remains the kidnapping of Metropolitan Paul and his absence from his diocese."

Archimandrite al-Khasi continued, "In addition to losing a large proportion of our properties, fifty members of our diocese have been killed due to the security situations to which Aleppo has been subjected, not to mention the difficulties of social life, the deterioration of infrastructure, the lack of electricity and its constant interruption, and the lack of drinking water, medicines and other necessities of life."

He adds, "On account of this standard of living, we are confronted with a harsh pain, the emigration of members of the diocese to places outside Syria and the exodus of many of them to more secure regions of Syria, to the point that the proportion of those who have left has reached forty-five to fifty percent," explaining that the original number of the church's families in Aleppo was around 4300, of which only 2200 remain on account of the tragedy in Aleppo. "Despite the shrinking number of families due to hemorrhaging emigration, we have on the other hand we have the steadfastness in faith of those remaining, the attachment of the youth to their church and the activities that they undertake, like a hive of bees ceaselessly working day and night to fulfill the mission of their pastor Metropolitan Paul Yazigi. They have not lost hope for his return. The tangible things that we are seeing now make us feel that he is present. We are working so that he will be present and the good seedling that he planted is a deposit for us that we will pass on even better."

Regarding the church's institutional situation, Archimandrite al-Khasi states, "We have six churches in Aleppo, a diocesan council, a youth group, a choir, the St Elias Scouts, various brotherhoods, Sunday schools, and the al-Mashriq Model Schoool,which was looted and pillaged. Faced with this vast amount of tragedy, the Church did not stand idly by, but rather was distinguished by a tenacious will and resolve and made plans and established church institutions in order to deliver a message, which is that the fierce winds will not be strong enough to erase the culture of values and to uproot it from its roots. Therefore our father Patriarch John X has not abandoned Aleppo for a moment. It is at the heart of his daily spiritual and institutional work and for this reason our diocese, despite the absence of its pastor, has not been an orphaned diocese, but rather a diocese flourishing even in moments of weakness, receiving  attention from our father the patriarch and from the fathers of the synod who have embraced this diocese spiritually, morally, and materially."
 
He added that, with the blessing of Patriarch John X and through the Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, he has prepared a range of projects and programs that provide job opportunities for people so that they can work and live with dignity, starting with a charity dispensary that he established with the support of the Nour el-Ehsan Association, which provides medical necessities at nominal prices. The church also has a charitable committee that helps with difficult surgical operations in addition to distributing medicines through the Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development and the Red Crescent.

Archimandrite al-Khasi continued, "There have come to be needs at various levels, including the issue of education and strengthening cultural development. We launched the 'Good Seed' program and opened the Mar Elias Kindergarden, which is a largely free kindergarten."

In closing, Archimandrite al-Khasi thanked the delegation from Telelumière for their work and praised the channel's role and the delegation's courage in presenting the Christmas activities that the diocese in Aleppo will undertake, including Christmas concerts and exhibitions, the proceeds from which will go to support needy families. The archimandrite stated that, "Despite the difficulties, our God is present among us, in our faith, and in our hearts."