Carol Saba on Monasticism in Antioch

Those of you who read French should keep an eye on the blog Orthodoxie. In addition to lots of news about Orthodox goings-on in Paris and other random tidbits that don’t always reach the Anglosphere, they regularly publish a kind of newsletter about goings-on in Antioch, written by one Carol Saba, called Croniques Antiochiennes. Honestly, Mr. Saba does a much better job of doing what this blog tries to do. In the current edition, there is a note about the monastic revival of the 20^th century that I thought was worth translating.

Monastic Revival in the Patriarchate of Antioch during the 20^th Century

Twelve monastic communities revived and prospering once more! Thanks to God and to the efforts of men and women of God!

Several factors during the course of the 20^th century, notably the renewal brought about starting in the middle of the century by the Orthodox Youth Movement of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, have permitted the development of the monastic movement and its blossoming, here and there, in Syria and Lebanon, of men’s and women’s monasteries that renew the ancient traditions. A good dozen monasteries are at the origin of this movement of renewal, which is making the ancient monastic tradition of Antioch flourish and has reprised the work done in formerly abandoned monasteries. These monasteries are:

-the monastic community of St. James (nuns) at Dedeh, to the south of Tripoli in Lebanon

-the monastic community of St. George (monks) at Dayr el-Harf, Mount Lebanon

-the community (monks) of the Holy Archangel Michael at Baskinta (Mount Lebanon)

-monastery (monks) of Our Lady of Hamatoura, in the region of Kousab, north Lebanon

-monastic community (monks) of St. Silouan the Athonite at Douma, Mount Lebanon

-monastery (nuns) of St. John the Baptist at Douma

-monastery (nuns) of Our Lady of Kaftoun, north Lebanon

-monastery (nuns) of Our Lady Nouriyeh, near Tripoli, Lebanon

-monastery (monks) of Saint George at Homeira, Syria

-monastery (nuns) of Our Lady of Bloumana, near Tartus, Syria

-monastery (monks) of Our Lady of Balamand, near Tripoli, Lebanon

-monastery (nuns) of the Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple, Achrafiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon

We will return with photographic reports about the foundation of these monastic communities and the history of the places in which they have renewed the monastic tradition.

As these reports are published, I will make sure to translate and link to them here.

A Muslim Preacher Converts to Orthodoxy

Many apologies to readers of this blog for my longish absence. Other responsibilities, also related to the promotion of Christian Arabic, have had to take precedence. However, in the next couple weeks I have some translations in preparation that I hope will be worthwhile. While the current article isn't exactly related to Orthodox Christianity in the Arab countries, it is about the potential for Orthodox Christianity in the Arab countries and I hope it will be of interest. Reading it, I do get the impression that it is a genuine interview specifically because of the interviewee's strange (and somewhat limited) perspective--- his emphasis on mosque attendance and the like are exactly the concerns of a Muslim da'i (missionary), rather than of someone interested in Islam simply as a demographic or cultural phenomenon. I will warn the reader that this is a translation of a translation of a translation. The interview was presumably conducted in English, posted in Russian here, translated to French here by Claude Lopez-Ginisty, whence the present transltion.

A Muslim Preacher Converts to Orthodoxy

We’re speaking in London with a new Orthodox Christian who was baptized today with the name Daniel. Daniel is not a Muslim name, far from it [actually, it does exist as a Muslim name, but it’s quite rare]. Although information about his conversion will inevitably circulate among the Muslims of London, for reasons of security we will not deliberately give details about this subject because there are very often cases of threats and violence and sometimes even murders perpetrated by fanatics. That said, Daniel’s experience is very precious for the Orthodox. Fr. Nicholas Savtchenko, interim rector of the Church of the Dormition (ROCOR) in London speaks with him.

Daniel, please tell us about yourself.

For many years I was a zealous Muslim, as were my wife and children. I was born in the UK, but during my life I have travelled a lot in Muslim countries. I knew both British and Muslim culture. I lived in Saudi Arabia, where I studied theology and contributed to the Muslim mission among foreign laborers. I also spent time in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban, in Pakistan, and in the Pakistani part of Kashmir. I also spent time in Bosnia. In recent years, I’ve been living with my family in London, where, some time ago, I became the Muslim representative in a well-known inter-religious organization dedicated to peace. For the past two years, I was an advisor on Islam to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Two days ago, I called him to tell him I was entering Orthodoxy in the Russian Church.

What was his attitude?

Oh… The Archbishop of Canterbury was very happy. Once, he told me that recently two of his employees in the personnel department of the Anglican Church had been received into Orthodox churches: he respects their choice and they will continue their work in the administration of the Anglican Church.

What led you to Christ?

The first time that I had the desire to study the New Testament in detail was when I was in front of the Kaaba in Mecca—I lived for a time in Mecca. Christian literature is strictly prohibited in Saudi Arabia and many websites are even blocked, but with the development of modern communications, it is not difficult for those who are looking to find the Word of God. After a time, I tried to convince and American who was working in the Saudi capital to convert to Islam. When I spoke to him, he responded with much courage and conviction. I was surprised by his courage, because in Saudi Arabia a man who preaches Christianity can easily be killed. Conversations with Christians in Saudi Arabia were very important for me. As someone associated with the Islamic mission in Arabia, I encountered many foreigners. I always remarked that in most cases, people converted to Islam, not because it was their free choice, but in order to keep working in Saudi Arabia and to obtain a release from the taxes imposed on non-Muslims. The fact is that the salaries of non-Muslims are lower than those of Muslims because of the need to pay a special tax, set by Muhammad. Salaries for Christians in Saudi Arabia are rather low, and some convert to Islam in order to earn more money. The majority of Filipinos who return home immediately renounce Islam. I began to explore Christianity even more and, little by little, I sensed its superiority over Islam. I first consciously encountered Orthodoxy in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Unfortunately, the priests in Sarajevo did not speak English and I could not really express what I wanted. After waiting for a group of Imams to pass by, I went into the Serbian church and I felt the astonished look of the Serbian priest when I made the sign of the cross in the Orthodox way and I made a prostration onto the ground. Then I knew that Orthodoxy was, of all the Christian confessions, the closest to me. I studied Christianity and Orthodoxy even more, reading books and watching films. I also liked the movie Ostrov (the Island). Slowly, I decided to ask for baptism in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Finally, we hear growing reports of the propagation of Christian missions in Muslim countries. Is it considerable in these countries?

I agree that there are many secret Christians in Saudi Arabia. Several times I myself have encountered people who were probably secret Christians. We need to understand that in Saudi Arabia and other countries, maybe the majority of Muslims go to the mosque not because their faith encourages them to, but because they are obliged to do so under the pressure of laws and customs. Visiting the mosque becomes a burden. Muslims of today are rather less religious than people in the Christian world believe. In Muslim countries, there are many mosques and they say prayers there five times a day, but besides on Friday no one goes to the mosque. Other than on Friday, in any mosque at the time of prayer, you won’t see more than five men, even though there are many homes inhabited by Muslims around it. Most Muslims don’t go to the mosque even on Friday. Some start going during Ramadan, but after the fast they disappear until the next year. In the mosque, once a week during Ramadan there are maybe a hundred people, even though there could be thousands, and after Ramadan there won’t be more than five people. In Muslim countries, many people search for truth and it’s because of this that the Christian mission will grow. Most promote Christianity among friends, and recently there have been television networks and many more internet sites dedicated to mission among Muslims. In general, many Muslims distance themselves from Islam and this is especially visible in Western countries. In Great Britain, many Muslims have converted to Christianity. In the Anglican Church, Muslims who have adopted Christianity are estimated at a hundred thousand people. Many of them are Pakistanis. They have their own Christian churches and are forced to hide because of the danger of reprisals from the Muslims. There are also Arab and Bengali converts to Christianity. Very many convert because of mixed marriages.

Recently in the press there have been reports about the strong growth of Islam in western countries and they have even claimed that the number of Muslim faithful will soon overtake the number of parishioners in Christian churches. It seems strange that the press has mentioned the number of Muslims, of faithful in mosques, many times greater than the capacity of the mosques themselves! But that is not mentioned in the press. What is the truth?

The presence of mosques in the UK is very weak. Most Muslims won’t ever go to a mosque. The young people have effectively left Islam, even if they say that they’re still Muslims. In the mosques they don’t find a common language with the Imams from Pakistan or Bangladesh. Young people can barely speak Urdu or Bengali but only English. Many are ashamed of Islam because of terrorism. Our inter-religious council investigated mosque attendance and we know what the real picture is and it is especially alarming for Islam, but it is to the advantage of certain people to present Islam as an immense force. If one takes the list of mosques in Muslim publications, for example, in West London, we find that there are twenty mosques and much free space in each of these mosques, even though the number of people of Muslim origins in London is such that they would need even more mosques if a majority went. In one large mosque in London there might be three hundred people for Friday prayers. Many mosques are just small halls that are only used on Friday. In general, believers are very rare in mosques and most are children who bring their parents. When they grow, they disappear. Christianity offers a free choice, thus it is much better adapted to life in a climate of tolerance, and Islam is unable to pass this test.

The media talks about the adoption of Islam by many British people. Muslims make an almost triumphant image of Islam in the West. However, the real number of British in the Muslim population is very small, only around 1200 people. How do you understand this contradiction?

It is not a simple question. I was a part of the Islamic mission to the British and I can say that the number of converts is minimal. At Friday prayers in the center of London, the number of British Muslims at the mosque is maybe one percent. Outside of London, they don’t even reach this number. All the Muslims know the real number of converts to Islam. There are those who accept Islam because of marriage to Muslims. These British will never go to mosques and their acceptance of Islam is a formality. Very often they remain in practice Christians. Most of those who accept Islam because of marriage are women. Additionally, many descendants of Muslims immigrants to Britain consider themselves British but could not be considered to be ‘British Muslims’ in the full sense. I’ve spoken a lot to women who divorced their Muslim husbands, and I can say from memory that in London there are maybe 25 British women who have remained Muslim after divorcing their Muslim husband. But, as a general rule, mixed marriages lead to an estrangement from Islam. The Islamic mission in the West has not been successful. In London, there is an organization of missionaries dedicated to the preaching of Islam. They are mostly youths. But, they realize their mission among Muslim immigrants because it’s much more effective, and the British do not convert to Islam. When some Muslims say that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world, London imams say that this growth is primarily because of the fertility rate, but there is no real mission. I do not doubt that Christianity is much stronger in terms of mission.

Are there many Muslims who convert to Christianity in Great Britian?

On the one hand, there are very many. This happens without any publicity. In effect, according to most schools of Islam an apostate from Islam should be executed, even though the imams of the chief mosques of London say that they cannot be executed for apostasy from Islam.

However, on the other hand, we can say that there are very few, since many Muslims simply abandon their faith and become unbelievers. Unbelief is an illness common to all. Certain Muslims try to present atheism and the absence of religion as characteristics of Christian civilization, but Muslims themselves, even more than Christians, lose their faith in the Western world. However, there is the very good example of Russia and the other Orthodox countries where the Church is growing, even with freedom of choice. I hope one day to go to Russia, but in the meantime I need to rebuild my life as an Orthodox Christian.

Kairos Palestine

Following the model of the Kairos Document, a statement published in 1985 by black South African theologians decrying apartheid, Arab Christian leaders in Palestine, representing all the major confessions, have drafted their own document calling for a Christian response to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It was apparently drafted with the participation of Archbishop Atallah Hanna, the only Arab on the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and was signed by Patriarch Theophilos III.

The document itself can be downloaded in PDF here and the supporting website can be found here. I encourage everyone to take a look.

Abdallah ibn al-Fadl's Kitab Bahjat al-Mu'min

Although almost none of his works have been edited and even fewer have been translated into English, the deacon Abdallah ibn al-Fadl al-Antaki is one of the most important Orthodox intellectual figures of the 11th century and was considered a saint by the 17th century Patriarch of Antioch Macarios ibn al-Za’im. Here is the introduction to him and an excerpt of one of his works, taken from Melkites by Fr. Ignatius Dick.

A deacon of the Church of Antioch in the eleventh century, versed in philosophy and patrology, Abdallah ibn al-Fadl left a considerable literary work. He translated into Arabic a substantial part of the works of the Greek Fathers (John Chrysostom, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, Maximos the Confessor, Sophronios, John Damascene) and provided the Melkite Church with the scriptural versions used in the Liturgy. This translation became the basis of our modern editions. He also composed in Arabic personal works filled with the ideas of the Fathers and ancient philosophers. These works are mostly compilations and theological dissertations on specific questions. One of his principle works is Kitab Bahjat al-Mu’men, (Book of the Joy of the Faithful), dated by the author himself in 1052. It contains four parts divided in 365 questions and answers according to the days of the year, allowing the faithful to read one question a day. There are 100 questions on fundamental notions of philosophy and theology. 100 questions and answers are taken from a work attributed to Caesarios of Nazianzos, brother of Gregory of Nazianzos. One hundred deal with theological and exegetical subjects (82-91 on the Liturgy). The last sixty-five questions and responses handle exegesis of the Old and New Testaments. Here we give the translation of some passages of this unpublished work, according to manuscript 37 of the Greek Catholic Metropolis of Aleppo.

If someone says: How do we prove the oneness of God, may He be praised? Answer: Say that this is the unanimous agreement on this subject from all the nations, despite the variety of their confessions and the variety of their tendencies. The inhabitants of the world are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Manichaeans, philosophers, and idolaters. Without previous encounters or consultation, they unanimously assent to the unity of the substance of God. The Zoroastrians, Manichaeans, Bardesanites, and similar others admit two eternal principles, testifying that one is God and the other Satan. Despite their error and the aberration of their belief in the eternity the cursed one who is created, they believe in one God because they do not name another God, but Satan.
The philosophers maintain the oneness of God. In fact, Plato asserts that the form of all things was in the mind of the Giver like chiseled shapes in a seal, thus, referencing oneness. After speaking about the four elements in his book On the Sky and the World, Aristotle says, “We have to speak about the One who is the cause of all that is, for it is not fit, after having spoken about these things, to neglect to speak about the One who is the cause.” And shortly after that he says, “He is God the creator, good, organizer and savior of all, and the celestial bodies draw their power from him.” And in another one of his books titled On Generation and Corruption, after having said that the sun and the stars move and see all things, he asserts that over them, “There is another who leads them and is not at all influenced by another. He is always immutable and unchangeable and one in number.” He proves in speech 8 of The Natural Recital that he is immaterial. Pythagoras says that the principle of all numbers is unity; this is the indication that God, the most high, is one from all times. And he says, “As unity is indivisible, not formed of parts, and not preceded by another number but the number coming after it, similarly, it is with God the Creator.”
When it comes to idolaters, although they name their idols “gods,” they assert over them that there is an ancient god that has no one above him. Certain theologians said that one could not conceive two without the existence of one. And one cannot conceive one without the existence of two. The same way, if you have a servant, you can have two, and if you have two, there must be one, and one is previous and the two are composed from him. This shows that the Creator is one and is eternal. This is a sufficient response for those that are intelligent, grace be to God. And blessed John Damascene, the doctor, priest and Chrysorroas says, “It is completely impossible that two principles without beginning exist because by nature one is the principle of all duality.” (Part one, question four.)

If someone asks: What the word gospel means, why do you call the book that speaks about Jesus Christ, “gospel”? Answer: Say that the word gospel is a Greek word that in Arabic means bishara or good news, for it announces to us the birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary, the salvation that we obtained by faith in Him, and the end of unbelief and idolatry. It announces to us the deliverance from slavery of Satan and of enslavement to original sin, meaning the sin of Adam, the first ancestor. It also announces to us the entrance into the Kingdom if we follow the faith with good deeds. This is why it is called gospel, that is, good news. (Part three, question one.)

If someone says: What does the Gospel mean to us? Answer: Say that it means for us the presence of the Word of God who appeared in it. He did not talk to us in the cloud and the trumpet as He spoke to Moses in the cloud, the lightening, and the sounds of the trumpets with uproar, obscurity, and fire on the mountain, or as He spoke to the prophets on future subjects in their dreams. Rather He appeared in the clarity of a true man. (Part three, question two.)

To one who says, does it make sense that Christians say, God the Most High is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and believe in three gods? Answer: Say, the Christians do not believe in three gods. But, they believe that God the Most High, is one in His essence and triune in his attributes. His essence does not resemble the other essences and His attributes do not resemble the other attributes. And they say that he is reasonable and possesses a Word. And the Word is the Son. They also say that He is living and His life is the Holy Spirit. And they believe that these three attributes are one nature, one substance, one Lord, and one indivisible Creator in His essence and not split in His entity. He is three, undivided hypostases in their nature and their substance. The Father is qualified as reasonably living and the incarnate Son is the substantial word of God and the Holy Spirit is His eternal life. And they say that the Father is the principle of the Son and the Holy Spirit and that the Son and the Holy Spirit are His principles and that the three of them are one, eternal, and immortal God. (Part three, question four.)

If someone says: How could the incarnation of God the Word Happen in accordance with sound reason? Answer: Say: one of the basic principles asserts that the most generous donor is the one who gives the best realities. The other thesis says that the creator, praised and extolled, is the best and most generous donor. The deduction from these two theses is that God, may He be praised, gives us the best realities. If we add to this conclusion another basic principle, namely that the essence of the blessed Creator is the best reality, by association of the two theses, it follows that God who gives the best reality consequently gives his own essence. And this is convincing to show the necessity of the incarnation. (Part three, question six.)

Melkites by Ignatius Dick

It’s a shame, though a very understandable one, that most books on the history of Arab Christianity were written by Catholics, and often Eastern Catholics. This is especially true, of course, in western languages. Such works range widely in quality from the indespensible Histoire du Mouvement Litteraire dans l’Eglise Melkite by Fr. Joseph Nasrallah to the unbelievably shoddy and polemical History of the Melkite Patriarchates by Fr. Cyril Charon Korolevsky. Given that there is no book on the history of Arab Orthodoxy in a western language from an Orthodox source, probably the best book in English on the history of the Patriarchate of Antioch during the Arab period is Melkites: Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholics of the Patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem by Fr. Ignatius Dick, a Greek Catholic priest based in Aleppo. This English edition is a translation and update of a French edition and is published by the Melkite Greek Catholic eparchy in the US.

The 200-page book is divided into seven chapters—History, Doctrine, an Anthology of Melkite Literature, Sacred Art, Spiritual Life, Community Profile, and Ecclesial Organization. It is followed by statistical tables for the Orthdox and Greek Catholic populations of various Middle Eastern countries and a bibliography of related works in English. The original French edition had a much more extensive bibliography covering most modern languages, so it’s a serious loss that the English edition’s bibliography is so needlessly impoverished.

Fr. Dick is a competent scholar of Arab Christianity in the pre-modern period, and so his history, while brief, is generally quite accurate and informative given the current state of research in the field. The Orthodox reader, however, should be warned that because it was written specifically for a Catholic audience, it does write about events immediately before and after the schism of 1724 with a strongly Catholic bias. Also, its attempts at bolstering the Greek Catholic foundational myth by portraying Antioch as having always been pro-Roman to some degree are not as well-supported as the author imagines. However, non-polemical research on the Orthodox community in greater Syria in the Arab and Ottoman periods is still at best still in its infancy.

What makes this book really worthwhile, however, is the fifty-page anthology of Melkite* literature from St. Romanos the Melodist through the modern period. While the selections from Antiochene Greek literature can be found elsewhere, many of the selections from Arabic works are not available in English, sometimes not in any western language at all, and in a few cases were translated from unedited manuscripts unavailable to anyone except a few specialists. Thus, the translation from Ibrahim ibn Yuhanna the Protospatharos’s (fl. in the second half of the 10th century) life of the martyred Patriarch Christopher of Antioch (d. May 23, 967) is to my knowledge not available in English. His translation of the deacon Abdallah ibn al-Fadl al-Antaki’s (fl. ca. 1050) Kitab Bahjat al-Mu’min is a translation from an unedited manuscript. The extract from Nikon of the Black Mountain’s (d. very early 12th century) Pandektes is from an unedited Greek manuscript (the fact that this very influential work, originally written in Greek and immediately translated into Arabic, hasn’t been edited in any language save Slavonic is a travesty!). The translation from Paul of Antioch/Sidon’s (mid 12th century?) Letter to a Muslim Friend had previously only been translated into French, but I’m hoping a full English translation will come out in about a year and a half. The translations of Ottoman-era and early modern texts focus entirely on Orthodox-Catholic relations, from a strongly ecumenical Greek Catholic perspective and are only of marginal interest except to hobbyists of ecumenism.

The other chapters of the book, while well-informed, are all written from the perspective of Greek Catholics as ‘Orthodox in Communion with Rome’ and are only somewhat informative to those uninterested in that particular problematique. All that said, while this book has some serious drawbacks for an Orthodox readership, it contains the best presentation available in English of the History of Arabic-speaking Orthodox Christians and also presents an extremely valuable contribution in the form of the translated anthology. We can hope that in the not-terribly-distant future the groundwork laid by scholars such as Fr. Dick can be built upon in a way accessible to a broader audience.


*As discussed before on this blog, the term ‘Melkite’ was the term most often used in Arabic in the pre-modern period by Orthodox Christians to distinguish themselves from other Christian sects, who also all call themselves ‘Orthodox’. After the schism of 1724, this term fell out of favor with the Orthodox, but was kept by the Greek Catholics of Syria. Fr. Dick, in searching for an accurate term to use in his book, attempts to revive the broader application of ‘Melkite’.

An Evolving Christian Population in Israel

The French original can be found here.

An Evolving Christian Population in Israel

by Jean-Marie Allafort

As in every year at Christmas, the Israeli Bureau of Statistics publishes the official statistics about the Christians living in Israel. According to the figures from the Ministry of the Interior, 81% of Christians are Arabs and the others are immigrants from the ex-USSR who are officially registered as Christians. However, the officially counted Christian population, which numbers 154,000 people at the end of 2009 underestimates the number of Christians living in Israel, both citizens and non-citizens such as foreign workers (Philippinos, Africans, Romanians,…) and religious workers (priests, pastors, monastics,…).

At the end of 2009, 154,000 Christians live in Israel, making up 2.1% of the totality of the population of Israel, which has 7.5 million inhabitants. These statistics do not include the Palestinian Christians in the Territories, except those living in East Jerusalem. 81% of the Christians are Arabs and almost all are Israeli citizens.

The great majority of Christians (98%) live in cities and 70% live in the north of the country. The largest Christian community in Israel is in Nazareth (20,100 people). Next come Haifa, with 14,100 Christian Arabs, Jerusalem (12,800), and Shefaram in Galilee (9,100).
Israel also counts almost 29,000 non-Arab Christians who are mostly from the countries of the former Soviet Union- 3,400 in Haifa, 2,600 in Tel Aviv, and 2,600 in Jerusalem. They declared themselves as such to the Ministry of the Interior. We should also note that 300,000 non-Jewish “Soviet” immigrants are not registered as Christians but are counted in a category specially created for them called “without religion,” a large proportion of which regularly go to churches.

This new, non-Arab Christian community has another statistical influence. An Israeli Christian family is now made up of an average of 3.4 members, a significant decrease since 1992—the average size of a Christian family was then 4.2—since Christian families of Russian origins have far fewer children than the Arab Christians. The growth rate of the Christians is the lowest of all the communities in Israel: 1% for non-Arab Christians and 1.3% for Arab Christians, compared to 1.7% for the Jews and 2.8% for the Muslims, who have the strongest demographic growth among Muslims in the Middle East because of a lower death rate compared to neighboring countries.

The Forgotten Palestinian Refugees

Even in Bethlehem, Palestinian Christians are suffering under Muslim intolerance.

By DANIEL SCHWAMMENTHAL
Wall Street Journal
December 24, 2009

(Bethlehem) Meet Yussuf Khoury, a 23-year old Palestinian refugee living in the West Bank. Unlike those descendents of refugees born in United Nations camps, Mr. Khoury fled his birthplace just two years ago. And he wasn't running away from Israelis, but from his Palestinian brethren in Gaza.

Mr. Khoury's crime in that Hamas-ruled territory was to be a Christian, a transgression he compounded in the Islamists' eyes by writing love poems.

"Muslims tied to Hamas tried to take me twice," says Mr. Khoury, and he didn't want to find out what they'd do to him if they ever kidnapped him. He hasn't seen his family since Christmas 2007 and is afraid even to talk to them on the phone.

Speaking to a group of foreign journalists in the Bethlehem Bible College where he is studying theology, Mr. Khoury describes a life of fear in Gaza. "My sister is under a lot of pressure to wear a headscarf. People are turning more and more to Islamic fundamentalism and the situation for Christians is very difficult," he says.

In 2007, one year after the Hamas takeover, the owner of Gaza's only Christian bookstore was abducted and murdered. Christian shops and schools have been firebombed. Little wonder that most of Mr. Khoury's Christian friends have also left Gaza.

A demonstration of power: Muslims praying in Manger Square, Aug. 7, 2009.
On the rare occasion that Western media cover the plight of Christians in the Palestinian territories, it is often to denounce Israel and its security barrier. Yet until Palestinian terrorist groups turned Bethlehem into a safe haven for suicide bombers, Bethlehemites were free to enter Israel, just as many Israelis routinely visited Bethlehem.

The other truth usually ignored by the Western press is that the barrier helped restore calm and security not just in Israel, but also in the West Bank including Bethlehem. The Church of the Nativity, which Palestinian gunmen stormed and defiled in 2002 to escape from Israeli security forces, is now filled again with tourists and pilgrims from around the world.

But even here in Jesus' birthplace, which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Christians live on a knife's edge. Mr. Khoury tells me that Muslims often stand in front of the gate of the Bible College and read from the Quran to intimidate Christian students. Other Muslims like to roll out their prayer rugs right in Manger Square.

Asked about why Muslims would pray so close to one of Christianity's holiest sites, Pastor Alex Awad, dean of students at the Bible College, diplomatically advises me to pose this question to the Muslims themselves. Mindful of his community's precarious situation, he is at pains to stress that whatever problems Christians may have with their Muslim neighbors, it's not the PA's fault.

"Muslims and Christians live here in relative harmony," he tells reporters, only to add that Christians "feel the pressure of Islam . . . There is intimidation and fanaticism but these are little instances and there is no general persecution."

Samir Qumsieh, the founder of what he says is the holy land's only Christian TV station, also stresses that there is no "Christian suffering" and that the Christians' problems are not orchestrated by the PA. Yet his stories of land theft, beatings and intimidation make one wonder why, if the PA doesn't approve of such injustices, it is doing so little to stop it?

Christians have only recently begun to talk about how Muslim gangs simply come and take possession of Christian-owned land while the Palestinian security services, almost exclusively staffed by Muslims, stand by. Mr. Qumsieh's own home was firebombed three years ago. The perpetrators were never caught.

"We have never suffered as we are suffering now," Mr. Qumsieh confesses, violating his own introductory warning to the assorted foreign correspondents in his office not to use the word "suffering."

Always a minority religion among the predominantly Muslim Palestinians, Christians are, Mr. Qumsieh says, "melting away," even in Bethlehem. While they represented about 80% of the city's population 60 years ago, their numbers are now down to about 20%, a result not just of Muslims' higher birth rates but also widespread Christian emigration. "Our future as a Christian community here is gloomy," Mr. Qumsieh says.

Palestinian plight not attributable to Israel barely seems to register in the West's collective conscience. As Christians around the world remember Jesus' birth, perhaps we can think of Mr. Khoury and those Christians still suffering in Gaza and Bethlehem.

Mr. Schwammenthal is an editorial writer for The Wall Street Journal Europe



And, despite what the Wall Street Journal might have one believe, Palestinian Christians are treated at least as bad by the Jews. An Israeli friend tells me that such graffiti has been found on churches all over Jerusalem----

"Death to Christians": Hebrew graffiti next to Upper Room in Jerusalem

The graffiti was immediately removed to avoid exacerbating tension between Christians and Jews. Those responsible are probably young Orthodox Jews. In the area of close to the Upper Room many other offences against priests, nuns and holy sites. Doubts about the ability (or willingness) of the State to protect the places of Christendom.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews) – Graffiti in Hebrew, with the words "Death to Christians" appeared two days ago near the Upper Room, one of the most precious holy sites of Christendom. The vandalism took place in the Vatican in Rome the Plenary of the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the Holy See and the State of Israel was being held.

The graffiti in black paint appeared along the wall of the Basilica of the Dormition on Mount Zion, a few meters from the place where Christians remember the birth of the institution of the Eucharist and the Church at Pentecost. The writing was immediately removed in order not to exacerbate tensions between Christians and Jews.

Church sources say that the authors are probably young Jewish nationalists, members of some yeshiva (Jewish seminary). Is not the first time that these young people have tried to offend the Christian presence and the holy sites in that area. Often, on the doorstep of the church of the Cenacle Room, run by the Franciscans, these groups carry out their physiological needs in open contempt of the site; other times, in dozens of cases, they spit at priests or nuns passing along the street; once they destroyed a stone cross along the wall.

The Church of the Cenacle is not the Upper Room itself, the place where Jesus instituted the Eucharist. This holy place is now owned by the government of Israel, although since the 14th century it had belonged to the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. In the 16th century the Ottomans expelled the Franciscans, but they have never renounced their right to the property.

The graffiti incident took place while discussions were taking place in Rome regarding the return of the Cenacle and other holy sites to the Catholic Church. In this regard, Daniel Ayalon, Deputy Foreign Minister and head of the Israeli delegation, before and after the meeting said that "Israel would not give up its ownership of the Upper Room or other holy places under its direct sovereignty."

This episode and other offences cast a shadow of doubt on the ability (or willingness) of the State of Israel to protect the holy places and especially the Upper Room.