Author

Aziz Matta

2011, An-Nahar, Articles

Jesus’ Transfiguration / 06.08.2011

6 August 2011
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The event which we celebrate today, the transfiguration of Christ, is essential in the Gospel. Before it, in it and after it the atmosphere is pain and resurrection. After Peter’s confession concerning Jesus’ sonship to God, “from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things … and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Matt. 16: 21)

Peter’s confession was in the area of Caesarea Philippi, which is currently called Banias, and is located on the foot of Mount Hermon or Jabal al-Shaikh. After six days of this confession the Lord took Peter, Jacob and John, who were His close companions, to a high mountain [Matt. 17: 1-2]. The tradition tells that it is Tabor in Galilee; however Tabor is not a high mountain. Thus, some scholars are inclined to say that the Lord has not left the region of Banias and that transfiguration has occurred on Mount Hermon. This is of no importance for the teaching. There He has been transfigured and His form was changed as it says in Greek. What does it mean that His face shone like the sun and His garments became white as light? Here comes the teaching of the Orthodox Church, as it reads the text. The event took place in the day time, however this was not the light of the sun, since this would not be different [than the regular light] and there would not be any wondrous element to be mentioned. However, it was the light of Godhead, which Jesus was concealing in His body and it has radiated in order to foretell His resurrection. Thus, this is kind of anticipation of the salvation events.

Just after this we read that Moses and Elijah appear to Jesus and talk to Him. Only Luke says that they “appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem.” [Luke 9: 31] And the departure refers to the sufferings.

As the two prophets were on the mountain with Jesus, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And if we read this word with the Old Testament background we come to understand that the cloud is referring to Shekinah [Hebrew word] and the Arabic is Sakinah which means serenity, designating the divine presence. From this cloud of glory a voice was heard: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” [Matt. 17: 5] The part before “listen to him” has been mentioned in the baptism of the Lord, which conceptually anticipates the suffering and the resurrection of the Savior. Is transfiguration then an image of the baptism and the heard voice is the same one heard at the Jordan River? This, in terms of the narrative, is a critical question which I cannot answer. However, as critics we may say that the content of baptism and of transfiguration is one, and that the whole question from the beginning to the end is about the crucifixion of the Master and His rising from the dead. In the baptism we are transfigured, that is we acquire a new form, which the Creator has prepared it for us from eternity.

Coming back to Elijah and Moses, the traditional thought has perceived Elijah as a prototype for the prophets, who come to tell that all prophesies are realized in the death of the Lord, and perceives Moses as the one by whom the law of obligations will come to an end, whenever he meets Jesus the Nazarene. They were present in the cloud of glory which has been declared first through Jesus Christ, while they were not in the glory before that, as the Lord has said: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” (John 1: 18) However, the statement “listen to him”, which is not mentioned in the narrative of the baptism, calls us to listen to the transfigured Christ, who is anterior to us, whenever we become from the adherents [of Christ], staring only at Him, through His grace and our humility. Elijah, Moses and all the prophets, who preceded the Master in time, would not bring us other than to Him. We accept them since they brought the old humanity to Him. And we accept the thought that harks to Jesus and the philosophy which serves Him, and the art which discloses Him in one way or another. He alone remains and He does not abolish [others], since all truth and sublimity comes from His transfiguration, namely, from the radiation of that Godhead, which He carries, to the whole scope of life.

Elijah and Moses did not see God in the Old Testament. No one can “see [God] and live” [Ex. 33: 20]. No one penetrates the essence of God. Since then, he/[she] would become God, in his/[her] essence. Nevertheless, God is light that has to be attainable. “God became man so that man might become a god.” [St. Athanasius, De inc. 54, 3]  Since Irenaeus, in the second century, this has been said, and it was affirmed by Athanasius in the fourth century, Basil has confirmed it, Gregory Palamas in the fourteenth century has taught it, and the Christian East has verified it in a council.

In one way or another all of them have maintained that there are in God eternal powers, which are not God’s essence, however they are uncreated powers. Since whenever God offers you temporal powers, namely powers that are created in time, they would not be God or they would not arrive at God. God provides you with works which are God’s, and they were eternally with God, and whenever you receive them you rise to eternity and you become as having no beginning.

If grace was created, then it would be exterior to God, namely it would not deify you. What does it mean that grace sanctifies you? What does it mean that you become perfect through sanctification, if sanctification was something that God throws within you while it is not of Godself?

The incarnation of the Son of God implies that He has bridged the gap between the Creator and the creature, without God becoming a creature in essence, or the creature a Creator in essence. However, they become one through sanctification and they meet in eternity. In eternal life, which has been accomplished through resurrection, you are not merely behind God, but you are in God. You walk in God toward God’s unending reality and toward your unending reality through the consolidation of love.

However, you would not reach at this resurrection without you being crucified with Christ, so that you would be purified from the defilements of this world. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” [Matt. 16: 24], so that he/[she] might throw away every corruptive lust and choose Christ alone. That is why when Moses and Elijah have disappeared from the mountain the disciples could not see other than Jesus.

Every one of us may resemble Christ that is by crucifying one’s sins every day, so that one might rise every day. Through such resembling one might become a partner of Christ, namely one with Him in love, which is not mixed with hypocrisy, as though he/[she] is sitting with Him on the right side of God.

That person would coexist with all people, would perform any profession and would love the things of this world, without being subject to them. However, in each fold of his/[her] inner existence he/[she] would be with Christ or from Christ until he/[she] reigns with Christ at the resurrection when God becomes all in all.

Translated by Sylvie Avakian-Maamarbashi

Original Text: “تجلي يسوع” –An Nahar- 06.08.2011

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Your Liturgy Appointment / 31.07.2011

31 July 2011
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The liturgy is an appointment for you with the Lord. In social life, no one arrives late for an appointment. If you were late, the other will consider you not serious in your work if you gave him an appointment or that you are not missing him, and you will make him wait and regret the time he lost while waiting. Why do we only find three people, and mostly old women, at the beginning of the service on a Sunday or in a feast?

Doesn’t this mean that the words said by the priest or chanted by the chanter do not concern the people that are absent for unjustified reasons? They would be home drinking coffee, having breakfast, or listening to the news. They slept the previous night and woke up like any other day. Do they internally say: The liturgy happens whether we came or not, and we shall take our share from it later? These people don’t know that Christ is waiting for them in his church and that the words organized to be said in the Liturgy were put by our ancestors for us to grow in God’s love and reach the depth of Christianity. Why don’t they know that the Lord loves those who came from the beginning and wants those who were late not to be late anymore? He forgives the weakness of their energy and the lack of their enthusiasm in order for them to gain this enthusiasm and be renewed through knowledge and not miss any beneficial word.

I once entered a church during the specified time for the Vespers and noticed that the service started two or three minutes earlier. At the beginning of the service, the vespers’ psalm is read. So I said to the priest after the service: You have taken away from people that come on time several verses from the psalm that could have helped them in their salvation. Their repentance might have needed some words that they didn’t hear.

Some of us don’t have enough eagerness. If you loved Christ, you should search for his appearing, and his appearing in the Divine Liturgy is great. He has said: “The words I have spoken to you are light and they are life”. Don’t you want light? Don’t you want life? You cannot make a religion for yourself; you take the religion you inherited from your Fathers and Grandfathers. And the Christian religion that you follow has prayer as its heart and has the Liturgy as the heart of prayer.

I hope that you recognize that the Liturgy is one whole structure and that you cannot take a part and leave another. As a clarification I say: How could you arrive after the Gospel? Wouldn’t you be trying to convince yourself that what was read for the faithful is not important for you? And concerning the Epistle, who said that it, in addition to the chants that precede it, don’t benefit your spiritual growth? How could you take the Lord’s body without the Gospel? The Lord gives us all of these. All of this is for your salvation, and consequently, for the salvation of your family. Your family wants you strong in faith and beneficial for them through faith.

You love them with everything you got, with what you learned from the Church of the Lord. Do you let your wife teach your children Christianity alone without playing a role in that? Do not rely on the religious education of schools. It is equally important, as education, and even more important, for you to have Christianity in you, in your speech, and in your eyes.

Come, and let us be together every Sunday so that no one would remain a stranger between us, the people that pray. We are all together Christ’s body. Do not separate us through your absence. In Church we all become one: Come.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “موعدك في القداس” –Raiati 31- 31.07.2011

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Ramadan Has Arrived / 30.07.2011

30 July 2011
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Ramadan is a month for all of us, whether we refrain from food or refrain from sin. It is not right for a Muslim to be practicing his asceticism and for us to not support him with prayer. He believes that his fast was decreed for him. You should ask blessings, health, and purity for him so that he can reach the highest point of his struggle and benefit all people through his nighttime prayer.

It saddens me that some of us welcome the iftars to which our friends invite us without our hearts going to the fast itself, that is to turning away from this world and its pleasures insofar as we are happy for Muslims to draw near to God and His generosity.

We accept Muslims because God accepts them in the purity of their worship.

The month of faith and preservation / There is triumph in it for those who wish to accept

These are the qualities that a profound believer seeks and they transcend the outward price, which is restraint from what is ugly and at that point only God remains. You become like Mary, who said “I have vowed a fast unto the Merciful One, and may not speak this day to any mortal” (Surat Maryam 26). If you have achieved purification, you have achieved your ascent to God who gives you what to say to people or who gives you silence to save you from your emptiness.

For those especially dedicated to worship, Ramadan becomes withholding the senses from sins and a fast of the heart from everything but God. As for the purely outward image of fasting, it is nothing and serves no purpose. The special characteristic of spiritual sacrifice in this struggle is described by one who said, pleadingly, “My God, the beggars have stopped at your door and the poor have fled to your refuge. The ship of the wretched has stopped at the shore of your generosity, receiving passage to the field of your mercy and grace. My God, if in this noble month you only are generous to those who are sincere with you in their fasting, then who is there for the dedicated sinner who drowns in the sea his sins and transgressions?” “My God, if you only accept the diligent, who is there for the negligent? My God, those who fast have profited, and as for us your sinful servants, have mercy on us and bestow your grace upon us. Forgive us all, by your mercy, most merciful one.” This is the Muslim’s window on all-encompassing love.

What is the purpose of the fast? Asceticism, abstinence, and austerity are exercises by which God makes possible for man what the Christians call grace, which is the divine power in the human heart or, as al-Ghazali says, what God causes to leap up within one’s breast. Secondly, the fast is a focus on the Lord himself and thus internal conditions make Ramadan a gateway to heaven. This means that its true purpose is for the one fasting to take on one of God’s attributes, which is steadfastness insofar as the divine steadfastness is reflected in a human being.

The Imam Ghazali said, “Fasting has three levels: the fasting of ordinary people, the fasting of the select, and the fasting of the select of the select.” Ordinary people’s fasting is following known obligations and it is summarized by refraining from desire for food and sexual restraint. The fasting of the select is refraining from all sins such as averting one’s gaze from what is blameworthy, controlling the tongue, refraining from listening to unpraiseworthy things “because that which it is forbidden to say is also forbidden to listen to.” A beautiful saying of al-Ghazali’s is “one should not eat permissible food in excess, to the point of filling one’s belly, when breaking the fast because there is no vessel more detestable to God than a belly full of permissible food.” His advice is that one fasting should eat what he would eat every night if he were not fasting.

As for the select of the select, their fast is “the heart’s fasting from cares… and worldly thoughts and abstaining from everything other than God.”

If Muslims were to write new Ramadan literature, they would have to think in this Middle East that the Christians who love them, even if they do not fast with them bodily they are still close to them, since if each group of us is elevated spiritually, the other is elevated together with them, or at least this is what one imagines. At the deepest level, one does not look at dogma, but rather at human beings. The goal is human beings coming together to the point of love and not just the rapprochement of two sets of dogmas. What was called Muslim-Christian dialogue targeted dogmas. For that reason, it had little success and some scholars rejected it because of the difficulty of undertaking it and began to talk about the ethical aspect in dialogue. The truth is that there is another aspect, which is the coming together of people who seek God in love and who want the other to be elevated along with them. In their intense focus on God during the fast, is there anything to prevent Muslims from carrying Christians along with them and not becoming prisoners of politics?

Political communication may be extremely difficult because it is focused on competition, denying the other his right, and a lack of vision for national unity. This is expressed by saying “I am more important than you and greater than you.” Politics is always focused on the ego, and the ego always denies the other’s ego. All that is based on humans is human, which is to say that within it are people’s desires. But if we lay aside politics and its struggles within a religion or within multiple religions, and we focus the heart and mind on God in a continuous Ramadan or in Lenten fasting, we will feel that we are human beings capable of unity and coming together and that we are in principle a single society.

The outward, organizing form of this society is that it is a civil society. The search for this is ongoing, without a limit to the expression. In sum, it is for us to be a religious society that, in so being, does not have a political aspect. Or, if it must be so organized, it must submit to civil laws without sectarian reference.

What is important is for us to be free of all vainglory and that we should not strive for what pertains to this world. When will we turn in this Ramadan direction?

If, during Ramadan, you are among the select or the select of the select, to the point of reaching God, look at His servants in the way that He does, that is that they are His children, according to the Christian terminology. No matter what your language, God is the one who shelters you and He calls all those under his shelter unto Himself. I do not only mean on the last day. We are drawn to Him at all times through His mercy and loving-kindness.

Through bodily abstinence, through spiritual abstinence, or through both of them, we shall enter Ramadan together in perfect brotherhood.

Translated from Arabic

Original Text: “أقبل رمضان” –Nahar-  30.07.2011

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Gifts / 24.07.2011

24 July 2011
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Divine grace has different faces that we call gifts. One of them is the gift of prophecy (that continues in the New Testament). It is when the New Testament prophet speaks to the Church and says what God wants from it.

The gift of serving is also found in the Church whether the gifted was a clergy or not. As for the teacher, he is the one that simplifies the dogma in a coherent way that combines all doctrines. The preacher is the person that explains the faith based on the reading from the Epistle, the Gospel, or both of them. The giver gives in a simple way and mainly to the indigent. As for the leader of the economic affairs, he shall be diligent. The merciful, is the one that forgives everyone that needs a physical or a spiritual mercy.

All of this is fulfilled in love which doesn’t have any hypocrisy, any love of appearing, and without differentiation between people. After that, Paul, the writer of the epistle to the Romans, says that we should hate what is evil because he who loves evil doesn’t love. In the same sense he says that we should cling to what is good and “love one another with brotherly affection” as the Lord has said: “Love one another, as I have loved you”, and he has loved us to death. Then, he asks us to honor each other and pay attention to be the initiators in this honoring and not wait until the other initiates and loves us. Then he says “Do not be slothful in zeal”, this is the zeal of piety and service. We shouldn’t postpone this zeal but be “fervent in spirit” and this fervency descends on us from the Holy Spirit that appeared as fire on the disciples in the upper room that they were in being afraid from the Jews. Those who are fervent in faith and love worship the Lord. “Rejoice in Hope”, this happiness comes from the Holy Spirit as the apostle says in another occasion. “Patient in tribulation”: this refers to the personal tribulation caused by non-Christians or even Christian brothers. It is also the tribulation that the church lives through persecutions. “Be consistent in prayer”, as the Book tells us, we should not stop praying day and night. Maybe, he refers here to the “prayer of the mind” or “the prayer of the heart” which could be in words or without any words. Prayer is the permanent bond with God who uses this prayer to nurture us and make us his companions.

Then, the apostle asks us to contribute to the needs of the saints, and by saints he means all the faithful. We give them brotherly kindness and console them in their grief. This contribution is also our hospitality towards strangers as Jesus said: “I was a stranger and you invited me in”. None of us should feel like a stranger. “Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them”. This is what Lord Jesus said, and Paul’s words here are an echo of the Lords’ words.

“Bless and do no curse” is one of Jesus’ words. Our blessing towards those who loved or hated us is to ask for God’s blessing to descend on all people. God’s blessing is when he gives us life, grace and “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous”. This is perfection according to the words of the Savior: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”. Perfection is the quest for perfection, and this way, God’s image in us shall revive us.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “المواهب” –Raiati no30- 24.07.2011

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Light of the World / 17.07.2011

17 July 2011
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In the Sermon on the Mount, from which this section was taken, the Lord says to his disciples and to us also: “You are the light of the world” (Matt 5: 14). This is a reflection to what he said about himself in John “I am the light of the world” (8: 12). Jesus invites us to show this light through good deeds which would result in people glorifying God when seeing these deeds. After that, he wanted to deny a charge that Jews accused him with so he said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets”. Prophets talked about him; therefore, it is very normal for him to say that he didn’t come to abolish them. However, how did he not abolish the Law of Moses which is related to obligations such us giving animal sacrifices to the Temple? Actually, he did liberate us from all materialistic obligations and kept the spiritual recommendations and guidance.

The moral commandments are kept in the Ten Commandments. However, the commandment of the Sabbath, which has a ritual nature and not a moral one, was cancelled: Christians don’t rest from their works on Saturday. The prohibition of theft and lying stayed, but Christ entered to the depth of the commandments. He didn’t only keep the fidelity of marriage as written in the Lord’s statement: “you shall not commit adultery”, but added on that: “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt 5: 28). Jesus takes out adultery from the heart. He enters the kingdom of the heart so that sin disappears. He also excised anger and swearing. Jesus entered the depth of man to purify it.

Moses’ Law is not maintained in its forms and organizations. Only its soul and direction towards God stay. There are no more sacrifices to the Temple because Christ became the only sacrifice. If he redeemed us, why would we need animal sacrifices anymore? Circumcision used to indicate God’s covenant with Abraham, but the new covenant with God was through Jesus’ blood, therefore why would we need circumcision anymore? We have now a new image of the covenant and it is Baptism.

Therefore, there is a relation with the Old Testament, but we go beyond its images and materialism because these were used to prepare, through their outer form, for the New Testament. However, we keep reading the Old Testament so that the bond between the new thing and its old image would be maintained, although the old image doesn’t stay in the practice of the Church.

Another example is the cancellation of the Levite priesthood: After Jesus has become the only priest, there is no more need for the priesthood that came from Aaron, and Christian priesthood doesn’t complete the Jewish one but continues Christ’s priesthood.

Finally, this section ends with Jesus saying: “whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven”. One word could condemn us, because one of us could be excellent in giving the Christian teaching or theology but has no spiritual benefit. He who has the gift of teaching must try to acquire the gift of spiritual practice in Church so that he wouldn’t be having a kind of schizophrenia and for God not to be blasphemed because of this person.

This is an invitation to combine teaching with practicing.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “نور العالم” –Raiati no29- 17.07.2011

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The Priest and His life / 10.07.2011

10 July 2011
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The priest is lonely in his parish and is subjected to all temptations of loneliness since we do not have an advisory council in which priests meet and discuss the affairs of pastoral care. The Metropolitan in this archdiocese meets with the priests once a month and some of them sometimes don’t attend. The priest is left to his readings that give him the theological knowledge and pastoral research; actually he has a lot of time left once the evening comes and the divine services end. This means that he is aware that counseling comes out from him and that if his spiritual life shines then people would be nourished from it because, today, people want to live in God.  They ask this kind of life from their priest. My hope is that our priest won’t think that his responsibility ends after finishing the divine services. His main responsibility is first in his holiness and second in nourishing the faithful through the Word of God.

We ask for this through meditating in the Holy Book every day and from other books that were published in the past years (which are around 400 books). The Lord wants the holiness of every one of us and this holiness comes from the continuous spiritual fight especially from the priest’s prayer that should be always on his lips and in his heart outside the official prayers. If the priest didn’t pray individually, he would be then reciting the prayers in the holy service without feelings. The believer would feel this; the faithful can differentiate between a person that recites a lesson he has read and a person that lives these words in his heart.

They would know from his preaching if this man was flaming, and if they loved him, they shall become closer to the glorified Lord. However, if the priest neglected his duties and subjected his behavior to defect he would be, with no doubt, taking some believers away from the Lord. Stumbles often come from clergymen, and once we recognize this fact we shall work harder on our life.

The priest shouldn’t be scared concerning his income. In comparison with the past, parishes have become more sensitive to his needs. However, we didn’t reach yet a stage in which all priests are in full comfort. This comfort shall make the clergy go away from the love of money and his integrity shall strengthen people’s attachment to him.

It was common for us and for the west for the believer to give the priest an amount of money in different occasions (Baptism, Marriage, and Funeral). This money was named among people “Epitrachelion” because the priest wears the Epitrachelion over his chest while doing these prayers. Then, some of the parish councils thought to cancel this and make it a personal contribution for the church. Even I don’t have a choice between these two options. The important point in the midst of this is for the clergy not become a money lover, for the parish council not to put a defined price for every sacrament and service and for the basis of this process to be the freedom of the faithful. The believer decides the amount and could also decide not to pay. We are not sacrament sellers; a priest might be thrown into greed and put an amount of money as a condition. This is called Simonism and is forbidden in the book of Acts and the Church Canon.

In order not to fall into what Apostle Paul calls “idolatry”, these laic officials decided that the believer pays directly to the church or gives a yearly contribution which the church distributes over the priests.

Whatever was the adopted system, it is important for the clergy to stay in chastity concerning this issue and not nag if he was given a small amount or even if he wasn’t given anything. When he does so, he “will be given more, and will have abundance”. In order to uphold the respect of the priest and our love for him, chastity is important as it saves him and his spiritual children.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “الكاهن وحياته” –Raiati no28- 10.07.2011

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From the Sermon on the Mount / 03.07.2011

3 July 2011
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This sermon (Matt 5, 6 and 7) is the ethical law of the Bible. In this section he says “The eye is the lamp of the body”. He means that if you were “transparent” and had a loving look towards people (and he calls it a healthy look), a look that is free from any complexities or hatred or pride, then your whole entity would be good. After that, he moves on to talk about worshiping money as he says that “you can’t worship God and money”.

Money would become your slave if you used it for good. Do not make yourself a slave for money. Do not seek only money. Make use of it by giving it to the poor, make it their property, and let them take part of it. You are not the owner of this money, you are just a trustee, therefore give to those that need it. Then, he explains in more details and says: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear”. The key word here is “worry”. He did not tell you not to eat or not to wear; he only meant that you should not make these your only concerns. Material shouldn’t become the center of your hearts and the content of your lives. He did clarify this after some lines when he said: “And why do you worry about clothes?” And he continues: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?” and clarifies “For the pagans run after all these things”, i.e. those who are not from the people of God. When Paul says “the love of money is the root of all evil” he means that the love of eating, drinking, clothes, houses, cars and all what man owns is the root of all evil. There is no love towards everything that’s materialistic because these things tie and enslave you. God created you free, and by getting liberated from all material you would become able to love him. According to this image we can say that if you were close to your wife, children, relatives and friends to the extent of slavery, you cannot be worshiping God. You have a freedom that allows you to worship only God, obey his orders, love what he loves and hate the thoughts and acts that he hates. He didn’t give you a freedom to do whatever you want. He only gave you the freedom of his worshiping and embracing it as if you are in the heavens from now. You are a heavenly person; you became heavenly through Jesus Christ. You eat from what he sustains you, not more. Food is not for pleasure but for your nutrition and growth. The same is applied on drinking. You should wear what is known to protect you from heat and cold without excessive beautifying. The beauty of clothes and houses is not forbidden, but in the midst of all of this stay moderate in order not to get drunk from this beauty and become far from God’s beauty. Do not brag about anything. Be proud only of the gifts that God put in your mind and heart; don’t give credit for yourself concerning any of these gifts. God gave you your gifts in order to invest them for his glory. You know the phrase of the angels in the nativity of the Savior: “Glory to God in the highest”. It is pride to give attribute to your qualities. You don’t own any of your qualities; you have inherited them from your Lord through Christ’s passion over you and the power of the Holy Spirit.

If people benefited from your gifts, don’t accept their praise but direct them into the fact that this is a gift from God. Everything is from God and to him. All of us, united though love, are for him. Thank the Lord constantly for his gifts, and let people also thank God if they inherited something from him. We are one group in the Church and our wealth is God. He who wears beautiful clothes is the same as that who wears rags. He who eats a little and fasts is better than the gluttonous. When someone is happy for earning money, his happiness should be because he is a mean to distribute this money. You are the human being of love as God is love. Always look towards the good and the bad through the eyes of love, forgiveness and compassion. Through this you shall become the human being of the New Testament.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “مِن العظة على الجبل” –Raiati no27- 03.07.2011

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Domestic Violence / 02.07.2011

2 July 2011
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It appears that we are witnessing a competition taking root between Muslim scholars or preachers and the state over the question of domestic violence. These brothers see the proposed legislation to be mutually exclusive with Islamic law and appeal to the latter for a woman’s obedience to her husband. This is what little I read in the press. In the absence of the complete text you cannot take a position, even if you are a non-Muslim. However, I anticipate a major division in the country, not only dividing between the sects but also dividing between segments within a single religion.

No doubt, only the powerful practice violence. They assert themselves with the means at their disposal, with their muscles for example. Modern society emphatically speaks of dialogue, but dialogue is not always a meeting of equals except superficially, because the strong often show kindness in order to assert themselves. Violence of different levels is rooted in nature, but it must be overturned by the justice and equality that God wants to be universal among us.

Violence is intensified by the law or by the social order which the strong benefit from and hide behind. Spousal violence is wrapped in divine words in this or that religion until man discovers the depth of equality in grace and gain the experience that mercy is more powerful than physical strength or legal power. Here again we return to the ego. Am I, for example, the arbiter of what appears from God or is it possible to commit brutality in defense of the authority of law and to apply it in practice against a citizen who has transgressed the interpretation of this arbiter of the laws expressions? It is the temptation of the possessor of the law that it is his and its reality is that it is delegated to him to carry out God’s authority, or, you might say, the authority of truth.

If we return to the topic of the family, Christianity calls for a wife to submit to her husband, but it softens this by saying that the husband must love his wife just as Christ loved the Church: to the point of death. But I have rarely found a man who has read this part of the divine text and who is not just content to demand obedience from his wife. Naturally, texts are read by humans and if they do not love very much, they use them for their own benefit.

What about Islam? The clearest thing about the matter is aya 34 of Surat al-Nisa’: “If you fear their recalcitrance, admonish them then avoid them in bed, then beat them.” I posed the question of beating to Sheikh Sobhi el-Saleh, may God have mercy on him. The problem is that after his passing, I do not have a witness. He said that the beating does not have to be intense, and this is supported by the Tafsir of al-Jalalayn, which means that this is a form of admonition and not true violence. Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Tabataba’i deals with it graciously and considers it to be a means of rebuking, which means that in Surat al-Nisa’ we do not have something that must be understood as being violence. I understand it to soften the beating when the Qur’an says, “It is made lawful for you to go in unto your wives on the night of the fast. They are raiment for you and ye are raiment for them (Surat al-Baqara 187)”. In philosophical language, this symmetry, this meeting in love, absolutely precludes violent beating.

I do not at all see anything in the Qur’anic revelation that would permit domestic violence. How should we treat each other when there are verses of mercy, of which there are dozens, to the point that it’s possible to say that Islam is a religion of mercy? It is required in every place, not only in the home. The great question is what is the place of contemporary sensibility with regard to what God has said. How should we approach contemporary civilization insofar as it is against violence? Is it committing disbelief to insist on peace in every place? Can there be interpretation within time and within every period of time? Does the contemporary sentiment for domestic peace not please God?

Will the country really be divided? This time, people will not fight according to sect. To my mind, there will appear a group that sees statutory law as against Islamic law and another Lebanese group that includes both Christian and Muslim liberals who hold to their faith but pay no attention to think that they have gone against religious dogma if they say that they are against domestic violence and who are closer to believing in equality between husband and wife in ordering the affairs of the family. There is tradition, and there is modernity or reform of Islamic thought that is close to contemporary civilization. This reformist thought has roots in Islam in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere.

Woman’s march toward equality with men is a significant phenomenon in modern Islam. It will not stop while it raises the banner of an Islam that is true to itself but is also developing according to the development of civilization that is enveloping the world today. Within this civilization, no one understands a man’s violence or a woman’s violence. Domestic violence is against them both. I have witnessed before a woman’s cruelty to her husband and her ruthless behavior. The idea is that the law protects well-being and is aimed against either party persecuting the other. The obedience to the husband that religious teaching calls for does not include the right to punish her and he cannot be a party to the dispute and the judge at the same time. This is naturally contrary to mercy. Neither of the two can in any way subjugate the other. Union is not subjugation. It is a dual motion and a mutually exchanged love. The woman does not just receive affection from her spouse, she also gives it and expects a response from her companion in existence, until they both become one being.

My dream is for those with strong muscles and those with wealth will understand that the other might be greater spiritually and culturally and that they will receive as they give.

This leads me to say that we do not have a common life if we remain divided between traditionalists and reformists. Yes, I know that all societies are divided along these lines. However, if we remain divided between people of text and people of spirit, the country will have a long wait before it sees its revival. However, I am happy that the dispute is not between Christians and Muslims, but between rigorists and people who believe in development, growth, and progress. The two groups exist in both religions. However slowly, a true civil society will take shape along with an old, outmoded society, until the society that progresses toward truth is victorious, tomorrow or the next day. There is no doubt that within human reality there are spiritualities, but there are also lived realities that keep man from rigidity or delusion. We must look at the issue of violence, in the home and outside the home, in light of a profound reform of humanity. If there does not come a unity based on understanding, we will continue to proceed in a state of false calm based on platitudes. Without a profundity based on heritage and a general revival based on truth, love, fearlessness, and confidence in others’ ability to advance, we have

Translated from Arabic

Original Text: “العنف المنزلي” – Nahar- 02.07.2011

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2011, Articles, Raiati

The Calling of Disciples / 26.06.2011

26 June 2011
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Jesus chose his disciples and they accepted his call. Jesus used the way that rabbis used to have (the Hebrew word used for rabbi is Hakham). These rabbis used to gather disciples around them and teach them the holy word. These were gatherings without any ranges as this was not known in the Old Testament. The Gospel of John narrated the story of Jesus gathering his disciples in a clearer way. “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus” (John 1: 35–37).

According to Matthew, this calling happened when Jesus was in Galilee which is his home and the main place for his movement. The Gospel mentions from the disciples first Andrew and Simon which is a Hebrew name (Shimon) and Jesus called him later (Matt 16: 18) Peter (Petros) and he took this name from the word “Petra” that means “the rock”. These two brothers (Their father’s name was Yona) were casting their fishing net in the lake of Tabariya which is called here a sea (It was also named as the Sea of Galilee). This lake is formed from the Jordan River after the latter emerges from Lebanon. Both of those were fishers as all the disciples were except for Matthew. The Lord said to Simon and Andrew: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”. The disciples caught (fished) people through the Word. There is no other mean to gain people for Christ. Preaching in the whole world is the miraculous fishing. “Follow me”. There is no real effective preacher unless he loved Jesus from all his heart.

“And they straightaway left their nets, and followed him”. Every real joining to the Lord starts when we leave the things that used to hold us back from uniting with him. These things are our harmful desires.

After that, the Savior meets others, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John the writer of the fourth Gospel. They were with their father on the shore of the lake mending their nets, and this indicates that they were affluent since they had nets and not one net. They also followed him and left what was more important than the nets, i.e. their father. This has a very high emotional cost.

The names of the rest of the disciples come later in Matthew and the other Gospels. After the beginning of this call, The Lord cruises in Galilee which is the region in North Palestine next to our Lebanese borders. He taught in the Jewish synagogues. The synagogue is what we call today “Knesset”, and the Knesset is a large hall where the Jews gather on Saturdays to read the Old Testament and preach.

The Lord used to preach about the Kingdom in and outside the synagogues on the basis of this phrase “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near”. With this preaching he also was “healing every sickness and every disease among the people”. Matthew will also mention in details many of these miracles. Jesus didn’t only talk, but also loved. He directed his disciples towards taking care of the sick. He used to give those a large part of his compassion. Christianity took from Christ his attention towards the sick through the sacrament of “the anointment of the sick” and through building hospitals. The Divine Word and a word of comfort to the sick go alongside with his medication through the means of science.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “دعوة التلاميذ” –Raiati no26- 26.06.2011

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Sunday of All Saints / 19.06.2011

19 June 2011
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Making the Sunday that follows the Pentecost as the Sunday of all saints comes from the spiritual piety since the Holy Spirit is the creator of holiness in the church and the faithful. The phrase “All saints” refers to those who their saintliness is declared, and have a feast on a specified day of the year. It also refers to those who their holiness wasn’t declared with an official beatification through a decision from the Holy Synod.

The epistle to the Hebrews tells us about the saints of the Old Testament: Moses and the prophets that left for us prophecies such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel, in addition to those who didn’t write such as Prophet Elias.

The writer of this epistle describes the fights that those had and the pain they have endured. However, he says that those weren’t “made perfect” without us the Christians since they had to wait for the perfection that Christ reached on the cross. Those in the Old Testament were sanctified and waited Christ, and then those who came from his Gospel in the New Testament were sanctified.

In the Biblical passage, the apostle comes with a partial definition concerning saintliness as he says “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven”. Christianity is based on your declaration of following the Lord that comes from your mouth for we do not have any secrecy as we don’t hide our faith in Christ or say something contrary or incompatible. This confession might lead us into suffering and death. This is why we call those who taste the pain of the enemies “confessors”, and if they were killed we call them martyrs.

The second element in confession is carrying Jesus’ cross, i.e. to carry all the hardships of life and follow him. These might be daily hardships in your home, job or any social and political activity.

The third element in saintliness is to leave our homes, brothers or sisters for the name of Jesus Christ. This means not to be attached to any earthly thing. It doesn’t mean to leave your house and live on the street; however, do not make your heart concentrated on houses, cars, power and control. You are poor in Christ and he dwells in you. The loyalty of the heart is for him and not for any leader or party or any other materialistic thing. It is required for your heart to go completely towards Christ and for him to become your pleasure. You should use all other things according to your need. Serve your family members sincerely. This service is your love and you should put Christ into this love. However, people around you could become an obstacle in front of your encounter with Jesus, and your livelihood could also become an obstacle in front of you embracing Jesus. These people have the interests of Christ’s enemies in common. Leave them; pray for them but have no contact with them. The important thing is for Christ to fill your mind and nourish you with his teachings. Know where to stand; know who you are embraced to; know the center of your heart. Is it Christ? You shall know that if you followed his commandments as he said: “If you love me, keep my commandments”. Christ is everything. If you let people become embraced to him, you shall then have all good things for you. If you didn’t seek this you would be wasting yourself. The important thing is for the Lord to be the source of your life.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “أحد جميع القديسين” –Raiati no25- 19.06.2011

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