Aziz Matta

It is not possible for anyone to know who finances the killing of the Christians in the East. The matter is big and political enough that I cannot be convinced that these crimes are carried out by street people who consider Christians heretics and cannot tolerate their presence. In the same way I cannot be convinced that the crimes are merely political. On one side, it is a mixture of politics the nature and depth of which is unknown to me, and on the other it is a clear hatred of an obvious religious nature. To attribute this to a merely political move void of hatred of a religious nature, is naïve; also, one is not convinced that the crimes originated in religious anger. One does not express his anger collectively unless such expression is stirred by those intelligent “stirrers” who dwell in anger or politics or both.

It is not convincing to attribute that to extremists or extremist movements. We are acquainted with extremism that is expressed at the level of intellectual writings or speeches. But such has never been a door to mass eradication. People used to remain friendly and at peace with each other though the religion of the other might not be fully in their favor; one would embrace what he likes in the religion of the other or ignore what he chooses without that leading to a conflict of a personal nature.

Nowadays only decadence in moral standards can explain the massacring of Christians in Iraq and Egypt. And though some accuse Israel of that, yet they (the killers) are morally unjustified in going along with that without any guidance from their leaders. And when guidance is not given, it remains the right of all of us to remind those responsible for them to offer proper guidance to them so that they do not toy vainly with those around them and that the harm they inflict on others does not spread in the world making their language that of death. We do not desire them to be murdered for the sake of the murderers’ own sanity and peace; we will always tell the murderers that God, whose mercy we know, loves them in the same way he loves us. We will always honor them and endear them wanting them to be at the highest level of civilized humanity living with and honoring each other so that none would remain under the mercy of lunatics.

Mass killing due to religious belonging is not merely an internal political matter but a CRIME which should be denounced publicly in any country where it takes place. And a country cannot be a sound one unless it is involved in keeping the safety and existence of those that inhabit it. We need to hold on to the moral standards we embraced since the start of civilized living.

The question that naturally lends itself is why the procrastination on the part of the Egyptian government in the face of such massive crime. Is the government paralyzed with fear? Fear of whom? The Copts who are an easy to deal with, amazingly pious, good and extremely patriotic people are effaced from the political scene –none of them is elected. Killing the Copts is not due to wrong behavior on their part or to a kind of disloyalty to the country. Nothing at the level of internal political life justifies the killing.

The question that comes to mind is whether such killing spreads to other Arab countries where the Christians are citizens. I am inclined to think that the there is no fear that this would happen in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine; the citizens in those countries accept each other with deep conviction and believe that they are in cultural dialogue with each other; they also live in unity with each other and have a sense of need of each other. Our emigration or evacuation is of no benefit to anyone.

However, I think that there is a possibility that some powers are against us wanting to us to diminish. The more intelligent among those powers is Israel who has a special open dislike to the Christians, evident in Zionist literature.

Safety measures for the Christians who go for prayers is not enough. These are measures that can be easily breached and the nations are limited in the number of soldiers mobilized to do that service. And that affirms to the Christian that his safety comes from the government or the Non-Christian citizen; the Christian does not beg for that since he is also a citizen par excellence.

The Arab world should get done with the feeling of the presence of a majority and minorities; and it is important that no group of citizens feels that it protects the other. God did not entrust people to each other; we are all brothers to each other and are supportive of each other; and this is not only a commission from God, but from a human right of a civil nature in which religion has nothing to do. Any human is born equal to the others; he is judged when he attacks others and if he considered himself above others.

In front of the danger that one group can incur on another, the religious leaders of each of these groupings should offer guidance to their people as to what God says concerning killing so they can understand that killing is a catastrophe and sin leads us into continuing in it and that it causes us to annihilate the other.

Our prayers go for our loved ones in Iraq and Egypt so that they remain steadfast in their faith and for them to entreat God to plant forgiveness in their hearts for those who had slain their relatives because “they did not know what they were doing”. I join them in prayer asking God not to hold the killings as sin against the killers. This is the Lord’s commandment to us; and it binds us. We also pray to our God to stop every murderer from crime as he stopped Abraham from killing Isaac his son.

Those killed for God’s sake are witnesses to the Truth and they dwell in divine glory. They have become light so that we keep ourselves away from hatred. Yet we speak loudly of our just case and those of others so that all humans can get to the freedom of the children of God in purity of heart. Someone said: “The cross is not made of steel but of wood”; that is we do not inflict a cross on ourselves, but we accept it when it comes our way without complaining. At the same time we do not refuse any service of love towards us coming from anyone who safeguards his noble-mindedness. And as we want to lift oppression from us we seek to free all who are oppressed; we are the allies of all those oppressed in the world. Morally, we are murdered with those murdered and we appeal to those who have knowledge and piety in all religions to urge those who have knowledge and piety of the other religions to remain brotherly with each other and to nurture a sense that they are all one in a refined humanity that seeks the good for all.

Translated by Riad Moufarrij

Original Text: “مقتل المسيحيين في مصر” –An Nahar- 08.01.2011

There are two different genealogies of Jesus; one is in the Gospel of Matthew and the other in Luke. Their difference is not of interest for me here, since neither of them was concerned to draw on the family tree of Jesus in precision, rather each of them had a theological treatise, hidden behind the names which had appeared in the history of the Old Testament. Thus, there is a relation between the treatises and the Old Covenant, which implies certain theological meanings associated to the genealogy, and in general are associated with the humanity of Christ. It had not occurred to the early readers of the Gospel to confirm the humanity [of Christ]; however, it had occurred later, as some people had denied the reality of his body, and others had denied his divinity. These two lists had appeared as supportive of the doctrine in this or that time.

The theological difference is clear between Matthew and Luke, because of the difference of the purposes both had. Luke starts with Joseph, who “as was supposed” – these are Luke’s words – was Jesus’ father [see Luke 3:23]. Referring to what was “supposed” at that time, Luke aims at asserting the virginity of Mary, as it was mentioned in the tradition prior to his writing, and was stated clearly in Matthew’s writing. We do not know if Luke had read Matthew, since both, as contemporary scholars assert, had written their gospels between the years eighty to ninety of the first century.

However, Luke had written from the position of the whole humanity, while Matthew [see Matt. 1: 1-17] from the Jewish position. Luke starts with Joseph and closes with Adam, while Matthew starts with Abraham and arrives at Joseph. Matthew’s contention is that Jesus Christ is the anointed one, for whom the prophets had hoped, and who completes the [line of the] descendents of faith, which had started with Abraham. Luke, on the other hand, wanted to show that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, and thus, he closes the genealogy with Adam. However, after mentioning this, he said about Jesus that he is the Son of God.

In both genealogies Abraham does not belong to Israel. Abraham says about his father: “A wandering Aramean was my father”. (Deut. 26: 5) Thus, Israel had not begun with him. Israel was the name of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. In the Byzantine Liturgy the day of tomorrow is called the Ancestors’ Sunday [the Sunday of the Holy Genealogy], and Melchizedek is one of them, who was not from Israel and had blessed Abraham. Thus, at least Jesus is associated with two people, who were not Hebrew. He is associated to this Canaanite king, without having a physical bond to him. And here we should search for the Church’s intention, which perceives a kind of affinity for two people who do not belong to Israel. What about this bond [or affinity]?

The Book says about Melchizedek that he was the king of peace, or the king of Jerusalem, before David had made it the capital of his kingdom. Melchizedek is an image or a paradigm of Christ. In today’s language, we say that there is a cultural bond [between the two], not a religious one.

In different terms, Christ is the heir of those with whom He had no blood relationship. By this I do not propose that the Lord has taken over something from the gentiles of Galilee, who used to speak Greek, however, the Church has known Him as open to those who preceded Him, who were outside the Jewish people. This is not limited to those who had preceded Jesus, rather his Church is open to those who were contemporary with her [the Church] after Him, and they are actualized in her, whether they know it or no. Thus, the Gospel puts on itself other religious cultures without betraying itself, and it takes the proper way to express itself whenever it enters different religious and cultural domains.

It is here that Christian mission meets the Greek thought. The Gospel does not include the word ‘essence’ by which we describe divine nature, it also does not include the word ‘hypostases’ [or divine person]. However, this does not mean that Christianity became Greek in the First Ecumenical Council (of Nicaea), which brought about the Creed of Faith, that gathers all Christian churches together. Rather, the Church wanted to enter the Greek civilization in order that it might spread within the Hellenistic educated milieus. The Fathers, who had Greek education, had known that they had not betrayed the Gospel, but they were conveying it through the language of their age.

Is it not possible that the Hellenistic culture becomes a garment for the Gospel, which had put on itself the Hebrew culture, at the times of its writing? It is as well a human culture. In every era Christians were faithful to a Gospel which had put on itself Hebrew robe. Why not, that in a different era, the Gospel puts on itself the garment which it needs?

Why does not the German philosophy, for example, or the philosophies ensuing it, become clothing for the Gospel-revelation, in the sincerity of every generation to the one Revelation?

After the Pentecost, all the apostles had spoken different languages, mentioned in the book of Acts, to tell about whatever had been revealed to them in their own languages. Thus, languages are many but Revelation is one.

Similarly, you have in Christianity different liturgies, however the Church had emerged as one, it had different kinds of worship, yet the core of worship is also one.

We baptize cultures as we baptize the person. Whenever the mature person accepts baptism, he/[she] casts sin off, including all thought that contradicts [the mind of] of Christ, yet, one’s inner nature remains, and also one’s good dispositions, since one discards only the evil dispositions. One does not cast off one’s vocation, languages, national identity, and such a person would not have any proper belonging. In baptism one is not attached to any human identity, rather one is renewed into a new being, though safeguarding the old that is good in him/[her].

Christianity compiles all advantages of cultures and discards only their disadvantages. The human being is renewed in the depth of his/[her] inner soul, and he/[she] is in accordance with the image of God before baptism. The wrongs that one caries were not part of the image of God, by which he/[she] was made. The Christian is renewed by the newness of Christ and is [at the same time] ancient as the ancientness of Adam. He/[she] continues to be the son/[daughter] of Adam, though he/[she] becomes the son/[daughter] of God through faith.

The beauty of the human being is in that which he/[she] has inherited from both his/[her] Lord and Adam. God does not exterminate in us our humanity, and our humanity receives divinity and they unite without division, separation or confusion. In our belief “the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” [St. Athanasius, De inc. 54, 3] God’s move toward us was a descent, while our move toward God was an ascent, and this is what we mean when we say that He “has seated on the right hand of the Father”, i.e., His humanity, because of His death and resurrection, deserved to be the courtier of the Lord on the throne. This is a continuous move toward God through God’s grace, benevolence and gratification, and we remain creatures, nevertheless, new creatures. God, through God’s Word, continues to descend to the end of the ages, and the human being continues to ascend, through the power of the same Word, and the mystery of this lies in God’s love to the human being.

Once, a friend of mine, who was knowledgeable in music, asked me, do we hear the Ninth Symphony in heaven? I answered him, you glean the essence of the Ninth Symphony, without voice or timbre, i.e., the heart continues to carry all the riches of the mind and we do not return to the ignorance in which we were before we receive knowledge.

Heavenly things do not extinguish earthly realities, in which God’s Spirit has dwelt. History, with all its glory, is inscribed in eternity. We were not given eternity, that is in us, at the moment of our acquiring it, since whatever we have acquired has descended upon us from that who has no beginning, that is why there is no end for the human being, whom God has glorified by resurrection. This implies that we are in heaven here, as we have received it through love, and whatever comes to us through love accompanies us after resurrection, and probably itself is the cause of resurrection.

Thus, we are resurrectionists through whatever we derive from goodness and understanding, since they are of the truth which divine favor has poured upon us.

Christ, in His humanity which has inherited all the beauties of history preceding Him, and has embraced the beauties of the history ensuing Him, is an image of our destiny.

Translated by Sylvie Avakian-Maamarbashi

Original Text: “تحدر يسوع البشري وارتقاؤنا” –An Nahar- 11.12.2010

Life, in its plain sense, is the span which extends from the moment of birth to the hour of death. Life has many aspects, and we should become acquainted with some of them in order to have a comprehensive understanding of it. I start with whatever is at the surface of existence, namely the body. This is the clearest proof of our existence. Our body-parts are in it or from it. We feel it healthy or sick. Our mood fluctuates with its changes. Through it we express a lot of our feelings. In it every thought of our reflections, whether we think of good or of evil, is preserved. It is our kin, and sometimes our friend. It astonishes us greatly whenever we realize its functions and the amazing bond between them.

Flesh and bones, blood and air, how do all this correlate and straighten up? This sensible entity contributes to lead the people to God, though material is unable to produce life in its finest sense. How could your deficiency accompany you and you remain in the mystery of your unity and in great or little integrity, until your unity perishes as God recaptures you to God’s mercy.

Maybe the enchantment grows whenever you contemplate on the way two bodies meet and another body is produced, namely a new life. This brings to them both growth, revival, pleasantness and freedom, rather than a detraction. You see and do not understand that the whole of the person is in the embryo, in its biology and complexions, and in its aptness for education.

However, the macrocosm is not one body. It has now about seven billion persons, of all colors and statures. Every one of them is different from the other, in every part of his/[her] visible or invisible parts. On the lowest level of existence you may know people through their eyes, hands and so forth. This is the first level of knowledge in which no contempt is incorporated to any one, where the strong and the weak, the upright and the disabled are equal. All people, whether they realize or no, are in a state of praise to God. One of our Fathers said that the body with the soul is according to the image of God. The Lord in the New Testament has never talked about beauty that some have, and the reason for this is that all His children, however they appear, are equal for Him and for His love of them. God places within every one of us God’s splendor and this has nothing to do with whatever one considers as distinction in him/[her].

Greater than the body is the mind, by which we delve into the mysteries [of our humanity] and the mysteries of the universe. The ancient ones said that the human being is a talking animal, and by this they referred to the mind, since by it the human being is distinguished from all creatures. This is based on the brain, but [in fact] it is not the brain. The mind in Arabic refers to the correlation, and it is known as logic, and in language it is the space which unifies the thought, namely discovers the vision and makes the human being the master of creation, after God, since he/[she] comprehends it as everything is brought together in his/[her] mind.

Knowledge is composed through us and we seek to bring [its details] together in order that it attains unification. Hence, the work emerges through which we might change the world and mold its parts and this is what God desired when God called us to have dominion over the world. In the language of God our share is not pride but service and through service the universe rises as we bring it to our human reality. In this we become humble. The dominion that we have is about humility, through which the universe becomes greater in us and we become greater in it.

We enter the universe; we do not break through it. And whenever we come with softness we are trained to be tender. The mind might be a path to the heart. Without the heart the mind becomes tyrannic, while through it the mind escapes its own probable arrogance which would make it an instrument for destruction and death for us and others. Thus, we do not agree with the saying of Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri that there is no imam other than the mind. The intelligence of our great poet should have held him back from this assurance, through which he wanted to fight superstitions. However, a sound mind is free from superstition. It is [only] in need of blessings from above in order to be liberated from its partiality against the torsion which comes from every aberration in thought.

At the minimum, the mind is adornment, as the public say [in Arabic]. However, it is more important than that. It is our construction in its amplitude and inclusiveness, though the knowledgeable and the ignorant are equal in front of God. Yes, the ignorant might disturb you whenever you were perceptive, nevertheless, you should embrace him/[her] since he/[she] is the beloved of God and he/[she] helps you not to boast about thought. Divine grace descends upon whomever it wills. It is not your achievement, but God’s, that God pours upon you the radiation of your existence. Arrogance is a great sin which distorts the image of God within you. However, you might like the gathering of the intelligent ones. These all might bring growth to you and to them and it might be the start of fraternity, through which God is glorified.

This would bring about talents and their diffusion. Thus, let truth come from wherever it can and to whoever accepts it. The mind which revolves around truth is what the Lord wants for you. You are not the purpose of your intelligence; it is rather God and your companions. Do not look at your mind as in a mirror. Look at only to those whom you serve.

The Orthodox say that the mind has to descend to the heart in order to get purified and then ascend in order to become a good mind. One of the Sufis (Al-Hallaj) said to God: “Your place in my heart is the whole of my heart”. The heart is then, for our elders, not the center of emotional affection, it is the center for understanding whenever God descends to it. As if our elders say that God is the source of understanding.

This takes me to the Gospel of John, the story of the Last Supper. The Evangelist says: “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke. Then, leaning back on Jesus’ breast, he said to Him, “Lord, who is it?”” (John 13: 23-25, [NKJ]) In Hebrew perceptions the bosom was the place of emotion where the beloved disciple was received. However, as he leaned back on the breast of the Master he reached the heart, namely the place of understanding.

You understand when God speaks to you. And when God embraces you to Godself, you own your heart and God indwells in it. God’s understanding becomes yours. Then, you embrace the universe to yourself and you understand it as the heart and the mind meet.

One transcends the most whenever one loves and accepts the mind in him/[her]self. God within you is the one who understands.

Human formation starts with the body, which is of the earth, and the soul, which God has breathed in it. Thus, we have dust and mind, and the earthly reality transcends to the mind. And whenever the mind rests in the heart and receives love from it, it becomes purified. Then, you take the cover of love, since “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant … it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.” (1Cor. 4-6)

The human being is a body which transcends toward the mind, and a mind which rises by the heart. These together form the ascending existence which aspires to perfection, so that whenever God sees it, God knows that you have completed your strive on earth, and nothing befits you, after this, other than heaven.

Translated by Sylvie Avakian-Maamarbashi

Original Text: “الحياة” –An Nahar- 04.12.2010