2011

The above expression is of no geographical significance but a theological one. It sets the distinction between the theology that developed in the West during the thirteenth century from the Eastern theology that remained faithful to the Patristic thought. But in this article we refer to all the Christians who live in the Arab East; those Easterners that have adopted Roman Catholic thought and systems and those who have not. This is so because there are common components in all the Churches of the East namely the system of the Patriarchate or that of the Synod, or the predominance of an ancient language like the Syriac, the Coptic, the Armenian, and Ethiopian, in the worship services; also, even though these Churches have an ethnic character, yet the use of Arabic is common in the service of worship and prayer. And Except for Ethiopia, we find these people living in the Arab East.

Then the Evangelical Protestant movement appeared in this land during the first three decades of the nineteenth century; this movement played an important role in the Arab renaissance and in spreading the principles of the Protestant Reformation and in establishing university education.

The above mentioned churches have branched from the ancient root but have some differences and disagreements; yet what brings all these Christians of this region together is their faith in Christ and their following of one Gospel and one Creed. This provides a legitimate foundation for their unity. Needless to say, they are experience unity in loving one another, and their experience of God and in mutual cooperation in what concerns them. So if one group among them becomes lame for one reason or another, they all limp with them. And a weakness that befalls one group is felt by all. Hence their vision for Christian unity in the East. A rough estimate of their number in the Arab world would not be less than fifteen million. The Chrisrians spread in this region of the world, after Christ’s death and resurrection, with the disciples carrying the Gospel to the different parts of this region.

The Christians in general have been in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Asia Minor and Egypt before the Gospels were written. The Christian presence in the East has been from the start and never ceased; and according to some historians they made 75% of the people of Syria and Lebanon in the mid-thirteenth century and even 30% not too long ago.

More important than numbers and quantities, is that Ancient Syria and Alexandria use to carry the whole of Christian thought and theology at a time Europe was not even into that. Christianity in its doctrine, asceticism and monasticism has been HERE. It is sufficient to read the Acts of the Apostles to see that Christian faith was carried by missionaries who traveled to the West from Antioch the capital city of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Also Christianity spread along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea from Tyre.

That is why those who do not know history associate Christianity with the West. WE, the Christians of the East, have “given birth” to the West in Christ and brought it up in right doctrine and life. We were never the allies of the West in their wars against the East when they terminated Christians, Armenians and Muslims alike. And during the last Crusade which they waged against Constantinople in the year 1204, they destroyed the city and desecrated the Agia Sophia church. One wonders why that crusade changed its target, Palestine, to fight a Christian kingdom. In that, we the Christians of the East were never the allies of the West and we did not take part in the termination of Muslims.

So when Ayman al Thawahiri of Al Qaeda calls us “crusaders”, he in that is not reading history properly or he might be ignoring it. There is no reason why we should pay for the folly of the West. And there is no reason for some to think of us as a community grafted on the East and not one of its origins. O Lord when will you grant them justice to make them trust us when we have not ruined anyone? There is no reason for being accused of being the allies of the colonizers; we did not invite the “foreigner” to occupy our country. It is well known that the British and French colonization of our land was based on the Sykes-Picot decision to divide the Ottoman Empire among them. We did not show accord to or pleasure in having our land be occupied by France and Great Britain and Russia.

What does the Christian presence in the East mean to all its inhabitants? Christians should realize that their cause is more precious than having a share in government. Their share is a divine one in that they are the builders of the country. They are a gift from the Spirit for every spirit and they are an outpouring of love for every heart because in their giving they aspire to what the Gospel’s message is in Paul’s mind and that is that each one of them should become a living gospel written not with pen and ink. And if they do not sense this responsibility, then they had better leave. There is no place for them on the “soil of the country” unless they see themselves as coming to it from the bosom of God.

This does not mean that with the above they defend only themselves, but they also defend every person from his ignorance. And in this there is no room for boasting in the flesh and the luxury of living or richness of culture. And, in the Middle East, the Christians are not privileged over others culturally in that we will be happy if all enjoy such vastness of culture.

If the Christians adorn themselves with purity, honesty, faithfulness to their country, will that bring safety to them? Purity has always been associated with martyrdom and death. Those who have the Spirit receive safety from the Spirit only. If they seek holiness, God will dwell in their hearts. In that case whoever assaults them would be assaulting God himself. If they seek to participate in the divine nature, they will be deified and that is done in them feely; but if they do not seek deification their life runs to emptiness.

When we say “Lebanon without Christians is of no benefit” we imply that the Christians are asked to be great in holiness. And whoever asks that of them would himself have been transformed in seeking holiness and his heart set to music with melodies from Heaven.

When the flesh takes precedence, then one remains earthly; but our flesh, “given to God”, puts on the fragrance of Christ. And thus we remain witnesses to Him in the truth. Our savor is that of love until the Kingdom of God settles on all of humanity. And we become one humanity known by the “New Life”.

Translated by Riad Moufarrij

Original Text: “المسيحيون المشرقيون” –An Nahar- 15.01.2011

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