To have an intimate relationship with the Lord implies that you are free from every human being, and first of all from your heart. I understand that your gathering with your people – the people of the village or the members of your denomination – is an emotional affinity, converging dispositions, factionalism of history and warmth. However, you do not come from them, since your depth has nothing to do with flesh and blood, and it should not be the captive of history. There [in your depth] should be no trace of fear, since fear produces seclusion and seclusion needs that warmth, which makes you from your people, or part of them.

But if you have descended from above, where you were sitting with God, even when you walk on this earth, heaven becomes your entrance to the people, and you become their referee to heaven. Through you, the people search for the Lord of heaven and they act here as if they are the people of heaven. Thus, when they come to you, they would not do so because of any factionalism or being driven by the power of their covets, since they know that you do not share their covets. Rather, a power drives you, which is neither from the reality of the people’s compactness, nor from their collective outrage, which is the outcome of their arrogance.

I understand that the bond of doctrine [similar belief] prompts you to serve your people, however service does not imply endorsement. You endorse your brother against injustice, i.e. whenever he becomes the victim of injustice. However, you do not endorse him whenever he himself wrongs, simply because there is kinship or unity of religion between you and him. Religion comes from God, however it does not reach to all souls, or it reaches broken up, parted or distorted. You are not responsible for this person, in his incongruity. No doubt, that you are his shepherd, but you are [also] the shepherd of the Other, and you sacrifice for the shepherd and the shepherded.

You belong only to the parish of the people of God, and with them you have a covenant of obedience to God, who gathers you all. Among them, you are responsible for the poor and the simple ones, since God is the share of those poor and simple. And if you were prosperous, approach them, so that they might know that salvation in the world is given by some loving persons. Let those who are in need be your community of love, i.e., those who know that God satisfies them by the blessings of the earth and comforts them by whatever God communicates them in their hearts and whatever God grants them of the whiffs of Spirit.

However, those communities, which are originated through divine Spirit and the souls are lightened by them, are born at the dawn of goodness. They are neither from space nor time; they are not localized in them. That is why the rule of the crowd does not apply on them. Thus, they are dispersed without any power, since they do not pride themselves on whatever they own. Further, whatever they own means nothing to them, since they think that as much as they become needy to God as more they become strong and resolute. Whenever they are stripped, God becomes their clothing, and whenever they hunger, God becomes their food. Thus, according to the standards of this world, they do not exist. Nevertheless, you feel their absence whenever they disappear.

Let no one think that I become sad whenever I see e.g. the contiguousness of the Muslim to the Muslim or the Christian to the Christian. There is in every community tradition, which is to be considered, and each denomination might have good natures and social behaviors which carry peace and spiritual pourings, that heal the weary soul. The whole issue is how you approach, whether on personal or group level, those who belong to your own spiritual community and those who do not belong to it. The meaning of ‘denomination’ here in Lebanon is obscure. On the level of the heart you support it, since it is the heir of God, in its teaching and prayer. However, you do not belong to it in its social activity, since you should be motivated for your nation, and there are no small nationalisms within the large nationalism. You do not have a denominational alignment unless because of the state’s restrictions. And if you were a Christian, you align yourself with your believing brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, and this means nothing on the worldly level, except what we call works of compassion. Thus, there is no solidarity opposing a different solidarity, and factionalism vanishes here.

Hence, I want to say that doctrines and love are two completely different things within the religious domain. On the level of the doctrine you are united with its followers and God sees this and it has its [special] articulations in worship. However, love is absolutely one for all people. You do good to the believer in your religion and to the one who does not believe in it, and you support the defenders of the truth and you move with your heart for action [in that concern].

From this point of view I do not understand the meaning of nation [̓Ummah], as the Muslims use the term. I do not deny for the Muslim to be a brother of another Muslim in doctrines, however this does not lead to lining up [with him]. The pillars of Islam are different and they [inspire] unity. But unity of the heart is one with all people, including pagans and atheists, since God has united Godself with them, through that which Christians call the Fatherhood of God.

The nation is the nation of God, as it is used in the Qur’an, and if you want to use it in this sense without further developing it, I do not mind. Then, you have to search for another term, which designates the national group, in order that you feel yourself belonging to it and part of it. It is clear that the national group is an organizational entity, or we have made it organizational because of the national unity, we have convened upon. Similarly, the denomination is an organizational entity, founded on a religious belief. The national front is a group, without religion, that is why whenever it speaks of a religious state – and this has been relinquished in Christian nations – it implies that its constitutive law is inspired by divine law. This is the case in Islamic countries, while there is no such Christian legislation, thus, there is no possibility for a Christian state. Therefore, the existence of a national front, united by national spirit and faithfulness to the state, is inevitable. [In such a national front] there would be no faithfulness to any religious belief and there would be no possibility to refute any religious belief, since otherwise, the state would be abolished and it would become a church or a divine nation, as it is the case in Islam. In other words, you are compelled to secularism whenever you want to found a state in its modern sense, i.e., where the distinction is kept between the divine and the worldly givens.

We in Lebanon are not bound, as a state, to a divine given. That is why we have contented ourselves with the denominations, as they themselves consent, without disputing their religious bases.

Thus, it is possible that a group of denominations has a similar national position, since this position is based on national interests, which are from this world.

There is no doubt that the origin of this modern thought lies in [the thought] of Enlightenment-philosophers of the eighteenth century. Before that period there was neither a modern state nor religious freedom. Nothing convinces me that a religious state might recognize total freedom of religions. It might recognize the circulation of offices among all citizens and freedom of worship; however it would not admit the limitless extension of other religions, the endless religious dialogue, mission and evangelism.

We have today partisan coalitions from different denominations. This is good in itself and it might be partly a guarantee for the avoidance of religious or sectarian wars. However, this does not mean that we have eradicated the essence of denominational tension, whenever political situation is changed. I wish that this would mean that we separate between religion and war. And I wish – if we were all honest – that we eradicate the essence of war in a lived secularism, though not all of us admit it theoretically.

Whenever peace dwells – and it is one of God’s attributes – we examine the religious social concerns, the possibility of religious dialogues and the meeting among the religions, in the social domain, in a brotherly atmosphere. And we may do that in the theoretical domain as well, in order that we might struggle against [both] theoretical and social isolation.

It consoles me, the Orthodox Christian, that tomorrow we commemorate a saint, lived in the fourteenth century, and called Gregory Palamas. [Palamas] emphasized the old Christian belief that we share in some divine eternal powers, and thus we come spiritually from the same God in terms of sanctification, as we all come from God through creation, without penetrating the divine essence, since that would be polytheism. When would the Lebanese people become deified (and the term [in Arabic] is of Islamic origin)? That is, when would the Lebanese people assume the divine characters (and the phrase is again Islamic)?

All other perceptions are temporal mending. The country is not founded only on laws and institutions. These are good and necessary. [However,] the country should be founded on purity, and this is called – in political terms – combating corruption. As for the purity of the ministers and the representatives of the nation and its officials, this is the highest level of combating corruption. This implies that our people approach God honestly and bravely, until God becomes – in our minds – the king of the country, as it is in God’s essence. When would we admit that in our obedience to God we would have a better life, or even the best life? This is our true freedom, which whenever associated to public freedoms, it raises us unto great manifestations.

Translated by Sylvie Avakian-Maamarbashi

Original Text: “الحرية الكاملة” –An Nahar- 03.03.2007

More than once the president Bush said that God has commissioned him and has ordered him to occupy Iraq and other than Iraq. Whoever thinks this, how could you deal with him? The Lebanese have certain humor or education, and some of them think that God speaks to them in these matters; however they do not express it. I understand that the almighty God condescends to you in order to heal you from a sickness, since you are God’s creature and beloved, but that God should have a policy for Lebanon, or for a sect [or a denomination] in Lebanon, this sounds funny to me. The Lord does not consolidate you for a worldly benefit and does not consolidate a sect [or a denomination], making it superior to others, strengthening it in order that it might be in charge of God at a certain period of history. This is even funnier. Sects [denominations] are humans and humans are rogue and toilsome. The Lord does not favor a group [against another] and makes no interference in war or peace. People make war and peace according to their strength. And a proof for this is that the same country wins in a battle and is defeated in another. Thus, where is God’s faithfulness to this people as God conceals Godself from them for some times? This was haw the German pastors prayed for the support of their country in the First World War, and the French pastors for their country at the same period. And each of the two groups thought that it is on the side of God.

There is no room here to mention the Crusaders and the belief of their leaders that God has sent them to these countries. Why did God not leave them in these countries to our day? And why did God want their victory and then their defeat? And why does Israel win and then also is defeated?

There is an ingrained tendency in humans to make God the savior of purposes they have reposed. And every nation [or people] thinks that God is its ally and that they are a chosen people. Whatever was the meaning of the statement [the chosen people], why the Hebrews conquered several times before the coming of Christ and why they were defeated several times? The human being needs an ally, and it is he/[she] who declares God an ally. Why have Christians lived seven centuries in the Levant as overwhelming majority, and then have become completely obliterated in North Africa?

In my view, one of the reasons of the progress of the West, since the eighteenth century, is that they have studied politics intellectually. They considered neither the success of the French Revolution as a crown from God nor Bonaparte’s coming to rule, and also the other kings’, as the descent of grace upon them. The age of prophecy is over. Today, neither victory nor conquest is left to God, and the story is the story of weapon, political understanding, and either cultural progress or regression.

God is not with Shiites, or Sunnites, or Christians or others as they are in war, since God is the God of peace, or God is peace, as the inspired Books say. And the religious groups are playing their games to the extent of their power. No one carries a divine mandate to gain any position and God is not with the defeat of any position. And if any of these was true, then this is concealed for us to understand.

God has left for us spiritual values to live according to their content. God has not left military maps. God is not the Chief of Staff. In case we say this, it would mean that the conqueror army is the army of God. Does [then] God lead another army in case it wins? And does God have temperament [or mood] in order to take sides? Whenever our perception of war and peace is not secularized, then, we are in wars which in reality are religious, and seemingly mundane. Charles Helou used to say that our wars with Israel are wars of prophets. By this he used to refer to the religious nature, which the Jews used to give to their assaults. However, any child would know that prophets do not fight and that commissioning the prophets are forged papers which people write for their own benefit.

Whenever we leave God out of this matter, and we invite God to our repenting souls; wars would stop, since they are the work of the hearts full of abhorrence. Hope is necessary here and also to realize that we all endure not with the power of weapon, but with the power of love. Then, you will feel that you value the Other, and that his/[her] love retains your existence, and that on earth there is enough space for you and for him/[her]. This assumes that you believe that the Other cannot threaten you, though he/[she] says that, since you endure through divine gratification. [This also assumes that] you are unarmed and that you have a message to the Other to the extent that you are abstinent from the world and maybe from politics. I was telling some of my Christian friends: when you were absent from the political stage in Ottoman Empire you were more prosperous in thought and creativity, namely in domains which do not need weapon or political status.

Today, I do not have lessons for the politicized Christians. They are more eloquent than me in their fields. Whenever you can spare no effort in the fields of thought, art and economic activity, then, the people’s need of you will increase, and you will have your own space and they will have theirs. And you will together discover that the great humanitarian work sets you free from fear and consequently frees you from the trade of arms and their use. In the fifties, as I recall, André Gide presented us a lecture in cinema Roxy in Beirut and he said that the world was made by minorities. Whenever you do not immigrate, do not fear of extinction. Extinction comes from fighting. Do not fear of having children, since this is the will of God and God will provide for you and for your offspring. Do not think that you will endure by defending yourself, unless by politics’ honorable means, since then it would be a defense of the whole homeland. People should compete in thought and economic production and to clear their spiritual and philosophical thinking because of some outstanding ones among them and this is beneficial for the whole nation. Whenever we do not immigrate of fear, then, Muslims and Christians will exist in this country forever, since the one who is not selfish and not indulging in luxury loves children and they live with him/[her], in front of him[her], with joy and knowledge. Sectarianism will abolish by itself whenever each sect [or denomination] strives along the paths of sharing and progress. Then, though you would be physically coming from your family, nevertheless, the sublimity of your heart and your cognitive excellence will come from all communities.

Whenever you insist to remain only as from the people of the world you will remain in conflict, since every hungry person of the world will strive to swallow it up alone. But whenever you renounce glory you can share your bread, then, the physical bread will seem to be of less value than the bread of knowledge.

To take off the weapon from you quiver starts, then, as you purify yourself and you have hunger for God and knowledge, and also for work which comes from them. And whenever you swallow the divine word others would receive it from you, and you would live together and you would form a people who long for purity, which is more powerful than sin. The problem of the sinner is that he/[she] is not aware of his/[her] depth. And the problem of the armed is that he/[she] does not completely believe that he/[she] is exposed to die and there is not any aspect of creativity in death.

In these countries there is no way for national partnership between us without deeming God far beyond being an ally to a sect [or a denomination]. The danger comes from this god that you make according to your own likeness and your own example. Your endeavor, then, is to return to the image which God has drawn in you; and not the image of the god of war which you have drawn for yourself.

The problem is not solved when you say that this group is unarmed. I do not have intelligence services to know the truth of the issue. However, the error is not only in acquisition of arms, but also in the desire to obtain them. And the greatest danger is whenever you obtain a weapon and you believe that God’s hand is on the trigger or that it aims at the bomb. To me, no idolatry is compared to this. I do not invite you to become secular in all the areas of politics. Though that’s what I opt for. However, I invite you to deem God far beyond planning for wars, or leading them. Since then, you fall in the sin of commercializing with God for your own benefit and for the benefit of the faction to which you belong. And commercializing with God is your enslaving of God intellectually, while you are God’s slave.

To depart from possessing or politicizing God is the way for your salvation in the days in which we live. I am not eligible to point to the internal, regional and international factors which intervene and cause our death. We die in the depth because of the lack of depth of the soul and the mind, and also from the incapability to perceive the Other as our brother/[sister]. And we die of fear, namely of the lack of love.

Everything seems to be as if we will not escape adversity, unless by a special divine compassion.

Translated by Sylvie Avakian-Maamarbashi

Original Text: “تسييس الله” –An Nahar- 03.02.2007

Several years ago when I visited Cana, my guide walked me to the graves of the victims killed by Israel in the known massacre of 1996. Their collective graves were dug next to each other testifying to the inequity and silence of the world’s nations. This time I saw the pictures of the children being carried out by rescue workers of the Red Cross. I saw their tender bodies killed; it wasn’t said where they were buried or if their relatives, many of whom were no doubt killed too, received their bodies. All this happened because a dry Israel has a problem with tenderness, has a problem against the presence of a thriving life in those whom it calls “gentiles”.

Those who, in times of troubles, call upon Christ, like to quote Him in one or another stage of His earthly ministry. My reader should know that the Bible talks little about the childhood of Jesus; I enjoy reading the childhood passages of the Lord as it appears in Luke, who relates: “And the Child grew in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” (2: 40).

Israel prevented the children of Cana of “growing in spirit” because they were from the gentiles (goim in Hebrew); whether they lived or died didn’t matter for Israel, for they are not the sons of the promise. It is enough for the children of the Jews to grow physically and spiritually and to be educated in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Al-Quds) or elsewhere and to be trained on weapons to slaughter all those who may interfere with their conquests.

One loves the buds because of the longing for roses; one fears the destruction of buds for the love of their blooming. All of us weep over the buds if slashed out. Israel doesn’t weep except for itself—a testimony for its god who was in the beginning of its history the god of a tribe—destroying other gods. The death of Lebanon’s children is no profit to any god. These children have no advanced technologies and shall not acquire warplanes in their small country. Their sole existence is encompassed around holding faithfully to their poor land. Didn’t a Hebrew poet, in days of old, sing in Iraq: “O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, Happy the one who repays you as you have served us! Happy the one who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock!” (Ps 137: 8-9).

After this damned war who shall teach the Jews to love the children of gentiles like they love their own? Who shall repeat unto them the words of the Nazarene: “Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 19: 14).

***

Our great problem with those who assaulted us is not merely the peace for Lebanon, which is not known when or if it shall arrive. Their problem with themselves is the issue. The issue is this: will God inspire them one day, despite their tradition of hatred, to believe in the childhood and to treat all human beings with compassion? I don’t deny any of them the right to love their children—this is from nature. And I don’t deny any Jew, outside Israel or not Israelized ideologically, the right to love all children. But what if this militant nation sows the conviction: that every Arab child shall grow and shall carry within oneself the power of becoming a soldier which is to be feared and dealt with accordingly—upon the basis of “preventive” war adopted by George Bush junior? In the logic of the American neo-conservatives the preventive killing of children is very reasonable. And if preventive war required deceit as it happened with Iraq, then the annihilation of foreign children involves hate.

We love individual Jews according to our tradition even if we don’t agree among ourselves on appreciating their theology. In this context, Islam has no issue against Jews even if it had a problem with them in the days of prophet Mohamed. Generally, Jews did not enjoy greater freedom than that under Islam; we, the elderly, remember well the extreme freedom they enjoyed in Egypt and Morocco. But now, between them and us stands Cana; this problem can’t be resolved easily if they don’t repent openly and admit that our children and theirs are equal. Better for them was to lose the battles than to kill one child of the south. Henri Bergson said once: if I am told that I have to kill a child in order to save the earth I shall reply let the earth be devastated but spare the child.

No nation can be as militarized as the one which is destroying us and embrace any trace of kindness. It can build war factories but its heart shall remain stained and manipulated by devils. In Hebrew tradition, not only foreign children are to be maltreated, but adults too are not to be shown mercy. In Deuteronomy it is said: “When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it.  And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. And when the LORD your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself… Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you shall utterly destroy them…” (20: 10-17). And in the book of Joshua: “…Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.” (6: 20-21).

A nation with such a philosophy, which was deployed in Palestine by the gang of Irgun and Stern during the British mandate, needs to be preached to in order to refute Zionism completely; otherwise good will for this nation shall continue to be condemned and mercy shall continue to be refused; all its military actions shall then continue to have Cana as its model.

The crime of Cana must be punished; there is no escape from an international committee to investigate the responsibility of Israel, because it was a massacre against human rights; shall it go unpunished, it shall then open the way for the guilty to commit more massacres whenever he wishes to. “And in punishment you shall live”. Those wounded and the families of the victims must not fall prey to hatred, but must recover from hatred lest the murderers repent.

Only then, not sooner, peace shall come; but peace alone cannot heal the wounded hearts. The Lebanese, who tasted what none of the Arabs did in these later days are the last to sign a peace accord to save themselves, time after time, from the horrors of bombardments and destructions and death. How shall our country be resurrected? How shall the tragedy not be repeated? This requires from us to become a unified society with no divisions among ourselves lest any city or town receive what has befallen Cana, lest the childhood dies in our hearts. This requires an international appreciation—an appreciation of the existence of Lebanon as a beautiful and kind nation—a nation which is not asking for anything other than to be spared the cycles of assaults. It is a catastrophe for the whole world if we become a totally destroyed country.

Israel’s pride must disappear lest our country be torched. Israel won’t find rest if we wept “bitterly in the night” as proclaimed Jeremiah in his Lamentations.  Our children mustn’t walk as captives and orphans. O Lord, lift up Your wrath from our homeland and console us with the mercies of Your Spirit, lest we’re swallowed. Have mercy on us O God, the Lord of our salvation. “Young and old lie on the ground in the streets.” Forbid, O Lord, the smashing of the bones of our youth and children. Your mercies, O Lord, are endless.  Preserve our dignity of life because we love You. “Fear and a snare have come upon us, desolation and destruction.” “The young children ask for bread, but no one breaks it for them.“

Don’t stop our singing, O Lord, for this is the country of joy. Do not hide Your face from Your servants in these days of distress. Do not forsake us, O Lord, and repay us all that we have lost, for we believe that You are the resurrection and life. Do not forsake us utterly in Your wrath. Come, O Lord, come and accept our beloved who were scorched in Cana, in the south, in the suburb of Beirut and the people of every devastated area; and grant us back, O Lord, our childhood; and account us worthy, by repentance towards You, to become innocents like the children of the beloved Cana.

Translated by Father Symeon AbouHaidar

Original Text: “قانا” – 05.08.2006

I beseeched God, since the beginning of this distress, to overshadow Lebanon under His generous mercy. His mercy shall stop this war waged by Israel spitefully. An absurd death, evil, and terrible is falling upon us besides the annihilation, the tearing apart, and ripping to pieces of the country. This enemy is delighted in our death-the death of our innocent nation in its overall constituting sects and groups-no matter what we may consider of the wisdom of this or that of these sects.

* * *

I am not surprised by Israel’s action; this is present in the literature of its fathers who ordered the annihilation of the Canaanites that is our people. This is ancient and is prior to the founding texts of Zionism which endeavors the founding of a racially prejudiced Jewish state. This excluding principle is opposed to the principle of founding of modern nations. This does not shock me, but what shocks me is the lineup of the Americans and Europeans in general, behind the Jewish state, and the position of the United States in stating that Israel has the right to defend itself! Who attacked it? If what Mr. Bush intended is the kidnapping of the two soldiers, does that verify all the massacres, destruction, terror, and starvation waged upon the Lebanese people? Is it necessary to burn Lebanon in order to return these two soldiers? There is no relation of causality between the abduction and this open war. Then, who can believe that such a military operation of this scale is a mere reaction; shouldn’t have taken months of preparation in the scope of a huge action against Lebanon-as a part of an international political plan-aiming at greatly shaking the whole region? The great hypocrisy is that the Americans, after their great failure in Iraq, do see Lebanon fit to become a model of a free democratic state amongst the Arabs: whilst they bless, or do not stop, the aggression against it. Is democracy feasible in an incapable country? Subsequent to the policy of “scorched earth” which the Israelis are eager to enforce; who can possibly attain a democratic and civilized state capable of inspiring freedom to the Arab world? Those who think that the abduction of the two Israeli soldiers was an act of foolishness on the part of Hezbollah (I don’t say he’s acquitted) use it as the direct reason to impede the ongoing national dialogue which was closing to a form of an agreement between it and the other parties. Either disclosed or silent disagreement with Hezbollah at the present time can only serve and support Israel and the nations behind it. Whatever it turns to be, I see that this war shall strengthen the Lebanese character of Hezbollah once it discovers that its foreign allies or those who supported it financially shall not consult Hezbollah when they shall try to negotiate an agreement with the Americans. The victory of the National Resistance in this war shall strengthen Lebanon and shall bring this Resistance closer to other national groups and confirm its pure Lebanese belonging.

***

I wrote this article past Monday and maybe a cease-fire will be in place before it is published. What the Lebanese shall recognize is that they have to seek after power sources and reform for their government; a great mobilization of our resources can free us of our fragility. In times of truce or peace, we must identify, not only our enemy who is killing us today, but also to identify those who are halfhearted or just don’t care about us, and woe then to him who didn’t realize that our true national unity rests upon our complete and unconditional loyalty to our nation alone. The nations, who affirmed their support to our sovereignty after the withdrawal of the Syrian armies from Lebanon, have demonstrated that their sole unconditional support is for Israel. Are we able to prove to these nations that Lebanon is an absolute issue too, and that no one has the right to watch over its fires like Nero who observed the fire of Rome accusing the Christians of what he did? Under the shadow of death we taste today, we have the right to feel wrath, and to refuse to be exclusively dependent on others for our existence. We’re not a resented nation but don’t we have the right to feel anger?

We shall descend in total death if we, after the end of the present distress, surrender to silly sectarian tensions. We shall congratulate who made victory possible because it is our victory all. History shall thus pass, but woe to all Arabs if Israel defeats us because it shall then enslave them all.

Western nations did not yet realize that the peace of the region will not be the American peace but the Israeli. America did not understand that it is Israel which is using it; and that Israel-in its deep psychology-has no ally, despite its strategic alliance with the United States. This is a juridical alliance not a psychological one. And I wish if the world Christians could comprehend that the Jewish supremacy brought in by the Israeli victory is, in its first degree, endangering their own existence because the real clash is, on the religious doctrinal level, between the Church and Judaism. The yielding of the Christians of the West in front of Jews and Judaism, manifest in the Judainization of Christian theology since the past ninety years, did not yet influence eastern churches here, Orthodox and Unorthodox, and may reach us here causing us to fall in the heresy of Zionist Christianity. Beyond Israeli arrogance there shines a clear Jewish arrogance; they hate Christ personally, and especially, hate the Apostle Paul who prevailed over Judaism. All of this is prevailing in Jewish literature, but who is reading?

Lebanese Christians may not have today great weight in the politics of their country. But I boldly declare to them that Israel doesn’t prefer their existence over Islamic existence, because Lebanese Christians don’t have what to offer to win the hearts of Jews, meanwhile Muslims have oil. We coexisted with Arab Muslims for a long period, and mostly it was a peaceful coexistence. We found here in Lebanon a coexistence principle which granted us the greatest possible freedom and we won’t enjoy greater freedom under a Jewish peace.

***

And after the pain, creativity must reign; forgiveness must reign over the whole Lebanese mosaic. But this requires from us not to hold any religious sect responsible of this war. For this we shall work together for the prosperity of Lebanon but with great sacrifices enabling us to build a great nation.

We shall endure pain, especially if the crisis prolongs, because we know that our solidarity is the condition of our permanence as a free country able to become a model to all Arabs teaching them the fullness of freedom for their nations; and then we may become a model to the whole world as well. Let us not be afraid from death, because death is the freedom of the living, this can be true, if we understood that the individual and the community are strengthened by sanctity, and that this sanctity is what makes a country strong and honest.

What remains, is that our hearts are with the displaced scattered everywhere and are in need for us all and for our prayers. I hope the Lord God shall inspire us to help them directly or through humanitarian organizations and through the Higher Commission of Relief, especially taking care of baby food and medications for chronic diseases. But most importantly, is that the neighbors of these organizations where the displaced took refuge to, do make all the possible to let them feel the solidarity of the Lebanese people in the midst of the distress.

We implore the Lord God to grant an end to the fight, that we may all return to our homes and for our country to prosper in rest and peace.

Translated by Father Symeon AbouHaidar

Original Text: “هذه الحرب الرهيبة” – 22.07.2006