The absence of teaching and preaching in previous generations led to traditions among Christian people that are wrong from an ecclesiastic aspect. Ancient councils have noticed that some people ask to baptize their children in houses and prohibited it. However, this tradition continued in some places until the previous generation when we renewed the prohibition. People forgot that Baptism is the joining of a member to the Church and consequently this has to be done at the Church of the parish. In this sense, the Lord talked to the Pharisees and said: “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15: 3). Apostle Paul also named these violations “human traditions” (Colossians 2: 8).

Also, during the last generation, some people in some places did their weddings at houses although it is a Sacrament in the Church. Before this drift, it was always done at Church. And now, in this archdiocese, a tendency is appearing to have weddings in hotels or in hotel yards to be in open air. The reason people are giving is that they have arranged the reception to be after the wedding in the hotel. If the wedding was a stand in the presence of God and the saints, then it must be done at Church and after that the bride and groom may go wherever they want to.  I wish that believers would stop asking for exceptional measures.

Weddings in open air started with a single wedding a few years ago and then it was spread. What I want to say is that some social habits become traditions; people would tell you: The Church has done it before. However, the truth is that such a thing doesn’t come from the spirit of Christianity.

There was also a common habit in the Antiochian Church: People coming on the morning of the Holy Thursday to confess and have communion individually without a liturgy and going immediately back home. I hope that priests don’t fall in this mistake because communion only happens as the last part of the Divine Liturgy. Holy Communion is a group act that occurs in the divine service. I don’t mind having the Liturgy on Holy Thursday in a very early time so that believers get the chance to participate instead of having communion from what is reserved for the sick or from the grail left from the Holy Wednesday.

I have also asked all Churches to own an “Epitafion” (the icon of Christ in the grave which we carry in the procession on Holy Friday evening) after noticing that some Churches use a kind of bier that contains a cross and flowers. I don’t know how this tradition entered our Churches. It has no ecclesiastic basis as all our books speak about an “Epitafion” that is surrounded by flowers; and at the end of the service, believers kiss the Epitafion and the priest throws flowers to believers as a sign for the joy of resurrection.

Priests must teach the believers the true traditions because those were built on a theological logic. We want to take believers back to the true ecclesiastic tradition so that new traditions don’t mislead them. Those traditions might have leaked their way to us a hundred years ago or more, however, common mistakes do not become legal when time passes.

What helps the priest is to comply with the liturgical books he has and to read and ask his colleagues that have a better knowledge.

Do no insist on the priest to do what you want. He doesn’t have to command you by what he is thinking about and tell you what the Holy Church wants and that you are saved by its teachings and heritage. Don’t tell him that you have seen that tradition done in another Church or by another priest. The knowledge of priests differs and you must comply with who knows better.

I have written repeatedly to parish councils to comply with our instructions because we want the parish to be perfect and righteous in liturgical issues at least. The Book says: “obey your leaders”. The spiritual authority isn’t moody to impose whatever passes in its mind. It distinguishes between the right tradition and intruding traditions.

Don’t stick to yourselves but to Christ and to what His Church says. Because of your love for Christ, get your information from those who have knowledge and don’t be shocked if one of your leaders told you something you didn’t know before because these leaders are concerned with the salvation of your souls. Your souls are saved through the Word of God and through what we received from the saints. “Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (Apostle Paul). This refers to the order that we received and that is preserved by the bishops. Continue your constant presence at Church and don’t be seasonal because God wants you to be always at his holy house. This is the only way to become people “for Jesus”.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “تقاليد الناس” –Raiati 17- 25.04.2004

No other church in the world has written about prayer like ours, starting from the ascetic fathers, passing by the theologian ones and continuing generation after the other. As if the main interest of the Orthodox Church is prayer, its performance and meanings in a way that it can carry all our belief through the divine services that it performs and through individual prayers. All this seems to be an obedience to what Paul said: “pray without ceasing” (1Thessalonians 5: 17) or to what the Lord said: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matthew 26: 41). We have what’s called the continual prayer or the prayer of Jesus or the prayer of the heart: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”. But if we looked at the regular worship, we have the prayers of the first, third, sixth, and ninth hour, and the vespers, the midnight office, and the orthros. This means that we have seven prayers daily, and in the ecclesiastic organization some of them are grouped together in monasteries and sometimes in parishes; this is without mentioning the Small or the Great Compline which is considered an individual prayer though in our churches in the Antiochian Patriarchate we do have the Great Compline during the Great Lent. And the peak of all this is the Divine Liturgy, therefore we actually have nine prayers.

If we study the content of these prayers we see that some of them are request prayers i.e. when we ask from the Lord our need especially graces as the Lord said: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”. Another kind is the thankful prayer where we thank for what the Lord gave us (we give thanks unto thee). Finally, there is the praising prayer where our mind is directed towards the glory of God without requesting anything and thanking for anything.

The Holy Book considers the prayer to be normal for the believer; it even contains a special book for it in the Old Testament which is the book of Psalms. The church recites this entire book every week and quotes a whole psalm in some services or more than one in others or some verses from the book here and there. The Old Testament mentions some of those who prayed (Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Job, Jonah… etc.), until the New Testament comes and mentions the prayer of Jesus to his heavenly Father. The book of Acts mentions that the church used to pray as a whole. The Disciples of Christ were convinced in prayer so they asked Lord Jesus to teach them how to pray, so he said the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father who art in Heaven,…).

The spirit of the Gospel is to pray individually all the time so that our prayer is raised automatically from the heart. Our fathers have defined prayer to be the elevation of the heart to God. If your heart is filled with his presence, you make all your free time a time of prayer so that only God dwells in your heart, and no other worthless or evil thoughts dwell there. You cannot remove this thought except by mentioning God, this way you taste that God is all your life.

One of the most important things in your personal life is to pray for those who irked you; you mention their names so that hatred would vanish from you and them. Also, one of the most important things is to ask forgiveness from your Lord so that the sin won’t breed inside you. Do not sleep before asking for forgiveness, because you might not wake up in the morning. And for you not to just be a requester concentrating on the ego, thank God for what he gave you, and if you carried on in the divine love praise your Lord a good praise that contains all the joy so you feel then that you are God’s companion and associate as if you became for him like his angels.

Pray in any position; standing or kneeling or lying on your bed. And before everything, pray in the hour of temptation because you cannot push the temptation of the sin away from you except if you called the Lord and he comes and becomes a shield between you and the evil tendency. We do not have a way to remove the wrong corruptive thought from us except if we asked God to come himself and keep the temptation away from us.

If you intensified the prayer day after day, you feel that your thought has become a divine one, in harmony with what God said in his Gospel, and the Gospel is God’s speech to you. If his words dwelled in your heart, then the latter will know how to address the Lord. Let God speak in you then return his words to him through prayer. The Prayer is knitted with the words of the scripture; it is the returning of the scripture to the scripture.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “الصلاة” – 7.3.2004

A Follower of Church issues would think that we will reach unity soon, and suddenly his hopes vanish; once it feels like it’s a short period and then it feels like a long period. We are passing through a crazy storm because the official dialogues between us and Rome are cut on the level of the mutual committee. The conflict increased because of the increasing Catholic activity in Orthodox countries such as Russia and Ukraine. The problem between us was based on the presence of Eastern Catholics in Eastern Europe; the Orthodox considered that those do not have an ecclesiastic legitimacy until the mutual committee that was held at Balamand in 1993 admitted that those were a historical mistake and that they do not represent a model for unity.

However, they increased their activity in Eastern Europe except in Romania where they became weak. The crisis increased between the Russian Church and the Vatican for two reasons: The first is that Rome established four archdioceses in Russia and prepared around forty priests that are fluent in Russian to preach in Russia. Moscow considered that establishing these archdioceses shows Rome’s will to expand on the Russian lands and believed that when a Russian person believes, even if that was through a Latin preacher, he must join his Russian Church, the Church of his fathers and ancestors. This is why the Pope’s visit to Moscow right now is impossible.

However, the cease of the dialogue didn’t stop the dual relations between the Vatican and some Churches including the Russian Church. It is believed now that Rome is willing to continue the dialogue; however we don’t know whether the Orthodox world, as a whole, is ready to accept this idea.

In addition to these practical difficulties, there are theological ones. The texts that were issued from the Vatican, starting from the document called “the Lord Jesus document” and the most recent letter of the Pope on the Eucharist (communion), seem to be an obstacle in front of an agreement. The Document called “the Lord Jesus” states that Christ’s Church is present as a whole in the Catholic Church. This is the strongest statement that isolates the Orthodox Church from being the Church of Christ itself too. As for the Papal letter on the Eucharist, it says that the offering must be done by a bishop that is united with the Pope. This suggests that the Orthodox Liturgy has a defect in it as it is done by a bishop that isn’t united with the pope. In addition to this, the meeting that was held by the “Papal council for Christian unity” on the “Service of St. Peter” was disappointing because the Roman documents in it didn’t contain anything that shows a change in the Catholic position that is related to the status of the bishop of Rome.

All of these issues show that the Church of Rome is in an intellectual status that isn’t moving towards us.

On the other side, there are some clashes between some of our spiritual leaders. The Russians and the Greeks disagreed on who must lead the Church of Estonia and then found a way for agreement. Also the Ecumenical Patriarchate is in conflict with the Church of Greece over who must reign over the Church of Thessaloniki. Moreover, the Ecumenical Patriarch insists on the fact the he must watch over the diaspora and in this issue he disagrees with most Orthodox Churches. The Orthodox world doesn’t form today a monolith to confront the Western Church with one tongue. Yes, if we agreed to meet Rome in new discussions we would be united doctrinally while facing Rome. However, I sense that not all Orthodox Churches will meet this invitation.

The global Christian situation is in crisis and needs a big divine grace to be changed. However, I don’t think that right now Rome would soften its position and that the shaky trust between the East and West would be strengthened.

In the midst of this, it doesn’t seem that someone is working on the issue of Pascha because it is a secondary issue for the spiritual leaders in comparison to the doctrinal situation that is in crisis. Also, it doesn’t seem to me that important Orthodox nations such as the Russians, Greeks and Serbs are ready to go into this issue even if the spiritual leaders wanted to look into it.

While waiting for a solution, we must love each other and cooperate in practical issues each in his country in a way that we don’t clash but let hearts become closer to each other while hoping for God to “make mountains move”.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “أين نحن من التقارب مع الغربيين؟” –Raiati 6- 08.02.2004

“The week of prayer for unity” just ended. Studying the issue needs a theoretical approach that I might come back to. However, I would like today to look at the practical situation between the Catholic and the Orthodox. I hope that the reader would have lenience to be able to understand that I am aiming to build and not to criticize our brothers because we want sincere rapprochement. However, rapprochement has conditions so that the trust could become complete between us.

The first among these conditions is for each one of us to join his parish Church on Sundays. This comes from knowing that lots of our Churches are empty because some believers prefer Churches that are closer to their homes regardless of their doctrines. I know that we don’t cover all coastal areas in Beirut’s suburbs. However, distances are not far from your house to Sin El Fil, Antelias, Jal El Dib, Mtayleb or other regions. Perhaps this problem exists in mountainous villages. It is an issue of belonging and identity to commit to your Church and also an issue of participating in the Holy Sacraments. Our Church and the Catholic Church have the same position and confirm that each person must have communion in his Church. Whoever does the opposite would be behaving according to his own mind. If a priest gave communion to such a person, he might be doing this to show that his Church is open and we are not. I believe that it is the Catholic priest’s duty to tell the Orthodox believer that practices in the Catholic Church to go back to his original Church especially that we have signed with the Catholic Church the Balamand document in 1993 and said in it that the pastor must look after the flock that God gave to him and consequently he mustn’t look after another flock. Brotherhood starts by treating each other on earth.

In the same sense, if the priest visited his parish’s houses after Theophany to sprinkle Holy Water, he must only visit the sons of his parish: i.e. a Catholic priest must not knock on an Orthodox door and volunteer to sprinkle water saying that we have become united. Actually, we didn’t become united yet and none of us is delegated from God to give others Holy services. And if, for a certain reason, one of us had to contact a house from another Church, he must tell the priest of this family unless it was for friendship relationships or dining. A normal Orthodox Christian feels shy to reject another priest; this priest must not surpass the service of his parish. This is called “snatching” and we have agreed with Other Churches’ authorities that this violates the Lord’s will.

Also, our Orthodox and Catholic patriarchs agreed that the First Communion must be done in parishes and not in schools. We understood that this will be practiced honestly and with brotherly sincerity and that no one shall find a gap in the decision. Catholic schools are asked not to give parents any works, such as books, that talk about the issue of the First Communion and where it should be done. It is asked not to talk with any Orthodox student, directly or indirectly, about this issue and not to give them education that prepares them for the first communion. The child had this communion in his Baptism.

Is it impossible for Catholic Churches to adopt the common Christian education program that we agreed on for public schools, in which all children study one text and are not separated? Children receive one Christian education that is not controversial supposing that all teachers have the spirit of rapprochement and lenience in order not to prefer a Church over another and give it more importance than the other. The defenses that we used in the past to show that we are right and the other is wrong must disappear; this makes the Christian education session a time for provocation and differentiation.

There is also the issue of prayers in educational institutions. What does it mean to oblige everyone to attend a liturgy in which some people have communion and others are forbidden? Is it necessary to have a liturgy on week days or is it enough to say prayers that are accepted by all Churches in which we stand together without disturbance or reservation? The issue of common prayers could be solved with a brotherly spirit. Schools administrations must understand that their love for their students means respecting their doctrines in all school life daily details. They must return the students to their parents staying on their doctrine and full of the Gospel and of Christian ethics. The Bible and its ethics are enough material to feed all students; the bible doesn’t teach us to violate.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “خواطر رعائيّة” –Raiati 5- 01.02.2004

Religious arguments are difficult because only few people have a true religious knowledge while those who are invited to achieve knowledge are many. A person that doesn’t know a lot might find a conflict where there isn’t any. Before arguing, you must read to support your faith with reason or else stay silent as this protects you and protects others. However, if you were asked about your faith, answer as much as you know or ask someone who knows and then come back with an answer.

The fact that discussions always come along with emotions and nervousness makes them more difficult. If you were unable to repress your anger, don’t say anything because emotions creates crisis in the relationship between you and the person that you are negotiating. Controversy requires a lot of tranquility and a heart that is healthy and away from all hatred and ignorance. If you weren’t able to have internal peace and a chaste tongue, don’t go into this adventure. Chastity spares you from the big challenges that carry a trespass over the other’s belief and harm towards your negotiator.

If you were among Christians, defend the Orthodox faith and clarify what we believe in through our common sources such as the Holy Scripture and that mutual ancient heritage. The first millennium is the same for us and Western Christians. For example, if a Catholic asked you: How can your Church be united without having one head? You answer: “Unity could come in the individualistic form such as the Papal form or in a communal form. For us, the head of the local Church is the bishop and the community with its bishop, form a catholic (universal) Church. Bishops together form the Holy Synod and all bishops in the world are together in their synods and Patriarchs. On the global level, we have unity through coordination and the decisions of synods; Churches also communicate with each other.” You must clarify our form without offending the Pope of Rome because this is the method of the weak. A Catholic Christian might not know that there is a different system in the Church than his; and that this system might be the most ancient and consequently that his Church must make steps towards an undivided Church by doing a renewing or reformative move. By such a behavior, you be remaining a brother for the Catholic believer and you would be preserving the solidity of your opinion and the hope for unity.

As for Muslims, don’t argue with them about their religion. If they knew their religion, they would recognize that it invites them to argue with us in a gentle way. They might ask you: Do you believe in Muhammad’s mission? Don’t say: “No, I don’t believe”. He might find this answer very awful. You could answer for example by saying that God gave us his final words through Jesus Christ; and these words are enough for our salvation and were written in the New Testament which was ended with the Book of Revelation. As for what the Quran says about the “Nazarenes” and blaspheming them, don’t get into this argument because we are not the “Nazarenes” that the Quran is talking about. We are Christians and this is our only name, and therefore we are not concerned in blaspheming the “Nazarenes”. Confirm your faith in Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection because this is written in the Bible and most of those who have written it were eyewitnesses to the incident or knew people who were eyewitnesses. There are precise things that are known by Christians who are specialized in Islam. You could ask such people about things that you were asked to clarify.

The most difficult argument is with Jehovah’s Witnesses and the different sects of the Baptists. We have enough books against Jehovah’s Witnesses and we are preparing a team to examine their teachings and refute them. We are also preparing a study for the various Evangelical heresies that don’t come from the traditional known Protestant Churches. Those don’t look for the truth, and they rarely surrender to invulnerable arguments. They have a narrow and literal interpretation to the Holy Scripture and have closed and tough personalities. Apostle Paul ordered us to be careful and avoid such people. However, you must be fortified against them through knowledge.

Regardless of the side that is arguing with you, you must be humble and strict at the same time. However, you must get a lot of knowledge through study sessions and Orthodox books that have become numerous.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “الجدل الديني” –Raiati 4- 25.01.2004

A simple question: Could a man know an event before happening? The answer is no because God denied humans from seeing this. Before happening, it doesn’t have an entity, it is found in the freedom of those able to make it happen, and it might not be their plans to transfer it from their mind to ours. Nothing exists before actually existing.

According to this principle, incantations are part of wizardry. A wizard is the fortune-teller that claims to know the unseen, which is the thing only God knows. We can say the same thing about telling the fortune based on a cup of coffee; as if the threads and lines drawn in the cup resulting from the movement of the lips indicate anything. The Scripture has called divination a sin in 1 Samuel 15: 23; the Book also made it a synonym to false visions in Jeremiah 14: 14 and also in Ezekiel. The Book of acts also said that Paul took spirits out of a fortune-teller (16: 16–18).

Moreover, Horoscopes, which are wide spread in newspapers and other publications, give you a specific character and predict events related to your birthday, birth hour, and a specific astronomic situation. Stars might have a certain influence on your character, but you are a free person and there is no destiny that tells you how to be. Some people tried in Sorbonne, France to make astrology a science; however our religious belief is that you are not a machine and that there is nothing destined for you and that you have “the freedom of the sons of God” as Apostle Paul says. Palm reading falls into the same category: Your age is a result of your health condition, and this could be recorded in your genes or genetics which predicts your willingness to catch a disease and especially cancer. There is an interference that comes from genetics and this has become a very developed science in recent years. You are born with a genetic program, and none of that is engraved on your palm.

Nevertheless, predicting your character from your handwriting is a possible thing because categorizing you into a specific character might affect your handwriting of letters and words. However, this doesn’t reveal the knowledge of the future, and I don’t think that if someone experiments your handwriting, he would be searching for something else.

“Talking to spirits” falls in the same sense, and it is completely prohibited by the church. For us, you can talk to saints through prayer but you can’t control someone’s spirit and you have no authority over any spirit for spirits are under God’s power only. In addition to that, exercising this thing made it in some countries like Brazil an independent religion and made it in other places a kind of drunkenness or anesthetization. Talking to spirits is a kind of magic because magic is to attribute to yourself a power that only God has. God’s book has said: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord” (Deuteronomy 18: 10–12). The New Testament supports this as the book of Revelation counts murderers alongside with magicians and idolaters (21: 8).

The main idea in the New Testament is that magic is when you think that if you said some words and did some actions, something you want to happen will automatically happen. This opposes our faith that only the Lord can change something in the nature through his word. Praying is different than magic, because it carries hope and because it cannot do anything except through God’s grace. Nothing is sanctified simply when a priest reads a prayer or a text from the Bible. He calls the Holy Spirit over the bread and wine to be transformed into the Lord’s body and blood through the grace of the Spirit and not simply through reading the prayer. This is the main difference between magic and religion.

With this logic, there is no evil eye that can harm you, and this is why putting a blue bead in your neck or a horse shoe on the door of your house opposes our faith because these things cannot prevent you from getting harmed. And if you put a cross in your neck this would be a testimony of your belonging to Jesus, but this has no automatic effect because the sign of the cross must be accompanied by prayer. There is no miracle except through your faith in the Lord Jesus.

There is also another thing not considered as magic and it is telepathy. Telepathy is exchanging thoughts, feelings and images between minds at distance. As an example we mention a British woman that saw (or thought that she saw) her husband, who was an officer in India, being stabbed in the back by an Indian’s dagger. After a few days, the military authorities told her that this incident occurred at the same time that she felt it happening. These are natural powers; something like television transmission. Some people have the power to receive images at distance; some people also have the power to make a grape cluster fall down by simply looking at it. This is not a miracle. Anything other than telepathy, i.e. every action from those we mentioned before is magic, sorcery, or a lie; and all of these carry spiritual harm.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “الشعوذة، السِحْر” –Raiati n^o3- 18.01.2004

What is the meaning of the patience of Job and that of Christ and the martyrs and saints? What is this virtue that Christ talked about saying: “He who endures to the end will be saved”? Does it mean to get defeated in front of difficulties and submit for “God’s anger to pass” or does it mean something deeper? There is no doubt that the meaning is not to tolerate “annoying people” and those who irritate or harm us so that we wouldn’t confront them, because this is considered avoidance and preferring comfort over solving our problems with people. In front of the painful existence, the Lord doesn’t ask us to have calm nerves or to be careless because if you left the annoying stuff to go on its track and you didn’t correct the situations that you can fix, then you would be participating in the pervasive evil around you.

First of all, patience is to pray for the other so that God’s grace will be on him and that he repents and his situation gets better and he gets healed from his problems. There is, of course, a reformation in each one of us that requires time. The patient is he who considers that the time exists and that the amelioration of others requires grace from God. The patient person also knows that the calmness that he confronts other with is an element of the elements of the reformation, and the calmness carries a request for mercy on the other whose life became difficult. Patience is, therefore, an attitude towards God who, does not change souls of people at the instant, but waits their participation in his bestowal and their acceptance to the divine thought. This is why the writer of the psalms said: “Be still for the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37: 7). You know that God is your helper in the tolerance of discomforts and that you need him to be able to tolerate them.

Being patient means that you are not arrogant, that you don’t hate and don’t worship yourself and that you understand the other in his pride and anger. Take this other to your heart, maybe he’d enter from it to God’s heart. Be compassionate until the end and break you heart through humbleness. Be humble not only in front of God but also in front of people. The father of all clemencies will then have mercy on you, and Jesus would embrace you to his chest and raise you during the long time that passes on you while waiting his mercy on others.

If you felt that you should blame or moralize, do that but without any shouting or arrogance or considering yourself greater than the person that have mistook. You do not need to blame and moralize all the time, but we do need to be compassionate all the time towards those that life tortured them. If you were humble, then this is a good way to correct the mistake of others, but you will not be patient except if you were liberated from the purpose which is the ego. Learn not to ask anything for yourself, and not to put conditions on the person that God gave you to help.

For you will not be patient except if you were independent and you liberated yourself from the thing that you are enduring. If someone was a master over you, then you have nothing to do with patience. You see those who do not understand and that who doesn’t have any love. You also see hypocrites. Include all of these in God’s mercy that you have inside you. And if you learned that every person is wounded and thrown on the road of life, heal his wounds, take care of him and don’t ask for anything in return or to be thanked. Be happy with all people all the time, give them condolence in their misery, embrace them, and be always honest with them.

All of this added together is patience; since it is a satisfaction to God you do everyday even if you were tired from a lot of people, these people that Christ died for.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “الصبر” – 16.11.2003

The Archdiocese of New York and Northern America (United States and Canada) felt that it needs to have a special or particular canonical situation that allows it to manage its internal issues through a locative council made of the Metropolitan and the current four bishops. This way each of these bishops will have a region to manage called Episcopate and this way he will not remain an honorary bishop but will have people to pastor and a kind of “particularism” that gives him the freedom of movement over his land. The bishop will carry the title of the city he lives in and not the title of a historical city that existed in this land.

The Metropolitan shall remain a member of the Holy Synod and would be the head of the regional synod we mentioned. The bishops will be allowed to attend the meetings of the Antiochian Synod in case bishops from the homeland and diasporas were invited in addition to the Metropolitans of the Archdioceses.

This idea of becoming different from the archdioceses of the homeland emerged from the fact that a large number of the faithful are being “Americanized”. These generations started praying in English and melting in the American society. However, they still have a kind of nostalgia for Antioch and for their roots here. After many years, Orthodox believers from different nationalities might melt in one church. However, this idea hasn’t matured yet and this is why the Greeks still follow Constantinople and the Arabs follow Antioch. These meet each other through love and through a body of bishops that represent all communities.

Concerning the election of the Metropolitan, his candidacy happens there but he is elected by the Antiochian Council according to its followed procedure until this day. As for the bishop, his candidacy is given temporarily by the general assembly in America and could be then nominated by an assembly from his region. After that, the bishops elect him with three representative Metropolitans from the Holy Synod and he is ordained there.

This was decided by the Holy Synod in its autumn meeting in the Patriarchate, Damascus. This has put an end for the confusions, tensions and conflicts in several places. This decision was taken in an atmosphere full of love and hope because our brothers in immigration are walking with us, together, in one Antiochian belonging and in one intention to support the Orthodox faith here and there. And the thing that made people more convinced with such a solution is the fact that foreigners that converted into Orthodoxy have entered this faith through Antioch’s door and that neither converts nor Arabs have any will to form a separate Church.

From the theological point of view, we have reached a situation where every bishop is independent from the other even if they united in one episcopate. This encourages him to take actions in his region. In principle, and until few centuries ago, we didn’t have a bishop without people; the archbishop cannot be amputated from his people. The pastoral conclusion of this is that this Archdiocese shall stay one and exchanging experiences and thoughts with us; and we hope that declaring this step will strengthen the relationship between the mother Church and the countries of immigration.

Of course, a renaissance doesn’t come automatically after changing something in the administration. It descends from the Holy Spirit that makes great believers and creative thinkers. Antioch remains only an expression if it wasn’t accompanied by holiness and a new theological thinking that confronts modern man and the emerging challenges so that Christ stays everything and in everything.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: وضعنا القانوني في أميركا” ” –Raiati n^o43- 26.10.2003

The Gospel of Luke is the Gospel of mercy par excellence. In the outset of today’s reading (Luke 6: 31–36) the Evangelist presents a behavioral basis: “Do to others as you would have them do to you”. Therefore, if you want people to have sympathy towards you, to help you, to serve you during tribulations, and to come to you in your sickness, you should do these same things when you find people in such situations.

Then, Luke ascends to one higher degree and says: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?” If you wanted to express your love through charity, do it to any person in-need and not only to a relative or friend since you might be expecting these to be thankful or to treat you in the same way if you passed through a difficulty. Give the person that you don’t expect to reward you, to become closer to you and that might not come back to thank you. Luke mentions a practical example on that: “And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?” This person might not be able to pay the loan that he signed, would you then send him to jail? How would that benefit you? If you were not able to give a big debt, then don’t do it. You must know that some people might take advantage of your tendency to help the poor and your mercy in order not to pay you back even if they had the ability. Deal with this situation. There is something called “a dignity debt” and it means giving someone an amount and not suing him: He might pay you back if he could and might not even if he was able to do that. In this situation, let the Lord deal with him.

Then, Luke ascends to another degree also and says “love your enemies”. The word “love” here doesn’t mean that you should make your enemy a friend of yours because he might not accept this friendship. On the lowest levels, the word means that you should not hate even if you were internally hurt since oppression hurts. Most of the times, you cannot convince your enemy that there is no real reason for his hatred or hurting. He might start a fierce campaign and stain your reputation and this is all because the devil has entered him and stained his soul or because there are people that have hatred as their natural approach and are delighted with harm. Jesus wants you not to return hatred with hatred, because hatred carries injustice and through it you will stain your heart and take its calmness away. Once your soul becomes muddled, you will not be able to see God’s face since God is peace.

The Evangelist presents an argument concerning forgiveness as he says that through forgiveness, you become a son of God who “is kind to the ungrateful and wicked”. He sends the rain and the sunlight to all people as Matthew says; he gives people their food whoever they were and gives the sinner various gifts perhaps he would repent.

Then, Luke ends this chapter by saying: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”. Here, Jesus asks you to behave as God does. And you are capable of doing that if you recognized that grace made you a son of God, i.e. in communion with Jesus being the Son of God.

Linguistically, being merciful means that your chest should be wide enough for all people. This is how God’s chest is. The important thing is that you understand that sin is the only thing that can deeply harm you. And mercy could be successful in bringing back a person to his sanity. He might not be affected by your mercy, but you would have saved yourself from hatred. And when you reach the highest level of forgiveness you would become like God your Father. Forgiveness erases every guilt in you and makes you trained to humility. The person that doesn’t forgive is the one that can’t endure his wound. However, people might hurt you a lot. You are asked to bleed and heal your wound through the only effective medicine which is forgiveness. All sins captivate us, but no sin does that as hatred that imprisons us. In the same way that you easily forgive your naughty or aggressive son because he is from your flesh and blood, you should forgive all “naughty” people because they are from Christ’s flesh and blood.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “الرحمة” –Raiati n^o40- 05.10.2003

This word addresses our lay brothers too because they shall become closer to piety when their pastor is or wants to be on Christ’s image. However, I am not addressing you because of a problem but because I desire that you become great so that Christ’s Church stays in its glory. People make you responsible for making it look beautiful or ugly. Yes, the Gospel was delivered to all believers, but you were asked to keep it well in your heart and on your tongue so that it is poured in the hearts of the faithful and embraces them to the Lord’s chest.

You know that, and you also know that we always stop reading. Yes, I know that you are occupied with worship, baptisms, and funerals and that some seasons take your time and energy. Beware not to get used to worship until it becomes a routine repetition with its words on your tongue and without any flame behind these words. Then, the devil whispers in your ears: “You are a good priest because you master the Liturgy and because you take care of the Church as a temple and you manage the parish council meetings and you gather children and the youth and you have the clinic for the sick. Isn’t all your time taken because of visiting houses? In principle, you work and teach, and according to the bible, you are qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heavens”.

Be careful! These are satanic words that could make you forget the most important thing. God said to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus: “You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first” (Rev 2: 3–4). Then he says to the responsible of the Church of Ephesus: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen and repent”. As if God doesn’t give any importance to the effort that this bishop has put because he still holds against him that he has left the love he had at first.

Then, the devil might whisper in your ear: “Are there other things to do and give all your time during the day and some during the night?” Sin is exactly the following: To think that the priest’s life lies all in his work and especially in rituals, teaching and some visits for the sick and poor. No my friend, the depth of a person isn’t in what he works and teaches. His depth is in his heart, and work flows from the heart.

The heart often becomes lukewarm and the person becomes a victim of his appearance, of his speech or of his church social life or sometimes of his earthly things. Sometimes he might make Christ drown in the masterful rituals and this person always drowns in the sweet talk that doesn’t flow from your luminous inside through the light of grace.

Nothing from what you say or do secures your internal health although this health doesn’t become correct except through a work and teaching that express your faith. But the important thing is to be constantly flaming with Jesus’ love who is the only one that protects you from pride. Pride threatens successful people and active priests.

You cannot continue the journey being lukewarm. Remember that the Lord spits the lukewarm out of his mouth. It is your decision to be hot and this is nourished through the Word and deep continuous prayer that is done in complete awareness word by word. People always differentiate between the person that recites a lesson and another whose words come from a loving heart for his Lord. If you had this flame, you will not consider any person great to the extent of fearing him and no one will still seem despicable. This happens because the Lord that dwells in you makes you see as he does and become humble in front of everyone as he did.

When your heart breaks down in order to receive Christ in it, nothing will worry you anymore. If any maliciousness or gossip happened, they will be crushed in front of your loving soul. Remember your first love when the Holy Spirit chose you and the bishop put his hand on you and you may have cried while kneeling in front of the Holy table and poured all your spirit, back then, in front of Christ. If you loved this way, a lot of people will be saved. If you loved this much and became chaste and died in front of everything in this world, you will be a martyr.

Translated by Mark Najjar

Original Text: “إلى الكاهن” –Raiati 30- 27.07.2003