Posted on 04/30/2002 11:26:55 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
Outraged by the protracted standoff between Israelis and Palestinians at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a considerable number of Arab Christian clergymen including some heads of various churches are publicly condemning not only Jews and Israel, but Christians in the West especially in the United States for siding with Israel.
Here, as translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, are recent statements made by several Arab Christian clergy. MEMRI is an independent, non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East.
Attacks on Christians in the West
Father Manuel Musalam, head of the Latin Church in Gaza, told Palestinian Authority television:
Therefore I, the Christian Palestinian, say in all rage and daring to the Christians of the world: You are loathsome! You are contemptible! You are cowards! because you cannot carry the message of Jesus in your hearts. The message of Jesus is one of love, sacrifice, mercy, life, and manhood, and these Christians of the world have no mercy, no compassion, no manliness, no sacrifice. I do not mean only towards us, but even towards the Jews, as not only do the Jews kill us we also kill them, because we are in a war of self-defense
We and I say this brutally, because he who remains silent is Satan are facing the filthy Christians of the West. We hear that the American Congress is demanding that Bush unleash Israel to slaughter the Palestinians. What kind of Christian is this?! This is not Christianity; it is not even paganism. This is Christianity of the jungle. Our New Testament is not their New Testament, our Jesus is not their Jesus, our [Church of the] Nativity is not their [Church of the] Nativity, and our peace is not their peace. I will say still more: Our God is not their God
Father Musalam voiced similar sentiments at a meeting between heads of church in Gaza City and a delegation of Muslim clerics from the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Religious Endowments:
During the same meeting, Bishop Alex, head of the Roman Orthodox Bishopric of Gaza, said: "Real Christianity means love and harmony, and it exists only in Palestine and the Holy Land. In contrast, Western Christianity is false. Anyone who claims he is a Christian but has no love or tolerance in his heart is no Christian."
Condemnations of Protestantism and the American political leadership were voiced by the Egyptian Coptic Church as well, which typically enjoys good relations with the West via the Coptic communities in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. In an article titled, "Oh Mr. Bush, Are You Christian or Crusader?" Coptic priest Marcus 'Aziz Khalil wrote:
If only God would intervene to defend the world from these enemies of peace. Although they swathe themselves in sheep's clothing, they are wolves seeking to kill the flock. We Christians of the East, who in the past refused to stand by the Crusaders and stood by our Muslim brethren, are also opposed to the negative deeds of the Western governments biased in favor of Israel despite its arrogance and even though it damages the holy sites. We say to Mr. Bush: During your term, Jesus' name is disgraced by the attacks on the holy places. Are you a Christian, Mr. Bush? I doubt it. Perhaps you are a Crusader. God alone knows.
Egyptian Shura Council member Dr. Nabil Luka Babawi, an expert in criminal law and a Copt, attacked President Bush in an article titled "Judas Is Back":
Babawi published another article in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram slamming his fellow Copts living in the West for their failure to support the Palestinians:
Elias 'Awwad, head of the Palestinian Roman Orthodox Church, said, "The Zionist movement controls European and American public opinion For this reason, we witness a weakness in the defense of the Christian holy sites on the part of America and the European countries ... These people [Western Christians] deal first of all with their interests, not their religion. In my view, they are not Christians, because they do not act according to the precepts of the New Testament. "
The Bishop of the Assyrian Orthodox Church of Mt. Lebanon and Tripoli, George Saliba, stated the following regarding Christian leaders in the West:
Jesus once said to the Jews: "You are the sons of Satan, and you do the will of your father Satan." They answered: "No, we are not the sons of Satan, we are the sons of Abraham." He replied to them: "Had you been the sons of Abraham you would be acting [in accordance with] the acts and precepts of Abraham. Therefore you are the sons of Satan. "
Jews throughout the generations
Father Manuel Musalam compared the armed Palestinians in the Church of the Nativity to Jesus on the cross:
The Jew has a principle from which we suffer and which he tries to impose on people: the principle of the "gentiles." To him, the gentile is a slave. They [the Jews] give the [Palestinians] working in Israel only a piece of bread, and tell them: "This piece of bread that you eat is taken from our children, and we give it to you so you will live not as free men on your land, but as a proletariat and slaves in Israel, to serve us " The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are based on this principle, and anyone who reads the Protocols feels that we are in this period with the Jews.
The Church, the Pope, the Christians, and the New Testament clearly state that, according to Christian belief, the ones who killed Jesus are the Jews, and there is no way to deny or renounce this The Jews are the ones who killed Jesus; after him, [they killed] the Christians, and after them, the Muslims. Now they are again killing both the Muslims and the Christians. Throughout history, we have seen that the Jews persecuted the Christians at the beginning of the Church, and now they are again persecuting the Church, and Islam
As is known throughout the world, even in our time, they always accuse the Christians The case of Pope Pius XII is bad enough. They accused him of terrible things They attack the Church because the Pope was not as strict as they wanted in protecting the Jews from Nazism while the Jews found shelter only in the Church and with Christian families
In a letter to the editor of the Egyptian Coptic weekly Watani, Egyptian Coptic clergyman John Jirjis wrote:
The Coptic priest Marcus 'Aziz Khalil wrote:
The Hezbollah television station Al-Manar gave its viewers an exclusive broadcast of a lecture on "Christianity's View of the Jews" by the Bishop of the Assyrian Orthodox Church of Mt. Lebanon and Tripoli, George Saliba, at an Islamic institute for religious studies. He said:
Love,
Joy,
Peace,
Patience,
Kindness,
Goodness,
Faithfulness,
Gentleness,
and Self-control.
(Galatians 5:22-23)
I.e. "Dear World: we are lying out our collective wazoos to keep from getting wiped out by our nice Muslim neighbors."
I beg to differ with you, however, concerning the existence of a Western Rite in Holy Orthodoxy, the Holy Synod of Antioch has authorized two Western Rite liturgies--the Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory, based on a pre-Tridentine Roman rite, and the Divine Liturgy of St. Tikhon, being a version of the Anglican Prayerbook liturgy incorporating the corrections proposed by the Holy Synod of Moscow in response to St. Tikhon's query during his talks with the Anglican Bishop Grafton of Fond du Lac. (St. Tikhon refered the question because there seemed substantial doctrinal agreement between Holy Orthodoxy and the Anglo-Catholic version of Anglicanism represented by Bp. Grafton.) These seem to exist primarily as a pastoral tool for congregations seeking to flee the Western apostacy: most missions and parishes organized as Western Rite seem to eventually change over to the traditional (Eastern) Rites of the Orthodox Church.
The Old Calendarists also have a Western Rite based on the Sarum Missal, which grimly delights me, as it serves under Ukranian Old Calendarist bishops (counter-unia!).
I dearly love and enjoy you and several other members here on FR of our "other lung", as my fellow Christians. The unity you speak of would be awesome to witness in our lifetimes. Perhaps with prayer and God, as all things are possible with God.
Amen! We need to concern ourselves with the things of permanent value. Between the islamic threat, and the rise of neo-paganism in the west, I fear a terrible darkness is descending upon the world, worse than at any time since the advent of Our Lord. My homepage refers to this from a secular and historical viewpoint, but evil seems to grow, virtually without bounds.
I do not despair of God's grace, but this does not mean that he will preserve our society. As someone who has a background with the terrible loss of Byzantium in your consciousness, you know that the west's survival is no more guaranteed than that of the lost society of the Eastern Empire.
I certainly meant no insult to anyone as well.
Wow! This is a MUST READ, it's short but hits home.
As I read about how westerners parroted the anti-Serb propaganda in the '90s, I had to admit I was one of them myself. As the author writes, "no one is forced to believe what CNN says is true."
CNN did a real number on this country.
Imagine my sadness ( and satisfaction, I admit) to see that the West now does understand.
Not the nicest place to be a Christian consitering virtually everyone wants to kill you.
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