Ιστορία της Ιεράς Λαύρας Σάββα του Ηγιασμένου

Από της ιδρύσεως της ιεράς Λαύρας έως της αραβικής κατακτήσεως (438 - 638 μ.χ)

       Η κατά την έρηµον της Ιουδαίας ιερά και σεβασµία  Λαύρα του Οσίου Πατρός ηµών Σάββα του Ηγιασµένου αποτελεί φαινόµενον µοναδικόν εις την εκκλησιαστικήν ιστορίαν, χάρις εις την συµβολήν της εις την διαµόρφωσιν της ορθοδόξου λατρείας, της µοναχικής τάξεως και της υµνογραφίας, εις την εν αυτή παρουσίαν πλήθους Αγίων, αυστηρών αναχωρητών, θεοπνεύστων θεολόγων και µαρτύρων ακόµη,  ακόμη χάρις εις τον σπουδαίον ρόλον τον οποίον διεδραµάτισεν εις την καταπολέµησιν όσων αιρέσεων ενεφανίσθησαν εις την Αγίαν Γην µετα την ίδρυσίν της και εις την προάσπισιν της Ορθοδοξίας και των δικαιωµάτων του µόνου κανονικού Πατριαρχείου Ιεροσολύµων, του Ελληνορθοδόξου.
       Αριθµούσα υπέρ τα 1500 έτη ζωής (483-2002) άνευ διακοπής της λειτουργίας της, η Μεγίστη του Αγίου Σάββα Λαύρα οφείλει την ίδρυσιν και την µετέπειτα εξέλιξιν αυτης εις τον θεοχαρίτωτον, πνευµατέµφορον μοναστήν Άγιον Σάββαν (439-532 µ.Χ), ο ποίος απετέλεσε λύχνον εν υψηλώ τόπω4 δι' όσους ηθέλησαν να ζήσουν την αναχωρητικήν ζωήν, και ισχυρόν πρεσβευτήν προς τον Κύριον υπέρ πάντων των µε­ταγενεστέρων «Σαββαϊτών» Μοναχών. Τον πρώτον πυρήνα της Λαύρας εδηµιούργησαν οι εβδοµήκοντα αναχωρηταί, οι οποίοι συνεκεντρώθησαν περι τον Άγιον Σάββαν από το 483 µ.Χ κ. ε. Κατόπιν η Λαύρα µετεφέρθη εκ της ανατολικής πλευράς του χειµάρρου των Κέδρων, όπου το ασκητήριον του Αγίου Σάββα, εις την δυτικήν, όπου και εκτίσθη η Θεόκτιστος Εκκλησία (486, εγκαίνια 491 µ.Χ), η αύξησις της αδελφότητος κατέστησεν αναγκαίαν την οικοδόµησιν και µεγάλου ναού της Θεοτόκου (502 µ.Χ) και την διοργάνωσιν των κτισµάτων και των υπηρεσιών της Λαύρας, ώστε να ανταποκρίνωνται εις τας ολονέν ογκουµένας ανάγκας. Η φήµη της αγιότητος του Αγίου Σάββα και η ένεκα αυτής ανάδειξίς του εις αρχηγόν και νοµοθέτην πάντων των περι τα Ιεροσόλυµα αναχωρητών (493 µ.Χ) έσχον αντίκτυπον και εις την Μεγίστην Λαύραν, ή οποία απετέλεσε πρότυπoν κατά τε τον βίον και την λειτουργικήν τάξιν, το Τυπικόν, οχι µόνον δια τας λοιπάς τρεις λαύρας και τα εξ κοινόβια, τα οποία ο Άγιος Σάββας µέχρι του θανάτου του (532 µ.Χ.) ίδρυσε, αλλά και δια τας επιλοίπους µονάς της Παλαιστίνης, κατά δε τους µέσους χρόνους και δια την ανα την οικουµένην Εκκλησίαν.
      Η Μεγίστη Λαύρα υπό τον Άγιον Σάββαν κατ' αρχήν διεξήγαγεν ισχυρούς αγώνας κατά της αιρέσεως τού Μονοφυσιτισµού κατα τα ετη 512-516 µ.Χ., αντιπαρατεθείσα προς τον αυτοκράτορα Αναστάσιον και προς τα λοιπά τρία Πατριαρχεία της Ανατολής, ευρισκόµενα τότε εις χείρας µονοφυσιτών η σθεναρά κινητοποίησις και οµολογία τών αναχωρητών της ερήµου διέσωσαν το Πατριαρχείον Ιεροσολύµων απο την αίρεσιν. Οι διάδοχοι του Αγίου Σάββα ις την ηγουµενίαν της Λαύρας ανέδειξαν αύτην και πάλιν άσειστον προπύργιον κατα της αιρέσεως του Ωριγε­νισµού· υπό την καθοδήγησιν του Σαββαΐτου Αγίου Ιωάννου του Ησυχαστού, πρώην επισκόπου Κολωνίας (454-558), οι ηγούµενοι της Λαύρας Γελάσιος (537-546), Κασσιανός (547-548) και Κόνων (548-568) απέκρουσαν τας µεθοδείας των Ωριγενιστών και τας παρά τω αυτοκράτορι Ιουστινιανώ δολοπλοκίας των, όχι όµως άνευ αντιποίνων· οι µοναχοί της Λαύρας, της µόνης που είχεν αποµείνει εις τους Ορθοδόξους, υπέστησαν διωγµούς και βιαιοπραγίας, ακόµη και την δια της βίας ενθρόνισιν Ωριγενιστού ηγουµένου (του Γεωργίου, 547 µ.Χ). Όµως ο Θεός εφύλαξε την Λαύραν, αι δε ενέργειαι του Κόνωνος συνέβαλον τα µέγιστα εις την σύγκλησιν της Ε' Οικουµενικής Συνόδου (553 µ.Χ), η οποία κατεδίκασε τας πλάνας του Ωριγένους άπαξ δια παντός και χάριν πάσης της Εκκλησίας εσαεί. Η εµφάνισις των Περσων εις την Αγίαν Γην (614 µ.Χ) απετέλεσε το προοίµιον δια την µε τ' αύτην έλευσιν των Αράβων του Ισλάµ (638 µ.Χ). Παροµοίως, την απαρχήν των οσιοµαρτύρων της Λαύρας απετέλεσαν οι υπό των Περσών σφαγιασθέντες Σαββαΐται, τεσσαράκοντα τέσ­σαρες τον αριθµόν, εις τας 16 Μαΐου του έτους 614 µ.Χ

2. Επί των Αράβων, των Σταυροφόρων και των Μαμελούκων (638-1517 µ.Χ.)

       Την µετα την αραβικήν κατάκτησιν αναδιοργά­νωσιν της Μεγίστης Λαύρας του Αγίου Σάββα υπό του πατριάρχου Μοδέστου, ηκολούθησεν η ενδοξoτέρα περίοδος, ο «χρυσούς αιών» της Λαύρας, δηλαδή ο όγδοος και µέρος του ενάτου µ.Χ αιώνος. Ο επιφανέστερος θεολόγος του 8ου αι. Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Δαµασκηνός, ο και υµνογράφος, Κοσµάς ο Αγιοπο­λίτης, Στέφανος ο Μελωδός, Μιχαήλ ο Σύγκελλος, Θεόδωρος και Θεοφάνης οι Γραπτοί, Θεόδωρος ο επίσκοπος Καρρών (Αβουκάρας), πάντες επιφανείς κατά την αγιότητα ή και την θεολογίαν, οι Άγιοι Στέφανος ο Θαυµατουργός, Θεόδωρος επίσκοπος Εδέσσης και Μιχαήλ ο Οσιοµάρτυς συναποτελούσιν εκλεκτήν χορείαν, η οποία εκόσµησε την Εκκλησίαν Ιεροσολύµων αλλά και την καθόλου Εκκλησίαν. Παρά τας εναντίον της Λαύρας βιαίας και φονικάς επιθέσεις ποικιλωνύµων βαρβάρων (796, 809, 813 µ.Χ.) και την γενικήν αταξίαν, η προσφορά της Λαύρας εις την Εκκλησίαν φθάνει εις το αποκορύφωµά της. Η συµβολή του Αγίου Ιωάννου του Δαµασκηνού εις την πρώτην (726-787) και των Αγίων Μιχαήλ του Συγκέλλου, Θεοφάνους και Θεοδώρου των Γραπτών εις την δευτέραν (814-843 µ.Χ.) φάσιν της εικονο­µαχίας υπέρ της επικρατήσεως της τιµής των ιερών εικόνων, αποδεικνύει την σηµασίαν της Λαύρας δια την θεολογίαν αλλά και την γενικήν τιµήν, της οποίας απελάµβανε, καθόσον οι τρεις τελευταίοι οµολογηταί προσεκλήθησαν εις την Κωνσταντινούπολιν υπό του Αγίου Θεοδώρου του Στουδίτου δι' αυτόν ακριβώς τον λόγον, πλην της θεολογικής συγγραφικής παραγωγής, η Λαύρα δύναται κατά την εποχήν αυτήν να επιδείξη και πλουσίαν αντιγραφικήν και µεταφραστικήν δρα­στηριότητα καθίσταται το κέντρον της γεωργιανής γραµµατείας απο τον 70ν έως τον 100ν αι, όπως επίσης κέντρον µεταφράσεως εκκλησιαστικών συγγραµµάτων απο την ελληνικήν εις την αραβικήν. Χαρακτηριστικόν είναι οτι τα σήµερον πασίγνωστα «Ασκητικά» του Αγίου Ισαάκ του Σύρου µετεφράσθησαν εκ της συ­ριακής γλώσσης εις την ελληνικήν δια πρώτην φοράν εις την Λαύραν υπό των µοναχών Αβραµίου και Πατρικίου περί τα τέλη του 80υ αι. Από του 90υ έως του 130υ αι η λειτουργική τάξις, το λειτουργικόν Τυπικόν της Λαύρας µαζί µε τους ύµνους των Σαββαϊτων αγίων υµνογράφων και ίσως µερικαί µοναστικαί συνήθειαι της Λαύρας, διαδίδονται ευρέως από διακεκριµένους αγίους ιδρυτάς µονών. Εις µείζονα 11 ελάσσονα βαθµόν το Τυπικόν της Λαύρας επηρέασε τα µοναστηριακά Τυπικά, τα όποία συνέγραψαν οι Άγιοι Θεόδωρος ο Στουδίτης (90ς αι), Παύλος ο Νέος του Όρους Λάτρος (αρχαί 100υ αι), Νίκων ο Μαυρορείτης (τέλη 110υ αι), Χριστόδουλος της Πάτµου (110ς αι), Λάζαρος ο Γα­λησιώτης (1ος-11ος αι), Λουκάς της Μεσσήνης (Σικελία 120ς αι), Νεόφυτος ο Έγκλειστος (Κύπρος, 12ος- 13ος αι) και Νείλος Ταµασίας (Ι. Μ. Μαχαιρά, Κύπρος, αρχαί 130υ αι). Ήδη από τον 9ον αι είχε διαδοθή το λειτουργικόν τούτο Τυπικόν εις την απόµακρον Γεωργίαν (υπό Γρηγορίου Khandzta, το 826 µ.χ.). Παραλλήλως τεραστία υπήρξεν η διάδοσις του νέου υµνογραφικού είδους που ανεπτύχθη κυρίως υπο Ιωάννου του Δαµασκηνού και της µετ' αυτόν «αγιο­σαββιτικής ποιητικής σχολής», δηλαδή του κανόνος. Ή υµνογραφική παραγωγή της Λαύρας απετέλεσε το θεµέλιον της µετά την εικονοµαχίαν διαρρυθµίσεως της εκκλησιαστικής Λατρείας. Η αποδιδοµένη εις τον Δαµασκηνόν καθιέρωσις των όκτω ήχων της µελωδή­σεως επεκράτησεν εις την Λατρείαν, η δε ύπ' αυτού συγγραφείσα Οκτάηχος απετέλεσε την πρώτην µορφήν της Παρακλητικής, του κυριωτέρου λειτουργικού βιβλίου της Εκκλησίας.
       Επί της κυριαρχίας των Σταυροφόρων η θέσις του ηγουµένου της Λαύρας παρουσιάζεται ιδιαιτέρως υψηλή παρά τοις Λατίνοις, ελλείψει Ορθοδόξου πατριάρχου εις τα Ιεροσόλυµα. Η Λαύρα προικίζεται δια νέων περιουσιακών στοιχείων υπό της Βασιλίσσης Μελισσάνθης (1131-1162), ενώ ο ναός της Θεοτόκου και αι αγιογραφίαι του ανακαινίζονται υπό του αυτο­κράτορος των Ρωµαίων Μανουήλ του Κοµνηνού (1143­ -1180) περί το έτος 1169.
       Η νίκη των Μαµελούκων του Σαλαδδίν επί των Σταυροφόρων εν έτει 1187 µ.Χ. εσήµανε νέα δεινά δια τον Μοναχισµόν της Παλαιστίνης παρά την σφαγήν και πάλιν Σαββαϊτών µοναχων, η Λαύρα παρέµεινεν εν λειτουργία, µόνη αύτη αναµέσον των λοιπών ηρηµω­µένων µονών της ερήµου. Εις την περίοδον αύτην ανάγεται η συρρίκνωσις της Λαύρας περί τον πυρήνα της, η ανέγερσις τείχους περί αυτήν και η υιοθέτησις του κοινοβιακού τρόπου ζωης, εγκαταλειφθέντος του λαυρεωτικού. Η Λαύρα εισέρχεται εις την δυσκο­λωτέραν ίσως φάσιν του αγώνος επιβιώσεώς της εις περιβάλλον εχθρικόν, καθίσταται παρ α ταύτα δια την Αγιοταφιτικήν Αδελφότητα αξιολογώτατον σχο­λείον, διδάσκον τα περί της µοναχικής πολιτείας και τα αφορώντα εις τα εκκλησιαστικά πράγµατα. Νέα ανακαίνισις του καθολικού της Λαύρας και του Κουβουκλίου του τάφου του Αγίου Σάββα υπό του αυτοκράτορος Ιωάννου του Καντακουζηνού (1347 - ­1354) έλαβε χώραν εις τα µέσα του 140υ αι., πρωτοφανής όµως εις την εποχήν αυτήν και καθοριστική δια το µέλλον της ορθοδόξου λατρείας κατέστη η εξάπλωσις του λεγοµένου «νεο-σαββαϊτικού λειτουργικού Τυπι­κού» (δηλ, της συνθέσεως του παλαιού σαββαϊτικού και στοιχείων του στουδιτικού Τυπικού). Το Τυπικόν τούτο, αφού παρεµέρισε τα Τυπικά των Μονών Στου­δίου και Ευεργέτιδος, καθιερώθη εις την ιδίαν την Κωνσταντινούπολιν κατα τους 130ν και 140ν αιώνας (Μοναι Χειλέων, Αγ. Δηµητρίου Κελλιβαρά, Θεοτόκου Βεβαίας Ελπίδος), τους ιδίους αιώνας το Τυπικόν διεδόθη και εις την Σερβίαν υπό του Αγίου Σάββα Σερβίας (1175-1236) και του Αρχιεπισκόπου Σερβίας Νικοδήµου (1317-1324). Το νέον τούτο σαββαϊτικόν Τυπικόν, µετά την επικράτησίν του εν Αγίω Όρει κα­τά την περίοδον των ησυχαστικών ερίδων και την νέαν µορφήν, την οποίαν τότε έλαβε, διεδόθη χάρις εις την ακτινοβολίαν της θεολογίας του Ησυχασµού και εις την λοιπήν Βαλκανικήν, εν η και εις Βουλγαρίαν, καθ ως και εις την Ρωσσίαν. Από της οριστικής του επικρατήσεως πανταχού, τον 16°V αι. έως της σήµερον, το σαββαϊτικόν- αθωνικόν λειτουργικόν Τυπικόν αποτελεί το λειτουργικόν Τυπικόν συµπάσης της Ορθοδοξίας.

  3. Από της τουρκικής κυριαρχίας έωσ της σήμερων

       Η εµφάνισις των Τούρκων εις την Παλαιστί­νην µε τον Σουλτάνον Σελήµ επικεφαλής, ή οποία συνωδεύθη υπό νέας σφαγής Σαββαϊτών, είχε δυσµενείς επιπτώσεις εις την ζωήν της Λαύρας. Μολονότι εξεδόθησαν υπέρ τα τριάκοντα φιρµάνια των Σουλτάνων κατά καιρούς (µεταξυ 1533 και 1735) περί επισκευών εν τη Λαύρα, φοροαπαλλαγών, προστασίας και δικαιωµάτων των Σαββαϊτών Πατέρων, ούτοι υπέστησαν πολλά δεινά, ακόµη και την επί πολλά έτη εγκαταβίωσιν εν τη Λαύρα ολοκλήρων αραβικών χωρίων. Η ισχυρά παρουσία Σέρβων Μοναχών εν τη Λαύρα, η οποία υπήρξεν ευεργετική δι' αυτήν, ότε κατά τον 16ον αι η Λαύρα είχεν ελαχίστους Έλληνας Μοναχούς, ετερµατίσθη εις τας αρχάς του 17ου αι, ότε κατέστη εις τους Σέρβους αδύνατος η εξόφλησις των χρεών, τα οποία η οικοδοµική των δραστηριότης είχε δηµιουργήσει η παρέµβασις του πατριάρχου Θεοφάνους του Γ' (1608-1644) µόλις έσωσε την Λαύραν από τας χείρας των δανειστών ή των εποφθαλµιώντων αυτήν Αρµενίων και Λατίνων.
       Μεταξύ πάντων των ευεργετών και δωρητών της Λαύρας πλέον αξιοµνηµόνευτοι έχουν καταστή οι πατριάρχαι Ιεροσολύµων Νεκτάριος (1660-1669) και Δοσίθεος ο Β' (1669-1707), ο ονοµασθείς και µέ­γας ευεργέτης αυτής, οι οποίοι κατώρθωσαν να επανα­φέρουν την Λαύραν εις αποκλειστικήν χρήσιν και κατοί­κησιν των Σαββαϊτων Πατέρων, προέβησαν δε, ιδίως ο Δοσίθεος, εις εκτενείς και πολυεξόδους ανακαινίσεις ή επεκτάσεις των ναών, των δωµάτων, των δεξαµενών και των τειχών της Μονής (αντιστοίχως κατά τα έτη 1667 και 1686).
       Την σηµερινήν µορφήν των οικοδοµηµάτων της η Ιερά ηµών Λαύρα οφείλει εις την οικοδοµικήν δραστηριότητα η οποία ανεπτύχθη εν αυτή µετά τας καταστροφάς του σεισµού της 13ης Μαΐου 1834 και κατά την επακολουθήσασαν ηγουµενίαν του περιφανούς Ηγουµένου, κτίτορος και µεγάλου ευεργέτου της Λαύρας Ιωάσαφ του Κρητός (1845-1874), οσιακής µορφής του παλαιστινού Μοναχισµού των εσχάτων χρόνων. Απόδειξις του πνευµατικού βάρους του οσί­ου, απλού, ταπεινού και διακριτικού αυτού Μοναστού υπήρξε και η δια πρώτην φοράν µετά από αιώνας υπ' αυτόν αύξησις των Σαββαϊτών εις περίπου ογδοήκοντα τον αριθµόν.
       Αι αλλεπάλληλοι πολιτικαί αλλαγαί κατά τον 200V αι εις την Εγγύς Ανατολήν Χάριτι Θεού και πρε­σβείαις της Υπεραγίας Θεοτόκου και του Οσίου Πα­τρός ηµών Σάββα δεν επεσώρευσαν επί της Λαύρας τοσούτον πλήθος προβληµάτων, όσον επί άλλων µονών και προσκυνηµάτων του Ορθοδόξου Πατριαρχείου, αντιθέτως η εν έτει 1965 επιστροφή του αφθόρου ιερού Σκηνώµατος του Αγίου Σάββα µετά µακράν απουσίαν αιώνων (ίσως από του 130υ) απετέλεσε µεγίστην ευλογίαν δια την Αγιοταφιτικήν Αδελφότητα, τους εν τη Λαύρα αγωνιζοµένους και τους Ορθοδόξους Χρι­στιανούς της Αγίας Γης και οπωσδήποτε αιτίαν βεβαίας ελπίδος εις τον Θεόν και τεκµήριον της πατρικής και αδιαλείπτου µερίµνης του Αγίου Σάββα δια την Λαύραν του. Η πνευµατική ζωή της Λαύρας και η ποικίλη αυτής συνεισφορά εις την αντιµετώπισιν προβληµάτων των Αγιοταφιτών, του ορθοδόξου ποιµνίου και των ευλαβών προσκυνητών των Αγίων Τόπων, δύναται και σήµερον να επαληθεύση την προ αιώνων γενοµένην διαπίστωσιν: «Όπως η Ιερουσαλίµ είναι η βασίλισσα πασών των πόλεων, ούτω και η λαύρα του Αγίου Σάββα είναι ο πρίγκηψ πασών των ερήμων, και καθ' όσον η Ιερουσαλήµ ειναι το πρότυπον άλλων πόλεων, τοσούτον και ο Άγιος Σάββας το παράδειγµα δι' άλλας µονάς»5.



Πηγή: Ιερά Λαύρα Σάββα του Ηγιασμένου θεόκτιστος Έπαλξις Ορθοδοξίας 1500 έτη

Fr Georges Massouh on the Attacks on Copts in Egypt

Tertullian of Carthage (d. 240), one of the great apologists for Christianity, described that condition of oppressed Christians under the Roman Empire before it recognized their right to exist, "[The pagans] looked at the Christians as the cause of all catastrophes and all national disasters. If the Tiber floods in the City [i.e. Rome], if the Nile floods in the countryside, if the heavens stand still but the earth shakes, if a famine or plague is announced, a voice immediately goes up: let the Christians be thrown to the lions!"

Empires and conditions change, but the need remains for a sacrifice, a burnt offering, a scapegoat.  We cannot exclude any religious state, no matter what religion it belongs to, or any autocratic state from practicing this reckless policy. It has come to be acknowledged that any religious state cannot help but be autocratic. The Christian state, in the time of now-extinct empires, did not offer an exemplary model for dealing with those who disagreed with its religious affiliation.

Recent events in Egypt have shown that the Muslim Brotherhood found burning around thirty churches to be a means for scapegoating. The pretext claimed by those rioting "in God's name" is that the Copts, and at their head Pope Theodoros, supported the removal of president Muhammad Morsi and his Brotherhood regime. However, they ignore the fact that the Sheikh al-Azhar, the most important religious authority in Egypt and the Muslim world, also supported this removal. So why do they not burn al-Azhar or one of the mosques dependent on it? This question is not meant to provoke, which is against our principles and ethics-- it is a request for clarification.

It is no surprise that these events keep pace with certain deviant fatwas. In a fatwa issued by Sheikh Muhammad Abdallah al-Khatib, a member of the guidance council of the Muslim Brotherhood, he states, "If a church is destroyed or collapses, it cannot be rebuilt and it is not permitted to build churches on new sites." The leader of the Salafist al-Daawa in Alexandria, SheikhYasir Borhami, explicitly called for "imposing the jizya on the Copts."

The Copts refuse to be the scapegoat for rabble and deviants and they will not be trapped into reacting in a way that harms their interests and their dignity. Pope Theodoros said in response to the church burnings, "If they destroy the churches, then we will pray in the mosques. And if they destroy the mosques, then we will all pray for Egypt in the street." This wise and elegant response unambiguously confirms that the Copts want nothing else other than to be recognized as Egyptian citizens equal to them Muslims, "having what others have and having to do what others have to do" in terms of rights and responsibilities. It is no wonder that many Muslims hasten to defend the churches and their Coptic citizens from those who ignore reason and are led by their base impulses. They believe that the Copts are not just ten percent of Egypt's population, but fundamental partners in citizenship from the dawn of history until the end of time. If we want to translate the expression "the Coptic Church" we find that it means "the Egyptian Church". It is, then, the national Church that lives, exists, and moves on Egyptian soil.

When Christ returns at the end of time, he will find the bells still ringing in the Nile Valley. Amen.

الأقباط ليسوا فشّة خلق

الأربعاء 21 آب 2013 - 08:57

الاب جورج مسوح

يقول ترتليانس القرطاجي (+240)، أحد المنافحين الكبار عن الإيمان المسيحي، واصفاً حال المسيحيين المضطهَدين في ظل الدولة الرومانية قبل اعترافها بحقّهم في الوجود ما يأتي: "كان (الوثنيّون) ينظرون إلى المسيحيين على أنّهم سبب الكوارث العامة كلّها والمصائب الوطنية كلّها. فإن فاض نهر التيبر في المدينة (في روما)، وفاض النيل في الأرياف، وإن بقيت السماء ساكنة واهتزّت الأرض، وإن أُعلن عن انتشار المجاعة أو الطاعون، سرعان ما يعلو الصراخ: ليُلقَ المسيحيّون إلى الأسود".

تتغيّر الدول والأحوال، وتبقى الحاجة إلى ضحية، إلى كبش محرقة، إلى "فشّة خلق". وفي اللغة، عبارة "فشّ خُلقه في فلان" تفيد "أنزل فيه غائلة غضبه المسبَّب من غيره". ولا يسعنا استثناء أي دولة دينية، إلى أيّ دين انتمت، أو أيّ دولة استبداديّة من ممارسة هذه السياسة الرعناء. وقد بات من المسلّم به أنّ الدولة الدينيّة لا يمكن إلاّ أن تكون استبدادية. والدولة المسيحية، أيّام الإمبراطوريات المنقرضة، لم تقدّم نموذجاً مثالياً في التعامل مع مَن يخالفها الانتماء الديني.

أظهرت الأحداث الأخيرة في مصر أنّ جماعة "الإخوان المسلمين" وجدت في إحراق حوالى ثلاثين كنيسة قبطيّة ما يفشّ خلقها. والذريعة التي تلطّى خلفها المشاغبون "باسم الله" هي أنّ الأقباط وعلى رأسهم البابا تواضروس قد أيّدوا عزل الرئيس محمد مرسي ونظامه الإخواني. غير أن هؤلاء يتناسون أن شيخ الأزهر، أكبر مرجعية دينية في مصر وفي العالم الإسلامي، قد أيّد أيضاً هذا العزل. فلماذا لم يحرقوا الأزهر أو أياً من المساجد التابعة له؟ وهذا السؤال ليس للتحريض، وذلك ليس من مبادئنا ولا يمتّ إلى أخلاقنا بصلة، بل للاستيضاح.

ومن غير المستغرب أن تواكب هذه الأحداث بعض الفتاوى الشاذة. فقد ورد في فتوى أصدرها الشيخ محمد عبدالله الخطيب، عضو مكتب الإرشاد لتنظيم "الإخوان المسلمين": "إذا هُدمت كنيسة وسقطت لا ينبغي لها أن تجدَّد، ولا يجوز بناء كنائس في الأماكن المبنيّة حديثاً". أما أمير الدعوة السلفية في الإسكندرية الشيخ ياسر برهامي فصرّح بـ"وجوب فرض الجزية على الأقباط"...

الأقباط يرفضون أن يكونوا فشّة خلق الرعاع والشذّاذ، ولم ينساقوا إلى ردة فعل تحطّ من شأنهم وكرامتهم. فالبابا تواضروس قال رداً على إحراق الكنائس: "لو هدموا الكنائس فسنصلّي في المساجد. ولو أحرقوا المساجد فسنصلّي جميعاً في الشارع من أجل مصر". هذا الردّ الحكيم والراقي يؤكّد من دون لبس أن الأقباط لا يريدون سوى أن يُعترف بهم مواطنين مصريين متساوين مع المسلمين، "لهم ما لسواهم، وعليهم ما على سواهم" من الحقوق والواجبات. لا غرو أن يسارع الكثير من المسلمين إلى حماية الكنائس ومواطنيهم الأقباط ممّن أهملوا العقل وانقادوا إلى غرائزهم. فهؤلاء يؤمنون بأنّ الأقباط ليسوا مجرّد عشرة في المئة من سكان مصر، بل هم شركاء أصيلون في المواطنة منذ فجر التاريخ إلى انقضاء الزمان. وإذا شئنا تعريب عبارة "الكنيسة القبطيّة" نجد أنها تفيد "الكنيسة المصريّة". هي، إذاً، الكنيسة الوطنية التي تحيا وتوجد وتتحرّك على التراب المصري، وخارج هذا التراب تنتفي تسميتها بالكنيسة القبطيّة.

عندما سيأتي المسيح في آخر الزمان، سيجد أن الأجراس لا تزال تُقرع في وادي النيل. آمين.

Fr Georges Massouh: Between the Law and Perfection

Between the Law and Perfection

Christ distinguishes between the Law and perfection. When the young man asks Him about the nature of goodness, Christ replies, "If you want to enter life, keep the commandments... but if you want to be perfect, go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, then come, follow Me" (Matthew 19:16-22). Christ does not nullify the Law, but rather considers it a guide to intuitive behavior. One who strives for perfection will not achieve it by only carrying out the law, but rather by practicing love in everything he undertakes.

The Holy Apostle Paul says, "No one is justified by the Law before God... but the Law was our tutor to bring us to Christ" (Galatians 3: 11, 24). Thus, there is no perfection in the Law: perfection is in imitating Christ. In this context, Saint Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) says, "The Law taught us to take revenge on one who hurts us, following the verse that stipulates an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But Jesus taught us to go beyond this vengeance, looking at what is loftier." 

The loftier thing that Jesus brought is His stating the Golden Rule of the new Law: "whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12). After Mosaic law had been based on the principle of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", that is the principle of treating someone in kind which is closer to justice, Jesus turned this principle on its head when He said that people are called to behave according what they believe, not on the basis of reaction but from action flowing from perfect conviction of the correctness of their principles.

The commandment "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" realized human justice, but the Golden Rule allows its practitioner to reach the perfection of love. Justice, according to the teaching of Christ, is not the goal at which those who strive for perfection stop. Rather, they go beyond justice to something greater, to grace, forgiveness, and the abandonment of anything that draws a person to the dust that they are from. Perfection is not in justice, but rather in gratuitous love.

The Golden Rule, in contrast to the Mosaic commandment, does not call on people to imitate the people who harmed them, but rather to imitate God and Christ. Returning like for like sometimes means imitating the wicked and returning evil for evil. Thus Christ called his followers to robe themselves in divine virtues and strive for perfection, for divinization: "be merciful just as your Father is merciful", "be perfect just as your Father is perfect"...

Saint John Chrysostom (d. 407) says that nothing causes us to resemble God apart from our preparedness to forgive those who hurt us. In that way we will have acted like God  because God alone has the authority to forgive sins and He called on humans to participate with Him in this authority.

He continues, "If Christ's goal was for man to become god by grace, after God became man, then man must only imitate the Lord Jesus who forgave those who beat Him, crucified Him, and mocked Him."

Therefore, we are not satisfied to be governed by any law other than one law, the law of love, because what we are striving to reach is human perfection, resembling God. Other laws are not sufficient for us and do not match what we aspire to.

An-Nahar: Kidnapped Bishops are in Good Health

Syrian National Council: Metropolitans Boulos Yazigi and Youhanna Ibrahim are in Good Health


An official in the Syrian opposition announced that the two bishops who were kidnapped last month in Northern Syria, Metropolitan Boulos Yazigi and Metropolitan Youhanna Ibrahim, are in good health, without offering any details about the identity of the kidnappers. Abd al-Ahad Steifo, a member of the committee delegated by the opposition Syrian National Council with following the situation of the bishops, said at the gathering of the Syrian opposition in Istanbul that, "For us, the only certain information is that a doctor visited the bishops two or three days ago and they are in good health."

He stated that the committee failed to make direct contact with the kidnappers and stated that "there is a lot of contradictory information about the identity of the kidnappers and their demands for ransom," adding that, "Criminal gangs sometimes do kidnappings of this sort. Sometimes the Asad regime is behind it and, let's be frank, groups from the Free Syrian Army sometimes do kidnappings of this sort in order to make exchanges."

He noted that, "the bishops are known in Syria for their humanitarian activities and their defense of peaceful co-existence between the various religious groups in Syrian society. Their kidnapping sends a message to Christians in Syria and the region and so we are eager to obtain their release."

Fr Georges Massouh on the Eclipse of the Arab Nation-State

Are Nations Historical Mistakes?


It becomes more certain every day that the sectarian consciousness in our countries continues to be stronger than all other forms of social cohesion. This sectarian consciousness even does away with religious consciousness that could bring together all those who belong to a single religion, across different sects, just as it does away with all common denominators on the basis of which children of the same religion can meet to resolve disagreements and deadly strife.

If religious consciousness was a factor for some in dividing a single country, then sectarian consciousness agitates, not to divide children of the same country, but children of the same religion. This means that sectarian consciousness, whenever it is misused, can be the cause of double strife.

Group consciousness, any group consciousness, is not bad if it is for the sake of solidarity, cooperation, and serving God's creatures and the country. However, when it turns into blind prejudice that permits destruction, expulsion, it becomes an absolute evil and corruption in the earth. What is happening in our countries confirms, without any doubt, that the sectarian sentiment whose fire many breathe has gone far beyond what could be described as blind prejudice. 

What we are witnessing today is the result of sectarian bonds being elevated above any other religious, national, or ethnic bonds. Almost a century after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of nation-states, sectarian consciousness and sectarian prejudice remains stronger than national consciousness, despite sugary words about the national bond and the final and eternal nation.

In this context, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (d. 1897) believed that no bond, not even love of the nation, could replace in the hearts of Muslims the bond created by Islam. Today, however, we can say that no bond, not even the bond of Islam, can replace the Sunni or Shiite sectarian bond.

Group consciousness, any group consciousness, is praiseworthy and honorable when its goal is struggling against a common enemy who occupies the land and violates human rights. However, group consciousness that eliminates citizenship and national cooperation for the sake of an "umma" that is assumed to be boundless, this group consciousness only produces more fragmentation, disunity, backwardness, and decline.

Those in charge of the affairs of Muslims, Sunni or Shiite, politicians or clergy-- at least most of them-- are embroiled in plans that surpass their limited statures and go beyond the borders of their countries. When they work to import foreign wars and struggles by militarizing their followers and inciting them against their fellow citizens of a different sect, this demonstrates that there are those among the Muslims who only see their nations as historical mistakes that must be erased in order to bring back the Islamic Umma, not on an Islamic basis, but on a sectarian basis that declares that those who belong to sects differing from the ruling sect to be unbelievers. 

For children of a single nation, city, or street to be divided into two sectarian groups who fight each other, defensively or in support of a war taking place outside their country, simply because this war is being waged among their brothers in religion or sect, means nothing less than the destruction of the religion and the sects together, even apart from it being a cause for the destruction of humanity and the nation.

Met Saba Esber on the Purpose of Orthodox Spirituality

The Purpose of Orthodox Spirituality

Question: I know, father, that many Orthodox do not like to use the term "spirituality." But insofar as it is a term that is current in the field of religion as in other fields, can you explain to us what is Orthodox spirituality?

Elder: We can define Orthodox spirituality as the path of the Christian's growth and his advancement in the way of perfection in Christ, the path that is completed through purification from the passions and the acquisition of the virtues. It is a way that is completed through a defined system and a well-known method. It describes the manner through which the Christian advances in the process of purification from each successive passion, while at the same time acquiring more virtues.

Question: Does this not give spirituality an ethical dimension?

Elder: When you are purified of a given passion and acquire the virtue that opposes it, your character naturally improves. However, Orthodox spirituality does not stop with good morals and does not consider that to be a goal in itself, but rather a natural expression of advancement of the life in Christ, reflecting God's grace active in the person being purified. In light of Orthodox spirituality, Christian ethics no longer appear to be the simple fulfillment of the duties demanded by God's commandments. In these commandments, there is a note of remuneration or reward. Orthodox spirituality transcends the issue of "putting the conscience at rest", "avoiding punishment" or "greed for reward."

Question: In light of what you said, what is the goal of Orthodox spirituality, then, if it is not good morals?

Elder: Orthodox spirituality aims for the believer's perfection in Christ. Its goal is the believer's unity with God, in Christ.
The Fathers affirm that perfection is not limited by any ceiling. Our perfection, or our unity with God, is not only a goal but also an infinite path. In this path, we distinguish two stages:
1. Moving forward toward perfection through purification from the passions and acquisition of the virtues. 
2. The upward motion of life in union with God.
On this path lies a person's work to open the doors of his soul, so that it can be filled more and more with God's life.
Love of God, the desire to draw near to Him, and life in His constant presence pushes the believer to live this life and to be colored with the characteristic that we describe as spirituality.

Question: Are there specific qualities that distinguish Orthodox spirituality?

Elder: We can distinguish the following basic qualities:
1. The apex of spiritual life is the soul's union with God.
2. This union is realized by the work of the Holy Spirit, which supports the believer in continuing his efforts to purify himself.
3. The process of purification is achieved when the believer arrives at "God's likeness". That is, when he abides in knowledge and love.
4. This union appears in the focus of divine powers in a person, accompanied by various kinds of gifts.
The purpose of Orthodox spirituality is nothing other than living in a state of divinization or participation in divine life. The East dares to speak of man's divinization.

Question: What is our understanding of union with God?

Elder: Let us not speak to much of what is loftiest in human life. One of the spiritual fathers was accustomed to say "Talking about God is good, but listening to Him is better." Let's focus on the path that leads to this high level. However, let me answer you with the words of Saint Gregory Palamas, "Our mind leaves itself and is united with God. It becomes more than mind." This state is realized when the believer rises to what is above his own powers, through the activity of the Holy Spirit.

Question: What did you mean, father, by focusing on the "path"? 

Elder: In order to reach this state, a person must make constant effort and persevere in asceticism, my son. The Apostle Paul uses the image of the dedicated and diligent athlete who strives to win the prize. Constant athletic exercises are what makes the athlete maintain his fitness. 

Question: Talking about asceticism scares people these days, father. What does asceticism mean?

Elder: The Greek word asceticism, my son, has taken in the East a monastic meaning, but the literal meaning of the word is "exercise". In the Christian understanding, an ascetic is one who exercises to return his passions to their root, through persistent practice of the system of abstinence and self-control, according to a defined program, in order to arrive at perfection. 
Origen calls zealous Christians ascetics because they train themselves for liberation from the passions and to develop good habits that lead to perfection (1).

Question: Does this mean that it depends on the person, according to his ability to practice and live asceticism? Where is God's role in this path of perfection?

Elder: If we talk, my son, about the ascetical effort that is demanded of a person and its role, it does not mean that we give the person all the agency, nor do we mean that divine grace does not support ascetic efforts. Rather, we simply mean that this spiritual experience that is attained does not find its source in human spiritual powers, but rather exclusively in God. Divine grace supports the person who makes effort to persist in his ascetic efforts and to advance in it.
We must not forget that divine activity does not sanctify without human agreement. By agreement we do not mean a mere lack of objection,  but rather active acceptance.
There is a lovely saying by Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, in effect, "For you to create, this is something that depends on God. For you to be created, this is something that depends on man" (2).

Question: Why does Christianity in general and Orthodoxy in particular give such importance to asceticism?

Elder: If you desire life, you must put death to death. Asceticism is "killing death" within us, so that our nature may be liberated from its enslavement, according to the expression of Saint Maximus the Confessor (3).
The death of death, or the death of sin, is not something instantaneous. It requires a long ascetical preparation. Asceticism is a life that brings forth death to evil, according to the teaching of Saint Symeon the New Theologian. It is the gradual destruction of sin and every inclination towards it. 

Question: But asceticism is based on abstinence, which is a negative activity. Can we strive toward perfection in Christ through negation?

Elder: No, my son. The negative connotation of the word "asceticism" comes from the prevalent erroneous usage. In our concept of it, however, asceticism is a very positive activity because one who struggles does not only strive to abstain from passion, but abstains from it in order to open space in his soul, so that it can be filled with virtue in its place. Asceticism sows the virtues in place of the passions. These, the virtues, in turn strengthen nature in truth. 
The final goal of asceticism is to liberate our nature, not only from the movements of sinful lusts, but also from the thoughts that appear in our mind after its purification from the passions.

Question: But this liberation empties nature and the mind, father. Is emptying what is desired?

Elder: No, my son, we do not empty our nature and our mind. Rather, we replace the sinful, passionate, harmful things that fill them with what God created in us before the fall of our first ancestors. We sublimate our passions and lusts by becoming free of them. In this way, we replace, in the words of Saint John Climacus "longing with longing, desire with desire." We become free of earthly things and replace them with heavenly things. For us, emptying is a positive activity because on the one hand it displays a thirst exclusively for God and on the other hand it fill us with that which is beneficial for us and is meant for our salvation. The believer rejects passionate diversions in order to receive God in their place (4). We are emptied of what is harmful and sinful and are filled in their place with what is beneficial and good. Otherwise, there is no meaning and no use for asceticism. Asceticism is not a goal in itself. 

Question: Is this not difficult for human nature?

Elder: Naturally, if we look at it from a purely human perspective, it is very difficult. But, if we are moved by love of God and know that God is with us, it becomes much less difficult. According to the teaching of the Fathers, the weakness of human nature is manifest in its lack of stability and firmness. It is like a branch shaken by the wind (the wind of the passions), and some compare it to a ball in the hands of the passions. However, by means of gradual ascetic exercises, our human nature participates more and more in the power of Christ's human nature. We must not forget that our efforts also include the power of Christ's human nature. The possibility of connection to Christ becomes active and effective through faith in Him. Consequently, His power becomes our power. 

Question: So, ascetic efforts are more than necessary?

Elder: Our asceticism is the gradual death of the old man within us. It is an extension of baptism through will. Asceticism is not imitation of Christ as in the West, but rather a heroic death with Christ and in Christ. Our resurrection in Christ first means our death in Him. We cannot rise with Christ if we have not died with Him. The Resurrection is not a change of direction, but rather continuing along with Him. Death and resurrection in Christ are a single, continuous road.

Question: It is hard work, father! Who is capable of it?

Elder: Let the following words of the Apostle Paul be present in your mind, my son, "I can do anything in Christ who strengthens me." Christ is present in our favor. He is the primary actor in our asceticism, strengthening us, supporting us, and lighting our way.
Then, the real essence of asceticism is not limited to purifying the self of passions. Rather, at the same time it includes the acquisition of virtues, showing it to strengthen our nature. We not only remove the harmful weed, we immediately replace it with a good plant. This nourishes us daily with power, so that everything in us may become good.

Question: How does the Christian practice asceticism? Is it in a specific way? Or is it as the believer sees fit?

Elder: Asceticism follows a defined path, a system, a series of steps that we must never ignore. It is a specific discipline that takes into account the spiritual life's natural laws of development, as well as the principles of the faith and the person's capability. A battle like this one according to the law means that its way is based according to an authentic and inherent logic. This truth casts light on the final aspect of the spiritual life. This path of struggle requires an experienced and enlightened spiritual father.

Question: What is the role of God's grace?

Elder: Christianity holds that direct vision of God can only be realized through God's grace. In order to receive this grace, we must have moral perfection for the perfection of human nature, through unceasing divine help. Purely human training to awaken "the dormant power within us" is not enough. In Christianity, God does not have a nature that resembles a goal that we can seize with a human assault directed with clever tactics. God is a person. Thus, without initiative on His part, He cannot be known.
In order for God to reveal Himself in a mystical union, we must make ourselves worthy of this revealing by being sincere, pure, and good. God is above coercion that employs force. Thus Christian asceticism is a way enlightened not only by reason but also by faith, prayer, and God's help. It is a path in which our nature is entirely purified from sin and is morally strengthened.

(1) Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah, 19.7
(2) St Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4.64
(3) St Maximus the Confessor, Questions to Thalassios, 61
(4) Saint Maximus the Confessor says, "Just as the sun dawns and enlightens the world, showing itself and the things that it enlightens, so too the sun of righteousness dawns in the pure mind, showing itself and the thoughts of every thing that God made or will make." Chapters on Love, 1

The Youth Movement Launches a New Appeal for Aid to Syria

To members of the Orthodox Youth Movement,
To all whose hearts Jesus Christ has wounded with love:

Greetings in the One who redeemed ours sins and infirmities with His blood,
"Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 4:7).

Around ten months ago, the General Secretariat of the Movement launched the work of the Social Emergency Committee, and at that time designated its activity to be alleviating the impact of events in Syria on the poor, needy, and displaced brothers from among the children of our Church, their neighbors, and compatriots. By the grace of the Lord and the active presence His love in our brothers, the committee was able to help some of them, if even with only a widow's mite to for them to treat some of their many wounds.

The latest report from the commission, which came out at the end of last year indicates that it has offered close to 70,000 USD. The majority of the sources were from donations from the General Secretariat and the centers and the efforts of some brothers abroad, as well as donations from a small number of  brothers. Through various Church channels, the committee sent the money to our dioceses in Syria, according to the most urgent needs. It is obvious to all of us that meeting these needs in a way that ends the suffering of our brothers in faith and in humanity and that pleases the Lord requires much, much more. We are living through one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our era. Tens of thousands of killed and wounded, hundreds of thousands of displaced, destruction on the scale of the world wars. Fear, anxiety, and uncertainties afflict the hearts of wide sections of society with regard to what awaits them in the future.

Brothers,

This crisis has caused the issue of how we treat the poor and needy to once again be a topic of reflection. This is because, if we want to be honest with God, our brothers, and ourselves, with the boldness of God's children, then we must admit that, no matter who we are, the way in which we deal with this issue is not in the measure expected of those who proclaim their complete commitment to the cause of Christ on earth. Likewise, it does not adequately embody our trust in what the Lord Himself proclaimed to us, what we learned in His Church, that our love for them and our our service to them is the foundation upon which salvation is built. Saint Basil the Great reminds us of this principle in his letter to his friend Eustathius, "I thought that the best way to start along the path of perfection is to take care of the needs of those impoverished brothers and sisters, to buy food and distribute it to them. I cast aside all possessions and put all the problems of the world  far from my mind. I searched for those who could share this work with me and accompany me on this path, until I found those with whom I could embark upon the ocean of this world."

Insofar as love for the poor does not have first place in our Gospel, insofar as we do not strive to embody it through serious, regular giving that accompanies our life and is in accordance to frameworks and mechanisms appropriate to our time and to the needs around us, then we free sons in Christ have lost the path of perfection and have become slaves to ourselves and to our consumerist desires. Money becomes that god who leads us away from Him who redeemed us, so we can "take rest" in our selfishness and the hardness of our hearts. We are the children of Jesus Christ, Jesus who did away with all idle speech and spoke His love with blood, with His holy, divine blood. We are the children of Jesus Christ, Jesus the child in the cave who kept company with fishermen and the weary and lived among the simple. We are the children of this God who entrusted us to extend His love into history and existence, to teach the peoples how the simple and suffering were redeemed by love and how love matches the beloved, just as God matched all existence with what it desires and needs.

Let us accept God's having entrusted us, and come together. Come, let us take part in the kingdom of giving. Let us organize together in all the branches and centers [of the Movement], starting at the end of February, for regular monthly giving that will liberate us from parsimonious seasonal giving and lift us up to where God wants us to be, above everything that veils from us from being close to and seeing Him.

Come, brothers, let us repent together to Jesus Christ through His beloved poor.

January 21, 2013

Questions regarding the activity of the committee can be addressed to Rene Antoun at reneantoun [at] gmail.com

إلى أعضاء حركة الشبيبة الأرثوذكسية إلى كلّ الذين جرح يسوع المسيح قلوبهم بالمحبّة،

سلام بمن افتدى ضعفاتنا وخطايانا بدمه الالهي،
أما  بعد،
"اليوم، إن سمعتم صوته فلا تقسّو قلوبكم" (عبرانيين 4: 7)

منذ نحو عشرة أشهر أطلقت الأمانة العامّة للحركـة عمل هيئة الطوارئ الاجتماعية، وخصّصت عملها، في الفترة هذه، للتخفيف من وطأة أحداث سوريا على الفقراء والمحتاجين والنازحين من إخوتنا وأبناء كنيستنا ومَن جاورهم من أبناء وطنهم. وقد تمكّنت الهيئة، بنعمة الربّ وفعل محبّته في الأخوة، من مساعدة بعض هؤلاء وإن بفلس أرملـة يداوون به جرحاً من جراحهم الكثيرة.

لقد أشار التقرير الأخير للهيئة الصادر نهاية العام الماضي الى أن المبلغ الذي قدّمته الى اليوم قارب السبعين ألف دولار امريكي حيث شكلّت تبرعات الأمانة العامة والمراكز، وجهود بعض الأخوة في الخارج، إضافةً الى تبرعات نفر قليل من الأخوة، مصادر مُعظمها. وقد قامت الهيئة بتقديم المبلغ، عبر قنوات كنسية مختلفة، إلى أبرشياتنا في سوريا وفق الأكثر إلحاحاً من الحاجات. فلا يخفى على أحد منّا أنّ تلبيـة هذه الحاجات، بما يرفع الألم عن إخوتنا في الايمان والانسانية ويرضي الربّ ويفرحه، يتطلّب الكثير والكثير بعد. فنحن نعايش واحدة من أكبر الأزمات الانسانيـة في عصرنا وأكثرها قهراً وظلماً وجرحاً للناس. عشرات الألوف من الشهداء والجرحى ومئات الاف النازحين ودمار يشابه بحجمه دمار الحروب الكبرى، وتساؤلات وقلق وخوف يعتري قلوب شرائح كبيرة من الناس حول المصير وما ينتظرهم في الغد.

أيها الأخوة،

لقد طرحت هذه الأزمة أمرَ تعاطينا مع قضية الفقراء والمحتاجين ليكون موضوعَ تأمّل من جديد. لأنّه إن شئنا أن نصارح الربّ والأخوة والذات، بجرأة أبناء الله، لوجب علينا الاقرار بأن تفاعلنـا الشخصي مع هذه القضية، أياً كانت وجوهها، ليس هو بالقدر المُنتظر من أشخاص أعلنوا للملء التزامهم قضية المسيح في الأرض، كما لا يجسّد، بالقدر الكافي، وثوقنا بما أعلنه لنا الربّ، بذاته، وتعلمّناه في كنيسته، من أن محبّة هؤلاء وخدمتهم هي من الأسس التي عليها تُبنى قضيته والخلاص بـه. بهذا الأساس يذكّرنا القديس باسيليوس الكبير في رسالته الى صديقه إيوستاثيوس بالقول: "فكرت أن أفضل طريقة للبدء في طريق الكمال هو أن أعتني باحتياجات هؤلاء الأخوة والأخوات المعدومين، وأن أشتري أطعمة وأوزعها عليهم، ونحّيت جانباً كل متعلّقات ومشاكل هذا العالم بعيدا عن عقلي بالكلية، وبحثت عن الذين يشاركونني هذا العمل ويسيرون معي في هذا الطريق، حتى وجدت من أبحر معه في محيط هذا العالم".

فنحن الأبناء الأحرار في المسيح، ما لم تكن محبّة المساكين هي عنوان بشارتنا الأول، وما لم نسعى الى تجسيدها عطاءً جدّياً منتظماً يرافق حياتنا، وفق أطر وآليات تتوافق مع زماننا والحاجات المحيطة بنا، لفقدنا طريق الكمال وأمسينا عبيداً لذواتنا وشهواتنا الاستهلاكيّة، وأمسى المال ذاك الالـه الذي يبتعد بنا عن الخلاص بمن افتدانا "لنرتاح" في أنانيتنا وقساوة قلوبنا. نحن أبناء يسوع المسيح، يسوع الذي أبطل كلّ لغو في الكلام وحكى محبّته لنـا بالدم، بدمـه الالهي المقدّس. نحن أبناء يسوع المسيح، يسوع، إبن المغارة، الذي رافق الصيّادين والمُتعبين وأقام لدى البسطاء. نحن أبناء هذا الالـه الذي كلّفنـا أن نمدّ محبّـته في التاريخ والكون مُعلّمين الشعوب كيف يُفتدى البسطاء والمتألّمون بالحبّ، وكيف يحاكي الحبّ المحبوب، كما حاكا إلهنا كلّ الكون، بما يشتاق إليه ويحتاج.

فلنقبل تكليف الله وتعالوا جميعاً، تعالوا نتشارك ملكوت العطاء وننتظم معاً، في كلّ المراكز والفروع، بدءاً من نهاية الشهر المقبل بعطاء دوريّ شهريّ يحرّرنـا من التحنّن الموسمي الزهيد ويرفعنا الى حيث يشاء  الاله أن نكون، فوق كلّ ما يحجب عنّا قربه ورؤياه.

تعالوا ننتسب جميعاً إلى "مشروع مشاركة أحباء الربّ" باقتطاع ما نسبته إثنين بالمئة من إيرادنا الشهري لنستحضر به سحر الشركة ونبني به جسر عبورٍ، مبلسم ومُعزّي ومُبهج، للربّ الى القلوب المتألّمة. 

فتعالوا، أيها الأخوة، نتوب جميعاً الى يسوع المسيح عبر أحبّائه الفقراء.

Patriarch John X: Challenges in a time of changes

John X came to us as a shepherd for Antioch, reflecting the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John that tells us about the Good Shepherd who knows the voice of His sheep. I got to know him through his writings as Metropolitan of Europe. Together we experienced harmony and difference. It was a profound encounter, in love of service to the Church. Today the Holy Spirit gave him an appointment with history in motion. His election is a message of light in the darkness of the time and of hope for the resurgence of a renewed Antioch. The process of his election was neither lengthy nor complicated. It was completed in peace and simplicity, with neither hesitation nor haste. There was no lack of concern for the Church's unity. Perhaps the fathers of the Synod deeply realized the danger of the situation and the need for being ready for challenges. The very Church is at stake if stagnant waters do not stir with churchly intelligence so that we might bring back the activity of linking, connection, and leadership in the Middle East. In the Church today there are harmonies and contradictions, revelations and flabbiness, purity and questions, and much that has piled up. The new patriarch, who has experienced both the West and the East, completely realizes the challenges and that the world is changing around us, East and West, radically and rapidly. Globalization, which has both positive and negative aspects, has conquered every place. "Progressive" materialism submits all values and standards to change and questioning. The Arab Middle East is flailing about and living through a phase of great transformation. A whole series of exceptional events require a critical reading, a demonstration of vision, and an exceptional road-map for the Church, so that we as Orthodox may be active within her and not divided and passive.

Five major ecclesial and national challenges stand before us in order for us to rise from "maintaining existence" to "active presence." First of all the challenge of evangelism and renewed pastoral care so that the Church can be in a state of faithful dynamism that speaks to contemporary man and modernity with the language of living faith and not a state of social and cultural nostalgia that revives traditions whose spiritual meaning is lost on new generations. The Gospel is a spiritual radicalism that must be intelligently centered on society in order to build it up. Otherwise it becomes a worldly ideology subject to failure. Then, secondly, the challenge of Antiochian unity, since we do not want merely a slogan but rather effective frameworks for cooperation, coordination, and shared activity between the dioceses, which must be aware that they are members of a single body. Then, thirdly, the logic of service must outweigh the logic of authority, since the Church is not a "pyramid" of authority with a head and a base, decider and implementers. She is a communion of believers who gather together like a ring of links that is consultative and collegial, as rings of charisms, around their patriarch with the bishops in their middle, together taking part in crafting  their present reality and future in the Church, exactly as Christ stood in the middle of the disciples after His resurrection.

The fourth challenge is the sound institutional basis of the Church: canons, departments, research workshops, planning for the framework for services and collaboration, the launching point for the dynamism of the extensive Antiochian Orthodox conference, etc., so that the work of the Church can be coordinated, programmatic, transparent, and universal. At that point, the initiative will be in the hands of the Church instead of being in the hands of Orthodox groups and individuals with their own agendas. Finally, the Church must distance herself from politicization and make herself into a place of encounter, dialog, and initiative for supporting national cohesion and cooperation in our Middle Eastern societies. So let us as Orthodox work to take her out of the logic of sectarianism, minoritarianism, isolationism and into the logic of openness, citizenship, the rule of law, freedoms, and equality.

In the end, all these challenges require the Church to address the world of today through media, a world of connectedness and connectivity, in a studied, contemporary language, in order to convey the words of the Evangelist John, the patriarch's patron, "Come and see."

The initiative today and every day is in the patriarch's hands, since in our Church he is the first bishop among equals, the point of demonstrating unity, the meeting-point of all for consultation, and the starting-point for energetic activity. He is the location of comprehensive catholicity and he wears its symbol, two pectoral icons and a cross. John X, you are the one chosen to be father, leader, inspirer, organizer, motivator, and facilitator between the Orthodox of Antioch and their surroundings as well as with the Orthodox churches, other Christians, other religions, and the entirety of the world today. You have your date with history in the Church of Antioch and with the face of the Lord in her, and from her to the ends of the earth.

البطريرك يوحنا العاشر تحديات في زمن التحولات - المحامي كارول سابا

2013-01-23 12:14:42

 

جاءنا يوحنا العاشر راع لخراف انطاكية وكأني به يحاكي الاصحاح العاشر من انجيل يوحنا الذي يكلمنا عن الراعيالصالح الذي تعرف الخراف صوته. عرفته عن كثب مطراناً لأوروبا. اختبرنا سوية نعمة التناغم والاختلاف، فكان لقاء فيالعمق، وفي حب خدمة الكنيسة. ضرب له الروح القدس موعداً اليوم مع التاريخ المتحرك. انتخابه رسالة نور في ظلاميةالمرحلة ورجاء انبعاث لانطاكية متجددة. لم تطل عملية انتخابه ولم تتعقد، بل تمت بسلام وبساطة، دون ابطاء أو تسرع ولميغب عنها هم الوحدة الكنسية. ربما أدرك اباء المجمع بالعمق، خطورة الوضع وضرورة الجهوزية لجبه التحديات فالكنيسة على المحك، ان لم تحرك المياه الراكدة بذكاء كنسي لنعود فعل ربط وجمع وريادة في الشرق. في الكنيسة اليوم تناقضاتوتناغم، تجليات وترهل، صفاء وتساؤلات، وتراكمات كثيرة. البطريرك الجديد الذي اختبر الغرب والشرق، يدرك تماماًالتحديات وان العالم يتحول من حولنا، شرقاً وغرباً، جذرياً وبسرعة. العولمة، وفيها الايجابيات والسلبيات، غزت كل مكان.المادية "التقدمية" تخضع كل القيم والمقاييس للتغيير والمساءلة. المشرق العربي يتخبط ويعيش مرحلة تحول كبيرة. احداثمتلاحقة واستثنائية تتطلب كلها قراءة نقدية وتظهير رؤية وخطة طريق كنسية استثنائية، لنكون كأرثوذكس فاعلين فيها، لا متفرجين مفعولا بهم.

خمسة تحديات كنسية ووطنية كبرى هي أمامنا على قدر من الأهمية لنرتقي من معالجة "الحفاظ على الوجود" الى"الحضور الفاعل". تحدي البشارة والرعاية المتجددة أولا، لكي تكون الكنيسة حالة ايمانية ديناميكية تحاكي الانسان المعاصروالحداثة بلغة الايمان الحي، لا حالة ثقافية اجتماعية تذكرية تحيي تقاليد لا تدرك الاجيال الناشئة معناها الروحي. الإنجيلراديكالية روحية يجب ان تتمركز بذكاء في المجتمع لتبنيه، والا أمست ايديولوجية دهرية معرضة للسقوط. ثم، ثانية، تحديالوحدة الانطاكية التي لا نريدها عنواناً فحسب بل اطرأ فعلية للتعاضد والتنسيق والعمل المشترك بين الأبرشيات فيجب ان تعي انها اعضاء لجسد واحد. ثم لا بد من ترجيح منطق "الخدمة" في الكنيسة على منطق "السلطة" فليست الكنيسة "هرما" سلطويافيه رأس وقاعدة، رئيس ومرؤوس، مقرر ومنفذون انها شركة

مؤمنين يتحلقون "كحلقة دائرية" تشاورية مجمعية كدوائر مواهب، حول بطريركهم والاساقفة في وسطهم، يتشاركونصنع واقعهم ومستقبلهم الكنسي. تماما كما وقف المسيح وسط التلاميذ بعد قيامته.

أما التحدي الرابع، فهو المأسسة الكنسية الصحيحة، من قوانين ودوائر عمل وورش بحث وتخطيط واطر خدماتوتعاضد، واطلاق لديناميكية المؤتمر الارثوذكسي الانطاكي الموسع الخ، ليكون العمل الكنسي منسقا ومنهجيا وشفافا وجامعا،فتكون حينئذ المبادرة في يد الكنيسة بدل ان تكون في يد افراد وجمعيات ارثوذكسية لها اهدافها. نهاية، لا بد من ابعاد الكنيسةعن التسي س وجعلها مكان التلاقي والحوار والمبادرة لتدعيم اللحمة والشراكة الوطنية في مجتمعاتنا المشرقية، فنعملكأرثوذكس لنخرجها من منطق الطائفية والاقلوية والتقوقع الى منطق الانفتاح والمواطنة ودولة القانون والحريات والمساواة.

تحديات تتطلب كلها، نهاية، مخاطبة اعلامية كنسية لعالم اليوم، عالم الصلة والاتصال، بلغة مدروسة  وعصرية فتكونترجمة لقول يوحنا الانجيلي، شفيع السيد البطريرك، "تعال وانظر".

المبادرة اليوم، وفي كل يوم، في يد البطريرك فهو في كنيستنا الاسقف الاول بين متساوين، نقطة تظهير الوحدة، والتقاءالجميع، والشورى وانطلاق التوثب. وهو عنوان الشمولية الجامعة، فهو يلبس وحده، رمزا لها، ايقونتي صدر وصليب. فهيا يايوحنا العاشر، انت المختار والمصطفى، لتكون أنت الاب، والامام والملهم والمدبر والمحرك والمسهل بين ارثوذكس انطاكيةومع محيطهم، وبين الكنائس الارثوذكسية و مع بقية المسيحيين والاديان الاخرى ومجتمع عالم اليوم. فأنت على ميعاد معالتاريخ في كنيسة انطاكية ومع وجه الرب فيها، ومنها الى اقاصي الارض.

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