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Reports > CHRISTIANS IN THE HOLY LAND |
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CHRISTIANS IN THE HOLY LAND: Brothers and Sisters, I am honored to be here today at your invitation. I am very grateful for your kindness and for receiving me as a member of the Orthodox Church of Antioch. It is important to know that it was in Antioch that the followers of Christ first came to be known as "Christians" as we read in Acts 11:26. To me, this gathering here today indicates the authenticity of your conviction that the Christian Church is not only universal but it also transcends our cultural and linguistic differences. I was born and brought up in Lebanon... a strange land. Even some believers call it the Holy Land! I was among strange people called the Arabs which includes not only the Muslims but also the Christians. In fact, during my early visits to the United States while I was still living in the Middle East, I was often asked when I became a Christian? .... always my answer was, at Pentecost. I am mentioning this because many Christians in the West still ignore the fact that, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians of the Holy Land and the Middle East in general, continue to exist from the time of Christ. They tend to forget that Christian faith came from that part of the world. Christian missions did not bring Christ to the Middle East. People tend to assume that Christianity of the Middle East disappeared centuries ago under the impact of Islam. Even the clergy in the West have not been entirely disabused of that erroneous impression. In particular, schools of theology seem to make an easy jump from the early period of the Church to the era of reformation, which started with the East-West Christian division. This jump sometimes appears to be justified especially when the aim is to emphasize the primacy of the Bible and Biblical studies. However, it is often done at the expense of the Church History. Today, especially the “Evangelicals” from the West, who bring Christianity to the people of the Holy Land and to other Middle Eastern countries, ignore the fact that Christians do continue to live in that part of the world where Jesus was born, died and resurrected. Some of them are aware of the fact that Christians do exist there, but they do not consider them 'Christian enough' because they are not “born again” in their opinion. More recently, Western fundamentalist Christians who call themselves Zionist Christians and who have established the “International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem” come with the idea that the state of Israel is the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies. This is done as if the Bible consists of only the Old Testament; and as if the New Testament does not matter anymore. For them the New Testament is only a printed book and it does not hold any relevance in the way it has been lived throughout history since the Pentecost. II. Understanding the Holy Land: In order to understand the presence and future of the people of the Middle East, in particular of the people of the Holy Land, including that of the Christians, we must keep in mind at least the following two characteristics: A. A sense of history: For the Monotheistic religions, i.e. the Jews, Christians and Muslims, their "past" is relevant to their “present” and their “future”. This is understandable because they consider that God, the Father of Abraham is the same yesterday, today and forever and is the beginning and the end of their history. Particularly, the Christians believe that the Church, is the mystical body of Christ, who according to St. Paul in (Heb 13:8), is the same yesterday, today and forever; and the Alpha and the Omega of the history as read in the book of Revelations. 1:8. I am emphasizing this because in my perception, American churches tend to deal with the political events of the Middle East or the Holy Land without analyzing their historical politico-religious and cultural causes and implications. B. Religion and Politics: In the collective memory and the faiths of the people in the Middle East, including those of the Holy Lands, a human being is, by nature, political and religious entities at the same time. Therefore, religion and politics are interrelated, in the sense that a political action has a religious implication and vice versa. This is due to the fact that societies in that region have never been radically affected by either the industrial revolution or the French revolution or by the movement of enlightenment or the philosophies of materialism, or even the nihilism and Marxism. This is also why a citizen who may not be a believer, is not considered an independent individual in the Middle East like in the West, but morally and legally a part of a religious community. III. Historical Developments and related challenges: A. The Early Christian Age. According to St. Luke, Christian faith emerged in the Holy Land when the Roman Empire was at its peak and Augustus Caesar was ruling the world (sic). Christianity arose as a sect of Judaism but it also included people of different ethnic backgrounds outside of the Jews. The first Church was established in Jerusalem headed by St. Peter and then by St. James, the half brother of Jesus. Christianity was then spread to other countries. St. Peter and St.Paul established a Church in Antioch. St Mark went on a mission to Alexandria, St. Thomas went to Babylon and then to India, St. Barnabas went to Cyprus, etc. At that time, Christians spoke Aramaic, Syriac, Chaldean, Assyrian, Coptic and Arabic languages. These languages continue to be used even now in the liturgy of the Eastern Churches. Many of these languages are still in use among the people in many countries of the Middle East. Greek and Latin were the languages of education and philosophy during the time of Christ. The Challenges to the Christians during that period were: 1. Persecution by the Jews and the Romans until 330 AD and 2. Heresies such as “Gnosticism”, “Marcionism” and “Montanism” B. The Byzantine Empire: This Empire emerged in AD 330 transferring the Capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople. Constantine ended the Roman persecution of the Christians through the Edict of Milan in A.D.313 and at the end of the 4th century Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Empire. Challenges to the Christians during that period were: 1. The problematic nature of the power of the Empire. This is based on the belief that the power of the Church is not supposed to be political, ethnic, cultural or military but it is that of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ has sent to the world to enable His followers to witness to His Kingdom; a kingdom which is not from this world. 2. The Christian divisions. Christian churches started to split in Nicea in AD.325 against Arianism (Christ has a beginning but not part of God), Constantinople in AD.381 against Apollinaris (Christ is less human), Ephesus in A.D.431 against Nestorianim , Chalcedon in A.D.451 on the issue of Christology that caused division between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches. In 1054 a formal division took place between the Eastern and Western Christians. In 1517 the Reformation appeared in Europe and started to send its mission to the Middle East and the Holy Land resulting in more divisions among Christians. 3. The Crusades between 1099 and 1187. Due to the Islamic expansion and because of the division between the Eastern and Western Christians, Crusaders came to Jerusalem. On their fight for the capture and control of Jerusalem, many Christians in the east were massacred in addition to the Muslims and Jews. 4. The Islamic expansion of 636AD. Some historians considered that the divisions that occurred in the East made the non-"Chalcedonian" and the Arab Christians, who were mistreated by the Byzantine authorities, open their cities without any resistance, to the Islamic expansion, which they regarded as a means of liberation from the Byzantine Empire. About 80% of Christians converted then to Islam and the Arab language spread across the entire region. C. The Ottoman Empire from 1517 to 1917. Self-rule was given to Christians by the Ottoman Empire regarding governance of their religious community and national identity mainly, in relation to family and civil law. Despite apparent advantages of self-governance provided by the Ottoman “Millet” system, the Christians had to face the following problems: The challenges to Christians. 1. Christians were practically regarded as Second class citizens. 2. The society had lost its pluralist nature 3. Christians witnessed increasing inter-religious sensitivities and tensions IV. The 19th and 20th century. After two millenniums and despite all past challenges, Christian families are still living and worshiping Christ in the Land where Jesus was born, died and was resurrected. These Christians are not immigrants. They are descendents of those who first believed in Jesus Christ. They live in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and other places, in the occupied territories and in Israel. They are Palestinian Christians-Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant who are together, related to the Mother Church. The great majority of Christians of the Holy Land are estimated at 400,000 worldwide or roughly 6.5 percent of all Palestinians. They are of indigenous stock, whose mother tongue is Arabic and whose history takes back, at least for some of them, to the early Church. They face similar challenges in the Middle East with the rest of the population who now number about 12 million. 1. Recent population changes. a. In 1894, the Christian population in the Holy Land was 13.3% in a total population of 322,338 inhabitants. There were less than 40,000 Jews present in the country at that time (9.3% of the total population and the Muslims were 77.4%). In the last decade of the nineteenth century, the demography of Palestinian Christians has shown a steady decline in number. b. In 1948, prior to the first Arab-Israeli war and the establishment of Israel, there were 145,063 Christians amounting to roughly 7.6% of the entire population which were then 1,908,724 inhabitants. c. Presently, the 50,000 Christians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip make up only 2.2 percent of the total population estimated in the mid-nineties at 2,238,0001. Palestinian Arab Christians in Israel were estimated, for the same year at 125,000 or 14% of all Arabs in Israel. Therefore, Christians in Palestine and Israel make up 175,000 or 2.3% of the entire Arab and Jewish population of the Holy Land. Christians in the Middle East in general are about 12 million. Palestinian Christians in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip belong to fifteen different churches or denominations. The largest is the Eastern Orthodox Church (51%), the Catholics are (32%), the Oriental Orthodox (Syrian, Copt, Armenian, Ethiopians) are 12% and the Episcopal, the Lutherans and other Evangelical Protestant denominations make up about 5%. 2. Christian contributions to modern developments. At one stage in history, Arab Christians played a significant role in developing and shaping the Arab Renaissance. In the 20th century, Christians of the Arab world, including the Palestinians, made at least the following contributions: a. Promotion of modern nationalism. In the Middle East, including the Holy Land, the Jewish, Christian and Muslim intelligentsia, who studied in European cities like in Paris and London, brought back to their region, the secular ideology of modern nationalism. Their aim was to promote Arab nationalism against the domination of the Ottoman Empire. Mainly the Jews and the Christians believed then that by using the European model of the society or the “Nation State”, they could solve their status of second-class citizens in the societies where Islam was a majority faith. This is because the “Nation State” concept promotes two principles: one is separating the State from Religion and the other is establishing equality between citizens regardless of faith, ethnic or cultural background. Their hope was to establish an alternate to the ethnocentric or Islamic theocratic State, whose exclusiveness was considered a hindrance to human rights, democracy, just developments, freedom, Justice and Peace. For this reason, Christians of the Holy Land, supported the original Palestinian proposal of establishing a secular, democratic and pluralist State in Palestine, where people of all religions ethnicities could live together in Peace. b. Promotion of Christian Unity. In that context, a Movement of Christian Unity was encouraged by the churches of the Middle East. It seemed as though it was a response to Christ's call to be One; as a reflection in history of the Oneness of the Triune God; and for credible witness within the monotheism. Churches also promoted this movement as a sign of hope in reconciliation and peace between people of different ethnic, cultural, ideological and religious backgrounds living in the Middle East. c. Promotion of Education. The establishment of Christian schools and universities with the support of western Christian institutions helped the people of the region acquire abilities to secure the economic, technological, moral and democratic development. Challenges to Christian contributions: Christians of the Arab world have been experiencing serious challenges to the developments in the early 20th century including, at least the following: a. Foreign Interventions. Because of its geographic position, religious importance and its natural resources, the Middle East region, including the Holy Land has always been important to foreign powers in terms of their own religious sentiments, trade and economic security. One could recall, for instance, the foreign powers interested in the Middle East, the Greeks, then the Romans, then the Crusaders, then the Byzantine empire, then the Ottoman Empire, then the European colonialism, particularly the British and the French Mandates, then the Super Powers of the cold war, and then recently the American policy driven by self-interest of a “New World Order” and then by the “Globalization”. Though the local Christian population in the Middle East suffered the negative impact of colonization along with others, because of the efforts by some foreign powers which tried to use the local Christian population for their own self interest against the regional and national interests of the Middle East, and also because of the seemingly common theological grounds they had with the western powers, the Christians of the Middle East in general have come to be considered the “fifth column” of the “West” by the rest of the population. b. Ethnic and Religious Revivalism. Some non-Christian religious revivalist movements of the Middle East started to react to their own perceptions of Western political, religious and cultural experiences. The reaction was so negative that they even opposed the foreign policies of some western powers. By opposing the foreign policies of the western powers, they also started to oppose their particular religious and cultural ethos that are associated with such countries. Unfortunately, some of these revivalist movements in the Middle East have been using or misusing politics to fulfill their ideals; or have been permitting political powers to use and misuse the religion for the pursuit of their own particular political interests. In fact, this phenomenon is no more exclusively Middle Eastern anymore. It has become widespread that it is now a serious challenge to the concepts of Universality and Plurality in the 21st century. Accordingly, as a result, two following phenomena have emerged in the region and it seems to be spreading to the rest of the world. i. The emergence of ethno-religious nationalism. The establishment of an ethno-religious nationalist State in the Middle East in 1948 with the help of Western Powers has challenged the concept of Pluralism and Universality or Multi Culturalism. This most serious challenge to the multi religious Palestinian existence came from the Zionist Movement. Understandably and legitimately, this movement wanted to liberate the Jews from European Anti-Semitism and the horrible experience of the Holocaust. The anti-Semitism and Holocaust itself were a serious challenge to the very concept of Plurality and Universality in the then central Europe. For this reason, it labored towards gathering the Jews of the Diaspora in the Holy land on the basis of what it then considered to be the need for gathering “a people without land in a land without people”. Unfortunately, this ended in settling the Jews in the Land where sizable communities of Christian and Muslim Palestinians were living along side a small Jewish population. By this development, the Jewish partners of the Holy Land withdrew from their involvement in the pre 1948 nationalist movement which was started for the purpose of building the European model of modern secular nation state in response to the status of Christians and the Jews in a predominantly Muslim society. An Israeli State was then established in Palestine according to a Philosophy of existence, based on ethno-religious centrism. It is a total reversal from the pre 1948 efforts of the Jews and Christians along with progressive Muslims in the Holy Land. This philosophy challenged the secular and pluralist nature of modern nationalism on the grounds that it separates religion and ethnicity from the State; or the religious power from the political power in order to establish equality between Jews and Palestinians or Jews and Gentile. According to the new concept on which the State of Israel was created, the secular nationalism denies the concepts of, (a) Election of the Jewish people, and (b) God’s Promised Land. Accordingly, the political and military behavior of the state of Israel revealed objectives of ending the European concept of a “Nation State” and of transforming the region into an ethnic and/or religious entities. This is being done on the basis of problematic ethical values, which include: a) might makes right. b) The fait accompli. c) The elimination of the “other” instead of dialogue and d) the ideology of fear. The way in which the state of Israel was imposed on the people of the land who lived there for thousands of years and the pain and sufferings caused in the displacement of the native people of the land created anger and popular backlash against the state of Israel. This caused the leadership of the Palestinian people and some progressive Jewish leaders to denounce the creation of an ethnic religious State in Israel instead of a modern pluralist democratic state. The backlash and anger among the Palestinians against the State of Israel led Israel to further invade neighboring areas where Christians and Muslims lived for thousands of years in relative peace, with the Jewish people who chose to stay in the Holy Land. The aggressions of military occupation and restrictions on internal travel along with many other hardships on the people living under occupation has resulted in the following: *Emigration. Since 1948 Palestinian Christians started to leave the Holy Land in record numbers. Today a majority (56%) of Palestinian Christians live outside their homeland not by their choice. Many have opted to leave to other far away lands such as the United States, Latin America, Australia and Canada. In fact the dispersal of Palestinians since 1948 has spared no one family. *Status of Refugees. Fifty to sixty thousand Palestinian Christians, comprising 35% of all Christians in pre-mandatory Palestine, were among refugees in the neighboring Countries. There are now, 3,573,382 refugees registered in UNRWA and 1,545,170 unregistered. Most of them live in 59 refugee camps. *Schooling. Often children have not been allowed to attend schools. Frequent clampdowns and closures of Palestinian villages by Israeli army prevent normal functioning of the schools. *Poverty. Due to economic blockade on the Palestinian villages by the occupying forces, the economic activity has trickled down to almost nothing. According to the UN and the World Bank, half of the population of the West Bank and Gaza lives in poverty (defined as less than $2 per day). *Violence. Palestinian Christians face the daily threat of personal violence, home demolition, land confiscation, shortage of food, water and medical supplies as well as strict restriction on movement. ii. The emergence of Islamic Revivalism: After the fall of the cold war and because of the perceived policy of the Israelis aiming at “Balkanizing” or Fragmenting the Middle East into ethno-religious entities, today the people of the Middle East are experiencing a decline of all secular ideologies and a rise of religious nationalism that emphasizes the sacredness or religious absoluteness of the “particular” in the identity of the people. During the cold war, US supported some Islamic extremist or the so-called “fundamentalist” groups to make the Middle Eastern societies more religious for the purpose of checking the advancing influence of the Soviet Union. This has made some Islamic extremist movements to behave as causes of war instead of factors of Peace between the people of different confessions, beliefs, cultures, ethnic and ideological backgrounds. They are striving today to re-establish unity between Religion and State, which according to them, should be based on Islamic Law or Sharia and not on laws elaborated by the “Western Democracy”. They consider that the concepts of Western secular democracies are not compatible with the Islamic faith. In this regard, it is important to mention also that the majority of the Muslim population is willing to have a new interpretation (Ijtihad) of their Laws in order to include a more effective Shura process or what is known in the Western democracy as the freedoms and equality between citizens. As a result of this development, the Christians in the Middle East, like those of the Holy Land, are now experiencing two contradictory Islamic attitudes. On one hand, the Muslims are showing a sincere appreciation of the positive contribution made by the Christians to the Arab Renaissance. They are expressing gratitude to the Christian for their opposition to colonialism, for their persistent disapproval of an ethnic State in the Middle East, for their international appeal for a shared Jerusalem and for Peace in the Holy Land. On the other hand, the Muslims are indirectly expressing their vision of establishing an Islamic State in Palestine and in other countries of the Middle East. This development is making some Christians to seriously consider leaving their home land for fear of tomorrow. Many Muslim leaders have expressed the need for continuing the precious Christian presence among them as much as the State of Israel’s declared position of having the Christians among them for their own reasons. c. Conflict of Cultures. This cultural conflict is an outward expression of the ethno-religious revivalism . In fact, for many centuries, the Middle East, including the Holy Land, has been a crossroad of cultures that made its people suffer a schizophrenic way of life, mainly between two cultures. The first is the so-called Western culture, which is regarded by many Middle Eastern “monotheists” as being the result of Western secular humanism. According to them, this philosophy has invested power in the human being to the extent of marginalizing and even eliminating God through the materialist, nihilist or atheist ideologies. Many of them consider that this culture and its values were imposed internationally through Western colonialism and Christian Missions as well as through the United Nations. The second cultural trend is the monotheistic reaction to the “Western culture”. According to this, mainly the Jews and the Muslims consider a) that “power” should be re-centered in God b) that the State and Religion should be reunited and c) that the concept of Community should supercede individualism. Now-a-days, this kind of conflict is being exacerbated by the emergence of ethnic and religious nationalism in many countries especially in the Middle East. The extremist or “fundamentalist” expressions of this theologically well founded in monotheistic cultural trends, goes often to the extent of asserting God’s power in the world at the expense of the human being who could even be eliminated in the name of God or “His people”. The issue is whether the ongoing cultural tension will be allowed to destroy social pluralism in the West and the East or would it be possible to make the opposing cultures to interact constructively on the basis of the Christian belief that God and the human being have been reconciled through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the prototype of the new humanity. If the latter alternative can be promoted, it could help discover common values for common living in justice and in peace. V. Ecumenical Responsibilities In the collective memory and faith of the Christians of the Holy Land, who are referred to as forgotten faithful, the revelation given to Abraham took place in their region and that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not by accident, but in order to transform fear, hatred and despair, into love, hope, reconciliation and peace between all peoples or nations. This is why Jesus was called the Prince of Peace. For this reason, I believe that the Christians of the international community should support the Christians of the Holy Land secure the continuity of their presence in their land that they are not forced to leave. They must be helped to render witness to God’s peace, on behalf of the Church Universal. Moreover, partnership with the Christians of the Holy Land is highly needed today to help them respond constructively to the ongoing challenges of the Middle East conflicts and to work for the fulfillment of witness to God’s Justice and Peace in that region and in the whole world. Practically, this indicates that inter-Christian exchange and inter-religious dialogue and cooperation, at least between the Monotheistic religions, are increasingly needed to put an end to the violence and to achieve a just peace. Among the related ecumenical objectives required through such dialogues, I would mention the following: 1. To call the people of good will to put pressure on Israel and the Palestinians to bring the cycle of violence to an end and as well as to adopt in their policies the compatibility and convergence of the Israeli divine right with the Palestinian human right thus giving Israel its right to exist and the Palestinians their political rights. This will allow the Palestinians to show their sensitivity to Jewish suffering and their need for security. 2. To demand that the UN assumes its responsibility in sponsoring the Middle East peace negotiations. A new framework is needed based on UN resolutions 242, 338 and 194, the fourth Geneva Convention for the protection of the Palestinian people and the relevant Human Rights Conventions. Therefore, Justice and Peace will be achieved when Israel fulfills its obligations under international law. 3. To help liberate the monotheistic religious communities from old misconceptions and traumas, such as Anti-Semitism and Auschwitz, the Crusades and the thought that Islam is the religion of violence. 4. To help the people concerned, prove that religion cannot be a cause of violence and war but a factor of justice, reconciliation and peace. 5. To discover, through ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue within monotheism, common values conducive to common living in societies viable in justice and peace. Such societies will not have to be either secular or theocratic or ethnocentric. However, they should respect religion as well as religious, ethnic and cultural differences. At the same time, they should secure religious freedom and freedom of conscience, which are rooted in the shared conviction that God has created the human being at “His image and likeness”, as believed by the Jews and the Christians and “equal like the teeth of the comb”, as written in the Islamic "Hadeeth". Therefore, the relation between religion and state could be reviewed in order to respond adequately to the spiritual and cultural requirements of the people concerned. 6. To develop programs of action that will help people in the world, promote the centrality of a shared Jerusalem. The Holy City should become a symbol of peace between all human beings, regardless of their religion, culture or ethnic backgrounds. 7. To encourage common mental pilgrimage to the Holy Land by reading appropriate written material. And, when feasible, to organize physical ecumenical or inter-religious pilgrimage to the Holy Land, in order to understand the situation of the “living stones” and to help them work together for common living and just peace. Conclusion The situation in the Holy Land has been causing immense suffering perpetuated by violations of human rights as well as moral and physical violence. Through these sufferings, the Christians of that region are alerting us to the fact that their present politico-religious dynamics may continue and the ethno-religious nationalist trend may keep growing. In this case the 21st century will witness tragic geo-political changes that might affect the whole world. They are also reminding us that such situation can be redressed, through the proclamation of truth and through genuine love that destroys all barriers between individuals or communities of different background. For this reason, Christians everywhere are called to cooperate in helping the Churches of the Holy Land secure the continuity of their presence in their Land and to facilitate inter-Christian and inter-religious dialogue towards promoting common values for peace. The hope is that Christians of the Holy Land will be helped to become a qualitative power of love and Justice for the development of their societies, Justice and Peace in their region and in the whole world. The author Dr. Gabriel Habib is the former Secreatry General of the Middle East Council of Churhces (MECC) and a consultant to the World Council of Churches (WCC). Dr. Habib was knighted by the Orthodox Church of Antioch. He has held many formal positions with the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churhces of the USA until he recently retired. He is also one of the International Presidents of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP). The above speech was delivered by him to a Christian Evangelical Conference in Chicago in 2003. The views expressed in this article are the views of Dr. Gabriel Habib and not necessarily of PIFRAS. |
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