A Prayer for Egypt

From A Sense of Belonging.

God, Five more policemen were killed today. Several high-profile militants were killed this week. And to avoid adding their number to the roll, Egypt’s churches canceled summer activities for the next three weeks. The intelligence services are finding material – warning the Christians and raiding the hideouts. Yet extremist elements are finding recruits – threatening Christians and targeting checkpoints. God, the cycle must end somewhere. May it be with the least blood. Criminals must be found, God. But give them justice greater than death. To the degree possible, help raids end in capture. Peace must be established, God. But give Egypt justice greater than security. To the degree possible, help rights end in responsibility. Death comes for all, God, when you will it. But in Egypt the past several years, it has come too soon for too many. In eternity you cancel death. May Egypt live as if you canceled it now. Amen.  

Orthodox Archbishop Job on Christianity and secularism

I love this quote:

"The role of the Church is to witness to sanity. To real sanity in a world which has gone berserk. A world in which people speak of freedom, but no longer know what that means...people who speak a language which has lost its meaning."

What a great quote! Check out this interview from the 90s with Archbishop Job.


HT to The Sounding Blog.

Atallah Hanna, the only Orthodox Palestinian Bishop

A colleague referred me to this interesting interview with Bishop Atallah Hanna. All the bishops of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem in the Holy Land are Greeks (weird, I know), with the exception of this single man. While almost all the indigenous Christians within the patriarchate are Arabs (or Palestinians), and most of the clergy are Arabs too, there is only one Arab bishop.

Here is part of one of his answers:

I am proud of my religion and nationality, I am proud to belong to my fatherland. I am a Palestinian, and I belong to this religious people who are fighting for the sake of their freedom and dignity to implement their dreams and national rights. 

I support Palestinians and share their cause and their issues. We the Palestinian Orthodox Christians are not detached from their hardships. 

The Palestinian issue is a problem that concerns all of us, Christians and Muslims alike. It’s a problem of every free intellectual individual aspiring for justice and freedom in this world. 

We the Palestinian Christians suffer along with the rest of Palestinians from occupation and hardships of our economic situation. Muslims and Christians suffer equally, as there is no difference in suffering for any of us. We are all living in the same complicated circumstances, and overcoming the same difficulties. 

As a church and as individuals we protect this people, and we hope a day will come when Palestinians get their freedom and dignity.

I just want to note that he doesn't mention here (or anywhere in the interview) that sometimes Palestinian Christians are mistreated by Palestinian Muslims. Indeed, I know of many such cases. 

Half the truth is a complete lie.

Orthodox Christian Network: Converts from Islam to Christianity

Interesting interview at the Orthodox Christian Network on conversion from Islam to Christianity.

Check it out HERE.

Ps 51 in Arabic

The aesthetics of the Byzantine Arabic tradition are, in my opinion, far superior to anything we have seen in the West in the last 400 years or so.

London: Muslim leader converts to Orthooxy

Wow, I'm suprised here, but it's great news. I just wish the Orthodox here in the Middle East would show some vague interest in sharing the Gospel with Muslims too.

What led you to Christ?

The first time that I had the desire to study the New Testament in detail was when I was in front of the Kaaba in Mecca—I lived for a time in Mecca. Christian literature is strictly prohibited in Saudi Arabia and many websites are even blocked, but with the development of modern communications, it is not difficult for those who are looking to find the Word of God. After a time, I tried to convince and American who was working in the Saudi capital to convert to Islam. When I spoke to him, he responded with much courage and conviction. I was surprised by his courage, because in Saudi Arabia a man who preaches Christianity can easily be killed. Conversations with Christians in Saudi Arabia were very important for me. As someone associated with the Islamic mission in Arabia, I encountered many foreigners. I always remarked that in most cases, people converted to Islam, not because it was their free choice, but in order to keep working in Saudi Arabia and to obtain a release from the taxes imposed on non-Muslims. The fact is that the salaries of non-Muslims are lower than those of Muslims because of the need to pay a special tax, set by Muhammad. Salaries for Christians in Saudi Arabia are rather low, and some convert to Islam in order to earn more money. The majority of Filipinos who return home immediately renounce Islam. I began to explore Christianity even more and, little by little, I sensed its superiority over Islam. I first consciously encountered Orthodoxy in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Unfortunately, the priests in Sarajevo did not speak English and I could not really express what I wanted. After waiting for a group of Imams to pass by, I went into the Serbian church and I felt the astonished look of the Serbian priest when I made the sign of the cross in the Orthodox way and I made a prostration onto the ground. Then I knew that Orthodoxy was, of all the Christian confessions, the closest to me. I studied Christianity and Orthodoxy even more, reading books and watching films. I also liked the movie Ostrov (the Island). Slowly, I decided to ask for baptism in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Read it all HERE.

Bill on Orthodoxy and Christology

"There's something about being in the presence of Eastern Orthodoxy that gets the Christological juices flowing."

--Bill

Abu Daoud says: Ok, he was sorta making a joke, but is there not something true in the statement? I mean, does E Orthodoxy in its life and liturgy not challenge us to think carefully about our doctrine of Christ? Indeed, in a way that Western Christianities do not? What do you think?

Orthodox worship in the Middle East

Took this not too long ago.

Russian priest killed, possibly connected to his mission to Muslims

MOSCOW — The Rev. Daniil Sysoyev, a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church who was known for promoting missionary work among Muslims, was shot and killed in his parish church late Thursday night, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Father Sysoyev, 35, died at a Moscow hospital of gunshot wounds to the head and chest, RIA Novosti said. The Web site of the Moscow patriarchate confirmed his death. The parish’s choir director was wounded in the shootings at the Church of St. Thomas by the unidentified assailant.

A Moscow Patriarchate official called Father Sysoyev a “talented missionary” whose work among Muslims, including Tatars, might have been the motive for the shooting. [...]

From IHT.

A Missions-minded Orthodox Church?

You can find them every now and then: the Antiochians in the USA are one example--though mostly they are converting Christians to Christianity (something I don't find terribly impressive). But there is also the Orthodox Church in Indonesia, whose senior priest is himself a former Muslim. (Who converted to evangelical Christianity and only later became Orthodox.) Here is their website, I recommend their newsletter which has some nice pictures. It makes me glad to see that there are places where Orthodoxy is still out planting churches and catechizing and evangelizing non-Christians.

Friends of Indonesia

Abu Daoud on Zakaria Botros

I have recently published in St Francis Magazine a short article/book review on Abouna Zakaria Botros. Here is an excerpt:

I believe that Botros is an example of contextualized ministry
par excellence. This might sound like a strange thing to say today
when contextualization and a non-polemical approach are seen as
inseparable. Au contraire. Contextual witness does not mean be-
ing nice, and it certainly does not mean refraining from criticism of
the Prophet of Islam or its book. What contextualization means is
that you are asking the questions to which people want to know an-
swers. A basic example of this is the now commonplace insight
that Arabs are more moved by honor-shame questions than inno-
cence-guilt ones. That is context. And Abouna does this very
well: Muslims want to know about Muhammad, the shari’a, the
ahadiith, and so on. They want to know how Islam can (or cannot)
be al haal, the solution, as other great Egyptians have argued (Al
Banna? Qutb?). And Botros is uniquely prepared to address these
questions: for one, his Arabic is excellent, which might not mean a
lot to people who have not studied the language, but understand
that classical Arabic and common Egyptian Arabic are about as
close to each other as Latin and modern Italian. (OK, maybe that’s
a little bit of a stretch, but not much.) His skills in Arabic permit
him to delve into the copious volumes of traditions about the life of
the Prophet and Islamic shari’a. Egypt asks Zakaria: in what way
can Islam be the solution? Zakaria responds: this is the life of the
Prophet and the law of Islam; you make your own decision.

Read it all at SFM:
Abu Daoud, 'Observations on Abuna Zakaria Botros (and a Book Review)' in St Francis Magazine, Vol 5:5, Oct 2009, pp 93-8.

A list of all my SFM publications can be found on the right-hand side of the screen, FYI.

More Protestants leave for Orthodoxy in the USA

Well, what can I say? I can't blame them. You look at the Protestant churches in the US and they are, on the whole, a pathetic lot (including mine, TEC). Here is a good vignette:

As he entered, a vespers service was under way. Maybe two dozen worshipers stood, chanting psalms and hymns. Incense filled the dark air. Icons of apostles and saints hung on the walls. The ancientness and austerity stood at a time-warp remove from the evangelical circles in which Mr. Oren traveled, so modern, extroverted and assertively relevant.

“This was a Christianity I had never encountered before,” said Mr. Oren, 55, a marketing consultant in commercial construction. “I was frozen in my tracks. I felt like I was in the actual presence of God, almost as if I was in heaven. And I’m not the kind of person who gets all woo-hoo.”

Read it all at IHT.

Exorcism in the Coptic Church as a motive for conversion from Islam

Great quote here:

Some of the priests, like Father Samaan of Cairo, have acquired such a reputation for their ability to exorcise demonsand evil spirits that I once witnessed the arrival of a Muslim woman, with her mentally disturbed daughter, who had traveled all the way from Syria to seek his aid.

Ch. 14, Sana Hasan, Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt: The Century-long Struggle for Coptic Equality. (Oxford 2003)

Fr Ted Pulcini: Eastern Orthodox guidance on how to interact with Muslims

Below are my critical remarks on an interview with Fr. Theodore (Ted) Pulcini on "Come receive the light" radio, recommended to me by Albion Land. The Orthodox Christians I know (and many of the Christians in my country here in MENA are Orthodox) have no knowledge whatsoever of how to witness to the Christian faith. Nevertheless, this is a positive development.

Following are my comments on the strengths and weaknesses of this radio interview:

Comments: his statement about Trinity and "God is love" is from Ramon Lull (a Roman Catholic), not sure if he knows that.

Discussion of the Bible: am wondering if he knows Arabic. Comparing Christ to the Qur'an is an orthodoxy these days.

Mostly am thinking that the interviewer's questions are totally lame.

His pronunciation of Arabic words is not bad.

Question about the Fall of mankind: now we're moving along! Much better question. Original sin as the beginning of a chain reaction--I like this, I can use this. I (AD) would go so far as to say that hamartiology is the central difference between Islam and Christianity.

OK, here's a load of crap: Muslim fundamentalists and Christian fundamentalists defile their religions in the same way. Hmm. They certainly both defile their religion, but one group become intolerant and arrogant, the other intolerant and violent.

Rant on fundamentalism: Dude, I know some very fundamentalist Orthodox Christians. Really, not kidding. Narrow-minded and judgmental as anything.

The example of Fr. Dougl (a RC, not Orthodox, btw): he did not preach or seek arguments. Good for him, but I don't know many fundamentalist missionaries who do this. The fundamentalists I know aren't polemicists really either, they have seen it doesn't work so well.

"Giving an icon of Christ in their midst" "It wasn't because of anything he said". A very facile, naive, and Western mutilation of the Godhead: Actions without words. Christ and the Apostles never preached or lived such a thing.

Christianity and the power of love: I'm with him.

Conclusion: for the most part not worth listening to.

Former Episcopalian new top dog in Orthodox Church of America

Gotta love this guy! Just read this interview. Here are the last two questions:

Q: Orthodox churches are getting a significant number of converts from Western Christian traditions. Is that a reflection on Orthodoxy, on Western churches, or both?

A: To a great extent, many of the other churches are falling apart. The mainline Protestants, the Methodists, the Presbyterians. The Episcopalians have lost half their membership. The Baptists, even. The evangelical movement is already coming to an end. It's only about 100 years old in American culture, and it's kind of come to the fulfillment of its potential. The Orthodox Church is the fullness of the apostolic faith and the apostolic tradition. People find in it what they always thought Christianity should be.

Q: Given that situation, how can Orthodoxy go about raising its profile?

A: We very much believe in free will. You can't drag people kicking and screaming into the kingdom of heaven, as much as you might want to try. While we have not had, for the most part, an aggressive outreach, I think we need to look at different ways in which to reach out to the general population. Truly as it's said in many circles, Orthodoxy is America's best kept secret, and it's our fault.

[Abu Daoud says: do you think the evangelical movement in the US is really coming to an end? Or is he perhaps being too hasty?]

Orthodox website for Muslims

Those of you who read this blog often will know that I frequently lament the lack of witness by Catholics and Orthodox to Muslims. The exception is the Coptic Church, at least in some places. Here is a website that answers Muslims' questions from an Orthodox point of view on everything from the Holy Scripture to Theotokos to the nature of miracles. It is, thankfully, not snarky and stuck-up like so many Orthodox theology sites run by Americans.

The Awakening

It is, thankfully, also in Arabic, which is quite nice if you have an Arab Muslim friend who is perhaps not excellent with the English language.

An Orthodox Priest, a Baptist Pastor, and an Anglican missionary...

Salam!

Well, Abouna Ireneus (not his real name) came to visit me today at my place of work and I had asked him about a house blessing, we were walking down to where I live and passed by the home of some dear friends and Abouna was looking for some kind of plant for the blessing, and we asked the old lady there and she invited us in for coffee. She had grown up Orthodox actually, and obviously loved that church a lot, but had become Baptist many years ago, partially due to the generally dismal pastoral care of the Orthodox Church here.

So we went in for a cup of coffee (I thought). And then she brought us out some apples, so we ate them, and then her son in law, the pastor of a rather charismatic Baptist church in the neighborhood, came down, along with his son and one other young evangelical minister in the city. So I thought, let's have some religious dialogue and started with what seemed to me a fairly general question: what is the difference between grace and mercy.

So we stayed there for well over an hour talking about religion, I was mostly silent though my theological training is far beyond any of theirs. Anyway, it was, I suppose, a nice experience. The Baptist pastor is a gentle man who understood that there are some topics that are more important than others, and the Orthodox priest (who has never studied theology, anybody's church want to sponsor him?) who is a genuine man of God is utterly unfamiliar with how non-Orthodox use certain religious terms and words.

So after lengthy conversation we made my way to my apartment with the sprig of whatever it was and he blessed the place where I live, dispersing holy water here and there and praying (in Arabic) for safety for the people who live there, including safety from "al barbar" which means both "the Berbers" and "the barbarians".

Such are my days. But really, there is a chance for this young priest to study theology but with his wife and two kids paying the tuition at the seminary would be a challenge. So if anyone is interested in helping let me know.

Salam.

Abu Daoud

Achmed Kalfa: Martyr, Saint, Convert from Islam

2. Saint Martyr Achmed Kalfa, +1682 (3/16 May).

Achmed, àlso a Turk, lived in Istanbul 150 years before saint Konstantin and, in contrast the latter, he was comfortably off, occupied a significant government post and at moment of converting he was middle-aged.

He had a Russian slave concubine. Achmed magnanimously allowed her to attend Christian Church and he had noticed her particular gracious changes occurring every time her came from the liturgy. Interested in this, he had expressed to the priest his wish to attend the liturgy during the service of Patriarch, and, of course, he had got such an opportunity. As a distinguished guest he had got a special place.

And so during a liturgy this moslem official suddenly had seen that when Patriarch blessed people, his trikiri and fingers irradiated and rays beamed on the heads of all christians, and only its own chapter remained empty. Astonished with such a miracle, Achmed had expressed a desire to be immediately baptized, and this sacrament was secretly perfected on him.

The martyr remains for some time a secret christian. This phenomenon has its justification in Holy Scripture too: 2 Kings 5:17-19, Jn 3. What was happening with hime during this period is not reported. It is possibly that his love to her, who guided his converting to Church, now, in a unity of faith, became immeasurably finest and empyrean. Perphps the saint had for this period several meatings with a spiritual father in Church, where he was baptized, for edification in Law of Christ.

And so he continued until once during a meeting officials did start to argue about better decision.

When queue run up Achmed, and have asked his opinion, he unexpectedly for all aloud has declared:

- A Christian faith is better.

- Are You a christian? - has asked with smile one of the sitting officer.

- Yes, I am a Christian. - slowly, peacefully and audibly has answered the saint and smile climb down on face of asking...

And saint Achmed has endured all and had underwent a martyr's death on May 3 1682.

From HERE.

The Principle of Sacramentality

The notion that all reality, both animate and inanimate, is potentially or in fact the bearer of God’s presence and the instrument of God’s saving activity on humanity’s behalf.

This principle is rooted in the nature of a sacrament as such, i.e., a visible sign and instrument of the invisible presence and activity of God.

Together with the principles of mediation (God works through secondary agents to achieve divine ends) and communion (the end of all God’s activity is the union of humanity), the principle of sacramentality constitutes one of the central theological characteristics of Catholicism.

Source: McBrien, Richard P., ed. The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1995), p. 1148.

Chesterton on Eastern Christianity in Jerusalem

I really liked Chesterton's remarks here, they are rather damning of European Christianity. After this quote he goes on to say, basically, that Western Christians would have long ago converted to Islam, and that the superstitions of the Eastern Christians (Greek Orthodox, Copts, Armenians, etc.) are in many ways what sustained them:

Save for a few years after the time of Constantine and a few years after
the First Crusade, they have been practically persecuted all the time.
At least they have been under heathen masters whose attitude towards
Christendom was hatred and whose type of government was despotism.
No man living in the West can form the faintest conception
of what it must have been to live in the very heart of the East
through the long and seemingly everlasting epoch of Moslem power.
A man in Jerusalem was in the centre of the Turkish Empire as a man
in Rome was in the centre of the Roman Empire. The imperial power
of Islam stretched away to the sunrise and the sunset; westward to
the mountains of Spain and eastward towards the wall of China.
It must have seemed as if the whole earth belonged to Mahomet to those
who in this rocky city renewed their hopeless witness to Christ.
What we have to ask ourselves is not whether we happen in
all respects to agree with them, but whether we in the same
condition should even have the courage to agree with ourselves.

G.K. Chesterton
The New Jerusalem (1920)
Chapter 4