The Spirit of Peace
Pentecost and Affliction in the Middle East
Mary C. Grey
Sacristy Press
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First published in 2015 by Sacristy Press, Durham
Copyright Mary C. Grey 2015
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Kindle: ISBN 978-1-908381-45-3
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Table of Contents
Dedicated to my dear sister Margaret who died as this book reached completion
Preface
How to write a Preface for a situation that is ever evolving? For a conflict seemingly without a peaceful resolution, at least in the near future? But, in a sense, this gave a significant rationale for this book. Nearing the end of the third book of the trilogy, I was almost overwhelmed by the tragedy of the continuing conflict in so many Middle Eastern countries. This was accompanied by my own personal sorrow over the sudden death of a younger sister.
If I had not thought or felt so strongly about these conflicts before I began, I certainly do so now; the question that arises from the depths is where is the Holy Spirit in this situation of affliction of Christians in Middle Eastern countries? This makes this book far more than a coherent ending to a trilogy that began with Advent, continuing with Easter, and now concluding with Pentecost: it is a humble response to the key existential cry rising up from the people of lands where Christianity is rooted, and where it grew from the inspiration of the earliest disciples of Christ.
That cry comes too from many groups to which I owe gratitude and inspiration: to Sabeel in Jerusalem, especially to Cedar Duaybis and Samia Khoury; to the Arab Education Institute in Bethlehem, especially to Dr Toine van Teeffelen; to Zoughbi Zoughbi and his family of Wiam, Bethlehem; and also to the many groups in the UK who act in solidarity, especially to Mariam Tadros of Embrace the Middle East and to her family; and to my colleagues in Living Stones of the Holy Land.
In the context of also preparing for the funeral of our sister, I want to mention especially my brothers and sisters with gratitude for the values and memories we share. It is also the year when Nicholas and I give thanks for 50 years since our wedding. Without the commitment to justice we have shared for half a century, this book would not have been written.
Mary Grey
May 2014
Introduction
Whatever happened to the Arab Spring? The threatened situation of Christians in the Middle East.
When I began my previous book, The Resurrection of Peace, in 2011 an unexpected sense of optimism was in the air. Despite being conscious of the ongoing suffering in Israel and Palestine, I wrote that a new mood had emerged in the Middle East in December 2010:
Called the Arab Spring, this movement began in Tunisia, followed by uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain. Each conflict has its own unique character, and it is by no means clear, over one year later, when the Arab Spring has moved into autumn, winter and another spring is near, whether the outcomes will be positive for freedom for suffering communities in every case. Syria is currently undergoing unspeakable suffering. Every day brings new tensionsbut also hope.
Church leaders from all denominations expressed their hopes as to the outcomes. There was an overwhelming feeling across the entire region that ordinary people wanted to be heard, that peopleboth Muslims and Christianslonged for a democratic, open society.
But now, over three years later, there is a completely different mood. In Tahrir Square, Cairo, where the peaceful revolution of the Arab Spring in Egypt is said to have begun, there are still regular gatherings and protests. I was in Tahrir Square on 1 May (traditional Labour Day) in 2013, where the Egyptian people, totally disillusioned with events after the uprising, were demonstrating for just wages; their mood, although peaceful, was far from euphoric. Events would worsen as the months went on. In Syria, the civil war has worsened catastrophically, causing a humanitarian crisis of frightening proportions in regard to the refugees now living in camps in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon, as well as in Syria itself. The United Nations has declared that the enormity of this crisis is unique.
Due to these conflicts, but not exclusively so, there is an exodus of enormous proportions of Syrian Christians and Muslims to Europe, Australia, the United States, and other parts of the world, as there has been for some time of Coptic Christians from Egypt and Christians from most Middle Eastern countries. The Chaldean Christian Church in Iraq has been decimated. Meanwhile, on the ground in Israel and Palestine, the suffering created by the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank continues and worsens, as does the misery of the people of Gaza. From Palestine also the flight of Christians continues: last year (2013) I heard the Lutheran bishop in Jerusalem, Mounir Younan, pleading for his flock to have the courage to stay in the Holy Land and struggle on for a peaceful end to the conflict.
Almost echoing my sense of despair, an interview by Andrea Tornelli with the (now retired) Archbishop of Galilee, Elias Chacour (Vatican Insider, 7 June, 2013), presents the Archbishop as declaring that the so-called Arab Spring has not delivered on its promise. The Archbishop, in Haifa (Israel), said:
Arab Spring is not the right term. This was no spring. It was a monumental bloodbath. So many died, but the biggest losers are the Christians...
Elias Chacour until 2014, presided over one of the largest communities of Arab Catholics in Israel as Archbishop of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Akko, Haifa, Nazareth, and All Galilee (the Melkite Church is in communion with Rome).The Church has eighty thousand faithful, thirty-two parishes and twenty-eight priests. The Archbishopwho has been inspirational to international audiences through his books, lectures, his own life-history, and his willingness to welcome guestsmet with Vatican Insider and other Italian media at his residence in the Israeli city of Haifa; his own projects are shining examples of peaceful coexistence between religions in the Holy Land, something he has striven for all his life. During this meetingalong with other topicshe expressed his concerns about the fate of Christians who have been forced to flee Syria. He said (emphasis is mine):
I do not know why so many lost their lives in the Arab Springwhich was not a spring at all since it produced no fruits and new life was nowhere to be seen
