St. Ephrem of Syria

St. Ephem of Syria. That is ancient Syria. Don't confuse that with modern lines of demarcation limiting what we are talking about to the state now called Syria. It is Mesopotamia. Ancient Assyria in Old Testament times before there was even a province, either Roman, or before that Greek, dominated, called Syria. Modern day Iraq and Syria and Lebanon and the eastern half of Iran in other words (page 57 map, Times Atlas of World History, 1984 edition, for you who doubt the extent of ancient Old Testament Assyria). St. Ephrem is the light and glory of the Syriac Church. St. Ephrem is important to me since I was baptized on his feastday (by the Traditional Roman Calendar).

St. Ephrem is the example for our time. He lived in the fourth century A.D. The Syriac culture that he lived in and especially his writings (I love his Hymns for the Nativity of Christ) demonstrate the rich appreciation of his culture going back to the earliest of the Biblical post flood Patriarchs. He lived in the area that was the nexus of the Roman and Persian empires. It was an equal opportunity area for being persecuted for one's Christian faith. The pagan Roman (not all were, some were Christian, it varied in the fourth century) and Persian emperors had a hobby, throughout the fourth century. They took turns persecuting the Christians in this area. The motivation for the pagans to do this was strictly political. Those represented today by the "Res publica," become a totalitarian empire, while clinging to the image of a republic (long dead), are obviously the American Zionist Occupation Forces. Those represented today by the Persian empire, are obviously the Persian (Iranian) Shiite militias. This isn't the first time. But it is just as evil. What was St. Ephrem's response in his day? It was to hold fast to his Christian faith and oppose the gnostic heretics (today those heretics are the "Christian Zionists" and the American Occupation "chaplains" etc.) and he did one more thing. He built hospitals for those who were sorely sounded by natural disasters and unjust evil war. No wonder he is venerated.

Link.
Syriac Orthodox Resources

From their search engine on Iraq, see this, it is most telling. End the occupations now.

This is a link as well as a title.

Meeting of Oriental Orthodox Heads

at the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia Antelias, Lebanon; October 18, 2003

Saturday, October 18, 2003

" 'We believe that the peace process must be reactivated, and that the Palestinian people must have its independent state and the right to return to its homeland. Israel must implement all Resolutions of the U.N. Security Council by withdrawing from the occupied Arab and Palestinian territories, including the Farms of Shabaa in South of Lebanon, Golan Heights and Jerusalem. Only justice will bring about comprehensive, real and permanent peace in the Middle East.'

'Iraq must regain its independence, integrity and sovereignty. All occupying forces must soon leave Iraq and the nation-building process must start with the participation of all the communities in Iraq.' "

ANTELIAS, LEBANON – On Saturday, October 18, 2003 at the end of the annual meeting of the Heads of the Oriental Orthodox Churches in the Middle East, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Church, His Holiness Patriarch Zakka I of the Syrian Church and His Holiness Catholicos Aram I of the Armenian Church-Catholicosate of Cilicia signed a common declaration underlining their concerns and perspectives related to the active participation of their faithful in Evangelism, Diakonia, Christian education, theological formation and youth involvement as the genuine expressions of life and witness of their Churches. Additionally, issues related to theological dialogues and ecumenical collaboration on global and regional levels, as well as human rights, social justice, peace and inter-faith relations were discussed and highlighted.

On Friday evening, October 17, 2003, His Holiness Aram I hosted an official dinner at the Catholicosate in honor of His Holiness Shenouda III and His Holiness Zakka I. The dinner was attended by 150 guests, including the representatives of the President of the Republic, His Excellency General Emil Lahoud, of the Speaker of the Parliament, His Excellency Mr. Nabih Berri, and of the Prime Minister, His Excellency Mr. Rafik Hariri, and Christian and Muslim spiritual leaders, dignitaries of the diplomatic corps and leaders of the Armenian community.

His Holiness Aram I addressed the guests and indicated that the meeting of the three Spiritual Heads of the Oriental Orthodox Churches is the manifestation of Christian unity, inter-religious and ecumenical cooperation and expression of a living faith.

The following common declaration of the three Heads was read at the end of the dinner:

THE SIXTH MEETING OF THE HEADS OF THE ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
ARMENIAN CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA ANTELIAS, LEBANON

October 17, 2003

COMMON DECLARATION

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Greetings to you all with the spirit of Christian love and fellowship.

We, Pope Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, Patriarch Mar Ignatius Zakka I, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, and Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenians of the Great House of Cilicia, give thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ for granting us, once again, the opportunity to pray together and to reflect together on issues of common concern, at the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, in Antelias, Lebanon. This is the sixth time that we come together as Heads of Churches, with the members of the Standing Committee we had appointed, within the framework of our fellowship that we initiated in 1998.

At our meeting here in Antelias, we have reaffirmed our unity of faith that, for centuries, has been the basis of our common doctrinal positions and theological teachings. Deeply rooted in the Holy Scriptures, the Apostolic Faith and Tradition, the three Ecumenical Councils (Nicea, 325, Constantinople, 381, and Ephesus, 431) and the teachings of our Church Fathers, our unity has sustained the life and witness of the Churches of the Oriental Orthodox Family and became a living source of spiritual strength and missionary engagement in the midst of the upheavals and vicissitudes of our respective histories. For the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the unity of faith is the basis of eucharistic inter-communion and the manifestation of the visible unity of the church.

The unity of the Church is a gift of God; it must be preserved and deepened. It is also a call and a responsibility; it must be responded to seriously. Hence, our unity of faith must acquire concrete manifestations and touch the life of our people through common witness and joint engagement, particularly in the area of religious and moral education, theological formation and social diakonia.


Our unity of faith must also be shared by other churches, both in the Middle East and in different parts of the world. Indeed, the visible unity of the church is a common Christian goal. It is with this spirit and commitment that our Churches are actively engaged in bilateral theological dialogues and in ecumenical collaboration with many churches, world Communions and regional and global ecumenical structures. The World Council of Churches, as a global ecumenical fellowship, and the Middle East Council of Churches, as a regional ecumenical fellowship, are of particular importance for our Churches. We will continue our active ecumenical role in these ecumenical structures.

Besides the inter-church collaboration, we consider inter-religious relations and dialogue to be imperative. Being integral to the history, civilizations and cultures of the Middle East, our Churches have been in constant and existential dialogue with Islam. This dialogue of life, based on mutual understanding, trust and respect, must continue with renewed emphasis and broader perspectives, particularly on the level of the people.

The Coptic Orthodox, the Syrian Orthodox and the Armenian Orthodox Churches have played a significant role in all major initiatives, processes and actions in our region leading it to greater justice, peace and prosperity. We cannot remain aloof and indifferent in the face of the prevailing situation in the Middle East.

We believe that the peace process must be reactivated, and that the Palestinian people must have its independent state and the right to return to its homeland. Israel must implement all Resolutions of the U.N. Security Council by withdrawing from the occupied Arab and Palestinian territories, including the Farms of Shabaa in South of Lebanon, Golan Heights and Jerusalem. Only justice will bring about comprehensive, real and permanent peace in the Middle East.

Iraq must regain its independence, integrity and sovereignty. All occupying forces must soon leave Iraq and the nation-building process must start with the participation of all the communities in Iraq.

Our region is at a critical juncture of its history. We must be alert and exercise utmost responsibility in addressing the issues and concerns of the Middle East. We condemn all kinds of threats against the Arab countries and especially attacks on Lebanon and Syria.

We also condemn all forms and expressions of violence in our region and everywhere in the world. Religion, in its proper understanding, is a promoter of love and reconciliation, peace and justice. We urge all those who, for one reason or other, are in conflict to resolve their problems through dialogue and mutual understanding.

We warmly greet the President of the Republic of Lebanon, His Excellency General Emil Lahoud, the Heads of all communities and the people of Lebanon. We give thanks to God that, after a long period of destruction and conflict, Lebanon now is in a promising process of reconstruction and reconciliation. As Spiritual Heads we extend our full support to this process. Indeed, the Christian-Muslim co-existence constitutes the very identity of Lebanon.

As we conclude our Sixth Meeting in Antelias, we appeal to our Churches to remain faithful to the Gospel by living out its values and imperatives in their daily life, and by participating more actively in the life and witness of the church. Our collaboration must continue to give a renewed efficiency and vitality to the witness of our Churches, especially in its educational, moral, theological, diaconal, evangelistic and ecumenical aspects.

The family is a sacred institution established by our Lord Jesus Christ. The sacredness and integrity of Christian family must be preserved. Hence, we condemn all practices and behaviors related to marriage and sexual orientation that are not in accord with the biblical and moral teachings. In view of the emerging trends and challenges that jeopardize the credibility of Christian moral teachings and spiritual values and traditions, we appeal to our people to preserve their Christian identity and keep their faithfulness to the Gospel message.

We also appeal to our communities living in different parts of the world to remain firmly attached to their native lands by supporting all initiatives and actions that promote peace with justice in the Middle East, as well as mutual respect and understanding among religions and nations.

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.


Shenouda III
Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark Mar Ignatius Zakka I
Patriarch of Antioch and all the East Aram I
Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia

Source:

SOL News

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History - "The War on Lebanon and the Conspiracy to create Greater Israel"

A better title might be "The War on History - Lebanon and the Conspiracy to create Greater Israel" in view of the fact of the errors below.

The below author is about 60% right and 40% very wrong. Where he strays is accepting the idea that Iran is somehow threatened by Israel/America or is on the side of the Arabs and especially Muslims and Christians. The false Christians that he mentions, I will leave to Steve and others to expose for the lying in wait serpents they are. Iran is a CIA and Shiite and Zionist entity which pretends to be an Islamic state. It is not, it is a pagan Hitlerian/Persian Police State puppet to inflict horrible damage on Iraq and all that stand in the way of the evil filth of Israel's agenda to conquer all of the Middle East by their bought and sold chief foot licking dog, the genocidist United States of America. The author is also wrong in identifying the Jews as having any claim biblically or otherwise to Palestine. Also, concerning the cows (see below in the article) that "Israel" "avenged," I have a suggestion what they can do with their sacred cows....

From: Bhatkallys

The War on Lebanon and the Conspiracy to create Greater Israel
Posted By:patelraheem On 9/10/2006

The War on Lebanon and the Conspiracy to create Greater Israel
By A. Faizur Rahman


It is time the international community realised that Israel’s expansionist ideology, tacitly supported by U.S. imperialism, is the root cause of the Middle East crisis,


Its been more than two weeks now since the month-long misanthropic Israeli campaign of massacring innocent civilians and destroying Lebanese infrastructure in the name of freeing two soldiers and eliminating “a state within a state” was brought to a halt by the United Nation Security Council Resolution 1701. But unfortunately thousands of Lebanese are still left homeless either because of flattened homes or due to scores unexploded Israeli missiles and bombs lying around everywhere. According to the U.N humanitarian chief Jan Egeland, “90 % of the cluster bomb strikes [by Israel] occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict when we knew there would be a resolution.” (Gulf Times, Sep 1, 2006). This, coupled with the desperate attempt by the 30,000 strong Zionist army to capture as much Lebanese territory as possible before the ceasefire came into effect on 14 August 2006, conclusively proves that the terror unleashed by Israel was neither about neutralizing the Hezbollah nor about the rescue of the two captured soldiers. The truth is that, the warmongers in Tel Aviv conveniently ignored the two soldiers forcing their families to seek the help of the French government to secure their release. In any case, given the enormous number of casualties suffered by Israel, it would naïve to believe that the Jewish state sacrificed more than a hundred soldiers for the sake of two.


Regarding Hezbollah, the charge against them was that of launching Katyusha rockets on Israeli civilians. But interestingly, a list of all Hezbollah attacks since May 2000(that is, after the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Lebanon), compiled recently by the Jewish Virtual Library, a division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, shows that a majority of those attacks were against legitimate military targets and not civilians. According to the statistics provided by the Library, the only major non-military “collateral damage” to have been caused by the Hezbollah rockets was the killing of 50 cows in Kiryat Shmona on August 11, 2006! This means that there was no provocation from Hezbollah in terms of attacks on Israeli civilians for the Zionists to launch a full scale war. This leads to the logical question; what then were the real reasons behind the systematic destruction of Lebanon?


According to Uri Avneri, Israeli peace activist and former member of the Knesset, the real aim of this war is to “change the regime in Lebanon and to install a puppet government” (see alternativenews.org). The same apprehensions are echoed by Thierry Meyssan, the author of the best-selling book 9/11: The Big Lie. In a recent article, “The Neo Conservatives and the Policies of Constructive Chaos”, posted on his website voltairenet.org, he writes that the war on Lebanon was part of a Zionist- Neocon plan conceived a year ago - as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle on July21,2006 - and finalized at a meeting organized by the American Enterprise Institute at Beaver Creek, Colorado in June this year, to convert Lebanon into a mini-Christian state and annex part of its territory with the ultimate aim to attack Syria and Iran. The meeting, he says, was attended by Dick Cheney, Benjamin Netanyahu, Richard Perle and Nathan Sharansky.


The assessments by Uri Avneri and Thierry Meyssan perfectly accord with the long-cherished Zionist dream of expanding the present boundaries of Israel to create, what has come to be known as, “Greater Israel”. This diabolical irredentism is the result of a deliberate misrepresentation of a biblical verse in which God addresses Prophet Abraham saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18). In fact, even the present state of Israel was forcibly established by displacing the Palestinians on the basis of another “divine” promise in which God is supposed to have covenanted with Abraham to give him and his “seed” after him the entire land of Canaan, that is Palestine, “for an everlasting possession”(Genesis 17:8 ).


Laying exclusive claim to Abrahamic ancestry, and treating these “divine promises” as their “Holy Title Deed”, extremist Jews entertain the idea of occupying Arab lands by asserting that they are entitled to the entire region between the Nile and the Euphrates, comprising present day Israel (including the occupied territories), Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, and a major part of Saudi Arabia up to Medina! ( source: “Complete Dairies” Vol II, p.711 by Theodore Herzl). Not surprisingly, the Zionists ignore the fact that Arabs too are the descendants of Abraham through his son Ishmael, and that they are in possession of the aforementioned lands by virtue of the same divine promise.


Nevertheless, the obduracy of Zionist dogmatism saw the Israelis taking a major step towards implementing their pre-planned expansionist agenda when they occupied Lebanon in 1982 hoping to use it as a launching pad to usurp more Arab territory. Their hopes were dashed when they were driven out by the Hezbollah in May 2000. But the idea of Greater Israel was never given up, and it can be safely assumed that the Israelis were regrouping all these years. The capture of two soldiers by Hezbollah was just the pretext they were waiting for to occupy Lebanon again.


It is indeed unfortunate that the world community helplessly watched for more than a month the horrendous events unfolding in the Middle East before a ceasefire could be enforced. In this context, the conniving role played by George W. Bush makes it imperative to know why the U.S., instead of making Israel see reason, continues to offer billions of dollars in military and economic aid to that country to suppress the legitimate aspirations of the Arabs. A deeper analysis of the U.S. political scene will reveal that it is the Evangelical Right, also known as the Christian Zionists, led by extremist Televangelists such as John Hagee, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, who, along with the Jewish lobby, call the shots, in so far as the U.S. Middle East policy is concerned. In his famous book “They Dare to Speak Out”, Paul Findley, former Republican Congressman, quotes Jerry Falwell as saying, “I don’t think America could turn its back on the people of Israel and survive. God deals with nations in relation to how those nations deal with the Jews.”


This blind support to Israel is based on the Evangelical belief that the occupation of all Arab lands by the Jews (in fulfillment of the prophesy in Genesis 15:18) is a prelude to the Second Coming of Christ and Armageddon, the biblical concept of the last battle between the Good and the Evil before the day of Judgment. But what many are unaware is that the Zionist Christians are not exactly honest in their support for Israel. They have their own hidden religious agenda according to which, Jesus in his second mission will convert all the Jews to Christianity, and therefore, to hasten this process all must be done to help the Jews take over the Arab lands between Nile and Euphrates. The extremist mindset of the Christian Right can be gauged from the comments made by John Hagee in his book, Jerusalem Countdown. Advocating a war on Iran he writes, “This is a religious war that Islam cannot – and must not - win.” “The end of the world as we know it is rapidly approaching…..Rejoice and be exceeding glad - the best is yet to be.”


It is a strange paradox that, on the one hand we have the Christian Zionists supporting Israel with financial, moral and military aid in the dogmatic hope of one day converting all the Jews to Christianity, and on the other we see the cunning Zionists - who never accepted Jesus as their Messiah - successfully manipulating the Christian Right using their own Bible to achieve the goal of Greater Israel. The ultimate victims of this unholy scheming between two Machiavellian religious groups are the innocent Arabs, particularly the Palestinians, who have been rendered refugees in their own homeland.


The best way to stop the evil designs of the Zionists is to counter their disinformation campaign and neutralize their lobby in the U.S. This can be done by alerting the people of America about the dangers of the present policy of their Government towards the Jewish state. Interestingly, this is exactly what Paul Findley, meant when he warned, more than two decades ago, about the risks of supporting Israel. In an interview to the Journal of Palestine studies in 1985, he says, “If we continue our present course, allowing a small state in the region to control public discourse in this country, in effect decide what the U.S. policy will be, we’re putting ourselves in the hands of foreigners who could easily lead us into a terrible war.”


Today we see the Findley prophesy being fulfilled in Iraq (a part of the proposed Greater Israel), to say nothing about the nefarious neo-con plot to attack Syria and Iran. It is time the international community realised that Israel’s expansionist ideology, tacitly supported by U.S. imperialism, is the root cause of the Middle East crisis, and the only solution to this decades old imbroglio is the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from all occupied territories, and the establishment of an independent, sovereign and a viable Palestinian state.


(The writer is a Peace activist and Executive Committee Member, Harmony India, – a Chennai based organization dedicated to communal amity and secularism. He can be reached at a.faizur.rahman@gmail.com)

Culture: March 18, 2008 Tribute to Slain Chaldean Archbishop

Culture: March 18, 2008 Tribute to Slain Chaldean Archbishop

Please see the link to Culture for the video tribute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_aJV7YMl8A&feature=player_embedded

French chaldeans pay tribute to slain archbishop

Uploaded: March 18, 2008 at 6:44 amLength: 0:01:45Rating: 5.00Views: 865Tags:

France 24 report death Christian leader Iraq has sent shockwaves through Chaldean community homage Paulos Faraj


1 comments:

Steve in Vista said...

Thank you Maritza for posting this tribute to a brave Christian and a brave Chaldean, that is, a brave Iraqi. He was brave in the face of the Antichrist persecution against Christians and Muslims. Antichrist (the Dajjal) is specifically a collective term which is the "Beast" and also a singular term which is the individual Antichrist at the end of the eschaton. The Beast has many heads down through the centuries until the Second coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Parousia.That Antichrist is of course the Zionists and the American neo-Fascists and Iranian Shiite Militias (and the Iranian anti-Muslim attempt to revive the pagan Persian religions and "culture" - Pagan Persian religions and "culture" are specifically a head of the "Beast" which is the empire of the Antichrist).

April 29, 2009 9:54 PM

Slightly edited excerpt from a letter.

Saddam Hussein, with his last words praising Allah and standing by Iraq and declaring the rights of the Palestinians, died as a martyr to God. The reasons here for his being a martyr to God are, number one, his steadfast adherence to belief in God and number two his steadfast care for Iraq, the country God gave him to care for as its ruler, and number three, his solidarity with the Palestinians in that specific sense.

The Nakba is the beginning of the Antichrist or Dajjal (Zionists and their lackeys, the U.S. and Iran etc.) persecution against all of mankind from their stolen base of empire building, namely Occupied Palestine. Iraq (especially Saddam and the Resistance) is the first among countries that bravely withstands the persecution of the Antichrist. The media blackout in the west and especially America is total. Without satellite feeds ... to television here and radio ... including especially shortwave, and currently in the 21st century the Internet (Uruk and some others), and especially wonderful, gentle, caring, beautiful, elegant people who tell the truth, ...there would be no telling of the truth. That is what Palestine Cry is all about. By the way, I know Chaldeans here and these words resonate with theirs.

When I bring up the Antichrist, I do so, NOT in a defeatist manner, but meaning we know who we fight against - we fight against the Zionists and their puppets etc.. My view is basically typological. The difference between right and wrong. I fight to help those who are being hurt and to win.

God bless you all who fight this fight in everything in every way,

Steve