ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ: Το ορθόδοξο χριστιανικό αίσθημα για τους διωγμούς των χριστιανών από τους Ισλαμιστές
One of Christ’s
fundamental commandments – which separates Christianity from the multitude of
religious traditions of the world – is to love one’s enemy.
The first one to actualize
this ideal was the Lord Himself, by forgiving His crucifiers while He was
nailed to the Cross. He even gave an important reason for this display of love:
“…for they know not what they are doing”
(Luke 23:24).
Later on, saint
Stephen the first martyr reacted in the same manner towards those who were stoning
him to death: before leaving his last breath, he prayed to the Lord God – Jesus
Christ – to not take their sin into account (Acts of the Apostles 7:60). In the centuries that followed, innumerable
saints, but also simple Christians, have done (and continue to do) the exact
same thing towards their enemies.
Most certainly, even
in the Orthodox Church, rather few are those who are able to bear the burden of
this commandment, which can strangle man’s survival instinct (transformed here
into a sense of justice: I hate you or I take my revenge, because “that’s
just”); it also confronts passions that are deeply rooted inside us; it
presupposes a state of holiness, even if an embryonic one… or rather, a choice
in favour of holiness – necessarily honest and humble – which places man at the
starting point of a long and difficult – but also a brightly shining
journey.
 |
| st Stephen the first martyr |
This is pointed out
by Jesus Christ, when He says that the gate of Paradise
is narrow and few pass through it, and that the road leading to it has sorrows
(Matthew 7:13-14). It is – among other reasons – strewn with sorrows because the
Christian who loves his enemies and desires what is for their benefit, must
also confront those who he is closely linked to (relatives and friends), who,
as a rule, strive frantically to change his mind and convince him – even by
forcing him - to hate his enemies. He will not only be grieved by such
psychological warfare (which functions as a temptation – that is, as a trial
according to the holy teachers of Orthodoxy), but he will even forgive his own
people for torturing him in that manner (supposedly “for his own good”), while
at the same time he will be continuing to stand fast in the throes of the war
that is being waged against him!
He is essentially at war
with his own, when defending his right to love all people and to obey the
command of Christ - his beloved Teacher and Head. That way, he is also fulfilling yet another
commandment of Christ – that “a person’s enemies shall be the people of his
household” and that His true disciple will love Him more than the members of
his own family (Matthew 10:35-38).
Christ’s Disciples –
the holy Apostles – as has been very aptly pointed out had also applied that
commandment of loving their enemies, when they had addressed the Judean people
on the day of the Pentecost (Acts of the Apostles, ch.2). The Judeans were stunned by the Apostle
Peter’s speech, in which he had directly accused them for their crucifixion of
Christ, following which they had asked him “what should we do now?” The apostles had replied “Repent, and be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, in order for your sins to be forgiven,
and so that you may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In other words, the Apostles taught the path
to salvation – their union with God - to the very people who had consented to
the crucifixion of Christ; they guided them to the redemption from that sin and
from all their other sins; they did not ask for God’s revenge and His striking
back at them!
The reasons that
urge us to project these events are entirely different. It is our desire that the enemies of
Christians realize their mistake and repent, and to return to Christ’s holy
Orthodox Church and be saved. Not to be judged or be punished, but to be
saved. (Many murderers or torturers of
saints throughout History have come to repentance and have been saved, and
later even martyred, whom the Church has similarly accepted as saints (*)).
It is also our
desire to reinforce our brethren, the persecuted Christians, with our support
and our prayers, as much as that is possible, so that they may have the
strength to bear their terrible struggle.
We are hoping that
those who have the possibility of intervening on an international level might
be moved and proceed to a political action so that our brethren might be
relieved of their persecutions, because martyrdom may lead many people to
sainthood; nonetheless the pain inflicted on our fellow-man is not a desirable
thing for us. Besides, martyrdom can lead some into perdition and the
victimizers into damnation.
We seek to make them
understand - who may not have understood as yet how Orthodoxy differs from
anything on the opposite shore – that they should cease to despise Orthodoxy;
instead, they should approach it and be benefited by it, by allowing the Grace
of God to enter them and remain there for eternity.
New Martyrs Avakum the Deacon and Paisius the Abbot of Serbia
We also desire that
the steadfastness and the strength of the contemporary martyrs and confessors
of Christ become an example to us also, in order that we too may undertake our
own struggles, with our own difficulties – be they analogous or fewer. (Here too
are many who struggle to the extreme – perhaps not on account of massacres, but
because of illnesses and other tribulations – and are called upon to become
martyrs and saints from within those sufferings, with the help of God and all
of us, their brethren).
Finally, it is the
desire of all of us (let me say this also) to congratulate our brethren the
martyrs and confessors of the faith, for their terrestrial struggles and their
eventual heavenly award.
Yes, we do declare
war against bloodthirsty religions and in general all the paths of delusion and
death. But it is not a war consisting of violence and hatred, but one of love,
prayer, and mission. In that war, the
enemy is one: Satan. And its objective is to defend those very
same brethren of other faiths and heresies, who have become victims of that
enemy and frequently the instruments and the servants in his plans.
“Our war is not
intended to bring down people, but to lift up those who have fallen”, as the
blessed saint Chrysostom used to say (PG 50, 841-842). And believe me, Orthodox Christians are not the fallen
ones, but rather our enemies (who are not actually our enemies, but are
brethren who have fallen victims to the devil).
| st Chryse (from here) |
Muslims boast about
their religion being “realistic”, inasmuch as it proclaims war against all
enemies. Similarly “realistic” was the
heretical form of Christianity which had taken shape in Western
Europe during the last thousand years – or even more. However that
“reality” leads mankind away from God.
We Orthodox – thank God! – are not such “realists”; nor are we
angels. We are merely sinful
people. We merely struggle – as much as we
struggle – in the hope of attaining Heaven.
If we had set our sights on earth, we didn’t have to be Orthodox
Christians. “Orthodox” means to aspire
towards attaining Heaven, towards reaching Christ, the angels and the
Saints. You strive for heaven, when you
yearn to be elevated there along with all your fellow-men, and yearn even more
so, for the unfaithful (infidel) and the unrepentant ones – that is, for those
who seem to be in more danger of perdition.
Throughout all of
Orthodoxy’s history, every missionary endeavour (beginning from the apostolic
years, as Orthodoxy is the absolute historical and spiritual continuation of
the ancient Church) is for their sake: for the unfaithful and the unrepentant,
imperiled brethren – for their salvation.
Translated by K.N.
*****
(*) From here: We ask them to emulate the
example of saint Longinus (the head of the Roman garrison that had
crucified Jesus Christ), who, upon seeing the darkness and the
earthquake that occurred during the Crucifixion, unhesitatingly
confessed the divinity of Christ (Matth. 24:57, Mark 15:39), himself
became a Christian and was bestowed with sainthood.
Then there are also
the examples of saint Hermogenis (the potentate who had tortured saint
Menas the Sweet-voiced), also the blessed centurion Porphyrion (Saint
Catherine’s jailer), the saints Stratonikos, Codratos and Acacios (who
had tortured the holy martyrs Paul and Juliana in 270 A.D.) and a host
of others who, upon witnessing the bravery and love of those being
martyred, found peace in their own hearts, repented, opened their hearts
to Christ and even offered their own lives, thus gaining eternity for
themselves.
Click: http://www.csw.org.uk, http://www.persecution.org, http://www.opendoorsuk.org, New martyrs.
Paul, the Christian equivalent to Mohammed
The Penalties for Apostasy in Islam
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