Part Three, the Conclusion: To the heads of the churches and denominations.
Father Lazarus Abboud
At this moment in the life of Christians, more than at any previous moment, there is a need to make fateful decisions together. This generation of religious leadership and heads of churches bears a historic responsibility to take resolute positions, upon which our destiny for decades and generations may depend, and upon which our very survival in Syria and Lebanon may depend. We know of no Christian generation called to make decisive decisions like this generation of Christians and their leaders, metropolitans and patriarchs. We need a baptism of fire without fear for our vestments, for God willed that we carry today the responsibility of the new reality and work to bring it about.
We need unity and union, on the level of geography and history “here and now”, for a unity of concern, future, and common work. The future of the East is empty of Christians. Unfortunately, we rely for our survival and protection on states such as France, which the Maronites of Lebanon believe is their tender mother, or Russia, protector of the Rum, or on ruling regimes that have toyed with us for their own interests. But the great powers never protect the weak who are divided. The Jews did not receive protection because they were subjected to persecution or because they were the spoiled child of anyone; rather, they proved their existence and demonstrated to the world that they are capable of carrying out their will. They proved their ability to create a reality in which they impose their existence, and they were able to build for themselves a history, a culture, a state, and institutions. Only then did they truly deserve all this amount of support and protection, and they justly reaped the fruit of their work.
The great powers care for their own interests, not our good, and for proving their own existence, not securing ours. Therefore the weak are erased from history and geography, for politics has no mercy on the hesitant or on divided communities. This is precisely the French course, which was clear in the conversation between Patriarch al-Rahi and French President Macron: “Our interest requires dealing with whoever has the ability; improve your abilities, and then every matter will be discussed(1).
The survival of a people and the firmness of its existence depend on its strength (and I do not at all mean the strength of bullets) to realize itself, not on its ability to engage in legal bickering. Speeches, conferences, and boasting of glories, boasting that we are the origin and foundation of the East, the cedars of Lebanon, the olives of Syria, and its inhabitants for two thousand years — that is poetic talk of no value in determining the shape of history and demography. This is what Dr. Charles Malik affirmed half a century ago: that history is determined by decisive actions, not by legal arguments (2). The fear is that the Gospel saying applies to us: “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” (Matthew 25:29).
Has the time not come for us to cooperate together and join hands to save what remains, or to save what can be saved? Has the time not come for us to turn from singing of Christian love, sacrifice, and self-giving, to translating them onto the ground and embodying them in action together? Has the time not come to emerge from the struggle over precedence, considerations, and leadership, and over who is the origin and the arbiter, and who is the heir of Peter and Paul? Has the time not come to descend from the tree of Christian grandeur so that Jesus’ saying about us, that we are the salt of the earth, may prove true? We have become a mockery among the peoples and a laughingstock, with internal divisions and conflicts. The Master says: ” And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand… but has an end”. (Mark 3:25-26).
We all, as leaders, heads of denominations, and faithful, must repent toward one another, and shake off from ourselves, with the resolve of Christ, every narrow and selfish interest, and work for a better future for the coming generations. If the leadership of this generation does not make a sincere decision to work together and devote all media, cultural, and political efforts — instead of singing of prayer for a distant unity and that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church — and if we do not cease fleeing from real problems and turning a blind eye to the places of defect while remaining in the husks and superficialities, and cease presenting ourselves as the cornerstone:
I say that if the situation among Christians remains as it is, I am certain that only a few metropolitans will remain, with their canes, in empty, desolate dioceses after no more than two decades, and we will have a thousand new Diyarbakirs. Here we are in Syria, all together, numbering barely 500,000, and Lebanon is not far from this condition, and Iraq has preceded us. In this case, I affirm that no one will grieve for us or for our emigration and displacement; rather, the other will take our place and fill the void we left. No one cares about our affair, and everyone will say: let whoever remains inherit the land and what is on it, “for the one who remains is better than the one who departed”, the only concern of the great powers is the protection of the Jews alone, and whoever does not see this is still blind and ignorant.
As for the secret of strengthening the Christian position and presence, they are two matters:
First: by moving from dependence on external forces, on sectarian and minority factors, and on alliance with a political power, and from boasting of origins and that we are the source of moderation and the makers of civilization, and from the state of victimhood and weeping persecution, and casting blame on others for our weakness and fragility while we live in strife, disintegration, and mutual weakening — to taking rational, scientific, and practical measures and drawing a roadmap for building a state of citizenship. For our last justification as Christians, before ourselves, before the Arab and world conscience, and before Christ Himself, our common Teacher, is our fidelity to truth and justice and to intellectual, spiritual, and existential freedom, our fidelity to our Muslim brothers, and to the Gospel witness that raises the human being above every consideration, gathering what remains of our unity, dignity, and honor.
And the second secret: by moving to true cooperation with our Muslim brothers, for our destiny with them is one, and we cannot do anything without them. Our problems are one in poverty, injustice, displacement, and the lack of justice. The destiny of Christians and Muslims has been united since the Crusades. We must become aware of this truth and realize it. Our national salvation as Christians is bound and tied to the national salvation of Muslims, and our problem as minorities is their problem as a majority.
All leaderships must descend from their thrones to see reality and protect the future. The choice now is ours: to be together, to contribute to saving what remains, to restore authenticity to our existence, to create a homeland that respects human rights, and to contribute to building a society in which justice, equality, and freedom prevail. Otherwise, we will have condemned ourselves, and thereby condemned Christianity, to spiritual and geographical emigration and to being content with a symbolic existence in the East.
And then, peace….
References:
1. The writer Ghassan Saoud, article “A Comprehensive Frank Talk with the Christian Forces: Wake Up!”, Al-Akhbar newspaper
2. Charles Malik, Israel, America, and the Arabs (Report on the Present Situation, August 5, 1949), Dar al-Nahar.
