Father Lazarus Abboud
The Christians of the East suffer from many problems, especially in the matter of sectarianism and citizenship, so they have come to consider themselves a minority demanding the rights of minorities. They see their weakness in their inability to bring about changes toward citizenship for the whole homeland, so they replace that with finding a place in a sectarian position so as not to lose their existence. The problem is that, when we are numerous, we speak as a global and authoritarian majority
But in order to understand what we must do, we must return to the fourth century. What is the immense achievement that Christianity was able to accomplish? Is it converting the religion of the empire to Christianity? If the Christians had sought to convert the empire to Christianity, everyone would have perished, and the apostles with them. But the greater matter, for a minority not exceeding a few thousand in a universal empire at that time, is that it was able to bring forth the law of religious freedom for all, for every citizen — indeed it was in the interest of the state — that each person may worship his religion as he wishes. The Edict of Milan(1) was proclaimed in the year 313 AD: “”We, Constantine Augustus and Licinius Augustus, after exchanging views in Milan, it became clear to us that the interest of the state requires regulating the affairs of worship and granting the Christians and all the Romans the right to follow the religion they prefer, so that the deity, whoever he may be, may be pleased with us and with all those subject to us. And after deliberating on this, we decided not to interfere with freedom of belief, and thus we do not prevent anyone among the people from following the religion of the Christians or any other religion he chooses for himself…” — which granted tolerance to all religions, including Christianity. And the Edict of Milan added to the Edict of Galerius for tolerance of 311 AD the return of the confiscated properties of the Church. And by this edict the empire became officially neutral with regard to religious worship; for the traditional religions were neither null and illegitimate, nor was Christianity the religion of the state. And here lies the essence of the work of the state: neutrality, that it be a shepherd to all its citizens.
So converting the empire to Christianity was the work of politics, which created for it many problems on the one hand, and the enemies of the political Christian state became the enemies of the Christians and the Church, even centuries after the fall of the empire.
As for the work of granting freedoms and equality in citizenship, it was the work of Christian witness, the work of the Spirit, which made Christianity a light for the pagan nations.
And from a second side, the historian Asad Rustum sees that the emperor considered it his duty to protect religion, and so he interfered in the affairs of the Church, which begot many problems between Church and state; and nothing split the universal Church into two halves in the eleventh century except the interference of politics in the Church (2)
So the problem lies in the goal of the orientation, and not in the ability to achieve. Living Christianity cannot be a political force against another force, lest it become a rival to the communities in the same homeland. Patriarch Ignatius Hazim says (“We must proclaim the rights of God in the justice of human beings, in every country and village, against political excess, while we insist upon the freedom of every human being, of every human group, in the face of repression and tyranny. Freedom alone is the messenger of truth, and in it the unity of humanity and its common work is realized”. (3)
The challenge now is a transformation from a church institution that works for the advancement of its society into a sect that becomes part of a system of political work. Someone will say: in a sectarian system, the Church must appear as a sect so that the rights of its children are not lost. Our answer: the Church cannot proceed by the logic of the political world, because its entry by the logic of the world in order to become a party or a political force obliges it to carry one of the weapons of the world which it is incapable of carrying, while others excel many times over in using it. For its work is not to become a force in the world, but a force for the life of the world.
Today, and behold the hour is present, we are in need of the cry of the Christians and their witness in the days of the early Church. The early Church’s concern was to enjoy freedom, citizenship, and equality, and we are in need of one who brings everyone out into the light of the spacious citizenship and responds to the demands of a people, and not to the exigencies of a time — like the first Christians, who also gave to all the Roman citizens, pagans and others enslaved to the emperor, a new light and freedom and liberation from the tyranny of rulers, so that they all saw “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 1:21)
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- Asad Rustum, History of the Great City of Antioch, Part One, p. 181.
- Asad Rustum, History of the Great City of Antioch, Part One, p. 189.
- Ignatius IV Hazim, Breezes of Antioch, the Patriarch’s Address at the Vatican 1983, p. 14.