Author: lazarus abboud
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You Have Deceived Me, O Lord
“You have deceived me, O Lord, and I was deceived” (Jeremiah 20:7). Since the time Your voice appeared within me and You said, ‘Follow Me,’ I sold my hours and my days and burned the remnants of my times, and my garment which I bought with my tears I sold, so that the weight of…
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What Was Written
An article dated 4 November 2020. Some days ago we saw the harsh criticism that the article of Metropolitan Basilios Mansour, Metropolitan of Akkar and its dependencies for the Greek Orthodox, received. His Eminence used some expressions that some found objectionable and rebelled against, such as: Christianizing and baptizing, and his translation of the verse…
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The Failure of the Churches
The Patriarch of thrice-blessed memory, Ignatius Hazim, says: “The unity of the Church is not that the Catholic become Orthodox; this is a figment of the imagination. We must reform our thinking. The Catholics will not become Orthodox, and the Orthodox will not become Catholics. People do not return to situations that have their justifications.
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The Licking (Talammath) of the Communion Cup
The word “yatalammadh al-ka’s” has become current on tongues, to denote the act of eating what remains of the holy Communion in the Liturgy, where the priest devours what remains in the cup after the end of the Liturgy, but this word is wrong and the original is “talammatha” (to lick) […]
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The Ecclesiastical Institution and the Exclusion of Woman from Service
“What men deem good is good!!” 1. Introduction The problem of the ordination of woman was not a doctrinal problem nor a theological one but an intellectual one, for while relics of saints (martyresses/martyrs) are placed to consecrate the table of the Church upon which the divine sacrifice is offered, her ordination to the clerical ranks…
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Administrative Heresy
This term is strange to the ear of the believer, for he is accustomed to hearing about heresy in its intellectual form. But that heresy should be administrative requires reflection and a reading that embodies doctrines behaviorally. Doctrines are not purely intellectual terms that do not touch human reality. For what benefit does a person…
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Rituals and Magic
In the chaos of concepts and ideas, thoughts revolve around rituals, so some believe that rituals are religious only, and in particular that the Orthodox and Catholic Churches are ritualistic, while the Evangelical denominations are freed from them. The second matter is that some see rituals as the summoning of divine powers in a magical…
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“The Lost Unity”
Years pass, and every year the Week of Prayer for the unity of Christianity and the churches is held; but what unity do we hope for? The Patriarch of thrice-blessed memory, Ignatius Hazim, says: ”The unity of the Church is not that the Catholic become Orthodox; this is a figment of the imagination. We must…
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“The Overflow of Light and Religious Discourse”
Every year, on the blessed Great Sabbath, light overflows from the holy tomb (the tomb of the Giver of Life). This event raises many questions, especially when the discourse turns to the notion that the resurrection is realized at the overflow of the light. Consequently two problems arise for us: the first is the emptying…
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Obedience and Freedom Are Twinned
Obedience in the Church is one of the greatest problems, because of the ease with which its concept is distorted, and it turns into obedience to some party or some leadership. For the one who is obeyed very often misuses it, so that the personality of his disciple is erased, and the son becomes attached…