Category: Articles
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The Tragedy of the Byzantines
The sin of the Orthodox today is that they remain stuck in the dream of restoring the glories of ancient Byzantium, for since the fall of the empire and its glories until today, their mad dream breaks them. Therefore you see the weakness of the ecclesiastical administrations in that they submit to the state and…
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The Scourge of God
Father Lazarus Abboud. The epidemic spread in “all the world” and reached a state of rapid outbreak, so visions (attributed) to the Virgin on Mount Athos came on the tongue of one of the monks, saying: mark your houses with the sign of the cross in holy oil. The simple believer, in his faith, realizes…
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Administrative Heresy
This term is strange to the believer’s ear, because he is accustomed to hearing about heresy in its intellectual form. But for heresy to be administrative, it requires contemplation and a reading that incarnates doctrines behaviorally. Doctrines are not purely intellectual terms that do not touch human reality, for what does man benefit from Christ…
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Prayer
“Pray without ceasing” What is prayer: for us, prayer is the state through which man passes over to God, and through which God looks upon us. By its action, as Metropolitan Paul Yazigi says, it is a feeling of the presence of God every moment in all the domains of our lives […]
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The Sunday of Witness and Revolution (the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, the third Sunday of the Fast)
And when we prostrate ourselves in veneration before the Cross, we declare our joining of that revolution, to defend the dignity of His image and to overturn the standards, even if the price is that we be crucified like Christ. Metropolitan Paul Yazigi says: “This is the permanent challenge of Christians: to prove that they…
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The Troublesome Baptist
What John wanted to do was not because he wished to change reality and change society and authority, but because he was a man of God, because God had placed in his mouth a scroll to proclaim His will, to proclaim His word, even if it were not heard. Therefore he was called a voice…
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The Transfiguration of the Revolution (The Revolution of Awareness in Lebanon)
And the future of any nation through change begins with a revolution that opens its door and throws it wide open. The revolution does not remain a revolution; rather, it moves to new stages of change through long stages, for Europe did not reach what it is today in days, months, or years — it…
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Not by Onions Does Man Live
Father Lazarus Abboud The Syrian government added a kilo of “onions” to the smart card, then when it saw the people’s turnout it rewarded them with a second kilo. The purpose is surely not to secure a foodstuff for the people; the people’s sustenance does not concern it, unfortunately, and we have experienced that a…
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The End Does Not Justify the Means (People of the Way)
Father Lazarus Abboud. The whole of human life is an end and a meaning, and all human beings share in the fact that their ends are one despite their variety — peace, security, immortality, comfort, wealth, power, glory, and so on — and all institutions, states, and parties have the same aims. But the difference…
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Despotism in the Ecclesiastical Institution
Father Lazarus Abboud The Intermediate Dictionary (Mu’jam al-Wasit) explains despotism (istibdad) linguistically: it is the verbal noun of the verb istabadda, and despotism is embodied in a person or a group: istabadda bihi means he monopolized it. Muhammad Abduh says: the despot does whatever he wishes without being accountable, ruling according to what his whims…