A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
|
|
|
| Volume 6 Number 13 - Tuesday, March 30th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
|
• Search Engine
The 2003 Angel Fund Appeal • OCN Website
• The Video - "A New Era Begins"
|
The Orthodox Christian News Service |
|
|
Walking Through the Gates of Hell Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D. As I stepped foot on the sacred and holy land of Christ's Holy Resurrection, I was confronted with the news that the Israeli army had assassinated by three air missiles the Islamic spiritual leader in Gaza tearing his elderly body to hundreds of unrecognizable pieces as he was going home on a wheel chair following 4 a.m. morning prayers. I immediately felt this murderous act opened even a greater door to hell because surely there will be revenge soon. The day before, the Palestinian militants mistakenly killed a young Orthodox Christian named George Khoury who was jogging in a Jerusalem suburban park. George is not related to me since "khoury" in Arabic means "priest" - many people have this last name. It is a popular name like "Pappas" in Greek or "Smith" in English. However, "khoury" means priest in Arabic and George came from a prominent Palestinian family. Hearing this tragic news as I walked through the Israeli airport, I felt as if I am stepping through the gates of hell. Very excited that I had returned home to the Holy Land with more support for our small Orthodox community in Taybeh, I wanted to send an open appreciation and "thank you" note to all who responded to helping Orthodox Christians by contributing donations for building homes in the only Christian village left in Palestine. We have now reached $45,000.00 in our fundraising efforts meaning $10,000 just from the incredible book tour to New York, Chicago, Denver, and the Boston area. May all people that give to worthy causes receive their treasures in God's Heavenly Kingdom. If the Lord knows our good works it counts more than our good works explained to humanity. As Christians we must truly trust in the gospel teaching that the right hand gives without letting the left hand know. It is a great comfort to have received blessings from Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago and Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver. Last June, Metropolitan Methodios of Boston gave his blessing to the One Dollar Campaign in having a special collection for Palestinian Orthodox Christians during the Lenten Season. Building homes in the village will greatly improve the living conditions of families that do not have homes and provide temporary jobs for the 60% unemployed. The campaign makes an appeal for every church to contribute just $1,000 by collecting one dollar during times of almsgiving. It would take fifty churches participating to build one home since the cost of living and the materials are extremely high in the West Bank. The Taybeh Orthodox Church Housing Committee hopes that every Metropolis joins to express support and solitary to Orthodox Christians in Palestine who have struggled to maintain a Christian presence for over two thousand years. The Israeli army opened bigger doors to hell by assassinating the political leader of the Hamas group, because now we can just sit back and wait for the violence and the revenge to escalate. Moving around has never been more dangerous than this week. My husband David and his brother Nadim got stuck at a checkpoint because the Israeli soldiers would not allow them to pass although they both hold American passports and always travel as unarmed civilians on Taybeh Beer business. But as Palestinians they are treated as last class citizens. When the Israeli soldiers prevented them from passing, the nearby Palestinian youth protested the army presence on Palestinian land by throwing stones, thus my husband was stuck between soldiers shooting and teenagers throwing stones. It was a great blessing they survived this brutal attack and were not shot although the car was damaged. When will these soldiers leave the West Bank? How long does the illegal Israeli occupation have to deprive people from their basic human rights? Today in the Holy Land, the Greeks were celebrating Greek Independence Day (March 25th), the Christian community was mourning the tragic life of a young twenty year old, the Muslims were preparing their next resistance movement and the Israelis were waiting for bombs to go off anywhere at any time. There will be no peace until there is justice. The fear and the revenge is something you can almost sense and smell in the air. The Greek Consul General in Jerusalem announced to the Greek and Palestinian crowd gathered at the Ambassador Hotel that we await this independence for Palestinians but many wondered if she delivered the same words to the Israeli crowd at the King David hotel the same evening. It seems that Israelis and Palestinians cannot be in the same room anymore even if it is to celebrate Greek Independence Day. God help us. I was too scared to be on the roads at night so I showed up in the afternoon in Jerusalem to receive the patriarch's blessing for building homes for Orthodox Christians in our village and give him an update. Silly of me, I asked His Beatitude for money in which time he admitted that the Greek Orthodox patriarchate was in $250,000 deficit. But the good news is that the Greek Orthodox Patriarch is finally recognized by the Israeli government which took over two years with individuals still fighting the recognition. The Christian community and the Palestinians in general will continue to suffer. By assassinating another political leader the Israeli army has opened even bigger doors to hell for all of us living in the Holy Land. We were fooled on both sides that we can seek peace and prosperity in the future for our children, now we are all being swallowed up by the fanatics. The only thing that comes to my mind after trying to spread awareness in the United Stated during a two week intensive talk tour about the current situation in the Holy Land is Psalm 13: "How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?" As we continue to walk this dangerous dance of death in the Holy Land at least know that the first step to the solution is to end the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories. Anyway, what kind of democratic country goes around assassinating political leaders? What happened to judges, courts and the legal system? Is any one paying attention to what Israel is doing these days to create more and more terror in the Holy Land? Demolishing homes, uprooting fruit trees, assassinating leaders, creating more and more checkpoints that prevent even the basic of daily movement, killing people every day will only create more and more suicide bombers.
Does it seem
ironic that the Jewish people suffered under
Hitler and now turn around and do the same thing
to the Palestinians and try to wipe them out from
the face of the earth in order to create a 100%
Jewish homeland? Don't be surprised that the
terror taking place between the Israelis and the
Muslims is causing the Christian community to
shrink to very small numbers. "In thee, O Lord,
do I put my trust: let me never be put to
confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and
cause me to escape: incline thy ear unto me, and
save me. (Psalm 71) |
|
Home • Archives • Search • Submissions • Support Us |
||
|
Orthodox News, PO BOX 6954 |
