'Sacrificing and Sacrificed for the Faith' � Martyrdom a Hundred Years Ago and Today

"...The history of the Christians in the Middle East is a story whose roots go back to creation, to the account in the Book of Genesis about the first crime committed in history, Cain�s murder of his brother Abel..."

Here is a striking theological look at Islam's unending war against Christians. It is clear that symbolically, Righteous Abel represents the humble, pious and forgiving Christians, who offer "a more excellent sacrifice" than the degenerate Cain, who represents Islam and Muslims, who "attack true worship and brotherhood." In Metropolitan Siluan's words,

"Cain irremediably attacks both existential dimensions of his life, the vertical and horizontal when he attacks true worship and brotherhood. On the other hand, in his person Abel saves, �offering up and offered by faith,� true worship and sacrifice to God. Furthermore, God accepts Abel�s offering and receives him as a sacrifice."

Related:

• Centennial of the Armenian Genocide � Special Resource Page
• The Orthodox Christian Holocaust: 1894 to the Present
• Second Anniversary of the Kidnapping of Archbishops Paul and John
• Armenian Church canonizes victims of Ottoman genocide

by Metropolitan Siluan of Buenos Aires and All Argentina
Notes on Arab Orthodoxy via Pravmir � April 26, 2015

�By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.� (Hebrews 11:4)

The Christian East continues in the footsteps of its Master, sacrificing and in turn being sacrificed upon the altar of martyrdom, �A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master� (Matthew 10:24). This offering-martyrdom is the cup from which many of our brothers have drank and currently drink, confirming the words of the Lord to James and John on the threshold of His passion, �You will indeed drink My cup� (Matthew 20:23).

It is clear that the history of the Christians in the Middle East is at once painful and glorious. It is painful on account of the great pain and suffering that they experience on earth and glorious on account of the dignity and grace that they receive in heaven. It is a story whose roots go back to creation, to the account in the Book of Genesis about the first crime committed in history, Cain�s murder of his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8). From his point of view, Cain sacrifices on the altar of his degeneracy God and his brother. Thus, Cain irremediably attacks both existential dimensions of his life, the vertical and horizontal when he attacks true worship and brotherhood. 

On the other hand, in his person Abel saves, �offering up and offered by faith�, true worship and sacrifice to God. Furthermore, God accepts Abel�s offering and receives him as a sacrifice. Later, when he recalls this episode, the Apostle Paul highlights Abel�s faith and its impact even until today: �By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.� (Hebrews 11:4)

Today the voice of Abel echoes loudly as the Christians of the East in general and the Middle East in particular commemorate the atrocities perpetrated against their communities at the end of the Ottoman Empire, from 1915 onward. According to historians, a policy of methodical extermination, without precedent in history, was carried out at the hands of the Turks, causing the martyrdom of some five million Christians � Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Armenians and Orthodox: men, women and children. 

Thus this week the Armenian Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church are celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the Sayfo on April 24 and April 19, respectively. While our Patriarchate has not declared a hundredth anniversary� although doing so would be justified by the more than two million Orthodox martyrs (Syrians, Lebanese and Greeks)� we stand united with all Christians in this expression of faith and memory, as it is the same scenario that is repeating itself and occurring today to the Christians in the Middle East.

For these reasons, our Patriarch His Beatitude John X of Antioch along with his brothers His Beatitude Ephrem II, patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church; His Beatitude Theodoros II, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church; and His Beatitude Cardinal Bishara Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Church; among others, are participating in the commemorations being held in Armenia to mark the hundredth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

We are convinced that, without recognition of what happened in 1915 and its traits which continue until today, and without a clear, concrete and genuine commitment on the part of the great and regional powers, to prioritize and adopt the voice of Abel over that of Cain and to work effectively in this direction, it is impossible to prevent the altar of Cain from once more being filled with other sacrifices. No one is convinced by this abomination of humanity or the absence at the global level of political ability and determination to put an end to this disastrous, inhuman escalation that goes against all reason and logic, as well as against basic human rights.

Therefore, today the 22nd of April, the point between both anniversaries, the date on which we remember the two archbishops of Aleppo, His Eminence Archbishop Youhanna (Ibrahim) and His Eminence Paul (Yazigi), who were kidnapped in Syria on April 22, 2013, we struggle so that such atrocities will never happen again because we are seriously worried by the silent and progressive extermination of the Christian presence in the Middle East, an act accompanied by political indifference, hypocracy [sic] and a complicit international silence.

In the light of the Paschal season that we are experiencing, we understand that in all of this the attitude of everyone is critical: �And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God� (John 3:19-21).

Therefore, we raise our prayer for peace and for peaceful and harmonious coexistence between all who have lived in that land for centuries, praying that the Lord will illumine the conscience and actions of all those who can bring a light of His resurrection to this frenzied situation in order to put a stop to it and to restore all for the benefit of humanity above any interest or material benefit.

Joint Statement on the Second Anniversary of the Kidnapping of Archbishops Paul and John

"Paul and John are on trial; the Christian persecution for Evangelization of the first century has now returned to this land."

Antiochian Archdiocese of North America via Pravmir

April 25, 2015

A Joint Statement Issued by the two Patriarchates of Antioch and of All the East: The Greek (Roum) Orthodox Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church

On the occasion of the second anniversary of kidnapping the two Metropolitans of Aleppo: His Eminence Paul (Yazigi) and His Eminence John (Abraham) on April 22, 2013

Damascus April 22, 2015

�It is for our hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.� (Acts 23:6)

Paul and John are on trial; the Christian persecution for Evangelization of the first century has now returned to this land. Such persecution is not common in the East or in modern times. The consequences of this trial are not only earthly but heavenly. In this struggle, the Great Judge will prevail, for His judgement is both the case of True Man and True God.

Maybe this trial is unfair, most probably because the kidnapped are not able to plead their case. But their testimony resounds ceaselessly by their spirit and life, and echoes in the wilderness of this world.

O brethren of the Word, you are our children in Aleppo; in you and among you we planted the seeds of the true word, the word of witnessing and of ministry. Behold, the plant is growing! We see this growth in you and we are proud of its fruit. We are astounded by your perseverance, which strengthens our perseverance. We exalt your steadfastness which sustains us. We esteem your patience, which recompenses our patience. How not? You are the crown of our glory and pride (1 Thess 2.19,20) in this trial against evangelization.

O brethren of Faith, we are on trial because of what we believed in and evangelized and we served by the hand, heart and conscience. We live today on earth so that we can live thenceforth in Heaven. Man has the right to believe in the True God, and to faithfully minister with this faith his neighbor as himself. Our belief in the True Man, leads us to serve Him anywhere we are, but we will continue to be citizens where we are today. We will not deviate one iota from this determination. It deserves every sacrifice in defense of human dignity. Man is oppressed and dehumanized by the contemporary human market which offers people as a commodity in a wicked commerce. The sting of dehumanization shall be broken in this trial against dignity.

O brethren of hope, be not oblivious to the fact that we are on trial � for our hope in the resurrection of the dead�. (Acts 23:6) St. Paul attested once, and we declare it out loud: they want to eradicate the future at the expense of the present! However, they do not know that the Lord of heaven and earth, Who created them both, also provided that we may traverse the distance separating the two in spirit through Faith, and may attain the future with God-given hope toward achieving His promise to us. The present life is transient, but the future one is permanent.

We all look forward in great expectation, remaining steadfast with this hope in the face of death, crouching close to destroy your bodies and souls. However, our hope in the resurrection of Christ has broken the sting of death in this trial against endurance.

O brethren of love, it is undeniable that when facing such a trial one must confront it with his true identity and faith. If we betray the love of Christ towards us, our hearts and consciences grow dim. When we see you strong and consistent, brethren, our hearts rejoice with the sight of your love among the wreckage of fallen humanity, whose self-centeredness has truly reached the gates of Hades. By your love we conquer everything, and by it you overcome all forms of death, so that you may enter into the Kingdom of the God of Love. Amongst devastation, death and foul play, the evidence of your love will be built as a final judgment in the trial against conscience.

O brethren of blood, you have been judged, or you will be judged. Some of you have received the favorable judgment of God to be martyrs and confessors, and some of you live the testimony of unsurpassed hope, in silence or under threat, in weakness or in agony. However, by your perseverance you muzzled those who lay a wager for your betrayal, apostasy, and feebleness in the face of weakness, enticement, or threat. Your blood, whether still pulsating or shed, is a balm to your families and to your brethren, and a seal of victory in the trial against immortality.

O brethren of truth, be assured that anyone who has declared victory over truth and hidden falsehood is silenced. We see them through the eyes of the heart, and fathom what is noticeable in them, in their words (media) and actions, as well as in their secret intentions, and consciences. No truth will supersede the truth of God and man, regardless of their sins. This is the cry of John in all of us: �He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.� (1 Jn 3:14 to 15). We will not compromise when it comes to human beings, and we will not yield to anything except to the truth. We proclaim it with you, at the heart of your suffering, struggle, steadfastness, and courage. By this, you have disclosed their evident error in the trial against truth.

O brethren and compatriots, your wounds are our wounds, and your pain is our pain, your suffering is our suffering, and your tears are our tears, and your life is our life. Our hands are extended to you, and our hearts have room for all of you. Let us shake hands, talk to each other, have peace, reconciliation, mutual understanding, cooperation, and integration. A solution is not achieved by violence, but by multiple forms of dialogue. Let�s act now. Fear comes when human civilization perishes and disappears, and when this trial is prolonged. With you we raise the flag of the partnership in the trial against unity.

O brethren of fate, our East; we are the sand of its deserts, dirt of its fields, rocks of its mountains, water of its rivers, roots of its trees. If they vanish, life will no longer exist or it will have no meaning. Our East has become an open arena for all evils. The bargain of this trial is to demolish life in its cradle, shatter civilizations, remove the rudiments of its landmarks, conceal its characteristics, displace man, destroy history, and disfigure the identity of God. Our victory of truth on earth is derived from heaven, but not by calling upon God to be exploited, as impulses of passions, of which heaven is completely acquitted! We are devoted to stay in the East, to which we belong, of which we are, in which we bear witness to our faith, from which our witness starts out, and on which we build our humanity. The one God was not for us a subject of dispute, and reason for fighting, or cause of division. We learned to address Him as �Our Father� (Matthew 6.9), so we are all, �Brethren.� We can speak to everyone in truth and love, and �to lay down our lives for them� (1 Jn 3:16); and so we are able to confess that we share a common destiny. Either we all hold tight together, or we all lose! No believer or nonbeliever, whether from the East or outside it, can bear a false witness, blinded to what is going on here. With you we raise the banner of brotherhood, confounding the false witnesses the trial against human and religious.

O brethren in humanity, our cause is beyond one group or nation, and wider than one region. Our ordeal is a test for all humanity in the contemporary world, which is distorted by its enslavement and various distractions. We are thankful for all those who are aware of these perils, and for those who are striving to contain them, treat them, and prevent them. We will not become a cause to be resolved and decrypted. We are not like this, for you are our cause! We are vigilant, from our dwelling place, over the consciences of those who willingly continue to eradicate our cause: the cause of the true human and the true God. Is it not unreasonable for roles to be exchanged, so that the sentenced might become a judge, even if he was in a cell, and the judge might become sentenced, even though he is sitting on the judgment seat?

O brother in completeness, He Who was incarnate for us, carried our nature, endured unjust sentence, ascended on the Cross, went to Hades and then rose to heaven, has taught us that we are your �brethren�, unworthy though we be, and that �your Father is our Father and your God is our God� (Jn 20:17). Our peace and joy in you have reached to a level whose height and depth is unattainable in our spiritual life, and whose length and width is immeasurable in our material life! It is a joy, and peace, according to the measure of the giver: �My Peace I leave with you, My joy I give unto you� no man taketh from you.� (Jn 14:27; 16:22). You have determined to give us your joy and your peace! How great is our victory, and how benevolent is God�s judgment!

These are the ten categories of the brethren, and the �book� of our complete defense, which we �took out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne.� (Rev 5:7). This is our good news to you; �Listen to them� (Acts 2:14), so great is our consolation in you. We are all aware that the trial is not over yet, as we have yet many rounds, according to the will of the Holy One. �What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid� What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory� �(Romans 9:14; 22-23).

This is a victory of the right hand of the Most High, accomplished through you and through us! As our unceasing encounter is sustained in prayer for all, we lift it up to Thee, O Lord, for unto Thee belongs, glory, power, worship, and dominion forever! Amen.

Translated by Archdiocese Office

On the New Martyrs of the Middle East: An Orthodox Christian View

"Martyrdom forms the whole narrative shape of our history... There is nevertheless beauty and hope that we can find in all this, and it comes from this historic experience of martyrdom which Orthodox Christians know intimately." �Bishop Thomas

I would like to introduce this important epistle by simply reposting the words of an Orthodox Christian archpriest recently featured on this blog:

Perhaps the Christian Faith is being purified and strengthened in the Middle East through the crucible of suffering and hardship... The martyrdoms now occurring among Christians in the Middle East cannot but have some effect on even unbelievers throughout the world.  They may have to re-think their assessment of Christianity, if only grudgingly.

With statements like these, I believe we are seeing an awakening of Orthodoxy in North America in response to the growing ranks of Neo-Martyrs under the sword of emboldened, militant Islam. Truly, "the Blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church." 


On the New Martyrs of the Middle East: An Orthodox Christian View

by His Grace Bishop Thomas (Joseph), Ed.D.

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

Beloved in Christ,

Icon of the 21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya

Last weekend I visited parishes and college students in the Baltimore, MD area. While I was there, Orthodox clergy and faithful asked that I offer a response to what's going on in the Middle East. Attached is my response. Special thanks to Fr Andrew Damick for his contribution to what you'll read here.

To introduce this, I'll simply ask you to pray "for the peace of the whole world, the good estate of the Holy Churches of God, and the union of all men."

In recent months, images and stories of Christians being killed for their faith in the Middle East have flooded our news sources and dominated our social media. We see beheadings and shootings, sometimes available as gruesome videos on the Internet that are intended by their makers to inspire some to join their cause and others to cower in fear. We have seen bishops kidnapped, priests shot in the street as they ministered to the suffering, and innocents lined up and had their heads sawn off with knives.

Christians are not the only ones suffering in the Middle East�Muslims, Druze, Yazidis and others are also being targeted by the armies of takfirism. They are also dying for their faith, and even though we Christians do not share their religion with them, we still suffer with them in solidarity, because Christ still died and rose from the dead for them, even if they do not believe it.

"Martyrdom forms the whole narrative shape of our history... It was martyrdom itself which gave rise to our whole concept of having publicly venerated saints."

We ask God, "Why?" We ask each other, "What can be done?" We wonder what kind of response there can be to this horrifying new reality, the spirit of takfirism, the mindset that makes religious accusation of others into a way of life, enforced by death and suffering for those who do not measure up to the ideology of these armies that sweep across that ancient, sanctified land.

How are we to understand what is happening? There is no shortage of analysis in the news and debate among our political leaders. But their answers do not satisfy, do they?

Christians who belong to the Orthodox Church are well acquainted with martyrdom, even if we ourselves do not live in places where our family and friends are being killed for Christ. Martyrdom forms the whole narrative shape of our history. Our calendar of saints is filled with thousands of martyrs' names, and there are millions more whose names we do not know. It was martyrdom itself which gave rise to our whole concept of having publicly venerated saints.

And while we often think of martyrdom as something belonging primarily to the early history of the Church prior to its legalization in the fourth century Roman Empire, there were many martyrdoms that followed as once-Christian lands were conquered and a new order set up. And the twentieth century also saw martyrdom of Christians with the advent of Communism especially in Eastern Europe, on a scale likely greater than all previous martyrdoms combined.

"If death itself can be conquered, that means that no king, no emperor, no premier, no president and no caliph can claim ultimate power over us."

But it is not much comfort to look at these terrifying images from the Middle East and to say, "Yes, we have seen this before." There is nevertheless beauty and hope that we can find in all this, and it comes from this historic experience of martyrdom which Orthodox Christians know intimately.

The persecutors of Christians have always seen them as a threat to their own societal order. Most Christians have not been killed merely as an act of hatred. Rather, Christians were seen as a threat to pagan Rome. They were a threat to the Muslim conquerors, first the Arabs and then the Ottoman Turks. They were a threat to the Soviets, whose extermination of Christians was the most "successful" of all. This threat was manifest in how the martyrdoms usually went�the opportunity is given to conform to the religious/ideological order of the day, whether pagan or Muslim or Communist, and death is given to those who refuse to conform.

The current persecutors of Christians are likewise functioning in the same way�their vision of a new Caliphate for Islam in the Middle East has no room for either Muslims who are not conforming to their interpretation of Islam nor for Christians or people of other religions, and their denunciations and accusations of those who refuse to conform motivate them to kill. This is the source of this Arabic term takfir�the accusation of infidelity to the proper order of society.

"Why is the Christian a threat? It is because he believes in the resurrection."

We should note here that not all pagans, Muslims or even Communists have treated Christians as a threat. There have been periods of peace in all those societies, where co-existence was possible. But we are addressing here specifically those for whom peace and co-existence is not possible, those for whom anyone who does not bow to their ideology must be eliminated.

So why is the Christian a threat? It is because he believes in the resurrection.

Christianity is the only faith in the world whose seminal, defining event is the death and resurrection of the God whom we worship. And we believe that we can be joined to His death and therefore also His resurrection. We can join Him in the conquest of death itself. And if death itself can be conquered, that means that no king, no emperor, no premier, no president and no caliph can claim ultimate power over us.

Just look at the responses of the martyrs: They sometimes laugh in the face of martyrdom. Sometimes, they sing. Sometimes, they go out preaching. They so very often go out with the name of Jesus on their lips, praying even for those who are killing them. They go out with joy!

"We grieve the death of the martyrs, but our grief will be swallowed up in rejoicing."

So while we feel the pain of their loss and grieve in our hearts for them and their families, and while we pursue all that we can to bring peace to that troubled land, we do not "grieve as those who have no hope" (I Thess. 4:13). An earthly power may slay the bodies of Christians, but he can have no ultimate power over them, for they have joined their risen Savior in the conquest of death itself.

We grieve the death of the martyrs, but our grief will be swallowed up in rejoicing. We rejoice with them in their victory over temptation, their victory over the cares of this world, their victory over even death, "the last enemy" (I Cor. 15:26).

Together, let us hear and write indelibly on our hearts these powerful words from our holy father John Chrysostom:

O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown! Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen! Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life reigns! Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave! For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen. (Paschal Sermon of St. John Chrysostom).