Middle Eastern Christians Flee Violence for Ancient Homeland of Orthodoxy

[Syrian Lion]

Many of the Holy Pilgrimage sites for Christians are all over there. Jerusalem is only one place. Others include Galilee , Bethlehem. Some areas that are outside "Judea" are now within Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Some of the Holy sites such as Tyre, Sidon, Tiberias, Caesarea, Mount Tabor, Jerash, Amman, Mount Nebo, Madeba, Kerak, Petra, Antioch, Aleppo. And these are just the ones i can name .

In particular, I belong (baptized and active in) to the Greek Orthodox Church and I attend a Greek Orthodox (which is the genesis of many Orthodox branches, such as Ukrainian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Romanian, Bulgarian, Syrian Orthodox et al) --- one of our earliest footprint was in Syria. In Syria, there are still very strong remnants of the Byzantine Rite of Orthodoxy, and it is known as Melkites in Syria, @Syrian Lion brother -- im sure you heard of this, and i think it is known as Malaki in Syrian tongue, right? But anyways, a well known Pilgrimage site for us Greek Christian Orthodox is the Church of the Lady of Entrance of the Theotokos in Hama. It is close to what was known as Antioch in the days of old.

Syria , to us, is pivotal in the beginnings of Christianity and Christian Orthodoxy. The churches, abeys, monasteries, are more than 2 millenia old , and this is why --- to us --- the war in that country bleeds our hearts.

I'm not talking as one who lives in the 'west', but as one who is a Christian Orthodox. Syria is considered a very Holy Place....



Thank you, brother. I have read the 99 names of the Almighty, and one name that i always love is 'Al-Wadud'. THE LOVING. Yes, Allah SWT, or as we Christians call him Father God , He Is Love....

Yes there are melkite in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan, ... There are Orthodox melkite and Catholic melkite

I swear by Allah you guys are in my prayers daily, just before I sleep I offer beseech the Lord to help my Christian cousins of Sham and my Muslim brothers and sisters.

I'll continue to pray but I'll ask the Assyrians they help the Syrian brothers and sisters.

Thank you brother! This is what every Syrian needs now, prayers and support.

 

[Developereo]

Those Christians are Arabs too and stop trying to derail the topic by bringing Israel into everything you post. There is a world outside Israel. In fact it's politically acceptable to blame Israel not the other way around. In the last summer, thousands of Yazidis were murdered and taken into sex slavery and yet all we heard in media was the outrage against Israel when they took actions against Gaza. I never see anyone speaking a word against Islamists and if anyone does he/she would be branded as racist/islamophobic. Besides those who are responsible for these crimes are consisted of many ethnic groups, not just Arabs and it's their ideology that unites them.

No one denied that the displaced Arabs form Bethlehem and Palestine are Christians.
There is scant outrage or coverage about the ethnic cleansing of Arab Christians from Israel because one must never criticize Jews.

Israel is entirely relevant to the selective outrage being shown here.

 

[haviZsultan]

I swear by Allah you guys are in my prayers daily, just before I sleep I offer beseech the Lord to help my Christian cousins of Sham and my Muslim brothers and sisters.

I'll continue to pray but I'll ask the Assyrians they help the Syrian brothers and sisters.

Even I am impressed by @Dalit s loyalty to Pakistan and @Syrian Lion's loyalty to Syria. I want to see a day when minorities are strong and have equal rights.

I would like to see more Christian Pakistanis. My love to everyone of each and every religion. If God wanted us to be one he would have made just one religion. Instead he made many. That means he wants us to learn from each other and love and respect one another. We should work hard to counter fundamentalism and provide our minorities the space and strenght they need to spread their message of peace.

Christians in Pakistan severely protested the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, particularly in Peshawar. I think we muslims too must stand with Christians and back them in politics where they are concerned.

 

[Developereo]

My friend, the Arabs are not being singled out, but terrorists. There are millions, millions of Arabs who are Muslim (Shia, Sunni) who are for peace. I've good friends who are from Jordan , and they know as much of the Bible as i do, tho they are Muslim ! Arab is just ethnicity, Arabs can be Muslim, Christian, Jewish, et al. Those who claim to be Muslim , such as these ISIS followers, ISIL, et al -- they preach of righteousness , they preach of will of God, while they butcher innocents. No, this is not Islam. That is not the teachings of Mohammad.

My friend, these fanatics -- ISIS -- are claiming that they are the resurrection of Caliphate? No. They do not know what the Caliphate was all about. The Caliphate of the 7th, 8th centuries --- was so tolerant. People , whether they were Christian, Jew, they were welcomed and included , not persecuted and butchered like they are now. These terrorists are not Muslims.What they are doing is not Islam.

My point is that no one sheds a tear for Christian Arabs displaced by the racist Jews who colonized Palestine.
No one can possibly defend what ISIS and crowd are doing. I am simply pointing out the silence on the plight of Palestinian Christians at the hands of Israel.

If Israel were to blame for the exodus of Christians then why are there not equal numbers of Muslims leaving? The blame lies with Islamists not Israel..

I am talking about the ethnic cleansing in Palestine where most non-Jewish residents were driven out. Both Christian and Muslim Arabs were displaced from the areas that now make up Israel.

The situation in the rest of Middle East is also bad. No one is excusing anything. I am simply pointing out the silence of the Western media on highlighting the plight of Palestinian Christians.

 

[Syrian Lion]

Even I am impressed by @Dalit s loyalty to Pakistan and @Syrian Lion's loyalty to Syria. I want to see a day when minorities are strong and have equal rights.

I would like to see more Christian Pakistanis. My love to everyone of each and every religion. If God wanted us to be one he would have made just one religion. Instead he made many. That means he wants us to learn from each other and love and respect one another. We should work hard to counter fundamentalism and provide our minorities the space and strenght they need to spread their message of peace.

Christians in Pakistan severely protested the Charlie Hebdo cartoons, particularly in Peshawar. I think we muslims too must stand with Christians and back them in politics where they are concerned.

Yes my friend, coexisting is the solution, in Syria Christians and Muslims are together, and this war even made our unity stronger...
Extremism is dangerous to humanity, every religion has extremist, we as the people should put our difference aside and learn to respect each other's beliefs, this is the first step needs to be done in order to eliminate extremists beliefs

 

[Steve781]

My point is that no one sheds a tear for Christian Arabs displaced by the racist Jews who colonized Palestine.
No one can possibly defend what ISIS and crowd are doing. I am simply pointing out the silence on the plight of Palestinian Christians at the hands of Israel.



I am talking about the ethnic cleansing in Palestine where most non-Jewish residents were driven out. Both Christian and Muslim Arabs were displaced from the areas that now make up Israel.

The situation in the rest of Middle East is also bad. No one is excusing anything. I am simply pointing out the silence of the Western media on highlighting the plight of Palestinian Christians.

I can't speak for "the West" but in Britain the media never stops talking about the Palestinians.

 

[Aepsilons]

My point is that no one sheds a tear for Christian Arabs displaced by the racist Jews who colonized Palestine.
No one can possibly defend what ISIS and crowd are doing. I am simply pointing out the silence on the plight of Palestinian Christians at the hands of Israel.

Of course we do, the deaths of innocents is appalling. I remember when the war in Gaza was happening , our Priest was condemning the violence and as were most of us. Violence begets violence, my friend. Hamas shouldn't have fired those missiles, which instigated the IDF to use their own force. As is said in scripture, "Violence begets violence, evil begets evil...". And Israeli defense forces should not have been so indiscriminate.

Yes my friend, coexisting is the solution, in Syria Christians and Muslims are together, and this war even made our unity stronger...
Extremism is dangerous to humanity, every religion has extremist, we as the people should put our difference aside and learn to respect each other's beliefs, this is the first step needs to be done in order to eliminate extremists beliefs

Extremism, whatever the form it takes, is never good. "A gentle word turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger." Proverbs 15:1

 

[Azizam]

No one denied that the displaced Arabs form Bethlehem and Palestine are Christians.
There is scant outrage or coverage about the ethnic cleansing of Arab Christians from Israel because one must never criticize Jews.

Israel is entirely relevant to the selective outrage being shown here.

Do you live in this planet? A pen drop in Israel gets more media coverage than Christians being cleansed from entire Middle East.

 

[Aepsilons]

Will gentle words not evoke a violent response in a violent person? If I'm angry with you, you try to be nice, can I perceive this attempt as an effort to belittle my position or de-legitimize my outrage... sorry, being a bit philosophical here (ever since I started that thread), not religious so I can't comment on the rest.

Sometimes, when individuals initiate communication when they are angry or emotional, they can say things and do things out of anger. Let's say i'm a nurse at a rehabilitation center and a family member of a patient who recently passed away is coming to me agitated and angry at the situation he or she is placed upon. This individual's mother has just died , despite the therapeutic efforts made to resuscitate the person ; defibrillation (+epi), and advanced resuscitation techniques. As the nurse on staff, this person sees me and wants to express his rage to me because of what he believes is the hospital's failure to save his parent. What is the most ethical respones ? Should I respond defensively and start raising my own voice at this person? No. By doing so we only are going to agitate this person. What is recommended to do is to first recognize the hurt and the angst this person is feeling, legitimize his own grievances. Showing empathy is actually one of the fastest way in bridging differences. Afterwards, then one should speak compassionatley to them, and give an explanation for what happened while at the same time reinforcing the empathy (+sympathy).

Sometimes, @SvenSvensonov , we find it impossible to communicate with really angry people , but most of the times, dialogue and a sincere communication mechanism can find common ground. And, ultimately, bridge differences.

 

[Developereo]

Exactly my point. Atrocities done by Islamists are ignored and the focus is on Israel yet people here complain about "media bias".


Do you live in this planet? A pen drop in Israel gets more media coverage than Christians being cleansed from entire Middle East.

I live entirely on this planet, not blinded by rabid anti-Muslim hatred like YOU are.

Show me where the mainstream Western media has highlighted the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Christians to anywhere near the same level of coverage as given to ISIS and other groups.

The Western media dares not show the equivence between apartheid-era South Africa and Israel -- an equivalence noted by Nelson Mandela -- and does not point out the factual reality that Israel is the result of colonization by racist Jews who evicted non-Jewish locals to adjust the demographics for a Jewish State.

Go ahead, show me.

 

[Armstrong]

Of course. Hypocrisy is embedded with these lot. Some of them are actually quite honest. When asked whether Jizya is wrong or not, someone once told me that I don't have to worry as we live in a non-Muslim country and Quran doesn't expect us to pay taxes and it only applies to non-Muslims living in Muslim-majority countries. Non-Muslim majority countries are only expected to protect Muslims.

Pray tell me; what exactly do you know about the Jizya ?

 

[Azizam]

I live entirely on this planet, not blinded by rabid anti-Muslim hatred like YOU are.

Show me where the mainstream Western media has highlighted the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Christians to anywhere near the same level of coverage as given to ISIS and other groups.

Go ahead, show me.

BBC News - The Christian family refusing to give up its Bethlehem hill farm

About half of the threads in Middle East discuss matters regarding Israel and you and some others are here attempting to turn even this thread into an Israel-related discussion. Now please stop diverting what's being discussed and leave the thread if you have nothing valuable to contribute. Or you can simply create another thread to address this issue.

Pray tell me; what exactly do you know about the Jizya ?

I don't know that's why I asked another person

------- Sorry I meant to say Jizya tax which is the payment given by non-Muslims to live under Muslim rule. .

 

[Developereo]

BBC News - The Christian family refusing to give up its Bethlehem hill farm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27883685

I said show me coverage to the same level as afforded to ISIS and other groups.

That means headlines in mainstream media, constant discussions on talk shows, newspapers and magazines. TV programs centered around it.

About half of the threads in Middle East discuss matters regarding Israel and you and some others are here attempting to turn even this thread into an Israel-related discussion. Now please stop diverting what's being discussed and leave the thread if you have nothing valuable to contribute. Or you can simply create another thread to address this issue

Once again, I talked about mainstream media, not anonymous forums.

As for Israel, the topic here is the displacement of Christians from the ancient homeland. Bethlehem is the ultimate ancient homeland for Christians.

 

[Syrian Lion]

I said show me coverage to the same level as afforded to ISIS and other groups.

That means headlines in mainstream media, constant discussions on talk shows, newspapers and magazines. TV programs centered around it.



Once again, I talked about mainstream media, not anonymous forums.

As for Israel, the topic here is the displacement of Christians from the ancient homeland. Bethlehem is the ultimate ancient homeland for Christians.

Well the media coverage of Arab Christians is not actually high, the thread was opened to spread awareness... The media was reporting a lot of isis attacks on kurds, yazdi and Christians.. But it wasn't that of a media coverage for Christians, especially in Syria, the west media didn't report much in order to keep the general public blind and back up those terrorists...

 

[Developereo]

Well the media coverage of Arab Christians is not actually high, the thread was opened to spread awareness... The media was reporting a lot of isis attacks on kurds, yazdi and Christians.. But it wasn't that of a media coverage for Christians, especially in Syria, the west media didn't report much in order to keep the general public blind and back up those terrorists...

The current mess in Syria, Iraq, etc. was crated by the West, Russia, Arabs, Iranians, and a bunch of outside players.

No one's hands are clean and, as usual, the people suffering are the locals.