VIDEO: 'Was Islam ever a religion of peace?'

While it is still possible to post theological refutations of Islam on the internet, let us not hesitate to do so, for the day is fast approaching when Truth will be banned from the public square, as seen in the recent sharia law enacted in Minneapolis, and in the new resolution criminalizing free speech put forth in the US Senate.

Was Islam ever a religion of peace?

Excerpted from the writings of St Sophronius of Jerusalem and St Gregory Palamas
From the YouTube Channel of Gregory Decapolite, February 22, 2015.

Follow these links for more on the writings of St Sophronius and St Gregory Palamas on Islam...




Let us repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand...

Pop Quiz for Lent: What great Orthodox saint condemned Muhammad's actions as 'instigated by the devil'?

If you're a regular reader of this blog, or have my book, Facing Islam, you'll recall this was the bold statement of St Gregory Palamas, whom we commemorated last week on the Second Sunday of Great Lent.

Here is the full quote:

"It is true that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, as the sun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil."  

(The Lives of the Pillars of Orthodoxy, Holy Apostles Convent & Dormition Skete, Buena Vista CO, 1990, p. 352.)

It is not really a secret, yet I would suppose that most Orthodox Christians have no idea that St Gregory, during his later years as Archbishop of Thessalonica, was abducted by the Muslim Turks and held for ransom (an income generating crime still used by Muslims to this day, which observers of the Middle East will have to admit).

Suffering cruel hardships, deprivations, and beatings, and so weakened by the ordeal that he died a short time after being ransomed by the Serbs, the holy Gregory nonetheless boldly proclaimed the Orthodox Christian Gospel to his Muslim captors, even though he was putting his life at risk.

St Gregory Palamas on Islam

As we come to the end of the third week of Lent in the Orthodox Church, let us revisit the teachings of St Gregory Palamas (14th c.), commemorated last Sunday:

This impious people [the Muslim Turks] boast of their victory over the Rom (the Byzantines) attributing it to their love of God. This is because they do not understand that this world below dwells in sin, and that evil men possess the greater part of it… That is why, down to the time of Constantine… the idolators have almost always held power over the world...

As for Muhammad, we do not see that the Prophets bear witness of him, nor do we have the witness of him performing any miracles and noteworthy works.

It is true that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, as the sun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil. 

The Worship of the Trinity versus 'Mutilators of God'

How the Great Feast of Theophany reveals the divinity of Jesus Christ and the Triune nature of the Godhead, while exposing the false god of Islam. And how this theophany concerning the True Nature of God is the means of salvation for all, including Muslims who turn to Jesus Christ.

_______

When Jesus was baptized by John the Forerunner in the Jordan River, the worship of the Trinity was for the first time openly revealed. As the hymn for the Feast of Theophany proclaims:

When You, O Lord

were baptized in the Jordan,

The worship of the Trinity

was made manifest, 

For the voice of the Father

bore witness to You,

And called You His beloved Son. 

And the Spirit, in the form of a dove, 

Confirmed the truthfulness of His word. 

O Christ, our God,

You have revealed Yourself 

And have enlightened the world,

Glory to You!

The nature of the Godhead as Three Divine Persons in a communion of co-equal loving action is pointed to through signs in the Old Testament, and perfectly revealed in the New, and transcends artificial attempts to adhere to a so-called “pure” monotheism (the Islamic doctrine of tawhid). The great Church Fathers St. John of Damascus and St. Gregory Palamas clearly point out the inherent fallacies and inconsistencies of Islamic theology by articulating the dogma of the Holy Trinity as found in the scriptures, and comparing it to Koranic passages. St John Damascene is quite bold in his refutation: 

Al Azhar Distributing Free Book Dedicated to Discrediting Christianity, the “Failed Religion”

The booklet will certainly help incite Egypt’s Muslims against the already heavily persecuted Coptic Christians.

This book from Al Azhar and its feeble claims are the height of irony and psychological projection, coming from the most respected Islamic university in the world, whose false religion was spread primarily by the sword and bloodshed, whose "prophet" personally beheaded hundreds of men, advocated the use of deceit against unbelievers, and was certainly of a depraved character, if not outright demon-possessed. The fruits of Islam's founder can be seen all around us today. This is much of what I present in my book, Facing Islam.

Epitaph of the Failed Religion, by Yusuf al-Qaradawi

One of Islam's leading figures recently admitted that Islam needs war-like threats — including the death penalty for apostasy — to keep its devotees in line. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood and one of the most respected leaders of the Sunni world, recently stated on Egyptian television, "If they [Muslims] had gotten rid of the punishment [often death] for apostasy, Islam would not exist today."

That is the very definition of a failed religion! One which rules by fear and intimidation, requiring war and bloodshed to spread, and the death penalty to keep its followers from rejecting its false claims.

Don't take my word for it; I'm just a lazy sinner. Here is an excerpt from a divinely-illumined father of the Orthodox Church, St. Gregory Palamas, who, having been abducted by the Muslim Turks (just as Muslims kidnap Christians today, including clergy), spoke fearlessly to them of the falseness of their prophet and religion at the risk of his own life:

Honoring and Learning from St. Gregory Palamas

In the Orthodox Church, the veneration of the saints is always linked to our struggle to emulate them in striving towards the Kingdom of Christ. In fact, we might be so bold as to say that if we are not striving and struggling forward, applying in our own life the lessons gleaned from the lives of those who have completed the good fight and have received their crown, then we are not properly or fully venerating them.

On the Second Sunday of Great Lent, the Church hold up for our edification and instruction St. Gregory Palamas (14th c.), best known as the defender of the Hesychast tradition and the teaching that we can experientially know God through His Uncreated Energies, that we may apprehend His Grace.

• St Gregory Palamas as a Model for Christians in our new 'Age of Jihad'
• St. Gregory Palamas - Confessor and Defender of Orthodoxy Against Islam

The above are links to two posts of mine which explore a lesser known aspect of St. Gregory's life and ministry, how he was abducted by the Muslim Turks in 1354 and held for a year before being ransomed by the Serbian Orthodox. During this time he strengthened the faithful who were being subjugated under the Islamic yoke, and he bravely engaged in debate with his Muslim captors, at the risk of his own life.

Let us learn from St. Gregory's words and deeds during this trial in his life, in which his character was even more powerfully revealed, and may we be strengthened through his intercessions!

St Gregory Palamas as a Model for Christians in our new 'Age of Jihad'

For the Second Sunday of Great Lent, on which the Orthodox Church commemorates St Gregory Palamas, I would like to emphasize St Gregory's abduction by Turkish Muslims in 1354.

As other writers on Islam have repeatedly made clear, the capture of Christians and holding them for ransom, exchanging them as hostages for Muslim prisoners, or simply killing them to terrorize other Christians, dates back to Muhammad himself, and is an established norm in Islamic jihad. It is being more and more used by jihadist groups today to achieve their ends. (See here and here for examples.)

“As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, ‘When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks’ (Qur’an sura 47, verse 4)” — Abu’l-Hasan al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance), trans. by Dr. Asadullah Yate, (London), Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 1996, p. 192; as cited on Jihad Watch.

Last year we lamented the abduction by Muslims of Bishop Paul and Bishop John in Syria. The Muslims killed their driver in the ambush. The bishops' whereabouts and condition are still unknown.

Then there is the recent abduction of Mother Pelagia and the nuns from Mar Thecla Monastery in Maloula, Syria. Thankfully they were not harmed, but were released in an exchange for female Muslim prisoners.

St Gregory Palamas was held captive for a year, eventually being ransomed by the Orthodox Serbs. He was severely weakened by the ordeal, but had been able to encourage a number of Orthodox Christian communities who had been struggling as subjugated dhimmis under their Ottoman Muslim overlords. Archbishop Gregory also engaged his Muslim tormentors in several debates, which were transcribed, and present a vivid picture of St Gregory as a fearless Confessor of the Orthodox Faith, in spite of his life hanging in the balance.

I have set up a special post on St Gregory Palamas, which presents much more detail on his year as a prisoner of the Muslims, as well as his defense of the Orthodox faith in his debates with his captors.

In our age of renewed Islamic jihad against Christians all around the globe, St Gregory Palamas, rightly revered for his defense of Orthodoxy during the Hesychast Controversy, should be more widely recognized as a Confessor and Defender of Orthodoxy against the heresy of Islam. His life is a model for all Orthodox believers, hierarchs, clergy, monastics and laity, as to how to present the Orthodox Gospel of Jesus Christ against a militant enemy, and how to bravely endure as a true confessor and witness (martyria) of the Lord.

"He comes not as a fierce man of war..."

The Nativity of Christ reveals the true nature of Muhammad and Islam

He comes not as a fierce man of war threatening all things living with death, but as a newly born babe, bringing the hope of rebirth and life into the entire realm of death; He comes — but the land of destruction does not meet, does not embrace, does not praise, does not even see the Saviour, and does not hear the Word of God keeping silence in the manger. Virtually in vain does the glory which Jesus Christ had with God the Father before the world was (John 17:5) on the lips of angels, follow Him descending into the world and pursuing Him, attain even unto the earth.

— St Philaret of Moscow (†1867)

St Philaret of Moscow may very well have had Muhammad in mind when he wrote this passage contrasting the meek and vulnerable "Word of God keeping silence in the manger" with the "fierce man of war" who dwells in the "land of destruction."

He would not be the first to draw this comparison. St Gregory Palamas is recorded saying this to his Muslim captors circa 1354:

It is true that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, as the sun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil.  (Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos, The Life of Gregory Palamas, Thessalonika, Greece, 1984, p 371. Translated from the Greek and published in English in The Lives of the Pillars of Orthodoxy, Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista CO, 1990.)

In his famous Regensburg address in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI quoted the fourteenth century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, who, in his dialogue [ca. 1391] with a Persian Muslim offered this blunt polemic:

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.

Muslims around the world affirmed that they are followers of Muhammad by rioting and raging against Pope Benedict after his remarks. What is illustrative of the nature of Islam and its followers is that they completely missed the subtlety of his point, namely, that it is not reasonable for God to will His followers to advance the knowledge and worship of Him by violence:

St. Gregory Palamas - Confessor and Defender of Orthodoxy Against Islam

by Ralph Zosimas Sidway

I. Introduction

St. Gregory Palamas is one of those profound and pivotal saints with whom one becomes better acquainted over time, and who often surprises with his insights, message and significance. While rightly revered and commemorated in Greece and elsewhere in the Orthodox world and by Orthodox monastics generally, in America, the relatively recent publications of his life and sermons, and studies of his significance, has led to a growing appreciation in the English-speaking world over only the last few decades for this “Light of Orthodoxy,” who is honored on the Second Sunday of Great Lent (often called a “Second Triumph of Orthodoxy”).

In this essay, I intend to explore a lesser known episode from St. Gregory’s life, which is no less significant than his dominant legacy, especially for our troubled times. In a manner similar to St. Gregory’s handling of the Hesychast Controversy, this episode from later in his life is rich in theological insights, and reveals much about the saint’s strength of Christian character; I believe these two lessons are providentially intended for us today, as a model of missionary pedagogy towards Muslims, and as an example of being a faithful confessor of Jesus Christ.

II. Captured and Held Hostage by Muslim Turks

The capture by the Muslim Turks of Archbishop Gregory Palamas when he landed at Gallipoli on March 10, 1354 while on a political mission of reconciliation for the Emperor John V Paleologos, set the stage for an unexpected and providential chapter late in the revered archpastor’s life.  

Archbishop Gregory was held as a hostage by the Muslims for an entire year, suffering considerable hardships, sometimes beatings, chains and deprivations, which left him greatly weakened by the time he was ransomed by the Serbs. [1]

In spite of being a prisoner (his status was somewhat more rigorous than house arrest; he was not locked up in a prison), he used the opportunity to encourage the Orthodox Christians he encountered in the various towns he passed through, who had only recently been conquered by the Ottomans. At the same time, he engaged in several discussions with his Muslim captors, which were preserved by a certain Dr. Taronites from Nicaea, or by Gregory’s biographer Philotheos. These accounts present a dynamic image of St. Gregory, who, in a manner sometimes similar to the Apostle Paul, takes spontaneous advantage of opportunities to engage with his captors in order to share the Orthodox Gospel. In one instance, after seeing a Muslim funeral, Gregory asks the Muslims what was said. On learning that they were asking Allah to forgive the sins of the deceased, he praised their initiative and their beseeching God, pivoting from this starting point to speak of Jesus Christ as the only Judge, using that to lead into the teaching of Jesus as the Logos of God, undivided from Him yet eternally begotten. [2]