'Evangelicals Are Helping ‘Destroy’ the Syrian Orthodox Church', says Antiochian Priest

"Instead of helping the ancient Antioch Church and its believers continue to survive and keep their 2,000-year-old Christian traditions alive, some evangelicals from the West are doing 'the opposite' and are coming to Syria to 'steal our faithful'.” — Archimandrite Alexi Chehadeh

I have written about this deplorable tendency towards mercenary proselytism on the part of many American Protestant and Evangelical Christians, many of whom do not consider 'Eastern' Christians to be authentic Christians:

• Islam's Hatred of Holy Icons — and what that means for Persecuted Eastern Christians

• Christians in the Middle East: Martyred by Muslims in their Homeland, Disdained by Christians in America

Evangelicals Are Helping ‘Destroy’ the Syrian Orthodox Church, Antiochian Priest Says (Interview)

by Samuel Smith, The Christian Post via Pravmir:

Archimandrite Alexi Chehadeh, the director-general of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate af Antioch and All the East's Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development, speaks at undisclosed location in the photo posted to Facebook on April 29, 2017. Photo: Photo: Facebook / دائرة العلاقات المسكونية والتنمية)

WASHINGTON — Evangelical Christians from the United States and other areas of the world are helping "destroy" the historic Antioch Church in Syria by offering poor, vulnerable orthodox Christians aid and assistance if they "convert" and start worshiping at evangelical house churches, a prominent Syrian priest asserted.

Archimandrite Alexi Chehadeh, director-general of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch’s Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development, traveled from the church’s headquarters in Damascus, Syria, to the U.S. capital last week to take part in the first-ever World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association at the Mayflower Hotel.

Chehadeh sat down with The Christian Post to discuss the situation in Syria and the impact that Christians in the West are having when it comes to aiding the civil war-ridden country’s minority Christian population.

“For us personally, I didn’t see any help from the American church directly. Perhaps, [aid went] to our brothers and sisters in the Protestant Church or Baptist Church or other church denominations we have there. But for us, we didn’t receive any help from the Church in [America],” Chehadeh explained.

As many experts fear that Christianity in the region might one day become extinct, Chehadeh said that instead of helping the ancient Antioch Church and its believers continue to survive and keep their 2,000-year-old Christian traditions alive, some evangelicals from the West and wealthier areas in the Middle East are doing “the opposite” and are coming to Syria to “steal our faithful.”

“[They are] giving them some money to say ‘Come to my church. I will give you money or I will let you go to Europe or to U.S.,'” Chehadeh said. “So it is not a nice way, especially in this crisis, to come and to destroy the work of a church, which is for more than 2,000 years in the area...

Middle East Christians Celebrate Christmas Under Yoke of Genocide

This important summary of the relentless jihad against Christians in the Mid-East, Africa, and throughout the Islamic world, should remind us to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the globe.


Middle East Christians Celebrate Christmas Under Yoke of Genocide
By Philippe Nassif, The Hill via AINA, December 20, 2016:

The ISIS bombing of St. Mark's cathedral in Cairo on Dec. 11 2016, the largest church in the Middle East, momentarily brought the suffering of Middle East Christians to the forefront of American consciousness.

In the days since, the coverage has subsided, with more unsettling news from the region. Lost in the news cycle is the question of Christianity's survival across the Middle East.

American media coverage of religious persecution in the Middle East, particularly violent extremism that targets vulnerable minority groups, has improved in recent years. But there is nothing like the coverage that is merited.

Minorities are, of course, keenly conscious of this -- both in the West and the Middle East. But they feel that they are invisible to most observers from the West. There have been some exceptions.

In 2011, after a New Year's Day attack on Saints Church in Alexandria, Egypt, "The Atlantic's" Jeffrey Goldberg wrote of:

"The lackadaisical coverage of what seems to be the most important story coming out of the Middle East right now. ... 

"The Salafist war on Christians in the Middle East is intensifying fairly rapidly, with profound consequences not only for Christians in the lands of their faith's earliest history ... but for the rights of all ethnic and religious minorities in the greater Middle East."

Goldberg observed that the "attack seems like a watershed moment" in a region:

"Historically intolerant of the rights of non-Arab Muslim minorities: The indigenous Africans of Sudan, who are trying to break free of Khartoum's hold; the Kurds in Iraq and Syria; Christians in Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq; and the Jewish people of Israel, among others. 

"In Saudi Arabia, of course, it is illegal even to build a church, and I'm afraid it will soon be illegal to build one in Iraq."

Goldberg's words proved prophetic. What he foresaw culminated in genocide.

Patriarch Kirill: Muslim Persecution of Mid-East Christians Surpasses Scope of Soviet Era, is 'Most Extensive in History'

"If we look at the proportions in relative terms, then the events in the Middle East can be called a genocide of the Christian population...” — Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia


Patriarch Kirill: Persecution of Middle East Christians Surpasses Scope of Soviet Russian Persecution
Pravoslavie, November 21, 2016:

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia believes that the persecution of Christians in the Middle East has become the most extensive in world history.

“That which the Christian world is now facing, it has never faced before. By the number of Christians killed, the persecution in Russia was more brutal and more extensive, but if we look at the proportions not in absolute, but relative terms, then the events in the Middle East can be called a genocide of the Christian population,” the patriarch said on Tuesday in a meeting with the Antiochian delegation in Moscow.

Lebanese Christian: 'Donald Trump is good for Middle Eastern Christians'

"Middle Eastern Christians relish this: we can finally call Muslims out on their hypocrisy but, more importantly, we have a voice."

Donald Trump is good for Middle Eastern Christians
by Najwa Najib, Medium, October 29, 2016
(h/t Jihad Watch)

The 2016 presidential election has turned into a breeding ground for op-eds about every possible topic under the sun, though most focus on Donald Trump and the supposed danger he poses to the world in general and to Muslims in particular. People who have absolutely no right to speak on topics of domestic policy, foreign policy, Islam, whatever, have suddenly been given soapboxes. Where these used to be targets at which we all mostly rolled our eyes, they are now elevated.

Off the top of my head, I can think of big names with big things to say about Donald Trump’s policies. Louis CK compares Trump’s run to “being Germany in the ’30s,” where apparently they did not “[see] the shit coming”. In a New York Times op-ed, Aziz Ansari, not a practicing Muslim, fears for his Muslim family’s safety because he thinks that, in rounding 0.03% of Muslims being investigated for potential ISIS extremism down to 0, those 1,000 under investigation will do the same damage as 0 extremists could. Jill Soloway, creator of a show no one wants to watch, said in the press room following her Emmy win that “any moment [she has] to call Trump out to being an inheritor to Hitler, [she] will,” because Trump apparently ‘otherises’ Muslims. This defence of Muslims comes after screaming “topple the patriarchy” twice on stage during the actual show. She defended Islam, the inherently patriarchal religion whose adherents gruesomely and happily punish the “Jewish people, queer folk, trans folk” she patted herself on the back for featuring on her television show in her Emmy acceptance speech. Clearly, Jill Soloway’s grasp of Islam is matched only by Aziz Ansari’s statistical genius and Louis CK’s history knowledge.

While simultaneously pushing the narrative that Donald Trump’s candidacy would not have been possible without the media — apparently, the Hollywood elite feel that Donald Trump’s history-making run for President is due to Celebrity Apprentice and not to a widespread fatigue of the self-congratulating same-old same-old — the media also pushes the notion that Donald Trump is Hitler. Donald Trump is Hitler on the Emmys stage. Donald Trump is Hitler in the New York Times. Donald Trump is Hitler in newsletters. Donald Trump is Hitler anywhere that statement can be repeated, over and over again, unopposed and unchallenged.

Other more invested people can write and have written about how of course Donald Trump is not Hitler, about the sheer audacity of saying such a thing about a man whose daughter and grandchildren are Jewish. Those people might also explain how Führer Trump could only have run and won in 2016 because of that audacity, because of what the media pass for truth, because of the death of journalistic integrity.

But this piece is not a defence of Donald Trump.

I don’t know if I’m allowed to write passionately and honestly about anything, even about the continued genocide and erasure of my people and of all Middle Eastern Christian peoples. Where does this lament for my people fit in a world where click-bait and listicles pollute what’s left of journalism and where it seems almost everyone operates under the notion that “Donald Trump is literally Hitler”?

My people — Middle Eastern and North African Christians, Arabs, Assyrians, Armenians, Coptic, Catholic, Orthodox, etc. — where do we fit?

“What is happening in the Middle East will happen in Europe” - Syrian Orthodox bishop in Switzerland

“'What is happening to us today began 1,300 years ago.' In the 7th century, the genocide of Christians began, then in the darkness, now in the media spotlight. The agenda of Islam has remained always the same, namely to expel the Christians from the Middle East."

A brave, faithful and honest Orthodox bishop fearlessly speaks the truth about Islam. May we heed his warnings and reject the "Same God Heresy."

“What is happening in the Middle East will happen in Europe,” 

(translated from «Was im Nahen Osten geschieht, wird auch in Europa passieren»), Tages Anzeiger, April 14, 2016 (thanks to Jihad Watch):

Isa Gürbüz, the Syrian Orthodox Church leader in Switzerland, calls Christians to be vigilant. The agenda of Islam is to take power.

“In 20 or 30 years there will be a Muslim majority in Europe. Half of European women will then wear a hijab.” This prediction doesn’t come from Michel Houellebecq or Thilo Sarrazin, but from Dionysos Isa Gürbüz, the Syrian Orthodox bishop in Switzerland. He resides in the idyllic Lake Zug Arth Capuchin monastery, with two monks and two nuns. From the monastery Mor Avgin, as it is called today, he oversees the 10,000 Syrian Orthodox faithful in Switzerland and 4,000 in Austria.

Isa Gürbüz is busy preparing for the Easter services, which are celebrated in his church in late April. Then his coreligionists will flock in the hundreds to Arth. Together they will pray, sing and debate – in the Aramaic native language, the sacred language that Jesus spoke. The Syrian Orthodox Church is the oldest of all. In her home in the former Mesopotamia, today Syria and Iraq, they are persecuted. “Arth has therefore become a center for the preservation of our endangered religion and culture,” says Gürbüz.

The fate of the Christians preoccupies the bishop.

Easter joy may not come easily for the bishop. He is too busy with the fate of Christians in the Middle East: “What today has caused thousands to join the terrorist groups of IS, Taliban or al-Qaida, is the extension of the genocide of 1915.” At that time nearly two million Christians – Aramean, Syrian and Greek Orthodox – perished, and millions converted to Islam. The Bishop continues: “What is happening to us today began 1,300 years ago.” In the 7th century, the genocide of Christians began, then in the darkness, now in the media spotlight. The agenda of Islam has remained always the same to him, namely to expel the Christians from the Middle East. Also in the coming years, the spirit of terror will reign there.

In Groundbreaking Move, US declares Christians among victims of ISIS genocide

Thank God for this development. Raymond Ibrahim, and others of us have been writing about this for over a year, urging the Obama administration to formally declare Christians victims of genocide committed by the Islamic State. Last Autumn, it seemed Secretary Kerry was prepared to grant that designation only to the Yezidis, excluding Christians in yet another example of President Obama's tendency to side with Islam against Christianity. (See my article on Obama as the 'anti-Constantine'.)

Regarding the Orthodox Christian position on genocide declaration, I only recall one formal statement by an Orthodox entity in the Americas, that from the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Chicago back in November 2015. Patriarch Kirill and  Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of the Moscow Patriarchate have both openly referred to Islamic persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Africa as genocide (while covering for Islam, it is true). Metropolitan Tikhon of the Orthodox Church in America discussed the genocide issue and its relation to the Way of the Cross, in a compelling address at the Global Forum on Armenian Genocide in April 2015. Forgive me if I have missed any other announcements or news reports.

We hope and pray that this important move by the Obama administration be followed by aid and support for Christians suffering under Muslim persecution, including preferential consideration in refugee processing, immigration, and other means of assistance.

See also my earlier articles on the urgency of declaring Islamic State's persecution of Christians genocide:

• Muslim Persecution of Christians — Call it what it is: GENOCIDE (Dec. 2015)
• Christian Genocide in the Middle East and Public Apathy in America (April 2015)

The Islamic State beheads Coptic Christians on the beach in Libya: two of the thousands of New Martyrs under the sword of Islam in the 21st century. (Source: Islamic State Video)

"In groundbreaking move, US declares Christians among victims of ISIS genocide",  Catholic World Report, March 17, 2016:

Washington D.C., Mar 17, 2016 / 08:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Secretary of State John Kerry declared Thursday that Christians, Yezidis, Shi’a Muslims, and other religious and ethnic minorities are victims of ISIS genocide.

Secretary Kerry announced at a news conference that “in my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control including Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims.” Daesh is another name for the Islamic State, or ISIS.

The announcement is groundbreaking because the term is rarely used to describe ongoing atrocities committed by a state or non-state actor. It is the “crime of crimes,” according to the United Nations, because it involves the intentional destruction, “in whole or in part,” of an entire people.

Thursday’s announcement came after reports from earlier in the week surfaced that the State Department was expected to miss the March 17 deadline for announcing whether or not it would declare genocide. Congress mandated the deadline in the Omnibus spending bill passed in December.

Significantly, the move followed the European Parliament’s declaration of genocide issued in early February. Advocates for Middle Eastern Christians say that the declarations by both the U.S. and the European Union could put further pressure on the United Nations Security Council to declare genocide and refer the matter to the International Criminal Court where the perpetrators could be tried.

Bishop Angaelos: Condemns Church’s silence, fails to mention Islam as cause of Christian 'decline'

As important as this report is, and the admonitions of Bishop Angaelos, it is noteworthy that absolutely nowhere in this story is there any mention of the actual cause of the "decline of Christianity in the Middle East." Why, judging from this news story and His Grace's words, the cause could be drought brought on by Climate Change. Or it could be lack of job opportunities. Or it could be falling oil prices.

The early 21st century is already drenched in blood and carnage by the global Muslim jihad against Christians, yet you don't get a word of that from this news report, nor from most Christian leaders.

The shameful irony of Bishop Angaelos' words is that, unless his remarks have been heavily edited, his condemnation of the Church's silence perpetuates that very silence when it comes to naming the root cause of the "decline of Christians in the Middle East": Islam and jihad in the name of Allah.


Bishop Angaelos: The Church’s silence has contributed to the decline of Christianity in the Middle East
Christianity Today via Pravmir, January 19, 2016:

The Church’s silence on refugees has been a contributing factor to the decline of Christianity in the Middle East, the General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK said today.

His Grace Bishop Angaelos addressed a conference hosted by the World Council of Churches and the UN to speak of practical ways leaders can respond to the refugee crisis.

He joined a number of other church leaders to highlight the mass exodus of Christians from their homeland in the Middle East.

“Where there was once a 25 per cent Christian population in the Middle East it is now around 5 per cent, and tragically 4 per cent of those 5 per cent are in Egypt,” he said.

“Our silence as Churches, nations, and as a world community, has been a contributing factor to this,” said Angaelos in an impassioned plea.

Coptic Bishop Angaelos addresses international conference on Christian response to persecution

"The world seems to be waking up to the fact that there is a problem in the Middle East... There has been a systemic persecution of Christians throughout the Middle East over centuries... Our silence has been a contributing factor to what we are seeing today."

ICN via AINA, December 19, 2015:

His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, gave an address titled 'Christians in the Middle East: Light in darkness, hope in despair' during a conference at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, on 12 December. He said: "The world seems to suddenly be waking up to the fact that there is a problem in the Middle East. That problem, however, did not start with the mass exodus of Christians from Mosul, because there has been a systematic and systemic persecution of Christians throughout the Middle East over decades and indeed over centuries. This ethnic cleansing is an accumulative effect and our silence has been a contributing factor to what we are seeing today." "The Christian presence in the Middle East decreased from 25% to just 5%. An even more alarming statistic, is when you take Egypt out of the equation as the most populous country with the most populous Christian presence, that percentage falls from 5% to somewhere between 1% and 2% because there are 13 million Christians in Egypt." "That said, I welcome the recent steps taken to present the actions of the caliphate to be those of genocide. I also welcome even more strongly, the efforts in the past few days that have sought to ensure that Christians are not excluded from that equation."

Chicago's Greek Orthodox Diocese Calls for Genocide Recognition for Middle East Christians

This is an important development, which will hopefully lead to similar statements from all Orthodox jurisdictions in North America. 

by Gregory Pappas, The Pappas Post, November 28, 2015

ISIS and other extremist movements across the Middle East are enslaving, killing and uprooting ancient Christian communities, with practically no end in sight until the last communities are extinguished. The Western governments have been paralyzed, dealing with other issues on their doorstep like the massive refugee crisis, the growing conflict between Russia and Turkey and domestic terror threats like the recent Paris attacks.

There hasn't been much said or expected of governments up to now but the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago has taken a stand, asking for the United Nations to recognize the events as an official genocide of the Christian population of the Middle East.

The Metropolis of Chicago, which covers almost 60 parishes throughout the Midwest and claims over a quarter of a million faithful, held it's Biannual Clergy Laity Assembly in Madison, Wisconsin, from November 14th -- 18th.

Led by Metropolitan Iakovos and Bishop Demetrios, approximately 400 clergy and parishioners from parishes throughout the region gathered to hear from a wide range of speakers addressing numerous subjects of interest to Greek Orthodox Christian followers.

One such speaker was Bassel Korkor, a Syrian American attorney who serves as United States Counsel to the Syrian Coalition's Washington and United Nations offices. He advises the Coalition on various legal and policy issues, including sanctions compliance, economic development, and diplomatic matters.

His presentation entitled "Contemporary Martyrs of the Middle East" educated the gathering as to the current conditions in Syria and throughout the Middle East, especially concerning the status of the significant and diverse historical Christian population.

Following Mr. Korkor's presentation, looking for a way to bring assistance in the protection of the Christian population of the Middle East currently subject to numerous documented examples of Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide, a proposal for the need for action by the Clergy Laity Assembly was introduced by Father Mark Munoz of Rochelle, Minnesota.

The result was the following Resolution, written by Metropolis of Chicago Council Member John C. Ackerman of Peoria, Illinois, and edited by Father David Bissias of Hammond, Indiana and Bishop Demetrios.

This Resolution received unanimous support and will soon be mailed to the President of the United States as well as each and every United States Senator and Representative within the jurisdiction of the Metropolis of Chicago.

EVE OF DESTRUCTION: Middle East Christianity Doomed, while Western Christianity Collapses

Let us heed this sober appraisal of our New Age of Mass Martyrdom.

Can we even begin to comprehend what this portends as a SIGN?

• The nearly complete eradication of Christians from the lands where Jesus Christ walked, and where the Church first spread,

• The global uprising of authentic Islam, which St John of Damascus called "the forerunner of antichrist",

• Juxtaposed against the simultaneous explosion of godlessness and anti-human perversity in America and Europe — assented to and advanced even by many Christians,

• and the virtual collapse of true Christianity in the West, as it is swallowed up by the pleasures and seduction of the Whore of Babylon,

While Resurrected Russia preaches the Orthodox Gospel to the whole world, fulfilling the prophecies of St Seraphim of Sarov and other holy elders.

Every such prediction as the article below are urgent, frightful signs allowed by the Lord to shock us, wake us up, and spur us on to true repentance, that we may find grace from the Lord to persevere through our apocalyptic times, confessing Jesus Christ to the death, that we may be raised with Him in glory at His Second Coming. Amen.


EVE OF DESTRUCTION: Middle East Christianity Doomed, Aid Group Warns
by Simon Kent, Breitbart News, November 11, 2015

Iraqi Christians - Reuters Photo.

Middle East Christianity will disappear within a decade as its followers face utter annihilation at the hands of Islamic State (IS) terrorists, a Catholic aid group has warned.

The alarming rate of decline in the Biblical heartlands means the religion could vanish in areas it has called home for millennia unless the world steps in, says the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.

In a report titled Persecuted & Forgotten? disturbing data outlines the plunging numbers of Christians in the part of the world that gave birth to the faith and makes a dire prediction of what the future holds.

The British-based group says: “At a time when the numbers of displaced and refugees have hit an all-time high, Islamists groups — ISIS foremost — are carrying out religiously motivated ethnic cleaning of Christians.

“In parts of the Middle East — particularly in Syria and Iraq — the crisis is so severe that barring significant interventions on the part of world powers, the Christian presence may disappear completely within a decade or even sooner.”

Devastated Christian Family: Our Longtime Muslim Friends and Neighbors Killed Our Children

St Rafka Mission of Hope and Mercy,
commentary by Raymond Ibrahim, October 7, 2015

The above 6-minute video is a must-see.  It offers an up close and personal account of what Christian minorities are experiencing at the hands of jihadis and other Muslim “rebels” being supported in the Mideast by the Obama administration.

A Christian family from Iraq narrates how their young children were killed and burned alive, “simply for wearing the cross.” One of the remaining and traumatized children uses toy figures to show people how his siblings were slaughtered.

This family is identical to the other Christian refugees who fled the Islamic State in Iraq and came to America—only to be imprisoned and then thrown back to the lions by the Obama government.

Listen especially to the mother’s words starting around the 2:50 minute mark.  She talks about how the “ISIS” that attacked and killed her children were their own Muslim neighbors, whom they ate with, laughed with, and even provided educational and medical service to.

For more on this theme, read When Muslims Betray Non-Muslim Friends and Neighbors.

Christianity will not Disappear from Its Country

"It is a grave error for Christians to tie their survival to the survival of a regime that protects them or to a foreign intervention that will defend them. The most dangerous thing is for Christians to abandon their mission and their witness, which can be summed up as bearing the cross, for the sake of their survival..."

by Priest Georges Massouh, Notes on Arab Orthodoxy,
via Pravmir — October 2, 2015
See more articles by Fr Georges Massouh.

Photo: A painting of the martyrs inside of the church of the

Holy Martyrs of Japan, in Japan, Missouri.

The Christians in my country– or at least most of them– think that their existence in this Middle East will not last without the support of the rulers and strongmen of this world or without dispensing with Christian “beatitude”. However, if we go back through Christian history, we find that the persistence of Christianity has been fundamentally based on sincerity and faithfulness to the teachings of Christ the Lord, those teachings that reached their culmination on the cross. It is a mistake to think that the Christian presence in the Middle East has persisted thanks to their own power.

At the end of the second Christian century, an unnamed Christian sent a letter to a pagan named Diognetus in defense of Christianity in which he said,

“Do you not see how they throw Christians to wild beasts in order to compel them to deny the Lord, but they are not defeated? Do you not see that the more martyrs there are, the more Christians there are?”

The writer of the letter adds that, even if they are a small group of people, it is not right for Christians to isolate themselves in ghettos, since they are in the midst of the world, enriching it like the power that the soul radiates through the body.

Fr Georges Massouh

This letter, which was composed at the height of the persecution that the Roman Empire waged against Christians, is the best expression of a Christian mentality rooted in the Gospel. Persecution did not deter Christians from the faith, but rather increased their numbers. Fear did not reign over those approaching persecution and it did not dampen their resolve. Rather, it increased their insistence on the correctness of their belief and their hope of eternal life. They approached martyrdom as ones approaching true life. This is why this era is called the golden age of Christianity. 

Christians did not join forces with emperors, governors or rulers and they did not make truces with Nero, Marcus Aurelius or Diocletian. They did not cooperate with them and they did not submit to their authority. Some men at the Roman court, some officers and soldiers, declared their Christianity by renouncing their positions and livelihoods in order not to serve an unjust state. They went forth to martyrdom after having cast aside the weapons that they could have used to fight, in order to bear witness to the Lord and His Church. In this way the Apostles Peter, the fisherman, and Paul were victorious over Nero and his entourage. In this way the Church was victorious over the Empire.

Putin to West at the UN: "Do you realize what you have done?" - UPDATED!

• Putin proposed “generally broad international coalition against terrorism,” likening the suggestion to the anti-Hitler coalition formed to battle fascism in Europe,

• Warned that international policy toward the region has led to an Islamic State with plans that “go further” than simply dominating the Middle East,

• Warned of global threat from ISIS: “We believe that any attempts to play games with terrorists, let alone to arm them, are not just short-sighted, but hazardous. This may result in the global terrorist threat increasing dramatically and engulfing new regions.”

Putin: "Do you realize what you have done?" 

by Everett Rosenfeld, CNBC, September 28, 2015:

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday admonished those who supported democratic revolutions in the Middle East, telling the United Nations they led to the rise of a globally ambitious Islamic State.

“Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we got violence, poverty and social disaster — and nobody cares a bit about human rights, including the right to life,” Putin said through a translator. “I cannot help asking those who have forced that situation: Do you realize what you have done?”

The Russian president added that the power vacuum following these revolutions led to the rise of terrorist groups in the region — including the Islamic State group.

Misrata, Libya - right, before US involvement; left, after US involvement.

He told the General Assembly it would be an “enormous mistake” not to cooperate with the Syrian government to combat the extremist group.

“No one but President (Bashar) Assad’s armed forces and Kurdish militia are truly fighting the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations in Syria,” he said.

In an earlier speech at the U.N. , President Barack Obama said it would be a mistake to think that Syria could be stable under Assad.

Acknowledging some of the criticism lobbed at Russia’s proposal, Putin said his country is only proposing to help save the world from terrorism.

Putin Bests Obama in UN Showdown on Syria

Obama triples down on his politically correct Mideast fantasies, while Putin correctly analyzes ISIS and Assad.

by Robert Spencer, PJ Media — September 29, 2015

Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin both spoke at the United Nations on Monday, with Putin reiterating a call he made in September for an international coalition against jihad terror and the Islamic State in particular. Obama again rebuffed that call, although this time he left the door slightly open to some kind of cooperation with Russia.

The sticking point is Bashar Assad — and the differences that Obama and Putin have over Assad’s regime demonstrate yet again that when it comes to the jihad threat, Putin is assessing the situation realistically while Obama is operating in the realm of politically correct fantasy.

Putin skewered those fantasies in his UN speech Monday when he noted the failure of the Arab Spring to do what Barack Obama and the entire political and media elites insisted it would do: bring to the Middle East a flowering of democracy and freedom:

Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we got violence, poverty and social disaster — and nobody cares a bit about human rights, including the right to life. I cannot help asking those who have forced that situation: Do you realize what you have done?

No, they don’t realize what they have done, and they’re poised to do more of it.

Christian Filmmaker aims to raise awareness about Muslim Persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

“The ethnic and religious purging of Christians today is exactly like Hitler’s ethnic cleansing of Jews in WWII,” [film director Peter] Spencer said. “True Christians are today obligated to rescue the perishing from the blades of [the Islamic State].”


Brave and bold words, and all too rare in America these days. The film, 'Return To The Hiding Place', and the 'Orange Resistance Movement' seem like a strong and creative response to Muslim persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Africa. Judging from the endorsements on Mr. Spencer's site, the message seems to be catching on among Christians and Jews. I see no reason why Orthodox parishes should not host screenings of this important film. 


Related:

• What Every Christian Needs To Know About All Of The Christians Who Saved Jews In The Holocaust
• 400 Syrian Churches Destroyed, Christianity Nearing ‘Extinction’ in Mideast — Russian Orthodox Patriarch
• The New Exodus: Christians Flee ISIS in the Middle East
• All Posts related to Muslim Persecution of Christians

Filmmaker’s ‘Chilling’ Warning About the Islamic State and His Message to ‘True Christians’ About Why They Must Fight Back

by Billy Hallowell, The Blaze, via Pravoslavie — September 17, 2015

The writer and director of a feature film about a group of young people who fought to save the innocent during the Holocaust has unveiled a new movement aimed at raising awareness about the dire religious persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

Peter Spencer, director of “Return to the Hiding Place” — the sequel to Billy Graham’s “The Hiding Place” — exclusively told TheBlaze about his new Orange Resistance effort to rescue Christians being harmed by the Islamic State, and the “chilling similarities” that he sees between what’s happing now and the horrors that unfolded during the Holocaust.

“The ethnic and religious purging of Christians today is exactly like Hitler’s ethnic cleansing of Jews in WWII,” Spencer said. “True Christians are today obligated to rescue the perishing from the blades of [the Islamic State].”

The Orange Resistance movement is named for the both the color of the jumpsuits worn by victims of Islamic State extremists and for the Netherlands’ historic association with orange; the setting of the ”Return to the Hiding Place,” which is based, in part, on Dutch Christian Corrie ten Boom’s heroic acts to save Jews in the Netherlands.

Spencer said that the campaign will employ a number of tactics to get the word out about the plight of Middle Eastern Christians.

Islamic State is 'beheading, raping, and selling' Christians while Obama does nothing, asserts Justice Group

The American Center for Law and Justice is pressing the Obama Administration to act swiftly to stop the genocide of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East, highlighting the administration's inaction on several fronts. But action is unlikely to be forthcoming. 

As Raymond Ibrahim has shown, reporting of Muslim persecution of Christians does not fit "The Narrative" which the Obama Administration holds to, that Islam is innocent and there is no religious dimension to the strife in the Middle East and Africa. Therefore the plight of Christians will likely continue to be ignored by the U.S. government as a matter of Obama's anti-Christian, pro-Islam policy.

Such is the political dimension of this new age of martyrdom in which we live. 


ISIS is 'beheading, raping, and selling' Christians while Obama does nothing, Justice group asserts
by Thomas D. Williams, PhD, Breitbart News, August 21, 2015

The American Center for Law and Justice is urging President Barack Obama to defend Christians who are suffering intense persecution from Islamic State terrorists, especially by naming an ambassador to fill the vacant mission of Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia.

The ACLJ has drafted a petition appealing to the Obama Administration to act swiftly to stop the genocide of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East. The petition has already garnered more than 93,000 signatures.

The organization reminds the administration that ISIS is “beheading, raping, and selling Christians” and that hundreds of thousands of Christians have been forced to flee or die. But while ISIS tracks down Christians for sale and slaughter, the Obama Administration and other Western leaders stand by idle.

For more than a year, the justice group states in an article on Thursday, “President Obama has failed to appoint an Ambassador to lead a Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia.”

“While Christians and other religious minorities are decimated in that region, the Obama administration leaves this vital position unfilled. This is why the ACLJ has urged them to fill this spot and will continue to do so,” it said.

Slovakia refuses EU plan to resettle Muslim refugees, ‘will only accept Christians’

Wisdom and prudence from the sovereign state of Slovakia. They (and all Christian countries) should be free to flatly refuse to accept forced Muslim immigration.

Keep Slovakia jihad free!

As of 2011, Slovakia was approximately 62% Roman Catholic, 8.9% Protestant, 3.8% Greek Catholic, and .9% Orthodox Christian, a very small Jewish remnant, the rest Atheist and other; no Muslim population even registered in the survey. No doubt they would like to keep it that way, given the historic problems their neighbors have had from Muslim incursions dating back a millennium (Slovakia herself was attacked by Muslim armies centuries ago), and the current woes suffered by every European country which has Muslim populations (sharia "no-go" zones, crime, etc).

More disturbing, the Islamic State has publicly targeted Slovakia in its 5-year plan to spread the caliphate from Spain to China, no doubt relying on mass Muslim immigration as a key component of their jihad.

The EU's demands amount to civilizational jihad, and would only result in the desolation of Slovakia.

Migrants crisis: Slovakia ‘will only accept Christians’
Slovakia says it will only accept Christians when it takes in Syrian refugees under a EU relocation scheme
BBC News via Pravmir, August 20, 2015

The country is due to receive 200 people from camps in Turkey, Italy and Greece under the EU plan to resettle 40,000 new arrivals.

Interior ministry spokesman Ivan Netik said Muslims would not be accepted because they would not feel at home.

The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) called on countries to take an “inclusive approach” to relocation.

But Mr Netik denied the move was discriminatory and said it was intended to ensure community cohesion.

‘Not going to like it’

The number of migrants at the EU’s borders has surged in recent months, reaching a record high of 107,500 in July. Most are Syrians, Afghans, and sub-Saharan Africans, fleeing instability or poverty.

Last month, EU member states agreed to take in 32,000 asylum seekers arriving in Italy and Greece over the next two years – fewer than the 40,000 target.

The scheme was made voluntary after some nations – including Slovakia – refused to accept set quotas.

Raymond Ibrahim: Christian Carnage and Western Indifference - Muslim Persecution of Christians, April 2015

The sheer breadth of global Muslim persecution of Christians, and the depths and variety of the depravity involved, which Raymond Ibrahim dutifully reports month after agonizing month, is beyond horrifying, beyond anything we have seen in history.  There is an infernal spirit behind the resurgence of Islam in our age.

By Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone Institute — June 22, 2015

Note: The following represents some of the persecution Christians experienced at the hands of Muslims during the month of April, 2015 alone.   After reading this, ask yourself how Western media, politicians, and other foolish talking heads would react if Muslims experienced the same sort and amount of persecution at the hands of Christians or in Western nations in just one month.

Islamic State Slaughters 30 Christian Ethiopians

Approximately two months after the Islamic State published a video depicting its members slaughtering 21 Coptic Christians in Libya, on Sunday, April 19,  the Islamic jihadi organization released another video of more Christians in Libya, approximately 30 Ethiopians—derogatorily referred to by an IS spokesman as “worshippers of the cross”—being butchered for not paying jizya, extortion money demanded of the “People of the Book” who refuse to convert to Islam, according to Koran 9:29.

One group of Christians were shot execution style to the back of their heads, the others had their heads carved off, like the Copts before them.

The IS spokesman further addressed “Christians everywhere”:

We say to Christians everywhere, the Islamic State will expand, with Allah’s permission.  And it will reach you even if you are in fortified strongholds.  So whoever enters Islam will have security, and whoever accepts the Dhimmah contract [subjugated, third-class treatment and social status] will have security. But whoever refuses will see nothing from us but the edge of a spear. The men will be killed and the children will be enslaved, and their wealth will be taken as booty. This is the judgment of Allah and His Messenger.

In a statement, the Coptic Christian Church of Egypt pointed out that the Ethiopian martyrs, like the 21 Copts before them, were “murdered purely for refusing to renounce their faith.”

Al Shabaab Murders 147, Separates Muslims from Christians

On April 2 in Kenya, gunmen from the Somali Islamic group, Al Shabaab—“the [Islamic] youth”—stormed Garissa University, singled out Christian students, and murdered them, some beheaded.  A total of 147 people were killed in the attack—making this jihad more spectacular than the 2013 Al Shabaab attack on the Nairobi mall, which left 67 people dead (then, Islamic gunmen also singled out Christians for slaughter).

Islamic gunmen were careful to separate Christians from Muslims before beginning the carnage said eyewitnesses.  (While Kenya is 83% Christian, it still has an 11% Muslim minority the jihadis are careful not to kill.)  Collins Wetangula, vice chairman of the student union, said he could hear from inside his room where he was hiding the gunmen opening doors and inquiring if the people inside were Muslims or Christians: “If you were a Christian you were shot on the spot.  With each blast of the gun I thought I was going to die.”

Al Shabaab has a long history of singling Christians out from among Muslims for slaughter (here are four examples).  Other jihadi groups—including Boko Haram and the Islamic State—also make it a point to distinguish between Christians and Muslims before slaughtering the former, a fact often omitted from “mainstream media” reports.

Egyptian Churches under Attack

• On Sunday, April 5, as Coptic Christians were celebrating Palm Sunday, a church was attacked in Alexandria, Egypt.   Gunmen in a vehicle opened fire on the church during the night injuring a police officer and two civilians.

• On April 12, Easter Sunday according to the Orthodox calendar, two explosions targeting churches took place in Zagazig vicinity.  One car explosion took place near a Coptic Orthodox church and another bomb exploded near the Evangelical Church in the same area.  Although no casualties were reported, large numbers could have easily resulted, based on precedent.  For example, on January 1, 2011, as Egypt’s Christians ushered in the New Year, car bombs went off near the Two Saints Church in Alexandria, resulting in 23 dead worshippers and dozens critically injured.

• Muslims rioted because President Sisi had agreed for Copts to build a church in Al-Our, where 13 of the 21 Christians who were beheaded by the Islamic State grew up and where their families still live.  Local Muslims rose in violence soon after Islamic prayers Friday, April 3.  They yelled that they would never allow a church to be built, that “Egypt is Islamic!” By night time, Molotov cocktails and stones were thrown at another Coptic church, cars were set ablaze—including one belonging to a relative of one of the those decapitated by the Islamic State—and several people were injured.[i]

• A day later, on Saturday, April 4, Muslims rioted and attacked the Christians of the village of Gala’, Samalout district.  After waiting for years to repair their dilapidated church (see pictures here) Coptic locals finally received all the proper permits to begin restoration.  Soon Coptic homes, businesses, and persons, were attacked including by hurled stones.  Christian owned wheat farms were destroyed and their potato crops uprooted.  Islamic slogans were constantly yelled, including “There is no god but Allah” and “Islamic! Islamic!”

• After waiting for 44 years, the Christians of Nag Shenouda, in Sohag City, finally got the necessary permit to build a new church.  Muslims again rioted and even burned down the tent the Christians had erected to worship under.  Denied, the Christians of Nag Shenouda celebrated Easter in the street (picture here).  And when one of them tried to hold worship service in his home, he and his household were attacked by a Muslim mob.

More Islamic Attacks on Christian Churches

Syria: The Islamic State destroyed at least three churches under its jurisdiction:

• On Easter Sunday, the Islamic State destroyed the Virgin Mary Church in Tel Nasri, northeast Syria.  The Assyrian church was built and consecrated in 1934.  Loosely translated as “Christian Hill,” Tel Nasri is an ancient Assyrian Christian village.  It is one of the dozens of Christian villages along the Khabur river that were attacked and occupied by the Islamic State in late February (more here and here).

• On April 28, the St. Odisho Assyrian Church in Tel Tal and the St. Rita Tilel Armenian Church in Aleppo, were also destroyed.

Nigeria: A Muslim mob set fire to a church in a Christian village in Nigeria’s northern Kano State on April 1.  Muslims were searching for a young man who had renounced Islam and re-converted to Christianity in order to kill him. They also attacked Christian villagers with machetes and torched the home of a pastor, killing one of his daughters.  According to General Dikko, a local official,

The church and all the properties were burnt down in the presence of the Christian community despite all pleadings for them to stop the destruction. The arsonists gathered cornstalks and put them inside the church in order to cause greater damage….  We have the right to belong to any religion of our choice and live anywhere in this country. We call on the authorities at all levels to rise up to their responsibilities of protecting lives and properties of every citizen in this country.

Pakistan: Two assailants on motorbikes opened fire on the main gates of a church and Christian school in Lahore.  The school had just closed half an hour earlier and several students were present outdoors.  Police were present, causing the attackers to ride off.  Two passersby were injured in the crossfire.

Malaysia: On Sunday, April 19, a Muslim mob of approximately 50 people rioted and protested against a small Protestant church in Kuala Lumpur, the capital.  The object of their wrath was the cross atop the building of worship—which was removed during the Islamic protest.  Rioters exclaimed that the cross, the central symbol of Christianity, represented “a challenge to Islam” and could “influence the faith of young people.”

Christians in the Middle East: Martyred by Muslims in their Homeland, Disdained by Christians in America

In an early 2014 article by Michael Brendan Dougherty titled, 'The World’s Most Ancient Christian Communities are being Destroyed — and No One Cares', I was struck in particular by this brief quote, which sums up the problem in a memorable manner:

“The victims are ‘too Christian’ to excite the Left, and ‘too foreign’ to excite the Right.” —French philosopher Regis Debray

Quite so. I might amend Debray's observation to read that the Christian victims are "too Eastern" to excite American Protestant/Evangelical Christians to action. Though, as an Orthodox Christian myself, I am tempted to charge that the Christian victims of Islamic jihad are actually "too Christian" altogether.

Rod Dreher recently offered some reflections on this phenomenon following an encounter he had with a Bible-believer, which I hope American Baptists, Evangelicals and assorted others of the 33,000-or-so Protestant denominations (World Christian Encyclopedia by Barrett, Kurian, Johnson; Oxford Univ Press, 2nd edition, 2001) will ponder:

Over the weekend, I got into a brief Twitter exchange with a pastor of a nondenominational “Bible church” (as if all churches aren’t Bible churches) in Texas who said that I am not a Christian, because Orthodox and Catholics are not Christian. I pointed out to him that Christianity did not begin with the Reformation, but then decided to block the guy on Twitter, because the last thing I wanted to do was get into an exchange with a guy like that. 

An hour later, I was standing in our Orthodox vespers service, thinking about that guy and smiling. There we were, praying in a church that can trace itself in an unbroken line back to the apostles. We chanted Psalms and read passages aloud from the Old Testament. We sang hymns commemorating the Council of Nicaea (325), and its victory over the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Jesus. As in every vespers service, we sang the hymn “O Joyful Light,” which is the oldest surviving hymn from antiquity, having been composed in the late third or early fourth century; tradition says it was written by a bishop on his way to martyrdom. He didn’t write it for a praise band. 

And I thought about all the Christians of the Middle East being exiled and martyred today for their faith in Jesus Christ. These Christians are almost entirely Orthodox, Eastern Rite Catholic, or members of one of the Nestorian churches. Whatever their communion, their ancestors were worshiping Jesus Christ as God when the ancestors of nearly all of us northern Europeans were praying to pagan gods. 

And yet, to this fundamentalist Protestant in Texas, these people are not Christian.

Rod's musings on the Orthodox Vespers service hit some of the myriad highlights as to why Orthodoxy deserves to recognized as authentic Christianity. While there are some Nestorian groups to be sure, it is illuminating to consider two recent articles by Dr. Anton Vrame of the Greek Archdiocese on the Assyrians and the Armenians, as well as an affirming "Amen" to the canonization by the Coptic Orthodox Church of the 21 Coptic Christian Martyrs of Libya, written by Fr. Lawrence Farley, as hopeful signs. Out of the darkness of Islamic persecution of Christians is shining the light of true Christian faith, showing there is far more uniting many of the Eastern Christian communions than the often circumstantial historical anomalies which have separated us for centuries.

VIDEO: Raymond Ibrahim — The ongoing war between Islam and Europe

In the following video, Hanne Nabintu, historian of religions, interviews Raymond Ibrahim on the history of Islam and the West.  Topics include the original (but forgotten) Arab conquests, the (demonized) Crusades, and why the modern West’s notion of “history” is immensely skewed.

Raymond Ibrahim — May 21, 2015

Interview with scholar Raymond Ibrahim on the Middle East and vital facts of history that we often hear little about in the media today. We often forget that during the early Islamic conquest a high number of Christian nations in the Middle East were taken over by Islam. Egypt, Syria, Algeria, Marocco - these were Christian lands at the time.

Europe itself was under siege for several hundred years, - only Scandinavia, Germany and the British Isles were exempt from the Muslim effort to take Europe. We forget that the Crusades were originally a European reaction to the horrors that was done to Christians, both pilgrims and the indigenous Christians in the Middle East as a result of the Muslim Conquests.

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