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Hundreds attended the Enthronement of His Beattitude Theophilos III as the new Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem on Tuesday, Nov. 22. The Church went ahead with the ceremony despite the fact that Israel has not yet recognized the appointment, a necessary step in the process for him to have standing in Israel. The last Patriarch, His Beattitude Irenios, was removed from office after his office allegedly leased some of the church's property in the Old City of Jerusalem to extremist settlers. Israel wants the new Patriarch to approve the land dealings, the new Patriarch wants them annulled.
Bishop Younan and Archiemadrite Mtanios Haddad of the Greek Melkite Church in Jerusalem led a delegation to Nablus to participate in the 25th Anniversary Mass for Father Yusef Saad. The church was overflowing with worshippers who attended the mass, held one year after they had celebrated the 25th anniversary of the church with a blessing of a whole new set of icons (pictured below). Father Sa'ad and his wife welcomed the crowd briefly to their house and then to a banquet where the celebration continued. In the Oriental traditions, men can become priests after they are married, if the community agrees that the family is a good role model. According to Bishop Younan, it is crucial that all of the Christians of the Holy Land support one another as members of the same Body of Christ. The elders of the Christian community in Nablus appreciate these visits, as their community has dwindled to 650 out of a population of 130,000. The delegation ended the day by going to the Christian Muktar's new home to bless his house.
See www.annadwa.org for more on the conference.
Article from the ICB Website, Written by
On a hill overlooking Bethlehem, many hands turned many shovels of dirt to plant a row of trees that will act as a windbreak for a new public park.
In a room in the heart of the city, banners swirled over the heads of the crowd as the story of Pentecost was read, telling how the Holy Spirit came down on the first Christians and let the crowd hear them in whatever language they were used to speaking.
Around a table set with bread and wine, people prayed the Lord's Prayer together in their native language, shared communion and then were sent out with blessings in five languages from all the sectors of the globe.
This was the last day of our week-long exploration of the narratives of land, peoples and identities. This was a day for summing up, for looking to the future and for gathering energy to carry forward the insights gained here.
Olive trees were the symbol of the week, the symbol of Palestine. The participants wore the silver olive leaf crafted by artists here, they watered the real olive trees set around the meeting room and they planted new trees on the hill overlooking the city -- all signs of life.
One of the stories that gripped people this week was the enactment by German biblical scholar Ulrike Bechmann of what it must have been like to be a woman in Jericho before the walls came down and all the people of the city were killed. It was a lesson in listening to the victims rather than the victors and it was echoed in one of the hymns tonight as Cross Culture reworked the old spiritual to sing, "Listen to the people of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, listen to the people of Jericho as the walls come tumbling down."
So hearing the voices of those left out was another theme of this evening. Hind Khoury, a minister of state for the Palestinian Authority, the representative of Palestine for Jerusalem affairs and next week, the Palestininan Authority's ambassador to France, became that voice as she sketched out the need for a new narrative for the Palestinian people, one that would result from a change in the realities of their lives if Israel would treat Palestinians with dignity and respect.
As readers recited the pledges participants made for the work they hope comes out of this conference and the group sang a repeated refrain, tears came to her eyes.
The many people, the many voices in this room hinted at the variety of people at that first Pentecost, a story that came to represent the miracle of people from diverse backgrounds learning to live together in community without giving up their identity.
There are three key words in that story, said Rev. Mitri Raheb in his final remarks to the gathering -- communication - hearing each other; prophecy - speaking truth to power; and vision -- grasping for something bigger than ourselves and then leaving space for God to work.
Participants came up with no shortage of ideas how to go forward and Mitri sketched out a vision that could energize Christian communities to discover a new reading of their founding narratives and to find a new spirituality.
And then it was over. With one last song, we walked out to a world in need.