Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Fr Georges Massouh: All of them are Participants in the Slaughter

Arabic original here.

All of them are Participants in the Slaughter

Yes, after five years of the events in Syria and one year of Russian military intervention, we recall the words of the Prophet David, author of the Psalms, "The kings of the world set themselves and the rulers take counsel together" (Psalm 2:2).

There is no doubt that many of the rulers of the nations have been participating in the slaughter that is ongoing against the Syrian people. Some of them spend enormous sums of money to purchase mercenaries from the four corners of the world. Some of them provoke religious and sectarian passions in order to unleash strife. Some of them send shipments of weapons to do their bidding. Some of them bring their own aircraft and lethal weapons... But there are also those who take part in the slaughter through their silence and their remaining quiet and motionless.

Syrians today are Christ the Lord. They are crucified, slaughtered, pierced. They alone are the victims of the kings and princes of the world, without a single exception. They are the victims of both "religious" and "secularist" terror, the victims of international, regional, and local terrorism. Any distinction between one victim and another according to who is doing the killing is a demonic distinction, completely alien to humanity.

Syrians alone are the ones paying the price of the hellish game at play on the territory of their nation. What do America, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Turkey, Israel and other countries have to do with Syria and Syrians? What do the jihadis coming to Syria from every country in the world have to do with Syria? Faced with them, Syrians are like the author of the Psalms when he said, "Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They gape at Me with their mouths,
Like a raging and roaring lion [asad]...  Deliver Me from the sword,My precious life from the power of the dog. Save Me from the lion’s [asad] mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen!" (Psalm 21:12, 21 LXX).

The Jewish establishment had to ally with the Roman Empire that was occupying Palestine at the time in order to carry out its judgment of crucifixion against Christ. The kings and great ones of the earth would not have been able to turn Syria into a theater for their wars without the complicity of some Syrians, rulers and ruled alike, and their accepting to mere pawns manipulated by such great fingertips. No one would have been able to crucify the Syrians had the shepherd of the flock not turn into a ravenous wolf.

After a year of Russian intervention in Syria under the pretext of "combating terror" and putting an end to it, we are still living in an environment of multifarious terror from multiple sources. Here we recall words that we said in an article some time ago entitled "The Syrian Hell": "We would not have reached this hell had we not accepted the atrocities that were committed over the years. What is happening today is the result of years of our being silent about the crimes of dictatorial regimes and totalitarian parties, whether 'secular', 'religious' or 'sectarian'. It is the result of years of turning a blind eye to wars launched in the name of God, in the name of shari'a, or in the name of defending this or that minority. All of us are participants in fueling this raging hell."

Syrians are called to cling to hope. Despair is a death even worse than the death of the body. Nothing disturbs aggressors more than to see their victims standing courageous, holding to their principles, clinging to hope, unbowed. Nothing disturbs them more than to see one crucified and risen at the same time.

Christ on the cross disturbed His crucifiers by sticking to His principles, by praying for them. There is no doubt that the resurrection is coming in our own time, here and now. Our hope lies with the Syrians and for their great love for each other. This hoped-for love is the gate of salvation from the raging bulls.

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