What's Become of Syria's Christian Sites?

Maaloula, where Aramaic is still spoken.

Magda Abu-Fadil - via OCP Media

As politicians debate the fate of Syria’s Christian minority, reportedly targeted by Muslim fundamentalists for supporting Bashar Al Assad’s regime, the country’s Christian sites seem to have been forgotten in the two-plus-year civil war.

“They cut off the head of the statue of Mary (Lady of the Two Worlds) in Syria’s Jisr El Shaghour region,” wrote Rev. Georges Massouh, a Lebanese Greek Orthodox priest, adding that it was still more acceptable than slaughtering human beings.

If the attack aimed to terrorize Christians, they will remain in Syria, whose every grain of soil is a witness to its Christianity, and will be martyrs of love, peace, and Christ’s eternal presence in them, he said this week in the daily Annahar.

Earlier this year, Tarek Al Abed wrote in Assafir, another Lebanese newspaper, that Christians and Muslims had coexisted in the Qalamoun region, noted for its Christian villages.

But the ongoing conflict has definitely taken a toll on Christians, their sites, and the language of Christ.

The Bible may have been translated into every language, but the tongue in which Jesus Christ would have preached is almost extinct, spoken by a few thousand people in Syria, mostly in the village of Maaloula.

Nobody can read or write Aramaic since there’s no alphabet and no visual record of it, I was told on a visit in 1991. Today it would be hard to quantify how many speakers remain, or how many have survived the fighting.

Linguistic scholars have disputed that contention, arguing that several hundred thousand people converse daily in Aramaic.

They agree that the “Western” dialect spoken in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine before the Muslim conquest, and thought to be the language Jesus used in spreading the gospel, is fast disappearing.

However, the “Eastern” dialect, the scholars argue, lives on – albeit in limited form – in Iraq, Iran, southeastern Turkey, and a sliver of some former Soviet republics.

One of the Semitic languages, spoken Aramaic of the “Western” variety is limited to the residents of Maaloula, a village 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the Syrian capital Damascus.

It is also the popular language of people in the nearby villages of Jaba’deen and Najafa, although it has to compete with Arabic, the official language of Syria, as well as the closely linked Syriac and Hebrew.

Whatever records existed about the language were burned during the French colonial period, explained a Greek Orthodox nun at the St. Takla monastery in the craggy mountain village overlooking acres of once-rich agricultural land.

St. Takla’s monastery, one of the oldest in Christendom, dates back to the First Century A.D., and its founder was a disciple of St. Paul the apostle.

She was reportedly born to heathen parents in Iconia on the Greek-Turkish border and was persecuted for her beliefs by her ruler father.

Locals said St. Takla was fleeing her pagan father and his soldiers when she reached Maaloula. Its high mountains blocked her passage and it seemed she would be killed.

She is then said to have raised her hands in passionate prayer, which was answered when the mountain split, allowing her an escape route to safety.

St. Takla built a monastery, which contains her remains, on the spot from where she took flight.

For centuries it stood as a refuge for countless visitors and believers, convinced the water that oozes slowly from the rocky ceiling near the saint’s tomb had mysterious and curative qualities.

The word Maaloula originates from “Om Al Maalouleen” (mother of the afflicted), in reference to St. Takla’s healing powers, I was told, but evolved to signify passage or entryway.

The walls of the saint’s crypt are lined with valuable gifts donated by visitors who prayed to the young woman and had their prayers answered.

Situated between the steep rocky hills of the Qalamoun Mountains, Maaloula was most noted for its annual feast of the cross, when residents lit bonfires along various hilltops to mark the occasion and dance to the steady beat of drums.

I wonder if they still do, or dare to.

The village, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is surrounded by caverns, once used by the early Christians, to hide from invading Roman legions, and the entire region was thought to be rich with treasures.

Villagers believed they were sitting on several layers of different civilizations, but little was done to promote the village’s historic and religious attractions for many years.

The once rich surrounding agricultural lands were also hit by several years of drought, leaving only patches of green on an otherwise dry mountain.

Many of Maaloula’s residents either migrated to the capital or ventured further afield to the United States and Brazil in the 1920s in search of greener pastures.

When I visited, the farmers produced enough of the village’s own consumption of wheat, tomatoes, apricots and peaches, but one member of each family invariably commuted to Damascus to supplement their income.

Another major Christian site in Syria is Our Lady of Saydnaya, a magnificent edifice on a hill overlooking the village by the same name.

It boasted a library of hundreds of valuable manuscripts housed in the 547 A.D. structure.

The convent is a Greek Orthodox establishment directly dependent on the Patriarchate of Antioch, with its seat in Damascus, and which owns several properties in Syria and Lebanon.

Legend has it that Emperor Justinian I of Byzantium, while crossing Syria with his troops en route to battle with the Persians, stopped in the Syrian desert to rest and search for water.

In the distance he spotted a gazelle, which he hunted with great energy until he was overcome with fatigue on a rocky hill.

The gazelle was headed to a spring of sweet water when it was suddenly transfigured into an icon of the Holy Virgin and shone with a bright light.

Stretching from the icon, according to the story, a hand reached out to the emperor, saying: “No, thou shalt not kill me, Justinian…but thou shall build for me a church, here on this hill.”

Among the sacred sanctuaries of the Greek Orthodox faith, the Saydnaya convent is second only to Jerusalem as a holy visiting place of pilgrimage in the Middle East.

Many more excellent photographs at OCP Media...

RUDD CAVES IN TO RACISTS FOR THE SAKE OF POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY

With an election looming, Kevin Rudd has caved in to Australia’s Labor voters who, like their Liberal counterparts, dream up every conceivable excuse as to why boatpeople shouldn’t be allowed access to Australia while trying desperately to avoid being labelled ‘racists’, a characterisation which they emphatically deny.

Most of those who were dead-set against allowing boatpeople into Australia seem to now applaud Rudds latest plan – at least from the point of view of no more boatpeople coming to Australia. But now, one has to ask, where are the excuses that the racists used to argue their point? Now that they’re to be shuffled off to PNG, it seems that the ‘queue-jumping’ label has gone out the window. Suddenly the racists couldn’t care less about the ‘queue’. Has the ‘queue’ disappeared? And will the racists who pretended to care about the safety of boatpeople during the crossing to Australia by boat still be as vocal about ‘stopping the boats’ coming to Australia now that they’ll be moved on to PNG – if they survive the crossing?

And what of the cost? Will Australians be prepared to pay PNG the huge amounts of money that this undertaking is likely to cost? If there’s any arguments from the Liberals about the cost of all this, it will only be because there’s an election looming and they didn’t come up with the idea first. But then, how could they? They needed to be in government in order to have negotiated the deal with the PNG government.

The reality is that the cost of the deal is far more than it would cost to simply allow boatpeople to stay in Australia and get them working to pay their own way. As a result, one can almost see a formula developing whereby the acceptance of the excessive cost of the deal over and above having them in Australia is directly proportional to the extent of racism in Australia. In other words, the real measure of the extent of Australia’s racism will be how much they are prepared to pay in order to keep boatpeople out of Australia – and it’s shaping up to be a lot.

What Australian’s need to do is face up to is its global responsibilities. When a country goes off and invades another – for whatever reason – then the invader needs to be responsible for the repercussions. And the same applies when one country applies sanctions against another. Australia has been a part of both types of actions against nations. We were part of the invasion of Afghanistan even though Afghanistan was not a threat to Australia, and Australia was a part of the immoral, if not illegal, invasion of Iraq despite Iraq also not being a threat to Australia. It is now a part of a sanctions program aimed at Iran over its nuclear weapons ambitions, despite not a skerrick of evidence suggesting Iran even has a nuclear weapons program. And we are wondering why Iranians are fleeing Iran?

If the West left these places alone to find their own way in the world, we’d all be a lot better off. Instead we make up lies and find excuses to continue to do what the West has always done; invade, dominate and loot the wealth of countries with different cultures to ours and then deny them the right to share their culture with ours. The racist haters of multiculturalism seem to be winning. Are we really going to let that happen?

Dissatisfied with his apology, Islamic groups demand Vatican envoy leave Malaysia

From Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch:

Last Tuesday, Archbishop Marino issued a statement conveying "apologies for any misunderstandings and inconveniences" that his earlier defense of the rights of the Christians may have caused. He also reiterated that he "firmly believes that inter-religious dialogue is the means to promote good relations among peoples of different faiths, who can discover the beauty of each others' belief."

Not satisfied with that, Islamic groups are today demanding that he be expelled from Malaysia.

Appeasement never works. Neither does "dialogue." I explain why the latter is doomed to failure in my book Not Peace But A Sword.

"Islamic groups demand Vatican envoy leave Malaysia," from AFP, July 19:

Several Islamic groups today demanded the recall of the Vatican's first envoy to Malaysia, describing him as an "enemy of the state" after he supported the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims. 

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Vatican's mission in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Muslim-majority Malaysia, after prayers on Friday, urging the government to expel Archbishop Joseph Marino. 

Marino, who arrived in Kuala Lumpur less than six months ago, recently elicited a rebuke from the government after he waded into a religious row over the right to translate "God" to "Allah" in Malay-language Bibles and other literature. 

He had described arguments supporting the move put forward by the Catholic Church in an ongoing court battle with the government over the issue, as "logical and acceptable".
He was on Tuesday summoned to the foreign ministry over his remarks, and has since apologised. 

It was not enough for some Muslim organisations in the country, however. 

"Joseph Marino is an enemy of the state. His actions have strained race relations in the country," said Ibrahim Ali, president of right-wing group Perkasa. 

Ibrahim has previously drawn controversy by calling for the burning of the Bible.
"Marino must leave Malaysia," said Hasan Ali, the head of Islamic group JATI, who urged the government to close the mission and not to accept any envoy from the Vatican. 

The government has argued that the word "Allah" should only be used by Muslims, as it fears using the word in Malay-language Bibles is an attempt to confuse and proselytise. 

Yesterday, a Malaysian couple known for publishing a sexually explicit blog were charged with sedition and denied bail after they caused outrage with a prank Ramadan greeting on Facebook that showed them eating pork -- which is forbidden in Islam. 

Malaysia has more than 2.5 million Christians in a population of 28 million, of which about 60 percent are Muslim.

Indonesia: Muslims Force Closure of 17 Churches

AsiaNews — h/t Jihad Watch and The Religion of Peace

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - The Islamist pressures against Christian communities in Aceh "have become intolerable. Within a year, with non-existent legal pretexts, 17 house churches have been closed: these also include Catholic chapels. The islamization of the province continues , just as promised by the governor Abdullah. " It is the sense of the Annual Report published by IndonesianChristian.org, Protestant organization which monitors the situation of the Christian community in Indonesia.

The forced closure of places of worship and threats against Protestant congregations, says the text, "increase unabated. But this will only create tensions manipulated from the outside between the Christian and Islamic communities. The government must guarantee religious plurality and respect: or risk clashes and violence". Favor Bancin, of the Synod of the churches in Indonesia is of the same opinion, adding: "The behavior of local authorities is a potential threat to the tolerant atmosphere we see deteriorating over time."

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world and, while guaranteeing the constitutional principles of religious freedom, it is more and more often the scene of attacks and violence against minorities, whether they are Christians, Ahmadi Muslims or of other faiths. In the province of Aceh - the only one in the Archipelago - the Islamic law (sharia) applies and in many other areas the influence of the Muslim religion in the lives of citizens is becoming more radical and extreme. In addition, certain rules such as the building permit - the infamous IMB - are exploited to prevent the building or close Christian places of worship, as is the case for some time in Bogor regency, West Java, for the faithful of the Yasmin Church.

Behind this upsurge is the current governor of Aceh, Zaini Abdullah, who has spent years in exile in Sweden for his activities within the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). During his election campaign, the Islamic politician stated several times that "he would not hesitate to apply the Koranic laws in the province." And a few months after his election his words have become reality.

For its part, the central government is seeking to curb this trend. Interior Minister Gamawan Fauzi has repeatedly warned that these activities "are not acceptable. Indonesia exercises a spirit of pluralism and must continue to do so. Tolerance must be guaranteed and the majority can not crush the minority violating their civil rights ".

The Time to 'Walk the Walk' is Upon Us

This brief essay is a wake up call to faithful Orthodox Christians. Worthy of sharing widely. As another Orthodox writer said some few decades ago:

"Now one cannot be a half-hearted Christian, but only entirely or not at all." — Hieromonk Seraphim Rose (†1982)

Archangel Michael defeats Antichrist
at the End of the Age

Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk
by Archpriest John Moses - Pravmir

I knew that my question would cause some anxiety and concern, but by the look on the faces of the study group, I knew that I had hit a nerve. 

We were in a Bible study on the book of Revelation. I pointed out that one of the things that we learn is that evil imitates the Good. Christ is the light of the world, and so the devil is an angel of light. Since Christ was incarnate in the world, taking on the reality of our physical existence, evil also seeks to make itself real and tangible.

So, Revelation shows us that one of the ways evil likes to incarnate is in governments and political systems. The Bible teaches that just as the Holy Spirit is in the world, the spirit of anti-Christ is also in the world. This spirit had incarnated itself many times in the governments of the world. Each time, God brought these systems to an end.

Then I asked the question: “Many of you lived through the Great Depression. Many of you fought in World War II and the Korean and Vietnamese Wars. You have been good citizens and patriots. You have raised your children, paid your taxes, and attended church faithfully for many years. You say the Pledge of Allegiance with true pride and affection. Despite all of this, do you think that our country is becoming anti-Christ?”

The answer surprised me. “No, but we can begin to see signs of it.”  I responded, “And if the time comes when it is clear to you that this has happened, that the United States has become completely anti-Christ, what will you do? Can you still pledge allegiance to such a government?

This is when the room was filled with puzzled and anxious faces. The year was 1992.

Most of my life, I have listened to people proclaim that they would be faithful to Jesus until the end. So many hymns were sung about how we would follow Jesus and there would be no turning back. We would carry the Cross of Jesus, and when He asked us, we would assure him that we are able.

It was easy for us, you see, because at the time, we lived in the most secure and prosperous country in the world. We lived in peace behind the greatest and most powerful army in the world. Even more, we held on to the belief that America was fundamentally a Christian nation. At least our religious freedom was secure in the legal power of our founding documents. We came from a time when being a good Christian was synonymous with being a good citizen and we hope that this had remained the same.

How times have changed! Revisionist judges and courts have defined constitutional rights in ways that we could never have imagined. Under the dubious doctrine of the separation of Church and State, Christianity is being pushed out of the public realm. The government has grown to monstrous proportions, and now attempts to reach into every aspect of personal life. We learn that the right to privacy has not existed for many years. The IRS goes after conservative and Christian groups, and political opponents. The government ignores the Bill of Rights or finds a way to reinterpret it under the excuse that they are doing so to protect us.

We had the idea that we have inalienable rights and they are inalienable because they derive and are defined from a source outside of the state, God.  Now the state is the only authority capable of defining what our rights are. And what the state has the power to give, it has the power to take away. Marriage, a social and religious institution that existed long before the founding of the American political system, is now defined by the state. So, under the rubric of equality, marriage is now granted to same-sex couples. How it will be further applied is anyone’s guess.

There have always been Christian martyrs, but in America we were far removed from it. I remember the first time I read the writings of Rev. Richard Wurmbrand. I was a little shocked to realize that someone in the modern world would actually face death for his faith. People died in the past for the Faith, surely not in these modern and sophisticated days. Today, we hear regular accounts of beheading, torture, kidnapping, and oppression inflicted upon Christian communities and believers.

[Which is why I diligently try to report here at least some of the horrible acts of evil committed by Islam against Christians, abhorrent though it is.]

If we believe that we are beginning to witness the incarnation of the spirit of anti-Christ in our American government; if we believe that the process of secularization is removing God from the public realm so that Christians are being treated as bigots or as being irrelevant; and if we believe that we are beginning to see worldwide rejection of Christianity that results in physical death and a large part of the world rejoices in it, then we have a sobering reality to face.

We have talked the talk. It’s been easy. We proclaimed that being Orthodox was to be “not of this world.”  Of course, we proclaimed this while living comfortably in the world. Now, that comfort level is disappearing. The time is approaching when we will have to walk the walk. 

To say that our Faith teaches that the only true marriage acceptable to God is between a man and woman will immediately mark us as bigots. We will be accused of hate speech when we say that our Faith teaches that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to God. I am not a prophet, but I can see a day when to refuse the state will result in the loss of tax exemption, and jail time for priests or pastors who refuse to do gay weddings. If the trend continues in America, it is possible that to proclaim Christ will mean facing a literal and physical death. (I know this seems unimaginable to Americans). What else can happen? I don’t know if it will happen in my lifetime. I do wonder what our children and grandchildren will face. Only God knows the answer.

[Already those who criticize Islam are branded in the media as bigots guilty of hate speech. Already Christians who seek to share the Gospel with Muslims are being arrested in accordance with Sharia Law—right here in America.  To be a true Christian, that is, united with Christ, means to stand against the Evil One with one's very being. It is not for nothing that St John of Damascus identified the "superstition of the Ishmaelites... as a forerunner of the Antichrist."]

Whatever the present reality, whatever the pace of this ever-growing evil, it seems clear to me that the time to walk the walk is upon us. Let us pray with ever-greater urgency: “And keep us from the Evil One.”

Holy martyrs past, present, and to come, pray for us to have the courage and grace to walk the walk!

Ramadhan Special 2013: Tampines Bazaar Ramadhan

Well for the 2nd year running, the original Tampines Bazaar at Blk 942 (near Tampines Stadium) is longer situated there. Maybe next yer perhaps? Well for now I guess it's safe to say that everyone has to go to a different part of Tampines for the "bazaar bawah block".

At least it's still the same place as last year.

Does anyone remember our original post last year reporting the bew location of the Tampines Bazaar Ramadhan? Well, it's located at Blk 301 Tampines Street 32 again this year.

But quite a few changes to the vendors this year I reckon.
Saw some familiar faces / stalls but quite a number were missing from this bazaar again including the famous Bee Hoon Briyani (again).

But as you can see from the banner above, you can get goodies from Islamic Briyani and even Haron Satay!

You can still find a stall or two selling these mini-cheesecakes in a whole range of flavours.
Well, they look really cute but I reckon I'm gonna need quite a few to satisfy my cheesecake craving :P

One of the more notable names you'll find there is Dahlia Cafe which sells mainly lauk-pauk for you to enjoy with a nice steaming serving of rice.

My darling wife tells me that something that you simply must have from Dahlia Cafe is the Lemak Babat.
Apparently they do it really well at Dahlia Cafe. Anyone tried before?

Putu Piring

Zuraida Nasi Briyani Dum

Well the longest line at the bazaar seemed to be in front of Zuraida Briyani Dum.
From what I saw, it seemed like the authentic version and might be nice since so many people were queing up for it am I right?

If you happen to visit the Tampines Bazaar this year, do let us know what you bought and whether it was any good or not okay! :)

Oh an by the way. The crowd is still a force to be reckoned with...
You remember what Marko from Tropoja said to Liam Neeson in Taken?

"Good luck..."

Bazaar Ramdhan

Void deck of Blk 301 Tampines Street 32
Operating Hours: 3.00pm - 7.00pm daily

VIDEO: Coptic Church Destroyed by Muslim Extremists

Harrowing footage, as the BBC news crew has to flee for their lives from Muslim extremists.

BBC News, h/t OCP Media

There has been a string of attacks on Christians in different provinces in Egypt since Mohammed Morsi was forced from office, with Coptic Christians saying they have been singled out for campaigning against him.

In the village of Dalga, near the central Egyptian city of Minya, a church was looted and destroyed and the priest, Father Ayoub Youssef, had to flee for his life.

He said Muslim neighbours helped his escape from the roof of his house.

''Had it not been for them, I would have been lynched," he said.

Ahmed Maher reports from Egypt.