Letter from Maronite Archbishop of Damascus: The Twilight of a Church

Archbishop Samir Nassar

The Exodus of Middle Eastern Christians

Since 2003 (the Iraq war) and especially since 2011 (Arab Spring) the exodus of Christians from the east increases. Some reports give only ten years for the page to turn concerning Christianity in the Middle East. This seems to be a pessimistic view, but observed experience shows an alarming and growing emigration.

The subject of daily discussions is how to leave. Go anywhere and in any way, even if it means taking dangerous risks. A family just sent their twelve-year-old son away with a caravan of fugitives. A twelve-year-old child has not returned.

Will he later be able to invite his family to join him? Will he find a safe place? Given the military stalemate, an increasingly distant peace, and to avoid Military Service, in order to escape an absurd war that has lasted too long, young people are the greatest number of those who leave.

What is the future a Church without young people?

It is the fatal end of apostolic Christianity in a Biblical Land which becomes a hostage of violence and intolerance in the name of a radical faith that neither supports pluralism nor accepts differences.

Envisioning the Future

How can the Church of the Middle East envision the future? Several paths are:

a) Follow the faithful in the countries of the Diaspora to help them to keep their faith of origin.

b) Establish alliances between minorities to defend their citizens' rights against the domination of an 'intolerant' Islam.

c) Seek guarantees of protection from the ruling authorities.

d) Accept living under the shadow of Islam and continue a life full of difficulties and challenges.

The Christians of the East face an almost suicidal choice. Living under the shadow of Islam remains a choice quite difficult to assume. Living in the shadow of Islam requires a return to the early centuries of the Church, which highlights the hidden life of Jesus in Nazareth. This dynamism is favoured by the Charter of the Year of Mercy announced by the Francis Pope. Showing the merciful face of Christ gives vitality to the witness to the Gospel.

The social committee members who visit Muslim prisoners in Syria highlights the Good Samaritan at the heart of people in distress. This is a providential way, a challenge that enables the continuation of the Mission and the joy of the Divine Child.

BON NOEL 2015

+Samir NASSAR

Maronite Archbishop of Damascus

Dear Friends,

These words from Archbishop Samir Nassar in Damascus (late November 2015) bring home the reality of why the young people and especially Syria's young men are leaving. Life has become totally unbearable and they see no future. They are willing to risk everything for at least the HOPE of freedom.

The Archbishop speaks of a twilight time for the Church in the Middle East. He speaks of the exodus of Middle Eastern Christians and a Church without young people. The Archbishop speaks to us of the suicidal choice which Middle Eastern Christians daily face.

And yet amidst this desolation the Archbishop challenges us and his own flock to live the Year of Mercy with love, compassion and evangelical witness of the mission and joy of the Christ Child.

This courageous Archbishop has now lived in this war for nearly five years watching his flock dwindling and ever dwindling.

I ask you to continue to pray for Christians in both Iraq and Syria and in the wider Middle East, and for the courageous Bishops, Priests, Sisters and lay people who continue to be a light for Christ in an increasingly suffering and persecuted Middle Eastern Church. I ask you to pray for all peoples, of all faiths and most of all for Peace.

Please ensure that these words of the Archbishop are heard in your Parishes, read out, printed in Newsletters and given the attention they so richly deserve.

United in prayer and great thanks

Antonia Moffat