RTE No 20 Interior - Road to Emmaus Journal

Road to Emmaus Vol. XI, No. 4 (#43)Taybeh’s PleaDR. KHOURY: Yes, we have at least 200,000 Russian immigrants of Jewishdescent who are currently Orthodox Christians, and this number might haverisen in the last few years, but the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalemdoes not have updated statistics.RTE: When I was in Jerusalem in 1992 and 1995, there were Israeli policetaking photos of everyone walking into the Orthodox churches on feast days,hoping to catch the Russian Orthodox Christians of Jewish background inorder to deport them. Two Orthodox Christians I met could not go to churchfor fear of being deported, and the Christians were forbidden to proselytize. Iunderstand that now they can go to school and obtain jobs, but that they areoutcasts socially. Christians are still forbidden to proselytize, and there havebeen incidents of harassment and some New Testament burnings. Christiansoutside the Holy Land also don’t realize that we have a newly-canonizedincorrupt new martyr and wonder-worker, St. Philoumenos (Hasapis),who was murdered at Jacob’s Well in 1979. 9Jewish Support for Human Rights in PalestineDR. KHOURY: These things do go on, and I also want to emphasize that thereare Jewish people in Israel who are for equal rights and who are against themilitary occupation of Palestine. These are small, but active groups who speakout against what they see their government doing, and often have to bear theconsequences of their protest. We are very grateful for their support. “Womenin Black” began in Israel in 1988, and is made up of Jewish Israeli womenwho hold peace vigils in black clothing, sometimes hundreds at a time, askingfor the occupation to end. They believe in equal rights for Palestinians.9 Ed. Note: New Martyr Archimandrite Philoumenos (Hasapis), 1913-1979, was Igumen of the Greek OrthodoxMonastery of Jacob’s Well, near the city of Samaria, now Nablus (Neapolis) in the West Bank. Oneweek before his martyrdom in 1979, a group of Zionists came to the monastery at Jacob’s Well and claimedit as a Jewish holy place, demanding that all crosses and icons be removed. Father Philoumenos pointedout that the floor on which they stood was built by Emperor Constantine before 331 A.D. and had servedas an Orthodox Christian holy place for sixteen centuries before the State of Israel was created. In the eightcenturies before that, the well had been not in the hands of the Hebrew people, but of the Samaritans. Thegroup left with threats. On November 16/29, 1979, they broke into the monastery, and after tying up FatherPhiloumenos, tortured him to try to force him to recant his Christianity: his eyes were gouged out, and thefingers and thumb of his right hand, with which he made the sign of the Cross, were cut into pieces. He diedas he was struck on the face with a hatchet in the form of a cross, deeply severing his face from hairline tochin, and across his cheeks to his ears. The attackers then defiled the church in abominable ways, leavingZionist symbols and graffiti. No arrests were ever made by the authorities. In 1984, the body of ArchimandritePhiloumenos was found to be incorrupt, as it remains until now, and there have been many reported answersto prayer at his relics. He was glorified by the the Patriarchate of Jerusalem on August 17/30, 2008 and hisfeast is November 16/29. According to his great-niece Maria, his twin brother, Igumen Elpidios, saw him in avision in Greece at the moment of his death, saying, “My brother, they are killing me.”There is also Rabbis for Human Rights, an international group of Jewishrabbis who are working for peace and human rights for Israelis and Palestinians.Not in My Name is a group of international Jewish people who say thatwhat the Jewish government is doing to the Palestinians does not reflect realJudaism. Machsom Watch is a group of Israeli Jewish women who stand at thecheckpoints documentinghuman rights violations.(Machsom means “checkpoint”.)There is also theJewish Voice for Peace,Combatants for Peace,and the Family Forum(made up of Palestinianand Israeli parents whohave lost children to theconflict) and B’Tselem:Palestinian shepherd near Taybeh.The Israeli Center for HumanRights in the Occupied Territories. These small groups give us hope thatsome Jewish people do care about a just peace.However, in an odd turn of events, for the past few decades, we’ve hadmany evangelical Christians in the United States who are very vocal in theirsupport of what the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinians.RTE: How did that come about?Zionist ChristiansDR. KHOURY: Zionism, a political movement founded by Theodore Herzl inthe 19th century to lobby for a secular homeland for the Jews, took on aChristian religious context when 20th-century evangelical Christians, mostlyin America, began linking Zionism to their interpretation of Old Testamentpassages. Now there are many American evangelical Christians, whomwe call Zionist Christians, who believe that modern Israel with the guns,the gunships, the bulldozers, the bombers, is the New Israel of our gospels.According to their thinking, once Israel has a 100% Jewish homeland andgains complete control, then Christ will return. They are trying to hasten theSecond Coming.3031