Communiqué of 12 October 2010
Speech of His Beatitude Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
On this second
day of the Synod for the Middle East, His Beatitude Gregorios III, Patriarch of
Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, gave a speech on the
theme of Peace, Living Together and the
Christian Presence in the Middle East.
His Beatitude
summarised the main theme of his Christmas Letter of 2006 by emphasising what
was at stake and the dramatic consequences of Christian emigration, “Christian emigration represents a
continual haemorrhage,
causing Arab society to become monochrome, an entirely Muslim Middle East, over
against a European society called Christian, although Europe and America are
rather secularized than believing. If it were to happen… it
would mean that any occasion would be propitious for a new clash of cultures, civilizations
and even of religions, culminating in a destructive confrontation between the
Arab and Muslim East and the Christian West, a conflict between Islam and
Christianity.”
COMPLETE TEXT
Speech of His Beatitude Patriarch Gregorios III
during the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East
Rome 10 – 24 October 2010
Peace, living together and the Christian presence in the Middle East
Peace, living
together and the Christian presence in the Arab world are linked together in a
strong, existential way. Peace in the Middle East is the key to the welfare of
the whole region.
We have
always insisted upon the importance of the Christian presence in the Arab
world.This unique presence is unfortunately
threatened by the cycle of wars, crises and calamities that assail this region,
which is the cradle of Christianity.
We consider that
the calamities, crises, wars and depredations of the Middle East are the
products and results of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Fundamentalist
movements are similarly the results and products of this conflict, as are the
discords inside Arab countries, the slowness of their development and
prosperity and the growth of hatred, enmity, hopelessness and disappointment
among the youth, who make up sixty per cent of their inhabitants.
The brain-drain,
the emigration of thinkers, young people, moderate Muslims and especially
Christians: all that weakens progress and its future; the Arab world’s freedom,
democracy and openness.
Christian
emigration represents a continual haemorrhage, causing Arab society to become
monochrome, an entirely Muslim Middle East, over against a European society
called Christian, although Europe and America are rather secularized than
believing. If it were to happen that the East were emptied of its Christians,
it would mean that any occasion would be propitious for a new clash of
cultures, civilizations and even of religions, culminating in a destructive
confrontation between the Arab and Muslim East and the Christian West, a
conflict between Islam and Christianity.
Faced with what
we see every day in the media about the growth of fundamentalism and religious,
ethnic and social tensions in human relations, we feel that there is a great
lack of trust between East and West, between Arab countries, in the majority
Muslim, and the European and American West.
The role of
Christians is to work, to harness themselves to creating an atmosphere of trust
between the West on the one hand and the Arab and Muslim world on the other.
That is why we
Arab Eastern Christians are telling European and American societies, “Don’t try to divide Arab countries through pacts, but rather help the
Arab world realize its unity and solidarity. We tell you frankly, if you succeed in
dividing the Arab world and Christians and Muslims from each other, each into
their own groups, you will always live in fear of the Arab and Muslim world.”
Appeal
to our Muslim Brethren and Fellow Citizens
In seeking to
convince our Christian faithful to stay in their homelands, where God has
planted them, we find we absolutely must talk to our Muslim brethren and tell
them frankly the nature of the fears that haunt us and the kind of fearful
attitudes that impel some of us to emigrate. They are not just purely religious
reasons, but rather have a social, ethical and cultural aspect.
So when we are
talking about living together and citizenship, we are speaking of separation
between religion and state, Arabism, democracy, the Arab or Muslim nation, and
human rights. Laws which are based on Islam as sole or chief source of
legislation and application are a source of division and quasi racial
distinction between citizens on the basis of religion and are an obstacle to
equality before the law, diminishing equality of citizenship. One could say the
same about exploitation of fellow-citizens on the basis of religion, while the
perpetrators rely on the fact of being in the majority, to humiliate their
neighbours and workmates.
Those and many
other such things ought to be the subject of study circles, congresses,
conferences and meetings in the Arab and Muslim world. Christians and Muslims
together should identify the real wound underlying the haemorrhage of Christian
emigration.
We propose that
the Synod Fathers launch an urgent prophetic appeal for Peace. Peace-making is the great challenge!
Peace today is
the great challenge: it is the great jihad for the greatest good. It is true
victory and the true guarantee for future freedom, progress, prosperity and
security for our young generations, our Christian and Muslim youth, who are the
future of our countries and who can really make their history, carrying the
banner of faith and values in their homelands.
Gregorios III
Patriarch