The Politics and Logistics of the Pope's Holy Land Visit

Pope Francis I's visit to Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel beginning tomorrow has already stirred some controversy, though the Vatican seems intent on avoiding political controversy.As I noted earlier today, the visit marks the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's then-unprecedented visit to the Holy Land in January 1964 (videos at my earlier post), and Paul's meeting then with the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras I. The current Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, will be meeting with Francis in Jerusalem.

The three-day trip is shorter than the visits of John Paul II in 2000 or of Benedict XVI in 2009. Francis has a packed three-day schedule meeting political religious figures in Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel (in that order). One result is that unlike all three previous papal visits, he is not visiting Nazareth, and this has annoyed Christians in Galilee, which has many religious sites associated with Jesus' life. But that is only one of many controversies already sparked by the trip even before it begins.

The Pope insists on traveling in an open vehicle, so Israeli security is going to be tightened; this has already led to complaints by Palestinian Christians that they won't be able to get close to the Pope, and by shopkeepers in Jerusalem's Old City that they won't be allowed to open. There is also concern about radical Jewish extremists who have defaced Christian churches recently. This is especially sensitive because the Pope is celebrating a Mass in the Cenacle or Upper Room, traditionally identified with the site of the Last Supper, which shares the same structure with the Jewish sitte venerated as the Tomb of King David and with a mosque. (Pilgrims might wonder why the Gospels don't mention that yhe Last Supper was upstairs over David's yomb, but perhaps few pilgrims notice this, or the Gothic architecture.) Jewish groups have protested the planned service.

Papal trips usually involve meeting with local Catholic prelates, and another controversy has erupted over the plan by Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Rai to visit Jerusalem with the Pope. No Maronite Patriarch has visited Jerusalem since before 1967, when Israel took East Jerusalem from Jordanian control. Rai's predecessor, Cardinal Sfeir, joined other Papal visits only for the Jordanian leg. Rai has said he will not meet with Israeli officials, and the Vatican has said the decision was Rai's personal initiative, not Rome's.

 Much of the criticism in Lebanon has been in the media; one reason may be that all parties in Lebanon are struggling to find a compromise candidate for President (who must be a Maronite); even Hizbullah has not raised a major fuss.

There has also been comment on the fact that the Vatican is referring to the "State of Palestine" and to Mahmud "Abbas as "Prsident of the State of Palestine, The Vatican recognizes the UN General Assembly's recognition of Palestine. On this visit the Pope will be visiting the Palestinian Authority before Israel; he arrives in Jordan on a Saturday, the Israeli Sabbath, so the calendar partially determined the order, but he will helicopter directly from Amman to Bethlehem rather than going via Israel.

From Vatican Radio, the official and very packed itinerary:


Pilgrimage of His Holiness Pope Francis in the Holy Land on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras .(May 24 – 26, 2014) – Program, 27.3.2014

Saturday, May 24, 2014
08:15 Departure from Rome Fiumicino Airport for Amman
13:00 Arrival at the Queen Alia International Airport in Amman
13:45 ARRIVAL CEREMONY in the al-Husseini Royal Palace in Amman
COURTESY VISIT TO THEIR MAJESTIES THE KING AND QUEEN OF JORDAN
14:20 MEETING WITH THE AUTHORITIES OF THE KINGDOM OF JORDAN. Discourse of the Holy Father
16:00 HOLY MASS at the International Stadium in Amman. Homily of the Holy Father
19:00 Visit to the Baptismal Site at Bethany beyond the Jordan
19:15 MEETING WITH REFUGEES AND DISABLED YOUNG PEOPLE in the Latin church at Bethany beyond the Jordan. Discourse of the Holy Father

Sunday, May 25, 2014
8:15 FAREWELL FROM JORDAN at the Queen Alia Internal Airport in Amman
8:30 Departure by helicopter from the Queen Alia Internal Airport in Amman for Bethlehem
9:20 Arrival at the helicopter port of Bethlehem
9:30 ARRIVAL CEREMONY at the presidential Palace in Bethlehem
COURTESY VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE STATE OF PALESTINE
10:00 MEETING WITH THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY – Discourse of the Holy Father
11:00 HOLY MASS in Manger Square in Bethlehem. Homily of the Holy Father
REGINA COELI PRAYER. Allocution of the Holy Father
13:30 Lunch with families from Palestine in the Franciscan convent of Casa Nova in Bethlehem
15:00 PRIVATE VISIT TO THE GROTTO OF THE NATIVITY IN BETHLEHEM
15:20 GREETING OF CHILDREN FROM THE REFUGEE CAMPS OF DEHEISHEH, AIDA AND BEIT JIBRIN at the Phoenix Center of the Deheisheh Refugee Camp
15:45 FAREWELL FROM THE STATE OF PALESTINE at the helicopter port of Bethlehem
16:00 Departure by helicopter from the helicopter port of Bethlehem for Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv
16:30 ARRIVAL CEREMONY at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. Discourse of the Holy Father
17:15 Transfer by helicopter to Jerusalem
17:45 Arrival at the helicopter port of Jerusalem on Mount Scopus
18:15 Private meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople at the Apostolic Delegation in Jerusalem. Signing of a joint declaration.
19.00 ECUMENICAL MEETING on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. Discourse of the Holy Father
20:15 Dinner with the Patriarchs and Bishops and the Papal suite at the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem

Monday, May 26, 2014
8:15 VISIT TO THE GRAND MUFTI OF JERUSALEM in the building of the Great Council on the Esplanade of the Mosques. Discourse of the Holy Father
9:10 VISIT TO THE WESTERN WALL in Jerusalem
9:45 Laying a wreath at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem
10.00 VISIT TO YAD VASHEM in Jerusalem. Discourse of the Holy Father
10:45 COURTESY VISIT TO THE TWO CHIEF RABBIS at Heichal Shlomo Center in Jerusalem, next to the Jerusalem Great Synagogue. Discourse of the Holy Father
11:45 COURTESY VISIT TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL at the Presidential Residence in Jerusalem. Discourse of the Holy Father
13:00 PRIVATE AUDIENCE WITH THE PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL at Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem
13:30 Lunch with the Papal suite at Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem
15:30 Private visit to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople at the building next to the Orthodox church of Viri Galileai on the Mount of Olives
16:00 MEETING WITH PRIESTS, MEN AND WOMEN RELIGIOUS AND SEMINARIANS in the church of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Discourse of the Holy Father
17:20 HOLY MASS WITH THE ORDINARIES OF THE HOLY LAND AND THE PAPAL SUITE in the room of the Cenacle in Jerusalem. Homily of the Holy Father
19:30 Transfer by helicopter from the helicopter port on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem to Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv
20:00 FAREWELL FROM THE STATE OF ISRAEL at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv
20:15 Departure from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv for Ciampino Airport in Rome
23:00 Arrival at Ciampino Airport in Rome

For Eastern Christmas Eve: From the Syrian Tradition

I have already noted some of the Christian traditions of two of the currently beleaguered Christian communities of the Middle East, the Copts and the churches of Iraq. The Syriac or Syrian Christian tradition is particularly threatened today, and deserve a note on Eastern Christmas Eve.

Syrian Christianity in its varying forms embraces most of the Christians of the present states of Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and adjacent parts of Turkey and Iraq. The Syriac form of Aramaic is the usual liturgical language. The historical centers are Jerusalem and Antioch; both were among the Pentarchy of early Christian Patriarchates, with Alexandria, Rome, and Constantinople. (Only Rome was in the West. Antioch, modern Antakya in Turkey, was a major center fr the spread of Christianity; St. Peter was the first bishop (preceding his move to Rome), and, according to Acts 11:26, "The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch."

Today, here are five Patriarchs of Antioch (the Antiochian Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, Melkite, Syriac Catholic, and Maronite Catholic. There used to be a Latin Catholic as well but three Catholic Patriarchs of Antioch may have been enough, and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem remains.

Not one of the five Patriarchs of Antioch has his seat in Antioch/Antakya today:

1. The Antiochian Orthodox Patriarch (or Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch) is in the Eastern or "Greek" Orthodox tradition linked to Constantinople; Patriarch John X Yazigi took his throne in 2012 and has his seat in Damascus.
2. The Syrian Orthodox (the Church today prefers "Syriac Orthodox" in English) Patriarch of Antioch  represents the  Oriental Orthodox ["Jacobite," "Miaphysite,"  or to other denominations, "Monophysite"] tradition, along with the Copts, Armenians, Ethiopians and Eritreans. Ignatius Zakka Iwas has held the post since 1980; his seat is officially Damascus but he resides in Beirut.
3. The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch, the analogue of the Antiochian Orthodox but in union with Rome, is Gregorios III Laham since 2000; he is based in Damascus.
4. The Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch is the Catholic Uniate analogue of the Syriac Orthodox; he is based in Beirut and since 2009 has been Ignatius Joseph III Younan.
5. The Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch is of course highly influential in Lebanon; his seat is at Bkerke near Beirut. Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Raï was chosen Patriarch in 2011 and made a cardinal by the Pope in 2012.

From several Syrian traditions: a Syriac Orthodox service in Aleppo  a few years ago (though with "Silent Night" in the processional):


An Antiochian hymn:



A Maronite Hymn Medley:

Aramaic Revivals in Israel and the West Bank?

 We talked quite a bit in 2011 about survivals of spoken Aramaic, both in its Eastern and Western forms. And of course this once widespread language still has a liturgical role in many Eastern Christian churches, Judaism, Samaritanism, and Mandaeanism.

Here's an article on attempts to revive or at least teach Aramaic in two towns where it has only survived liturgically: the town of Jish in Galilee, an Israeli Arab town with a Maronite majority; and Bait Jala near Bethlehem in the West Bank, where the Syrian Orthodox church has been promoting the language:

The reintroduction of Aramaic into the elementary school curriculum, especially in the form of the  Galilee Aramaic dialect taught in Jish, is thought to enhance children’s appreciation of their Christian heritage. The hope is that the pupils will eventually use their forefathers’ language to communicate among themselves. There are signs that this might happen, as students are already using Aramaic  it to pass secret notes to each other in class. But this trick may not work for much longer, as adults too have started to learn Aramaic. In Jish, the first three-month course for adults was offered in 2006; since then a small group of adult students have continued studying on their own. They have also began connecting with other Aramaic communities in Sweden and the Netherlands.

Sweden turns out to be an important source of both learning materials and inspiration for the revival of Aramaic inIsrael and the West Bank. Swedish officials estimate that anywhere from 30,000 to 80,000 Aramaic speakers who descended from transplanted Middle Easterners reside in their country. The Swedish Aramaic community has its own soccer team, “Syrianska FC”, from the town of Sodertalje. But more importantly, the community publishes a newspaper called “Bahro Suryoyo”, as well as pamphlets and children’s books translated into Aramaic, including The Little Prince. But what really helps the students learn the language is Soryoyosat, a satellite television station maintained by the Swedish Aramaic community. For some residents of Jish and Beit Jala, watching Aramaic programming from Sweden provided the first opportunity in decades to hear the language spoken outside church. Thus, modern technology helps the revival of Aramaic by making it more accessible and by increasing the learners’ motivation.

An interesting twist for those who share my interest in minority language survivals.

New Maronite Patriarch Visits the Vatican

The 77th Patriarch of the Maronite Church, Bechara Rai (also transliterated Rahi; the name is actually Ra‘i  الراعي ) is visiting the Vatican where his election in March will be confirmed by Pope Benedict XVI. He replaced Cardinal Nasrullah Sfeir, who announced his retirement on turning 90.

The importance of the Maronite community in Lebanese politics means that the Patriarch has considerable political influence; some comments he made on cabinet appointments have already drawn fire from the Free Patriotic Movement's Michel Aoun, also a Maronite.

Rai, the former Bishop of Jbail and Secretary of the Maronite Synod, is 71 and was elected last month to replace Sfeir, who retired voluntarily.

For Western Christmas, a Taste of Eastern Christmas

For Western Christmas, having already done Fairuz singing familiar Western carols in English, I thought it might be worth sampling a bit of indigenous Christmas music from the lands where the faith began. This replaces the usual Weekend Historical Videos for this week. Most Roman Catholics and Protestants tend to be pretty ignorant of the Eastern Churches (even, among Catholics, of the Eastern Catholic churches in union with Rome). They may have a vague familiarity with the Orthodox tradition, but know little of the Maronite, Syriac Orthodox, Antiochian Orthdodox, Melkite, Coptic, Armenian, Chaldean or Assyrian traditions.

I think I told the story here once before of an Arab Christian who grew tired of being asked by Western hostesses, on learning he was a Christian, "Which missionary group converted your people?" He always answered, "Jesus Christ and the 12 Apostles." After all, it started there: the New Testament itself says Jesus was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, and was crucified in Jerusalem; that his followers were first called "Christians" in Antioch, and so on. Yet to Western Christians, the Eastern branches of the faith are a mystery. Yet most historians agree that the oldest Christian liturgy still in use today is in the Church of the East (the Assyrian Church).

Oh, the television networks will broadcast a snippet of the Latin Patriarch's Christmas Eve service in Bethlehem, though the majority of Arab Christians will celebrate on the Eastern date in January.

So here are a variety of the varied Middle Eastern traditions, some recorded in the region and some in the diaspora. One or two are reruns from last year, but most are new.

A Coptic hymn to Mary. The Coptic language, now only a liturgical, tongue, is a descendant of Ancient Egyptian:



In the Antiochian Orthodox tradition, a Byzantine Christmas Hymn in Arabic:



A Chaldean Christmas hymn. The Chaldeans are the Eastern Catholic analogue of the Church of the East (Assyrians):



These two from the Lebanese Maronite tradition:





Syriac Orthodox: An entrance prcession for Christmas 2007/8 at a Syriac Orthodox Chruch in Aleppo: amid traditional sounding Eastern music there's also a singing of Silent Night in Syriac as the celebrants enter.



Church of the East (Assyrian):



For an Armenian Christmas I can't resist a repeat from last year, since it combines a Nativity scene with dancing Santas and mixes Eastern and Western music:



And to recall the ancient Armenian Church's more traditional music, this:



And with that, being a fat guy with a white beard, I have a busy evening ahead. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Cypriot Maronite Arabic, Again

The National has a piece on Cypriot Maronite Arabic, the dialect of Arabic which survives among the Maronites of Cyprus. This article quotes local claims that the local Arabic is rooted in Aramaic, which seems doubtful though the Maronite liturgy retains some Aramaic parts.

I posted last year on Cypriot Maronite Arabic, including a video in which some of it is heard, and comments by a linguist. That's probably a bit more reliable on the alleged Aramaic links, but still, the survival of Arabic on Cyprus is a fascinating subtext in its own right.

Lebanon: At Least, a Maronite-Maronite Rapprochement

All the talk of moving beyond political sectarianism in Lebanon notwithstanding, there has at least been some progress towards reconciliation: Maronites are talking to Maronites.

General Michel ‘Aoun, who having been driven into 15 years of exile from Lebanon under severe military attack by Syria and its Hizbullah allies in 1990 is now, of course, in the logic of Lebanese politics, an ally of Syria and Hizbullah, after years of alienation from many of his own Maronite brethren (especially the very conservative church hierarchy) has met with the Maronite Council of bishops. That's him with Cardinal Sfeir at left.

It is hard for me to understand why people have trouble understanding Lebanon. Lewis Carroll had it figured out a long time ago (and I think I've used this before, but forgive the repetition):

They were, indeed, a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank—the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable . . .

What IS a Caucus-race? said Alice; not that she wanted much to know, but the Dodo had paused as if it thought that SOMEBODY ought to speak, and no one else seemed inclined to say anything.

Why, said the Dodo, the best way to explain it is to do it. (And, as you might like to try the thing yourself, some winter day, I will tell you how the Dodo managed it.)

First it marked out a race-course, in a sort of circle, (the exact shape doesn't matter, it said,) and then all the party were placed along the course, here and there. There was no One, two, three, and away, but they began running when they liked, and left off when they liked, so that it was not easy to know when the race was over. However, when they had been running half an hour or so, and were quite dry again, the Dodo suddenly called out The race is over! and they all crowded round it, panting, and asking, But who has won?

This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, EVERYBODY has won, and all must have prizes.

Holy War between the Nasrallahs: The Sheikh and the Cardinal

Despite all our attention to Iran, Lebanon is still there and moving towards forming a government in the wake of recent elections. Meanwhile a public feud has erupted between two prominent clerics, Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah of Hizbullah and the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Cardinal Sfeir, head of the Maronite church and a Cardinal in the Catholic Church hierarchy. The fact that Nasrallah's family name and the Cardinal's first given name are both Nasrallah (which means "God's victory") adds to the ironies of the clash of the clerics.

The latest round goes to Sfeir, who's commenting that "losers make excuses to justify their loss," referring to the fact that March 14 beat the Hizbullah-inclusive March 8 coalition in the elections (though Hizbullah's own representation stayed pretty steady). Sfeir — who is still pretty outspoken for an 89-year-old — fired off the first volley before the elections, warning that Lebanon's "Arab identity" would be endangered if the opposition won: meaning, of course, that Hizbullah is a stalking horse for Iran.

The sheikh fired back at the time that clerics should stay out of politics — seemingly an odd thing for a Shi‘ite cleric who heads a major political party to say, but maybe he just meant troublesome priests, not Shi‘ite clerics. After the elections Nasrallah (the sheikh, not the Cardinal) attacked Sfeir again for influencing the elections unduly.

Now the Christian community is defending Sfeir, or at least those on the March 14 side: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea called Nasrallah's comments "an insult" and former President Amin Gemayel also criticized the attack on Sfeir, but as the Cardinal's comments show, he's capable of defending himself as well.

Anyway, the exchanges continue. It is a particularly Lebanese sort of quarrel, and the fact that both men have the name "Nasrallah" somewhere in their full names strikes me as particularly ironic.

NOTE: For 24 hours this post used the spelling "Nasrullah," till I noticed I've previously been using "Nasrallah": have changed it accordingly. I do plan to post on the transliteration issue soon.

For your weekend reading

If you've been reading for a while you know the drill: on Friday afternoons I sign off for the weekend with a number of links for your weekend edification, enjoyment, or you can just spend time with your families like I plan to. For what it's worth:

• A sentence that has probably never before appeared in the entire history of the English language: "Reactions to Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Israel were surprisingly similar to reactions to the concert by the British pop band Depeche Mode earlier this week." Writers are always struggling to find the right lead sentence. I consider that one a reach.
  

• I haven't yet seen much Western coverage of this, but apparently "a team of specialized American sailors" (sounds like SEALS) from the cruiser Gettysburg, with support from a South Korean naval vessel, rescued an Egyptian merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden and captured the pirates. And the buried lede: Iran will be sending two warships to join the international flotilla. Here's the CNN version.
  

• An interesting post at Qifa Nabki on rival Druze leaders' use of YouTube and camera phone video to wage an ancient feud (and the Arslans and Jumblatts have been feuding for a very long time). A contribution to the growing literature of carrying on old conflicts in the era of Web 2.0. And the photoshopped (I presume) graphic "DruzeTube: Broadcast Your Za‘im" struck me as brilliant, if you have an appreciation of Lebanese politics and/or Lebanese humor.
  

• While we're on the subject of the Lebanese election campaign, there's a brouhaha brewing among the Maronites over the campaign platform of General Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, the manifesto of which is called "Towards the Third Republic" (.pdf in Arabic). The basic idea is that the Lebanese "First Republic" was the post-indendence republic based on the National Pact, which was unstable, led to the conflict of 1958 and the civil war of 1975-91, while the "Second Republic" was the reconfigured system set up by the Ta'if accords and in place from 1990-91 onward. The Free Patriotic Mofvement is pushing for a stronger, more stable system. It's a neat catchphrase, and as some others have noted, may be influenced by the longevity of the Third French Republic. Lebanese (and Maronites in particular) tend to think in French terms, and for that matter does anybody else count the number of republics? The French are on their fifth, after all. But Aoun is anathema to some of his onetime allies, and supporters of the March 14 Movement (the pro-Hariri side) are saying that the slogan itself is a dangerous thing, a type of "coup d'etat that threatens state institutions including the presidency, the judiciary, media and the Constitution" Former President Amin Gemayel has also used the "coup d'etat" image. Its probably a tempest in a teapot, but it's raised hackles in the Maronite community. And it's just an electoral slogan.
  

General Aoun vs. Cardinal Sfeir, Continued: Thinking about the Lebanese Elections

Remember my posting last month about the feuding between General Michel Aoun and Maronite Patriarch Boutros Cardinal Sfeir in Lebanon? It's still simmering along; the Bishop of Jbeil (Byblos) gave a sermon saying critics of the Cardinal could be excommunicated, and now General Aoun says they must be talking about somebody else, he's a good Maronite himself and follows the rules.

The Lebanese Parliamentary elections are nearing (June 7, though there are still some urging they be held over several days instead of just one), and I suspect that I'll be posting more on Lebanon as we get closer. The Aoun-Sfeir feud strikes many in the West as strange since they remember when Aoun was isolated and fighting Syria almost alone, and can't understand why he's now allied with Syria and Hizbullah.

But I think one clue for thinking about Lebanon is to remember that the country works best when all parties work together to achieve some kind of consensus: the National Pact of 1943, the Ta'if Accords of 1989 . . . and works least well when things divide along a binary government versus opposition model. What works in the US or Western Europe is not the best model for Lebanon, where it tends to create a zero-sum, if you win I lose, confrontational politics that tends to degenerate into conflict. There is a natural, knee-jerk tendency in the US to want to exclude certain parties (particularly Hizbullah and other surrogates of Syria) from the Lebanese government, but in fact a polarized government-vs.-opposition model failed in 1958 and again rather specatacularly from 1975 to 1991. It has been polarizing again since the Hariri assassination. That, I think, may be a point to keep in mind as the elections approach, the rhetoric escalates, and a new US Administration tries to find its footing in the confused mosaic of Lebanon.

Backgrounder: Reflections on the Diversity of Christian Minorities in the Middle East

While browsing around for blogging subjects I came across this account of the installation of the new Syrian Catholic Patriarch in Beirut earlier this week, and it started me reflecting, first, on just how varied and complex the Christian churches in the Middle East are, and, secondly, how little known they are to Westerners, even those who spend a lot of time deploring the fate of Christians in some Middle Eastern countries. I'm pretty sure that most Catholics in the West aren't even aware there is a Syrian Catholic Church, let alone who the Patriarch is (though this one is the former Syrian Catholic Archbishop of North America). (And as a footnote, the Church's name in English is now officially the Syriac Catholic Church, though this Lebanese report uses the earlier form, which was common till just the past few years. I think the church wanted to play down the equation of "Syrian" with the modern state of that name, though they only changed the English, not the Arabic or Syriac names.)

Christianity, of course, is not a Western faith by origin, but a Middle Eastern one. Palestinian Christians often joke about being asked by well-meaning Western Christians, "which missionary group converted your people?" (to which the answer is, of course, Jesus and the 12 Apostles). Middle Eastern Christian populations are in decline, as I think is well known; the hardships of the West Bank and the hostility of political Islamists have led many Palestinian Christians to emigrate; towns like Bethlehem, which had been Christian since, rather literally, the beginning are now majority Muslim. Assyrian and Chaldean Christians in Iraq have also been fleeing in the face of violence. But while there are certainly pressures coming from radical Islamist movements in some countries, the sheer diversity of the Christian communities in the Middle East, and the real if not always visible role Christians play in a number of countries is often unappreciated by Westerners.

I'm reminded of a story that a former chief Arabic translator for the US Department of State liked to tell back in the 1970s and 1980s. He was a Syrian Assyrian -- a Syrian national by origin and a member of the Assyrian Church of the East from the Dayr al-Zor area -- and since he traveled with the Secretary of State when going to the region, he was well known to reporters traveling along. When Western news media were trying to get up to speed on the factions in Lebanon and the Sunni-Shi'a split during the Iranian Revolution and after, they would ask, "are you Sunni or Shi'a?" and he'd say, "neither, I'm a Christian," The Lebanese war being in high gear at the time the reporters would often follow with, "so you're a Maronite?", and when informed that no, he was an Assyrian, the teaching moment would arrive . . .

As an example of this diversity: Wikipedia says that there are currently five churches whose heads use the title Patriarch of Antioch. (Three are based in Damascus, one in Beirut and one in Bkerke, Lebanon: in other words, none of them in ancient Antioch, current Antakya in Turkey.) The Patriarchs of Antioch represent the Eastern (Antiochene) Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox (sometimes called "Jacobite"), Maronite, Melkite, and Syriac Catholic Churches. The last three are all in union with Rome, the Antiochenes are "Eastern Orthodox" in communion with Constantinople, and the Syriac Orthodox are Oriental Orthodox in loose communion with the Copts and Armenians. There are at least three Patriarchs of Alexandria (Coptic, Eastern Orthodox, and Catholic). Nor do these exhaust all the Christian communities of the Middle East: Iraq has the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholics; Lebanon, Palestine and other areas with an Armenian diaspora have the Armenian Apostolic Church (two main branches) and the Armenian Catholics, and there are significant indigenous Protestant communities in Lebanon, Palestine and elsewhere. The leading historian of modern Lebanon, Kamal Salibi, is a Presbyterian.

For all the problems that Christian minorities face, ironically one reason for this diversity is that Islam not only tolerated Christianity but did not tolerate the internal Christian feuding which elsewhere tended to eliminate dissident sects: as Rome and Constantinople consolidated their religious authority, Catholicism and Orthodoxy became uniform in the Western and Eastern Roman Empires and their successor states, but in the Islamic world the old "heresies" (in the eyes of Rome and Constantinople) endured. The Copts, Armenians, Syriac Orthodox and Ethiopian/Eritrean churches are the heirs of what the Western world called "Monophysite" churches (though they reject that term themselves), and are often referred to today as "Oriental Orthodox" in distinction from "Eastern Orthodox," those in communion with Constantinople; the Church of the East and the Malankara Church of India are those once dismissed in the West as "Nestorians," another term rejected by those to whom it is applied by others, the Church of the old Persian Empire that once evangelized as far afield as India and China. Some offshoots of many of these churches have split and given their allegiance to Rome, though they retain their Eastern Orthodox or "Oriental Orthodox" liturgies and married priesthoods; they are the Eastern Catholics, or the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church. (The Maronites of Lebanon are the one Eastern Catholic rite that has no Orthodox or Oriental analogue.) There are Eastern Orthodox churches in communion with Constantinople (the city may be Istanbul but the Ecumenical Patriarch is still "of Constantinople") in most Middle Eastern countries as well.

Some of the Christian minorities of the Middle East are waning fast, due to the conflicts in Palestine and Iraq, but the Maronites remain a major force in Lebanon (the President and Army Commander must both be Maronites, and I've already noted the political clout of the Patriarch). The Copts are a significant population in Egypt, though the exact percentage is itself a matter of controversy, and have produced some well-known figures, Boutros Boutros-Ghali most prominent among them.

In the more nationalist/secularist states and movements, Christians have been prominent, often seeing Arab nationalism as a way to find a role for Christians in a majority-Islamic polity. For years one of the highest-ranking Christians in the Middle East was Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, a Chaldean by upbringing though not, I somehow suspect, a devout churchgoer. One of the co-founders of the Ba'ath Party, Michel Aflaq, was Greek Orthodox, as were such other radical nationalist leaders as Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) founder Antoun Saada and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leaders George Habash and Nayef Hawatmeh. (Saada certainly and Aflaq arguably were virtual fascists and Habash and Hawatmeh Marxists, so the common ground is secular radicalism, not ideology.)

Sometimes prominent Middle Eastern Christians deliberately conceal their origins to succeed in a Muslim environment. Tariq Aziz was born Mikhail Yuhanna. The actor Omar Sharif was born Michel Chalhoub of Maronite parents from Egypt's then-prominent Lebanese community (though he did convert to Islam when he married). For many years I was a friend -- I thought a pretty good friend -- of the late Hamdi Fuad, Washington Bureau Chief for Egypt's Al-Ahram for a great many years. Yet it was not until his obituary appeared that I learned his real name was Ramses something, born a Copt; his funeral was in the same Washington church in which I was married. None of these men chose an unambiguously Muslim name like Muhammad Ahmad; they were not so much hiding their Christian roots as obscuring them a bit for professional reasons. I know of one or two other cases like this, but they involve people still working and I see no reason to "out" them: their friends know their backgrounds anyway.

Often we only hear of Middle Eastern Christians when there are clashes with their Muslim neighbors or when some outrage occurs; I thought it worth noting the diversity and antiquity of these ancient churches because they are in fact a real presence in the region. And there is more interaction than one might think: in some localities local Muslims come out for certain Christian saints' days and Christians may occasionally venerate the tomb of a Sufi sheikh; at the level of popular practice there is often less division than at the level of official ideology.

Cardinal Sfeir versus General Aoun

It's easy to criticize the Middle East for its lack of Western-style democracies, but I find myself writing the second post of the day about electoral politics: first in Iran, now in Lebanon. The Lebanese will be holding general elections for Parliament on June 7, under a new electoral law recently adopted (actually, a return to an older electoral system). Now the Maronite Patriarch, Mar Boutros Cardinal Sfeir, has stirred up a tempest in the Maronite community by remarks which seemed to denounce the Free Patriotic Movement of General Michel Aoun. The Daily Star's take is here; more on the subject here, here, and here.

Reading these stories will not be very enlightening to those who do not follow Lebanese politics, since the vicissitudes of Lebanon's factions frequently shift. The Maronites, the largest Lebanese Christian grouping, dominated Lebanese politics until the civil war; today, with their influence and numbers reduced, they are divided politically. Sfeir has long been active in politics, as are other Maronite bishops and the powerful Order of Monks.

The main traditional Maronite parties are part of the "March 14" bloc, named for a huge demonstration in 2005 after the assassination of Rafiq Hariri. But in the 2006 Parliamentary elections, the Maronite partry which won the most seats was the Fre Patriotic Movemnt of Genral Aoun.

Aoun's political history is somewhat bewildering to anyone seeking to neatly categorize and pigeonhole a politician's alignment. In 1988-1990 Aoun, as Prime Minister and Acting President of one of two rival Lebanese governments, essentially fought his own war with Syria. When defeated, he fled into exile. Yet, when he returned to his homeland in 2006, his Free Patriotic Movement suddenly took a pro-Syrian tack and allied politically with Hizbullah. It is this "March 8" front that the Patriarch openly criticized.

Based on the press reports, Cardinal Sfeir's message seems to be that Maronites need to be united and that, when they are not, they suffer. The fact that Aoun has more seats in the present Parliament than the traditional Maronite Phalanges (Kata'ib) might suggest uniting behind Aoun, but his current alliances go against the conservative, right-of-center leanings of the Church.

Some have criticized the Patriarch for plunging into politics, but the 88-year-old Sfeir has been politically outspoken throughout his patriarchate, to which he was elevated in 1986. He has clashed with Aoun before. And, as some of his supporters have been quick to note, Aoun's criticism of clerics intervening in politics does not extend to Hizbullah leader Hasan Nasrallah, who is a Shi'ite cleric.

An open breach between the church hierarchy and Aoun could undercut his support among Maronites, which, presumably, is Sfeir's intention.