by J. George

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Shlomo to all especially as we approach the Blessed Birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

If I had to sum up in one word the dispute between factions in the One Holy Apostolic Church, I would call it "absurd". I cannot, with clear conscience, call one Jacobite and the other Orthodox as the futility of those labels is evident in the fact that both are indeed Jacobite and indeed Orthodox. If any of you sincerely believe that this bickering, violence, lawsuits, and any other ways we torture one another will resolve the issue or that when one faction prevails over the other in any capacity, that it will result in a perpetuation of Christian faith, by all means continue in strife, stubbornness, and un-Christian spirit of an inability to forgive. If anything, we diminish ourselves and diminish our faith by continuing in strife.

What makes you think that any other faith or denomination should look at us, our leaders, our patriarchs - we who profess The Way of Christ - as front runners, let alone provide our future generations with a solid foundation? Why should we expect our young people to want to continue when they see their fathers, mothers, Sunday School teachers, deacons, nuns, priests, bishops and so on, not practicing the Love of Christ that they teach them?

Dn Zach Varghese has brought up the sad, unfortunate, and tragic issue of persecution of Christians in Iraq. I feel he did so to help us consider the bigger picture of our existence. Can you imagine the fear of going to Church or even making the Sign of The Cross because you may be killed? Coptic Christians in Egypt suffer similar persecution by fundamentalists and endure countless acts of humiliation, pain, and suffering. Here we are sharing a common faith bringing misery on ourselves. I pray for our Christian brothers and sisters in all places who endure persecution and suffering.

In the internet media, I have sat and read insults being hurled, disrespectful words, and angry opinions (some baseless and illogical and some well-thought), all which are disillusioning. I also, however, have often read words of love, fraternity, and kindness which gives me hope. There is so much to gain than to lose from unity, why not shift focus on finding ourselves back to the Way of Christ? May God be merciful upon us ALL who are frail in our humanity and may the saints and angels pray for us.