The Registry Is Still Open - When Will the Registry Be Closed?
In memory of the kidnapped shepherds
Dr. Michel E. Abs
Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches
To the three and a half million martyrs of the Orthodox Christians of Anatolia, we can add the name: Boulos Yazigi, the Shepherd and Martyr,
To the half a million martyrs of Syrian Christians we can also add a name: Youhanna Ibrahim, the Shepherd Martyr too,
They may be alive, but they are living martyrs, since what kind of a life did they have during or after all this detention?
Since the earthly powers were unable to tell us about their fate, should we inquire about it in the constellation of “Al-Farqadan”? *
You two high and exalted stars, have you seen two shepherds who disappeared while ministering to their flocks?
You who guide people, have you witnessed what has happened to the two shepherds?
Their news got lost between lies, hypocrisy and indifference!
We lost them in the pits of local politics and between the conspiracies of international politics and in the ambitions of the arrogant!
Did they want to be in the image of their two eparchies that have been kidnapped for decades, their fate unknown?
It is a bitterness that has no limits, only those who are firm in the faith can bear it.
When societies disintegrate, humankind cannot count its victims and losses, and this is what has happened to the Antiochian Levant.
Disintegration, fragmentation and conspiracy; the matter led to a kidnapped Christianity dwelling in the heart of the dragon.
Is this the result of tolerance and love rooted in Christianity?
Is this the result of turning the left cheek?
Is this the result of "Forgive them, Father"?
Believe me; they know what they are doing!
They premeditate what they do, premeditate, premeditate and premeditate!
If you accept less than that which you deserve, you will get less than that which you had accepted. Do not forget this rule.
How can two venerable and peaceful shepherds vanish and disappear to an area where the civil peace is in need of them, and without the world making a move to return them safely and honorably to their families and people?
Unless the parish is aimed at through the shepherd, and so it seems.
It is not new for the parish to be that which is intended through its shepherd.
The drawn sword did not provide neither life nor civilization, and it is still dripping with blood.
Had the earth been able to tell us what it holds in its bosom be it human or stone, it would make the rocks weep.
Had Al-Farqdan been able to testify, they would have told us enough to fill in dictionaries.
Had they been able to speak, they would have told us of epics of sacrifice and martyrdom.
They would have told us stories of panic and pain,
They would have recounted to us the stories of villages and cities that were annihilated, and told us of caravans of displaced people, most of them still on the road.
All this came as a result of the intersection of societal disintegration and international interests.
The international stakeholders themselves are the ones who own the monitoring and gauging techniques. They can take people's breath away. Can they not inform us about the fate of the two shepherds?
But it seems that what is required is suspicion, ambiguity, obscurity.
These are feelings that beget world-wide intrigues and conspiracies that designate what we call international interests.
These feelings act in the imagination of people, frustrating them and perchance leading them to the unknown.
This is what is required.
We are required to be martyrs in a martyred nation, offering one sacrifice after the other ad infinitum.
It is required that the registry of our martyrs remains open.
Yesterday marked the anniversary of the murder of the Archbishop of Constantinople and Patriarch of the Oecumene Gregory V.
Yesterday, the Church of St. Mark's See in Alexandria bid farewell to Father Arsanios Wadeed, and before him we had celebrated the memory of the martyrs of Tanta, of the Morcosiyah (Saint Mark’s) and the Boutrosiyah (Saint Peter’s) ... Every day marks a martyr's memory!
How long will the registry remain open?
When shall this registry be closed?
(*) Al-Farqadan: The North Pole star and the smaller star beside it as they are known for their brightness and remoteness