Vatican City, Nov 9, 2018 / 12:00 pm (CNA).- Pope Francis and the Assyrian Patriarch Mar Gewargis III have pledged ecumenical unity in support of persecuted Christians in the Middle East. In a joint statement released Nov. 9, the two leaders called the blood of recent martyrs in the Middle East the “the seed of Christian unity.”
“On our pilgrimage towards visible unity, we experience a common suffering, arising from the dramatic situation of our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East, especially in Iraq and Syria,” reads the common statement of the pope and the patriarch signed Friday.
“We are profoundly united in our prayer of intercession and in our charitable outreach to these suffering members of Christ’s body,” it continues.
The Assyrian Church of the East, based in Northern Iraq, has approximately 170,000 members, mostly in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and the United States. While they been separated from the Chaldean Catholics of the region for centuries, both have suffered greatly from the genocide committed by the Islamic State.
In 2001, a synod of the the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church approved inter-communion between the two churches, allowing Assyrian faithful to participate and receive Holy Communion in a Chaldean celebration of the Holy Eucharist and vice versa.
The two leaders condemned the persecution of Christians in the region, and reaffirmed that “it is not possible to imagine the Middle East without Christians.”
“Christians do not want to be considered a “protected minority” or a tolerated group, but full citizens whose rights are guaranteed and defended, together with those of all other citizens,” they stated.
Following their meeting, Pope Francis and the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East prayed together, asking for the intercession of Apostles Peter and Paul for the Christians in the Middle East.
Pope Francis said, “We share the great suffering resulting from the tragic situation endured by so many of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, who are victims of violence and frequently forced to leave the lands in which they have always lived.”
“They tread the via crucis in the footsteps of Christ,” he added.
Mar Gewargis III thanked the pope for the Vatican’s work in raising awareness in the international community about the continued plight and suffering of Assyrian Christians and other Christian communities in Iraq, Syria and in other parts of the Middle East.
“The many decades of war, violence, religious hostilities and sectarianism has had immeasurable and, sadly, irreversible effects on the ancient Christian communities of the East,” the patriarch told the pope.
In 2015, 230 Assyrian Christians were abducted by the Islamic State when they attacked villages across Al-Hasakah province.
“What we have witnessed in both Iraq and Syria within the last 15 years is a living testimony to this grievous situation of the forced departure and displacement (both internally and externally) of millions of Christians from the region of the Middle East,” he said.
Mar Gewargis III spoke highly of their “common dedication and commitment to religious freedom around the world,” calling it “one of the most essential of human rights, which perpetually sustains the dignity of the human person.”
The meeting marked the second time that patriarch had met with Pope Francis in Rome, and a continuation in ecumenical dialogues that have been ongoing since 1984.
Earlier this week, members of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Roman Catholic Church participated in “Joint Committee for Theological Dialogue” discussions in Rome.
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The Catholic faithful gathered in the Cenacle in Jerusalem for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper that the Franciscan friars celebrated on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. The Cenacle is at the center of strong tensions and disputes regarding ownership and rights of access and celebration. An ancient tradition places King David’s tomb here and over the centuries Jews and Muslims have leveraged this to first expel the Franciscans and then to prevent Christian worship, which they deemed sacrilegious. / Credit: Marinella Bandini
Jerusalem, Mar 28, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).
On Holy Thursday, the doors of the Cenacle in Jerusalem were opened to welcome the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land. In this “Upper Room,” called the Cenacle in the Holy Land, Jesus had his Last Supper, washed his apostles’ feet, and instituted the Eucharist.
It was here that the Franciscans celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, reenacting those same gestures. (At the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, however, the celebration is held on Thursday morning due to the Status Quo. Here is Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa’s homily from that Mass.)
The custos of the Holy Land, Father Francesco Patton, presided over the Eucharistic celebration at the Cenacle. In his homily, before washing the feet of six teachers and six students from the Terra Sancta School in Jerusalem, he emphasized the value of the “new commandment” that Jesus gave to his apostles here: “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (Jn 13:34).
“To love means to give oneself and to serve,” he said. “In this celebration, we want to nourish ourselves with Jesus because if he is alive within us, then we too will become capable of loving one another as he loved us. And we also want to learn from Jesus not to be served but to serve.”
Holy Thursday is the only day, along with Pentecost Sunday, when the Franciscans have the right to gather in the Upper Room to pray. Usually, it is a liturgy of the word, but since 2021 they have celebrated Mass. Outside, Israeli Army personnel ensure security.
The Cenacle is at the center of strong tensions and disputes regarding ownership and rights of access and celebration. An ancient tradition places King David’s tomb here, and over the centuries, Jews and Muslims have leveraged this place to first expel the Franciscans and then to prevent Christian worship, which they deem sacrilegious.
Father Narciso Klimas, historian and archivist of the Custody of the Holy Land, explained to CNA: “The Custody has all the documents confirming our ownership of Mount Zion.” Even today, traces of Christian presence are visible, both in the architecture of the place and in some symbols.
“The presence of the Franciscans at the Cenacle,” Klimas explained, “dates back to 1342, but as early as 1333, the rulers of Naples, Robert of Anjou and Sancha of Majorca, acquired the land and donated it to the friars. This was the first headquarters of the Custody of the Holy Land.” To this day, the official title of the Custos of the Holy Land is “Guardian of Mount Zion and the Holy Sepulchre.”
In 1421, a rabbi submitted a petition to the local emirs, claiming the right for Muslims and Jews to this place due to the presence of King David’s tomb. One hundred years later, Klimas continued, “the Ottomans used this argument to gradually expel the Franciscans, until in 1551 the sultan decreed the total expulsion of the Franciscans from Mount Zion.” The Cenacle first became a mosque and later, in the lower part, also a synagogue.
“Since then,” Klimas recounted, “the Franciscans have never stopped attempting to regain possession of the Cenacle. The friars have always tried to ensure a presence, at least on Holy Thursday and Pentecost, sometimes even with methods that are not exactly orthodox (such as bribing the local guardian).”
Something began to change in the 19th century, during the time of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid. Since then, the Franciscans have had the right to pray at the Cenacle on Holy Thursday and Pentecost. After a failed attempt in the 1930s to regain control of it, the friars managed to purchase adjacent land where they built the convent of San Francesco “ad Coenaculum” (next to the Cenacle).
In 1948, with the founding of the State of Israel, the entire Mount Zion came under Israeli control, and until today, the Israeli state owns the entire complex of the Cenacle. The neighborhood has a strong Jewish religious character and is characterized by the presence of synagogues and rabbinical schools.
“Even if the Cenacle cannot return to our hands,” Klimas explained, “we ask at least to celebrate regularly, even with pilgrims, without the need for special permits.”
Negotiations on these matters (taxation and property) have been ongoing for over 25 years between the Holy See and the State of Israel, following the signing of the Fundamental Agreement in 1993 and the agreement recognizing the legal personality of the Catholic Church in Israel in 1997.
Despite the slow pace of diplomatic negotiations, some practical progress can be observed informally. The ability to celebrate Mass on Holy Thursday at the Cenacle is among these developments. Permissions to access the site on other special occasions are usually granted without significant issues as well.
After the Mass at the Cenacle, as tradition dictates, the Franciscans proceeded in a procession to three churches in two other symbolic places: the Armenian churches of St. James and of the Holy Archangels (of the Armenian Apostolic Church), and the Syro-Orthodox Church of St. Mark.
This yearly visit commemorates the hospitality the friars received in the 16th century. After being expelled from the Cenacle, the Franciscans were welcomed by the Armenians for seven years while the convent of St. Saviour was purchased, to this day the headquarters of the Custody of the Holy Land. Friars and faithful prayed together and received the blessing from the representative of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
The Syriac Orthodox Church of St. Mark is said to be built on the house of Mary, the mother of the evangelist Mark. According to Syriac tradition, this is the place where Jesus had the Last Supper. Here as well, those present prayed together and were able to listen to the Lord’s Prayer sung in Aramaic by one of the monks, who then gave a blessing.
Rome Newsroom, Nov 11, 2020 / 06:00 am (CNA).- In response to reports that militants linked to the Islamic State had beheaded more than 50 people in northern Mozambique, a Catholic charity is sending emergency aid to the affected diocese.
Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). / Credit: François-Régis Salefran, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The blood of the martyrs rightly proclaimed “The seeds of Christian unity”. Though generic open to interpretation. The witness of the saints and martyrs to true practice of the faith is a more definitive hallmark. “A bishop famous for his defense of perennial Catholic teaching urged faithful Catholics to be ‘willing to die’ for their faith rather than compromise in the face of new ‘paradigm’ shifts and other ‘ruptures’ being forced upon the Church from the top down”. That bishop is Athanasius Schneider. He is already being selectively curtailed in accord with canon law by the Vatican while others in favor of the new paradigm are not. Some speak of a ‘white martyrdom’.
The blood of the martyrs rightly proclaimed “The seeds of Christian unity”. Though generic open to interpretation. The witness of the saints and martyrs to true practice of the faith is a more definitive hallmark. “A bishop famous for his defense of perennial Catholic teaching urged faithful Catholics to be ‘willing to die’ for their faith rather than compromise in the face of new ‘paradigm’ shifts and other ‘ruptures’ being forced upon the Church from the top down”. That bishop is Athanasius Schneider. He is already being selectively curtailed in accord with canon law by the Vatican while others in favor of the new paradigm are not. Some speak of a ‘white martyrdom’.