Political Sermons – St. John Chrysostom
I -myself- believe religion and politics can not be mixed, they are totally different in believing, exposing and handling them, so those small excerpts are not the Christianity opinion about politics -or I will be contradicting myself- but they are more like opinions, ideas and thoughts of a major spiritual thinker in early church St. John Chrysostom (347–407) mentioned in his sermons, I found some of these excerpts are very appropriate for the current situation in Egypt and may be in many other countries. They answer some questions we might have in our minds.
1. Can we protest against our rulers?
“Is every ruler elected by God to the throne he occupies? Is every emperor, king, and prince chosen by rule? If so, is every law and decree promulgated by a ruler to be regarded as good, and thus to be obeyed without question?
The answer to all these questions is, no. God has ordained that every society should have rulers, whose task is to maintain order, so that people may live in peace. God allows rulers to employ soldiers, whose task it is to capture and imprison those who violate social order.
Thus God bless and guide any ruler and any soldier who acts according to these principles. But many rulers abuse their authority by amassing huge wealth for themselves at the expense of their people, by unjustly punishing those who dare to speak against their evil, and by making unjust wars against neighbors. Such rulers have not been elected by God, but rather have usurped the position which a righteous ruler should occupy. And if their laws are wrong, we should not obey them. The supreme authority in all matters is not the law of the land, but the law of God; and if one conflicts with the other, we must obey God’s law”
2. Should not we apply God’s law -or Share’a- on earth?
“There are three types of government. The first is where one person, or group of persons, pass laws and issue decrees which everyone must obey. The second is where every person is his own master, acting as he or she thinks fit. The third is where God is acknowledged as ruler, and all people seek to follow his way of love. This third type of government is the ideal of which we should aspire, and for which we should pray. And if every person were truly seeking to follow God’s way of love, then we could also have the second type of government. We would know that if people were free to make their own decisions on all matters, these decisions would conform to God’s law, so there would be perfect harmony.
However no society has ever existed in which every member fully and consistently tries to obey God; there are always people motivated by greed and self-interest.
For this reason there need to be individuals or small groups who pass laws and issue decrees which can be enforced. The existence of the first type of government is a tactic admission of human sin and frailty. the challenge is to ensure that these lawmakers act on behalf of the people as a whole and not just for their own benefit.”
3. Can priests -or Sheikhs- be politicians?
“How should the church be governed? Should the patriarchs act like emperors, issuing decrees which all believers must obey? Should bishops see themselves as local governors, demanding unquestioning submission of the people? Should the clergy be a kind of spiritual army, enforcing the will of the patriarchs and bishops, and meting out punishment on sinners?
The first consideration for the church is not how to punish sins, but how to prevent sins from being committed. And when a sin has been committed, the task of the church is to encourage the sinner to confess the sin and make amends; so that no punishment is required. This is a quite different attitude to wrongdoing from that which the state adopts, and so required a quite different style of government.
Moreover, each individual is answerable not to be a priest, bishop, or patriarch, but to God. So the primary authority of those within church is not to issue decrees, but to stir the souls and enliven the consciences of believers, so that by their own volition they will obey the laws of God. In shorter those in authority within the church should see themselves not as rulers, but as preachers and pastors.”
Reference:
- “On Living Simply” Book
شعب مصر بركان خامد
تدور أحداث كثيرة الأن في عدة دول عربية منها تونس، الجزائر، موريتانيا، مصر، والسودان؛ كان الشعب في تلك الدول مثل بركان خامد تلتهب حممه بداخله تريد ان تنطلق بكل قوة إلى الخارج صرخةً بما تشعر به.
وفيما يبدو أن تلك البراكين بدأت في الإنفجار ولفظ حممها إلى الخارج حارقة ما يعترض طريقها. ففي تونس اشتعلت نيران الثورة الشعبية ضد الحكم الفاسد والذي أغرق البلاد في حالة إقتصادية سيئة ونشر حالة البطالة بين الشباب وأشعل مخاوف الطلبة. وكان إشعال أحد الشباب النار في جسده بمثابة القشة التي قسمت ظهر البعير كما يقال، فثار الشعب وانتشرت مظاهرات وحالات شغب في معظم البلد حتى نتج ذلك عن تنحي رئيس جمهورية تونس عن الحكم والهروب خارج البلاد.
وكمصري تسألت في نفسي يا ترى ماهو الوضع الإقتصادي السيء الذي أدى باهل بلد مثل تونس إلى الإنقلاب، وقمت ببعض البحث عن بعد الفرق بين مصرنا الحبيب وتونس، ووجدت أن:
- الدينار التونسي يقابل أكثر من أربعة جنيهات مصري في يومنا هذا.
- نسبة الشعب تحت خط الفكر في تونس لعام 2005 وصلت إلى7.4% بينما في مصر لنفس العام 20%, وإن كنت أعتقد انها أكثر بذلك بكثير في مصر.
- تتمتع مصر بنسبة تصل إلى 0.18 % من فقراء العالم بينما تونس 0.02 % فقط؛ مع الوضع في الاعتبار أن كثافة سكان مصر أكثر بالطبع.
الإستشهاد في المسيحية
المسيحية هي المحبة الباذلة، والصليب هو علامة المسيحية، وفي شخص السيد المسيح التقي الحب بالألم، وتغير مفهوم الألم واصبح شركة حب مع الرب المتألم، وأرتفع إلي مستوي الهبة الروحية، والموت أصبح كأسا لذيذا يرتشفها المؤمن سعيدا راضيا بل يسعى إليها عن حب ويتعجلها، وليس في هذا عجب فقد تحول الموت من شئ مرعب إلي جسر ذهبي ومعبر يعبر بنا من حياة قصيرة وغربة مؤقتة وثوبا باليا إلي سعادة أبدية دائمة وثوبا لا يفني ولا يتدنس ولا يضمحل.
وأرتبط الاضطهاد بالمسيحية وهو يسير معها جنبا إلي جنب، وأحيانا يصل إلي النهاية وهو ما نقول عنه الاستشهاد، وأول اضطهاد تعرضت له المسيحية كان من اليهودية إذ ولدت المسيحية في وسط المجتمع اليهودي، ورفض اليهود السيد المسيح وصلبوه، واضطهدوا أتباعه بالقتل والتعذيب أو بالوشاية وإثارة الجماهير أو بالمقاومة الفكرية..
بعدها دخلت المسيحية الناشئة في صراع طويل مع الوثنية متمثلة في الإمبراطورية الرومانية بما لها من سلطة الدولة وقوة السلاح وقد وصل هذا الصراع إلي حد الإبادة أي الاستشهاد، وكان الصراع غير متكافئا إذ لم يكن للإيمان الجديد ما يسنده من قوة زمنية أو سلاح اللهم إلا ترس الإيمان ودرع البر وخوذة الخلاص وسيف الروح (رسالة بولس الرسول إلى أهل أفسس 6)، وأستمر الصراع حتى أوائل القرن الرابع حين قبلت الإمبراطورية الرومانية الإيمان بالمسيح وسقطت الوثنية.
لقد بدأ اضطهاد المسيحية في روما علي يد نيرون في القرن الأول المسيحي وانتهي علي بعد ميل واحد من روما علي يد قسطنطين في القرن الرابع وكان القصد منه إبادة المسيحية ولكن علي العكس كان سببا في تنقيتها وإظهار فضائلها وبطولات شهدائها الأمر الذي أدي انتشارها ودخول الوثنيين في الإيمان المسيحي، وكما عبر عن ذلك العلامة ترتليانوس “دماء الشهداء بذار الكنيسة”.
لماذا اضطهدت الدولة الرومانية المسيحية ؟
· جاء الإيمان بالمسيح يحمل مفاهيم جديدة غير التي كان يألفها الناس في القديم:
في الوثنية كانت العبادة عبارة عن ترديد لصيغة عزيمة سحرية وبعض التعاويذ وتقديم المأكل والمشرب للآلهة والتعاليم غامضة والشعائر والصلوات سرا، عكس ما وجد الناس في المسيحية تعليما مفهوما وموضوع عظيم للإيمان وديانة تستقر في داخل الإنسان وفكره وروحه والعبادة فيها ترجمة عملية للإيمان وحل الحب محل الخوف.
ولم يعد هناك غرباء أو أجانب بالنسبة لإله المسيحيين، ولم يعد الأجنبي يدنس الهيكل أو القربان لمجرد حضوره، ولم يعد الكهنوت وراثيا لأن الديانة ليست ملكا موروثا بل علي العكس أصبح هناك تعليم ديني مفتوح يعرض علي الجميع وكانت المسيحية تبحث عن أقل الناس اعتبارا لتضمهم.
ولم تعلم المسيحية أتباعها بغض الأعداء أو الأجنبي بل علي العكس التعاطف والمودة.
2011 New year blast in Egypt church
Last year almost at same time, and before I go to attend Christmas liturgy in Coptic church in USA, I found my Facebook home page attacked by posts saying three persons killed 7 christians while they are leaving Christmas liturgy in Naga’ Hamadi in Egypt.
Deep in my heart I felt so sad and as if some one killed my joy and happiness of these good celebration, when Jesus was born an angel appeared to shepherds and said “Glory be to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14), so Jesus brought peace to the earth not blood and death.
This morning (1/1/2011) and while Christians are praying and celebrating new year in churches, in St. Mark and St. Peter the seal of martyrs in Alexandria, Egypt; and while Christians leaving church after prayers (12:20 am), a car parking in front of the church exploded leaving 21 dead persons and more than 90 injured, the explosion caused to other cars to explode; people start to scream and cry trying to move injured to St. Mark hospital behind the church, I saw lots of videos and photos showing blood everywhere and bodies parts on the street sides.
Police, fire fighters and ambulances rushed to the place trying to fight fire and help injured people and collect dead bodies and parts, Copts start to get angry and started conflict between them and police; as if they are angry of them not saving their families and friends neither there or in Naga’a Hamadi or ElKosheh in 2001 when 20 Copts killed.
I pray for martyrs families and all Copts in Egypt and everywhere that God give them condolences and peace in their hearts, and save His people.
Some resources for this accedent:
Coptic Christmas 2010 in so called “mother of world” Egypt
We blamed Algerians for attacking Egyptian football team fans in Sudan, we described them evils, uncivilized, savages, killers, and more, TV shows and news papers talked about that for several days and show us how our people were terrified in Sudan and had a very terrible time; and thank God nobody was killed some injuries and delay in returning trips.
Yesterday (01/06/2010) was the Orthodox Christmas eve, and Copts always go to churches at night to attend feast celebration and sermonies, so yesterday after Copts left the church at Nagaa Hamadi in Egypt they were attacked by their neighbors Muslim Egyptians and instead of saying Merry Christmas and throwing flower and roses they threw bullets and fear; result was about 6 dead Christians plus church guard, many injuries (21 Christians according to news) and I would say terrible night, and according to news too Bishop Kirrolos was targeted by the attack also. Egypt government says it is response for a Muslim girl that was raped by Christian man 2 months ago.
My point here is we have to deal with both situations (Algerians and yesterday attackers) the same, we have to announce we have problems and religious discrimination is one of them, it is not the only one of course but we should not blame the mentally sick people for every bad event, we are living in a sick society and we have to confess that in order to fix it, although fixing it may take generations that is if we agreed to fix it first.
We have corruption in most (if not all) government and non-government entities, Egyptian citizen is the least treated person in his own country, they suffer to get their daily bread, and get real education (I am not saying good education), and more, you can visit some of Egyptian blogs to figure out how the bad situation is.
Actually we have issues even in human relationships between each other even our society is corrupted not only the entities, how can we ask Algerian not to threaten our people in Sudan and Algeria, or Israelis to stop attack Palestinians and kill them, if we are already killing each other.
I think we need to identify and confess our problems, and to stop only saying slogans but to apply it, I think it should be our first step show up our corruption so we can deal with it.
Some resources for this accedent:
- http://goo.gl/gKxq – BBC
- http://goo.gl/gTdI – BBC Arabic
- http://goo.gl/XAUh – CNN
- http://goo.gl/lzCi – Fox News
- http://goo.gl/xjkS – MSNBC
- http://goo.gl/AZ1x – Masrawy Arabic
- http://goo.gl/zwU6 – Al Yom Al Sab3 Arabic
- http://goo.gl/2i8c – American Coptic United Arabic
My Drops ... 