Eastern Church – Page 22

Christians in the Middle East — at a Critical Mass?

A rather good and brief overview of Eastern Christianity appeared in the October 2008 issue of One, the monthly magazine of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. I have given you only a portion of the article; the full piece can be found here.

by Chorbishop John D. Faris

I have been asked to speak about Christians in the Middle East. First, it may be helpful to define the term “Middle East.” The Middle East is a subcontinent with no clear boundaries and it is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East. The term “Middle East” was popularized in the early 20^th century in the context of the rivalry between the British and Russian empires over the region. Traditionally, it has been loosely defined as encompassing territories in southwestern Asia and parts of North Africa.*

It has been my experience that there are two notions regarding this topic that are difficult for North Americans to grasp: the variety of Christians in the region and the possibility of the extinction of Christianity in the region.

North Americans are accustomed to church as a product of Western culture divided into Catholics and Protestants. For most, the Catholic Church is the Latin Church and any variety within it is presumed to be the result of ethnic origins: Catholics are different because they are Irish or German or Italian or Polish or Latino. A Byzantine or Maronite group is viewed with suspicion as somehow “not under the pope.” In reality, there are many Catholic churches, 22 to be precise; there is the Latin Church (by far the largest) and 21 Eastern Catholic churches, all “under the pope.”

The plurality of the churches is no where more evident than in the Middle East, where Christians from almost all the churches have converged over the past two millennia. One finds many of these Eastern Catholic churches represented there as well as the Latin Church (which is really a 12^th-century import) as well as many Orthodox and Protestant churches. The question that immediately comes to mind is, if Christ started the church, why are there so many churches, so many “flavors” of Christianity? The presumption is that the multiplicity of churches is a consequence of disputes and divisions. This is only partially true.

In the near future, the Catholic Information Service will be publishing a new booklet on Eastern Christianity by Jesuit Father Steven Hawkes-Teeples, professor of liturgical history at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome. Look for the booklet Eastern Christians and Their Churches.

A modern day Michelangelo: mosaics for the 21st century

Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut is building a new University Chapel and has commissioned a rather unique team of artists to create original works of art for use in the sacred Liturgy.

Jesuit Father Marko I. Rupnik heads the artistic and theological team from the Aletti Center in Rome, Italy. He is a world-renowned artist whose works grace Pope John Paul II’s Redemptoris Mater chapel at the Vatican and at the Basilica of Notre Dame du Rosaire, at Lourdes in France (a recent installation). His first work in the USA was commissioned by the Knights of Columbus Supreme Office in New Haven, Connecticut in 2005.

This art doesn’t just decorate a space. It is liturgical art that is integrated into a particular space for the celebration of the sacred Liturgy. In relation to the sacred Liturgy, the liturgical art together with word and ritual gesture articulate the Church’s interior life of holiness. By this, a church is an ecclesial edifice that not only allows a person to encounter the dynamic work of the Blessed Trinity, but it allows you to pray, think and relate at a real human level about the Divine Presence. The experience of good liturgical art, like the work of Father Rupnik, is not a mere static experience; it is an experience that vivifies our humanity. The artwork Rupnik has created in the Fairfield and in New Haven like that of the works in Rome and other places, is an expression of a dynamic spiritual quest of the divine and human, oriented in Church with a totality and energy of the living Trinitarian love communicated in Christ.

The Aletti Center is animated by a team of Jesuits and religious. The members of the team
are specialists in Eastern theology and in related arts brought together to promote and to develop activities for theological-cultural reflection. A well-known member of the Aletti team is Jesuit Cardinal

Tomáš Špidlík from the Czech Republic but who has spent more than 50 years teaching in Rome (pictured in the center). Founded in 1991, the Aletti Center is part of the Pontifical Oriental Institute which specializes in the study and research of the theology of the Eastern Churches.

Professor of Eastern Liturgy dies: Father Miguel Arranz, S.J.

On July 16, 2008 Jesuit Father Miguel Arranz, the well-known professor of Liturgy who

taught at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome, in Moscow and in St Petersburg, died.

Father Arranz was born on July 9, 1930 in Guadalajara, Spain. Between 1941 and 1949, he studied at the Seminary of Toledo and in 1949 he began studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute where he trained under Jesuit Father Juan Mateos. He was ordained a deacon in 1952 and two years later he was ordained a priest. After spending a period of time studying in Belgium, Father Arranz returned to Rome in 1967 and began his study of the Typicon of the Monastery of the Holy Savior (Messina, Italy). In 1969, he defended a work titled “How did the ancient Byzantines pray?” at the Saint Petersburg Orthodox Spiritual Academy. Between 1969 and 1975, he taught Liturgy at the same Academy where in 1975 Patriarch Pimen appointed him a full professor and later he taught in Moscow and in St Petersburg. Father Arranz is the author of many scholarly articles and books on liturgical theology and history.

A new congregation of Maronite sisters: Radiating Christ to the world

Recently, Bishop Gregory Mansour and Sister Marla Marie took up Pope Benedict’s idea
of spiritual motherhood with an application to the Maronite Eparchy of Saint Maron. The Maronite Servants of Christ the Light will be working in the parishes of the eparchies by assisting the laity and clergy with programs oriented toward religious education, family life, youth and the elderly. Pretty all-encompassing!

The sisters in the new order will live the communal life of the convent, through contemplative prayer, meals, fellowship, silence and solitude, and exercise and rest, even as they do pastoral work in parishes. Daily prayer will involve communal recitation of the Divine Office, daily Divine Liturgy (Mass), Eucharistic adoration, spiritual reading, and recitation of the Rosary. A prayer life centered on the Eucharist and devoted to Mary will be “our whole-hearted response to God and the source to nourish us to live in community and serve in the apostolate of parish life.”

Bishop Gregory said of the new group:

“The contribution made by consecrated women in the Church is beyond measure. The Maronite Church is no exception. The time has come for the Eparchy of Saint Maron to foster and sponsor a community to assist the priests in the pastoral care of the Eparchy. Sister Marla Marie Lucas has approval to do just that. She and the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light will begin officially (ad experimentum) this June 2008. Please find below an article on this new beginning. Pray for her and please support this effort so that women who feel called to make a complete gift of self in consecrated service to Christ and His Church may find a home in the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light.”

More info is found here and here, and the blog.

Coptic Christians under siege

Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior was brought to Egypt by the Evangelist Saint Mark around the year AD 50. Many would consider Saint Mark as the first bishop and patriarch of Egypt. Our Christian brothers and sisters in Egypt,

known as Copts, both Catholic and Orthodox, are
being threatened by the Muslim majority. Of 80 million Egyptians 10 percent are Christian.
Of this 10 percent, the Orthodox outweigh the Catholics. To give you an example, the 2007 statistics show that there are 7 Catholic dioceses (eparchies) caring for the spiritual and human needs of 161,327 souls. The Saturday edition of the NY Times carried a story with a slide show about the plight of these spiritual sons and daughters of Saint Mark.

Consider supporting the excellent work that the Catholic Near East Welfare Association
(CNEWA), a papal agency for humanitarian and pastoral support. Your prayer and financial resources would be welcomed.

May St. Mark and St. Menas pray for us.