Patriarch of Jerusalem Responds to Occupation of the Holy Land

(From pravoslavie.ru)

Thursday 11th October, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, said that Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem will respond to the Israeli attacks which have recently carried out on the holy sites by building new churches and repairing damages in the old ones.

"Muslims and Christians exist in this land as its original citizens and not as guests, and who thinks that such crimes will lead any of us to leave, will be completely wrong," Said the Patriarch, "We are convinced of our existence, and we have the right to resist and defend our land, and to preserve our religious and civilization in the holy lands."

These statements were issued in light of the Israeli continuous violations on the Christian and Muslim holy places, and the last attack was on the Romanian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem.

The Patriarchate also announced in its statement that it will increase the construction of churches in every spot in the West Bank based on the available potentials.

The Patriarch condemns the Israeli dangerous attacks that target the Islamic-Christian existence in the holy land.
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Commentary:

As an American from a protestant background I always find it interesting that the most ancient Christian church has a completely different stance on the State of Israel from the one I grew up hearing about in church.

I was always lead to believe that Israel had always existed as a primarily Jewish occupied land and that as God's "chosen people" they were entitled to it. Without going into a major in-depth commentary I will bring up a few points for those who are not familiar with the history of Jerusalem.

1. Israel as we know it has existed for less than 80 years.
2. England,  Germany and America helped establish the secular state of Israel. This was due to a few concepts held by the English and Americans, German Zionist Jews (non-orthodox) back then like the protestant view of the relationship between God and the Jewish people and the desire for Anglo-American influence in the oil-rich Middle East.
3. Israel today is guilty of terrible war crimes which it is never held accountable for.
4. The Orthodox Christian population was the largest religious population in Palestine (including Jerusalem) directly before the modern occupation of Israel by Jewish settlers.
5. Jews, Muslims and Christians directly prior to the occupation were primarily Semitic people living peacefully for several hundred years.
6. Currently Semitic Christians and Muslims are mistreated and suffer racism and other atrocities at the hands of the current occupation which is primarily of European descent (Ashkenazi Jews).
7. Semitic people are directly related to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Ashkenazi Jews are Jewish but strayed from their faith and ways as they travelled away from Jerusalem and into the northern Caucus mountains, Russia and Asia before travelling down into the pagan Germanic lands.
8. According to modern Zionism, one is Israeli by bloodline, but the North African Falasha Jews of Ethiopia and the Semitic Christians and Muslims are the most directly descended people of Israel.
9. True Zionism is the belief that Jews (by blood) are alone God's chosen people and everyone else is "Goyim", less than human.
10. The Orthodox Christian Church's stance on Israel is that God's chosen people are those who accepted His incarnation (the Son, Jesus Christ) and comprise the body of believers, so one is a part of Israel if one is a part of the Christian church (the continuation of the faith of God). This is found throughout the scriptures.
11. While Jews by blood are considered special to God (first among equals), they reject God by rejecting the Son. We believe that they will be given the opportunity to know God more fully once again at Christ's return.
12. No one can come to the Father except through the Son. No one has seen the Father except the Son. Christianity is the fulfillment of the Jewish faith and therefore the direct heir to the nation of Israel.
13. Prior to the Crusades, Christians protected the land of Jerusalem and Jews, Muslims and Christians lived in relative peace and religious freedom under the Christian Byzantine Empire.
14. The Eastern Orthodox Church preserves the majority of the Holy sites of the Christian faith around the world.
15. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the ancient Christian church, existing for 2000 years.