The scene from the window of a Nation in Crisis
Professor Michel Abs
The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)
As the Lebanese, and the peoples of the Middle East more broadly, watch what is unfolding across their lands and look toward tomorrow with anxiety and apprehension, their eyes turn to the talks taking place in the United States. In the short term, the Lebanese hope these talks may halt the inferno that has continued to rain down upon them for more than a month, killing and wounding thousands, displacing a quarter of the population, and devastating vast areas in the south of the country and the suburbs of its capital.
Daily life in Lebanon has become a silent hell, and the Lebanese suffer bitterly in all its details, even though they have long been accustomed to hardship. They have grown used to the silence born of the acquired helplessness syndrome, having become convinced, after half a century of other people's wars on their land and through them, that nothing works any more and that their only choices are either adaptation or departure. So those who could leave have left, while those who remain endure in pain, waiting for better times in a posture of resignation before an imposed reality, until what was imposed has itself become an unquestioned fact.
Starting from the saying, "The wolf is not blamed for its aggression if the shepherd is the flock's enemy," one may say that the wolf has overstepped all bounds and persisted in its aggression because those entrusted with the people's fate and interests have themselves been the first to violate them, whether deliberately or through negligence. From the explosion of the Port of Beirut, whose investigation remains shrouded in ambiguity and concealment, to the looting of depositors' money from the banks and the bankruptcy of society as a whole; from the bankruptcy of the state and the ruin of its institutions to the corruption that has spread across every sector of public life and now threatens investment, growth, and progress in Lebanese society. Needless to say, this corruption afflicts many countries of the region and has extended beyond public institutions until it has become a popular culture that has produced its own "institutions," making it difficult even to confront, let alone contain. Corruption, betrayal, the collapse of the moral order, and the absence of accountability are the basic elements behind the erosion of our social, cultural, economic, political, and, of course, security defences.
In this crisis-ridden landscape, while the specter of war continues to loom over the region, men and women of moral stature and far-sighted vision stand courageously and ethically against what is taking place. They condemn the deeds committed by the hands of evil against humankind, they speak words of truth before tyrannical rulers in this world, and in return they are subjected to vilification and assaults on their dignity. Here one must mention what happened to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV for his stand against war and for "cutting off the livelihoods" of those who profit from human life through the arms trade and its derivatives. The Supreme Pontiff did not escape those who recognize neither the sanctity of office nor the sanctity of human dignity. Yet he refused to descend to their pond and remained lofty, with the loftiness of the Lord before His tormentors. On the contrary, we see him undertaking a historic visit to Algeria in a step aimed at two noble goals: strengthening the ancient Christian presence on the African shore of the Mediterranean, and advancing dialogue in societies that have tasted the bitterness of division, violence, and terrorism.
This is hardly surprising from the Supreme Pontiff, who visited Lebanon a few months ago, and whose visit revolved around those same two objectives: strengthening the Christian presence and advancing dialogue. I am convinced that His Holiness's visit to Algeria will accomplish in that dear part of the Arab world what it accomplished in Lebanon, because the Arab peoples are, by instinct, inclined toward openness and only need someone to extend a hand to them in a blessed journey of dialogue, the very foundation of future relations among human beings.
Another part of the regional scene is that, in the coming days, we stand before two occasions of the utmost importance, both in substance and in symbolism.
The first falls on the twenty-fourth of this month: the Armenian genocide, which reached their peak at the beginning of the last century after decades of persecution and abuse, and which claimed more than one and a half million martyrs. The world continues to commemorate these massacres annually, and recognition of them continues to increase globally. This matter may yet reach its conclusions in several domains, including the political, legal, economic, and moral. It must also be recalled that these same massacres extended to the Syriacs, who commemorate their own massacres, Sayfo, in June, as well as to the Anatolian Greeks. The files of these massacres have not yet been closed.
As for the second occasion, it falls on the twenty-second of this month: the abduction of the two Aleppo bishops, Boulos Yazigi and Youhanna Ibrahim. Thirteen years have now passed since their disappearance. What is most significant in the case of these two venerable prelates is that their disappearance reflects a widespread phenomenon in our region, where the missing and abducted number in the tens of thousands, with no hope of an imminent solution to this tragedy, since all parties engaged in these conflicts shirk responsibility toward innocent civilians, who always constitute the weakest link in such struggles. Civilians have always been the easiest fuel for the contractors of wars and human annihilation.
All of this is taking place while the war on Gaza continues and the annihilation of its people proceeds relentlessly before the world's shameful silence. What is happening in Gaza should make humanity bow its head in shame, a disgrace future generations will bear, just as they continue to bear the shame of the genocides that have afflicted the peoples of our region for more than a century.
O faithful Lord, living Christ, how true were the words You told us: "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places." You warned humanity about evil times, and now it has brought them upon itself through its greed for power and money. This son of man, who "has nowhere to lay his head," has turned the blessedness the Creator granted us into a hell, and still has learned nothing from the lessons of history.
Before this grim scene, we ask ourselves: where is salvation?
When earthly measures no longer avail, we are left only with the mercy of the Lord, who became incarnate and shed His blood in atonement for our sins, sins that seem to have no end.