Significance of the British church leaders’ Bethlehem pilgrimage, (letter from Bishop Riah to Church Times, 15 December)

Sir, — I wish to affirm how deeply our community in the Holy Land welcomes the pilgrimage to Bethlehem by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the company of the other Presidents of Churches Together in England: the Archbishop of Westminster, the Moderator of the Free Churches, and the Armenian Primate of Great Britain (News, 1 December).

This historic visit demonstrates how little the divisions between Christians mean when the material foundations of our faith are threatened. Today, the Christians of the Holy Land face a far greater threat than any in their long history; it is predicted that the indigenous Christian community will have disappeared within two generations. The walls and barriers that surround our communities have separated families, seen incomes drop to nothing, and brought a near-total collapse in the number of pilgrims. The rapid decline in the Christian population, painfully detailed in recent UN reports, is a catastrophe for the entire Christian world, because we are irreplaceable: a people who trace their customs and rites back 2000 years, and provide a tangible, living memory of the earliest Church.

The ecumenical spirit that unites our distinguished visitors is paralleled by a similar spirit in the Holy Land. A faith community that includes 13 different Patriarchs and bishops has learnt to speak with one voice on the crises that afflict our congregations. We are grateful that appeals made by the churches and other groups have received such a positive response from the churches of the United Kingdom.

I must, however, correct an unfortunate impression in your news report, namely, that the local Christians are adversely affected by living as a minority within a Muslim society. When we speak of our community, we also think of ourselves quite naturally as part of the wider multifaith community. In our part of the world, Muslims and Christians have learnt to face the joys and trials of life together, and have done so for 1400 years.

To us, the gentle coexistence of Christians and Muslims is a source of strength; indeed, we regard ourselves as a beacon to the wider Middle East and, through it, the rest of the world. The crisis facing Christians here is entirely due to the Israeli occupation, which, in recent years, has seen entire communities imprisoned behind the Israeli-built wall. If the Christians of the Holy Land cannot live under this state of imprisonment, a beacon of hope will be extinguished for ever. Then, I am afraid, East and West will have truly become irreconcilable.


RIAH H. ABU EL-ASSAL
PO Box 19122
Jerusalem 91191, Israel