The Vicar’s Corner

Statement on Israeli Aggression Against Lebanon

The AGCA Central Vicariate released the following statement on 16 July 2006

The AGCA deeply mourns the situation developing into a regional war in the Middle East, remembering that the God whom we all (whether Gnostic, Muslim, Christian, or Jewish) seek to worship is “life giving life” and “peace giving peace,” and war and destruction serve only their own twisted ends, wherever they rear their heads in the world today. We call on all sides of this developing conflict to pull back from the brink of annihilation and seek mutual peace.

However, we feel we must in a special way strongly condemn the unjustifiable aggression against the entire nation and people of Lebanon by the state of Israel, which is leaving this beautiful and historic country, which has suffered so much, in smoking ruins once again. Israeli military might has put its heavy boot on the neck of Lebanon many times in the past, and seems to be doing so again, but perhaps with the intention of spreading the conflict even beyond the borders of this beautiful country.

We are concerned in a particular way for the Druze communities of Lebanon, and for the Eastern Christians in Lebanon including the Maronite and Orthodox communities, and we are particularly remembering them in our prayers and thoughts, along with all the people of Lebanon and Israel.

We sympathize greatly with the Israeli people, and we strongly condemn the terrorist actions of groups including Hezbollah and Hamas, which are outrageous and disgusting. However, this does not give Israel a carte blanche to go around doing whatever it wants, battering small countries and weak nations simply because they are weak and small, and murdering vast numbers of innocent civilians who have nothing whatsoever to do with the bands of criminal terrorists that have been attacking northern Israel. Life is of infinite but also equal value: one Israeli life, one Israeli soldier is not worth the deaths of 100 Lebanese civilians; such a twisted mathematics of genocide leads only to destruction, hatred, and in a bizarre way (given the circumstances) a sort of fascistic ideology that seems to be driving this military aggression out of control.

Once again, we feel the need to strongly condemn both Hezbollah terrorism and the unjustifiable Israeli aggression against the innocent people of Lebanon. If you are in the United States, we encourage you to write to your Congressional representatives to call for the US to put direct pressure on Israel to accept the Lebanese offer of a complete and total ceasefire and lifting of the naval blockade on humanitarian grounds, so medical relief and humanitarian assistance can be provided to the innocent people of Lebanon as they bury the casualties inflicted by the Israeli war machine during the past week.

We close with the reminder from the sacred text of Melchizedek, that “the archons [servants of the demiurge], who are your enemies, made war.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On July 4, those of us in the United States celebrated the national holiday commemorating American independence.  It seems like an appropriate time to take a few moments to consider the meaning of our national identity and role as citizens from a Gnostic perspective.  There are many things that could be said at this time, but our attention naturally is drawn first to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We continue to hear a great deal in public debates, particularly from those who are supportive of the continuation and even expansion of the war, about the idea of “supporting the troops.”  I believe that it is naturally incumbent on all of us to support the troops, to honor their sacrifices, and the sacrifices of military veterans, who are today so grossly mistreated at times by the government for which they served.  But supporting the troops, to me, does not mean supporting having them go thousands of miles away to die or be maimed.  It does not mean supporting having the lives of these men and women snuffed out for absolutely no reason at all ­: not for justice, not for peace, not for democracy, not for any of the subterfuges that are so often articulated to cover the real intentions behind the war, which should be easily evident to all of us.

“Peace be with you from peace, love from love,” begins the Apocryphon of James.  Supporting the troops to me means supporting the day when they will be able to return to their role as defenders of the peace, the day when they will be able to return to the love of their families and the support of their communities.  What is lost can never be regained, and our nation has wasted the gifts of so many precious lives over the past years.  But we have an opportunity, as another Independence Day passes us by, to keep its spirit from passing by, to rededicate ourselves to working to serve as lights of peace and justice, even against what may seem like overwhelming darkness.

And there are indeed many other challenges to our very unity and destiny as a society.  Hatred continues to drive a substantial minority in our country, who focus their anger on sexual minorities, on foreigners, on anyone who is perceived as different or distinct.  At times, standing against this wall of hatred, we too must feel, in the words of the Gospel of Thomas, like we are just “one in a thousand, and two in ten thousand.”  And yet, I believe that there is a great spiritual force embedded in many people around us, that there are so many people who are searching and dreaming and beginning to ask questions about the world around them.  We see this in the huge amount of attention that has focused on things like the Da Vinci Code and the Gospel of Judas in the recent past.  We read in the Gospel of Philip that Jesus himself sometimes looked “small” in comparison to the world around him: “Jesus took them all by stealth, for he did not appear as he was, but in the manner in which they would be able to see him. He appeared to them all. He appeared to the great as great. He appeared to the small as small. He appeared to the angels as an angel, and to men as a man. Because of this, his word hid itself from everyone. Some indeed saw him, thinking that they were seeing themselves, but when he appeared to his disciples in glory on the mount, he was not small. He became great, but he made the disciples great, that they might be able to see him in his greatness.”

So, let us also rededicate ourselves, in the wake of this holiday, to appearing to others in the manner in which they will be able to see us, as lights shining forth the unity of the pleroma, which might help light their way to their own spiritual awakening, through Gnosticism or through some other spiritual path.  If we seem small at times, we should not despair, for many people in our society feel small, feel burdened, oppressed, helpless, and isolated.  When we share those feelings, rather than despair, we have an opportunity to reach out to those around us.  Our purpose, as Jesus’ in the Gospel of Philip, is not to become “great” ourselves so much as to help other people become great, to discover their own greater identity, what other Gnostic texts call “the perfect human” that dwells inside each of us.  But in the end, this allows us to share in both the mission and the reward of gnosis.  It is in the midst of love, compassion, and service that we ourselves begin to discover our own greatness, which is paradoxically a humbling experience, as we see the dignity of the divine imprint deep within the cores of our beings.

Love in Christ and Sophia,

Brother Matthew

Vicar, AGCA