Palm Sunday: Give peace a chance

Palm Sunday is perhaps one of the most popular pictures that we may remember from austerity and popular memory. The picture of women and men standing and holding palm leaves fills up the entire frame due to the leaves of various sizes. The picture also reminds one of an entire army standing in anticipation for the orders to carry out the mission. In a world consumed by the thought that power and force will bring about victory and conquer insignificant others into submission, the main stream picture of Palm Sunday may strongly bend us over to a similar line of thought.

But far from that, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem should be seen as the courageous and single minded journey of one man in the hope that he could turn around popular notion into correct notion and unruly crowds into peaceful ones. Two symbols suggest very clear meanings about what Palm Sunday should be for each one of us and why Hosanna is not a war cry but a yearning for peace.

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey has been interpreted to already suggest that this was a symbol of humility and humbleness even though it could also suggest that his journey on a donkey (colt) could also be a sign that he was being welcomed just like a king. Two bible passages which throw light on this are Matthew 21:1-9 and Zechariah 9:9-10. In the gospel of St. Matthew unlike other gospels, Jesus tells his disciples to go to the village where they will find a donkey and her colt (or a colt). This suggests a she donkey and in all likelihood her off spring in the form of a colt (male). The symbolism is strongly suggestive of a nursing mother who stands for life, peace and sustenance. Zechariah 9:9 after announcing the arrival of the king says in verse 10 “ He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”

John Dominic Crossan puts this beautifully by suggesting ‘Matthew wants two animals, a donkey with her little colt beside her, and that Jesus rides “them” in the sense of having them both as part of his demonstration’s highly visible symbolism. In other words, Jesus does not ride a stallion or a mare, a mule or a male donkey, and not even a female donkey. He rides the most unmilitary mount imaginable: a female nursing donkey with her little colt trotting along beside her.'

Both passages suggest a clear message of a messiah who comes for peace and stands for peace in the midst of violence and death. The symbolism of palm leaves adds to the message from the two passages. It signified heaven, victory and peace. It continues to be a symbol of hope and resurrection. The picture of the multitude in church holding palm leaves is a picture that arms, power and violence can all be left at the way side and instead the palm leaf of hope can become a significant symbol against all forms of violence and force.

The palm leaf is both straight and willing to bend, willing to make adjustments so that a common good can be attained. It is not wavering faith but unwavering commitment being expressed through a grounded expression of theology, that come what may, we will stand our ground and continue this struggle for justice and peace. The Palm Sunday procession with palm leaves becomes the anti thesis of the republic day procession with arms. Even as the arms bring about awe and fear, the palm leaves bring about awe and faith. It is a faith that Jesus will accompany us in every struggle and there can be no end to the struggle with the leader Jesus arising like a Phoenix bird, dying only to rise again in full strength. The struggle does not die out by his death but rather gains more strength and momentum to carry on with multiplied strength and commitment.

The Palm Sunday liturgy of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox church has a prayer which says that God becomes small and low so that we may become holy. Jesus brings himself down so that humans may be exalted.
The first Kolo-Quqoyo further says
“Get stones and receive the One Who comes to Jerusalem
Children of Israel were asked by the oldest there
For receiving they picked stones and went to Him
On seeing Him; olive branches, instead, they carried,
And shouted, “Welcome the King of Israel;
Halleluiah, blessed is Your coming”
The young and children who were instigated by the elders to carry stones as Jesus enters, by themselves, drop the stones and carry olive branches instead, suggesting that the way of the world is not a way at all. The children and the young realise that when Jesus comes in seated on a she donkey and colt, he is suggesting to them that the only way forward is to give peace a chance.

Palm Sunday and the palm leaves become so significant in our world today. Holding the palm leaves and keeping them home remind us that we can’t resort to violence against the poor and helpless but rather should keep looking at the leaves as a symbol to follow and emulate Jesus. One has to die in order to resurrect with full force. Dying is indeed victory. The palm leaves and the spirit of Hosanna should remind our household that there can be no domestic violence, disrespect of spouses, mistreating parents, abusing and beating children, humiliating those who work for us, cheating others for short term gains and driving away people from God by using force and violent means. “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”



Picture courtesy: http://mediagallery.usatoday.com/Church+of+the+Holy+Sepulchre

Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas: The equinox on which the church rode three decades.

The Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, H.H. Moran Mor Iganatius Zakka I Iwas is no more. The Holy Father who lead his sheep for 34 years is now a memory. As funeral service dates and the place of the funeral have been fixed and as people are waiting to be a part of the funeral, in person and online, one must bring grief, loss and confusion into perspective to come to terms with what has happened.

The patriarch did have health issues which were also linked with age but no one expected an end now. So much that many faithful in India are still waking up to the fact that their spiritual leader won’t be coming to India again to meet them and share his love with them. His passing away is a loss in definite terms to everyone who knew him personally, those who saw him from far and those who read and heard about him.

Grief has to have a way of being dealt with and when a national or church leader dies we try to deal with the grief that we have. The Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas is and was seen as a spiritual father to all the faithful in the church. The grief we are trying to deal with today is the grief of having lost a father. Seeing pictures of the patriarch in church and even in houses has been a constant for these 34 years. It was the feeling that when you entered the two common and most warm places in your life, your Holy Father was there to greet you. That was a constant and this removal of the constant becomes one of the significant aspects of the grief felt. It is like saying that wherever we went and whatever we did, we could come back to our house and to our church and see this familiar face which would put us at ease.

The loss felt at this point of time is of having lost the person who stood as the symbol of leadership for everyone. He was the sublime face of what is and what isn’t. Losing out on this face and the memories which come with it, make us feel that we have lost something so deep, committed and fixated in our hearts and minds that we cannot replace this with anything else. One has only one father and somehow another face cannot replace this immediately. The throne of the patriarch and the authority of the patriarch go beyond the personality of the patriarch but never the less the personality touches us in more ways than the throne or the authority can.

The confusion for the people is what happens next? Who will be the next patriarch and will that person be able to fulfill all that the Patriarch Ignatius Zakka Iwas has been to all? This confusion adds to the grief of having lost our father. It is the pain of uncertainty coupled with loss that makes grief even so much more hurtful. Many of us have already experienced this with the passing away of our parent/s. This puts us back in time to a place when we lost many things and it took time to get back to our normal lives. This time our mind tells us that we are repeating this feeling in our lives.

There are several things that give us solace and hope at this time though. The patriarch was born in an ordinary family and had an ordinary life style. He joined the seminary like any other youngster who wanted to serve the church. Iraq where he was born and Syria where he then lived went through severe strife and violence. The violence in Syria continues till date. He has had to deal with Muslim Christian tensions which come with living in the same place and having a shared culture but different belief. He had to bear witness to the migration that people in his church had to undertake from their own land. He has watched the schism that affected his church in India. In essence, the patriarch watched not just the best of what happened in the church but the worst of what happened. His enthronement and period as Patriarch went through suffering and violence. But he withstood all of this with utmost sincerity and passion for service. At this time of grief this gives us constant solace and hope. The Patriarch stood his ground no matter what and so will we, because we are after all his followers.

Such problems in his own church did not deter him from being ecumenical. He fostered good relationships with other churches and set forth a great precedent in church relations by coming together with Pope John Paul II to sign a historic agreement of acknowledging the misunderstandings that crept into the churches and looking at the way forward. His straight and up right relationship with various sister churches and with member churches in the WCC showed time and again that he was as ecumenical as a Patriarch could be and one should be proud of that.

His scholarship and academic interest lead him to pen several articles and a study of these articles exposes the openness and just theology of the Patriarch. His article on women in the church is a reminder to the people in the church that God does not take sides and if at all takes sides with the weak in society. His articles therefore become a good resource for further research and study. Perhaps his basic seminary education in Syria and his further education in the U.S. together with his experience as an observer in the Second Vatican Council and his association with the World Council of Churches as one of its president’s gave him the openness to see theology and doctrine as it is instead of seeing it as how he wanted to see it. His wish to have a place of education and research lead him to build the seminary in Syria called the Mor Ephrem Seminary and Monastery at Ma’arrat Saydanaya in Syria, where incidentally he will be buried. It further made him remark that seminary and theological education in the church was very important and hence the church needed theologically educated priests. His love for the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Theological Seminary is well known and his penchant for a system and a framework made him do things in the way that the Indian church wanted it at times. Scholarships in the Patriarch’s name were made available not just to Syrian Orthodox candidates but also to Orthodox Syrian, Marthoma and other Syrian church denominations. I think it wouldn’t be far fetched to say that other sister church denominations made use of foreign scholarships in comparison to our own church members. But we can see this as a good approach that the Patriarch followed in which he chose to give away a scholarship instead of seeing it go waste. The gloominess and vacuum of his departure can be made up to an extend by encouraging theological education and research in the Syrian Orthodox Church in India. We would be honouring the Holy Father by such a distinguished decision and move.

The Patriarch’s passing away on March 21 also signifies a special day, when usually on the 20th or 21st , night and day are almost on equal terms. It is also a day used to calculate the Easter date every year. The Easter date is calculated as the first Sunday after the full moon occurring on or after the Vernical Equinox or Spring Equinox, that is, after March 21. The Spring Equinox signifies that the son is betrayed, dies and is resurrected to attain eternal life. March 21 is seen as important by many religions. The Parsis commemorate it as the beginning of spring and the beginning of the New Year. It is also seen as the time of the fight between good and evil and of good emerging victorious. His passing away at a well placed time could suggest something hope filled to the church suffering from civil war in Syria.

A leader is a leader not just by the position he or she occupies but of what the leader makes of that position. The Patriarch vociferously expressed his expression for his flock. His four visits to India and his numerous visits around the world to meet people in the church were moments of the leader reaching out to his people. This was despite his flailing health and weak knees. Anyone who visited him felt the warmth and hospitality of a human being more than a leader. This raised his stature among the people and attracted people to him. One church member grieved the passing away of the patriarch and reminisced of his experience with the Patriarch saying that he felt a positive energy when he stood next to the Patriarch. His sadness was not just of the passing away but of the thought that he could not experience this positive energy anymore. This positive energy can make people attracted to a leader to the point that they feel assured and confident in the presence of such a leader. The Patriarch managed time and again to become a soothing presence to his people and to those who met him.

The Patriarch managed to bring more people to the church by seeing the change in times. Within the traditional understanding of the church he understood that when ordinary people want to come to the church, the doors of the church cannot be closed completely to them. This may have prompted the Patriarch to accept two churches from South America into the Syrian Orthodox fold. The first number about 100,000 and are from Brazil and the second number a whopping 800,000 and are from Guatemala. Such openness may also provide hope for many others all over the world. Whatever was the reason for the Patriarch to do this, the positive ramifications of this will provide more vigour to the church and prove that the church is much beyond specific race and tradition.

To sum up, the Patriarch Ignatius Zakka Iwas has managed to be a Patriarch and a true Holy Father for all the faithful. His spirituality, theology, and above all humanity have been something which the coming generations can emulate. Even as we grieve, the Holy Father has given us the hope of spring and resurrection. He has made us look forward to the rest of lent with renewed vigour, faith and hope. More than grief, he has reminded us of a new beginning and a fresh start. This is centred on the faith in the resurrection of Christ Jesus our Lord. Go in peace our Holy Father and keep praying for us.

(The author is the small boy in between the then Patriarch Ignatius Yacoub III and the present Catholicose Baselios Thomas I.)

The essence of Lent: Learning and struggling to bend our knees, mend our hearts, and lend our hands.

Lent is observed in almost all Christian traditions in various forms whereby some abstain from meat, dairy products and fish, some from meat and dairy products and some by not eating an entire meal or two the whole day. There are others who abstain from something they otherwise do the entire year round. This could include abstaining from drinking alcohol, not watching T.V., and not doing any leisurely activity. Abstinence from something or the other forms the back bone of lent this way. The aim of lent is to make the body starve from something which in some way or the other is perceived as a luxury to the self or which is unavailable to someone else.

Lent is also seen as a way to discipline the self and also as a way to gain something by denying oneself something or the other. Many Christian denominations also see lent as a time when we abstain to help others by providing food and other essentials through what is saved as a result of the abstinence. Lent also has not so visible, but never the less inherent meanings of slowing down the pace of life and using the time to meditate and take stock of one’s life and to define what it means to live.

Lent in the Orthodox Christian tradition
The Orthodox Christian tradition follows a strict regimen of following a fifty day lent which is a commemoration of the forty day fast of Jesus in the desert. The ten extra days are the days which include Sundays and other days when qurbana or worship is not followed up by fasting in the morning. In India many other Christian denominations along with the various Orthodox churches abstain from meat, fish and dairy products during this season of lent.

The Orthodox churches have prayers for at least three times a day and these include prostrating or kneeling and then getting up and continuing this pattern forty times for each prayer. The forty prostrations in the Syriac churches are divided into sets of ten with the worshipper saying ‘kurielaison’ (Lord have mercy) for the first ten, then ‘Moran Esrahemelain’ (Our Lord, show (do) mercy on us), followed by ‘Moran Husrahemelain’ (Our Lord, show compassion, and have mercy on us) and finally ‘Moran Aninurahemelain’ (Our Lord, answer (accept our prayers) and have mercy on us). The continuous kneeling and getting up patterns require mental as well as physical toughness which can be achieved only by a strict diet during lent. The constant repetition of exhortations to God require a proper breathing technique and are a strain to the knees, wind pipe, thigh muscles, arms and the knuckles of the hands. The strain on many parts of the body at the same time brings in the duality of pain along with abstinence while calling onto God to show mercy.

Bending our knees
But this is not the entire essence of lent. The theme of lent as bend, mend and lend rather suggests what lent should really be. The prayers during lent also suggest the same. Bending our knees in itself is not enough as they leave out the very essential mending of our hearts and the lending of our hands! Rather, bending of our knees should go along with the mending of our hearts and the lending of our hands. The reformed Christian tradition in India does ask us to not just express our spirituality through acts but live out this spirituality by reforming ourselves and being of help to others. On the other hand it could also be that in the haste to complete the act we forget the meaning of the act itself!

The act of bending is an outward expression of the inward piety and humility one should feel. Whenever we bend, we are going back to the roots of where we come from and where we belong, the ground or earth itself. Indian culture reflects this theme when the young bend to touch the feet of elders and teachers. The act of humility cannot be missed and brings us to the essence of lent. We are to humble ourselves just as Jesus humbled himself for us. The death on the cross is a reversal of power and its affiliations. Our life becomes meaningful when we humble ourselves before God and others. An Edessan woman tells St. Ephrem, the 4th century church father that he should look to the earth as it was from the earth that he was created. The wisdom of the woman opens Ephrem’s mind. Bending thus makes us see who we really are and keeps us in touch with reality. It initiates the process of thinking about and understanding ourselves.

Mending our hearts
The prayers during lent remind us that there is no use of observing lent if we do not change inside. No amount of abstinence from food and other things will help us in any way if we do not bring about a renewal inside us. Lent is thus a time to mend our hearts. We thus use this time of lent to mend our hearts and thereby our thoughts, our ways, our relationships and our actions. In this way lent performs the cleaning and changing of what is unjust to the ordinary people of God. Every individual thus comes under the responsibility of mending his/her heart so that God’s just plans are initiated in the world and continued for the benefit of all. ‘One for all and all for one’ sounds very much how lent should be. Each one strives for change just as all strive for the change of status of one. Christian denominations thus should experience the healing qualities of lent and how it works to bring people together instead of dividing people on the basis of different dispensations. The power of lent is beautifully reflected in this concept of one for all and all for one. Just as Jesus stayed hungry for the benefit of all of us, we continue that model and choose to remain hungry for the benefit of others. This single initiative turns into a collective movement whereby the needs of even a single person are collectively thought of, considered and managed by many.

Mending our hearts then calls for a change of what we usually call the fast life. Our lives are built around the irresponsible destruction of our resources, which indeed are a part of our existence. But due to various reasons we have lost the link with our roots literally and change the face of the earth for our profit and our wants. The prayers for lent clearly state that the body and the being or soul have to fast or observe lent equally. When the body abstains from food, the being or soul should abstain from wrongs and sins. A lent which only abstains from food is a waste and one should not just waste oneself like this. In these times many are looking towards Orthodox theology and the system of lent in the church to suggest that this is a way of life which can be followed to receive health benefits. But is lent just about health benefits and regulating our diet? If that was the case Jesus would just be our gym trainer! Whatever Christian denomination we belong to, we should remember that mending our minds means that we should change the way we look at and behave with others. We should change our total way of life. This involves questioning the very life that we are living. Lent becomes a time to slow down and take stock of our lives. Fasting does not mean power fasts and individual glory but fasting means slowing down during the great fast.

Lending our hands
Lending what we have acquired and saved and what we have set apart completes the great lent. Blessed are those who clothe the naked and blessed are those who satisfy the hungry from their own table says another prayer during the great lent. Those who give do not just give alms by opening their hands but lend their luxuries and their life. The sacrifice is finally made to count and this is not just giving a man/woman fish but also does not just involve in teaching them to fish. Rather what happens is that they are given rights to the same river or sea from which everyone else has been fishing for so long. The great lent lends much and much more. Churches try their best to educate people to set apart and share what they have saved with those who do not possess even the ordinary needs in life. This community commitment encourages community goodness apart from individual goodness. Churches even collect rice and other essentials and distribute it to those in need. Others lend their expertise, their learning and their positions to initiate larger projects which help the poor. Thus the lent becomes a time for people to do good and even becomes mandatory and more important than just abstinence from food.

Lent helps the church to remember that it has been fortunate in many ways and that there are others who are not so fortunate. The reasons for this are many and churches try to involve themselves in the various hunger pangs of the people who live in the surroundings of the church. Lent this way truly becomes a time when the church becomes a place where Jesus and his great fast is reflected. The fast that Jesus undergoes does not only help him to overcome the temptation of satan but goes on to help him to realise the actual infirmities that affected the society of his time. His life then helps us to realise that it is not enough to lend certain food items to the poor but to go on to fight the injustices that have led to the starvation and the deprivation that the poor in this country experience. It calls for fighting systemic evils that exist in our society and calls for the rooting out of these evils through our fast and lent.

Lent in this sense strengthens us to garner the energy to fight against corruption, caste disparity, gender disparity and other social evils. This is the temptation that we all have to fight against. By lending our hands we share our favourable destinies with those who have been experiencing skewed destinies because of the luxurious lives that we live. Our sacrifice thus is not a sacrifice but a just sharing of the resources we have all received freely and graciously from God.

Let this lent be a time when we bend, mend and lend for our brothers and sisters to live a life which goes along with the will of God. This is not a forced decision but a decision taken freely to ensure that we correct the wrongs we have done in our lives. May God be with us in this struggle to fulfil a meaningful lenten season. Let this be a lenten engagement which strives for the betterment of humanity, the world and its inhabitants. Let us accordingly bend, mend and lend. Amen.

Greatness through acceptance: 30 years as patriarch of the Syrian(c) Orthodox Church. H.H. Ignatius Zakka I Iwas

The prince patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox church, H.H. Ignatius Zakka I Iwas celebrated 30 years as the spiritual head of the church yesterday, the 14th of September, 2010. As church members all over the world celebrated along with the blessed occasion of the festival of the cross (Sleeba perunnal), other churches also looked curiously to understand the demeanour of the leader of this ancient church. In 30 years the patriarch has seen the rise and spread of the Syrian Orthodox church to all parts of the world. It is then no wonder that everyone would be interested to know more about the patriarch.

Born in Iraq the patriarch had an initial experience of what many Syrian Christians in the Middle East had to come to terms with; ‘migration from their places of birth’, due to socio-economic reasons and political unrest and war. This has been a significant part of the history of the church in the Middle East, something which the church in India has not totally and completely understood. The will to do well may have arisen through this and the patriarch did well in his studies and was accepted as a good interlocutor early on in his career. This must have led the church leadership into sending him as an observer in the second Vatican council.

The patriarch’s exposure made him a person who the church could count on to dialogue with other churches and communities. The finding of the relics of St. Thomas also brought him into good standing as a man who was not only interested in dialogue outside the church but also within the church as in trying to bring about a link between the present and the past. The patriarch’s tenure thus far has to be remembered as one which has managed to accept the unknown or the other. That is the greatness that we can truly and affectionately attach to the patriarch.

Within two years of patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas’ enthronement he got into talks with the then pope H.H. John Paul II of the Catholic church and signed a joint document in 1984. Both leaders continued in the foot steps of their predecessors. The importance of the document is reflected in the words “The confusions and schisms that occurred between their Churches in the later centuries, they realize today, in no way affect or touch the substance of their faith, since these arose only because of differences in terminology and culture and in the various formulae adopted by different theological schools to express the same matter. Accordingly, we find today no real basis for the sad divisions and schisms that subsequently arose between us concerning the doctrine of Incarnation. In words and life we confess the true doctrine concerning Christ our Lord, notwithstanding the differences in interpretation of such a doctrine which arose at the time of the Council of Chalcedon.”

In 1998 the patriarch became the president of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Middle East region. In his capacity he tried to reach out to the Muslim community in the Middle East. The patriarch has in this way tried to reach out to a local and global audience taking into consideration cultural, national and humane outlooks. It would have been this inter-religious experience which has led the patriarch into understanding the unique situation in India as well, where we live harmoniously in the midst of other religions.

The patriarch has built his ecumenical and inter-religious experience on the rock of ‘love.’ This has also brought about a rich love and acceptance of his spiritual children in India. The love has translated into four apostolic visits to India in 1982, 2000, 2004 and 2008. Even though the huge crowds in India have kept him from speaking to each and every person, a visit to his abode in Syria will get one just that. A deep hospitality and love for all.

The leader of the Syrian Orthodox church has written on several matters in the church and they include the role of women, fasting, identity and monastic life in the church. But more than anything else it has to be the patriarch’s acceptance of what lies inside and outside the church that has to be his greatest contribution to the church and the world. It is this acceptance which gives us a great patriarch, H.H. Ignatius Zakka I Iwas.

Being complete for Christmas???

Kripayal jaatha- guhayilamarnone
Pazhthuniyal-le potheyapettone deva… daya cheythedeeneme

(Verses from the sung liturgy for Christmas in the Syrian Orthodox church; A lose translation would be ‘the one born in the cave, the one wrapped in bands of cloth/ in tatters/ waste cloth, have mercy on us.’)

The pressure to do well, especially in the midst of a recession hit economy is supposed to bring out the best in every individual. So much that we are asked to become close to perfect and in essence complete women and men. The work more, earn more and spend more connection works perfectly in an economy which seeks to drive growth.

The Raymond suiting advertisement picks the concept of completeness and uses it to its advantage with the slogan “Raymond, the complete man.” Men are of course shown what will make the difference for them. A fabric which can turn around things for the better. The complete fabric, with the smooth touch, leading our fingers over it and making us feel something special.

The concept of completeness is also present in various religions and Christianity as well. So much that festival after festival is one which brings out this concept of richness, completeness, fullness and happiness. Christmas being an important date in the calendar of Christians is also on the top of celebrations by the Christian community around the world. In Kerala we compete with each other to decorate our houses and churches, burn fire crackers worth a lot of money and even contribute to the government exchequer by saying cheers.

Obviously one cannot prevent people from expressing their joy at the commemoration of the birth of their saviour. But our saviour Jesus Christ does not fit the description of our celebration. The child was wrapped in waste cloth and born homeless. And yet in this incompleteness is born a saviour unto his people. Who then are we celebrating? Ourselves?, our money and fame?, our happiness caused by the bitterness experienced by the unseen and unheard? The dichotomy is placed between the suit and the waste cloth, the palace and the cave (manger), the rulers and the shepherds. Oh one wrapped in waste cloth, have mercy on us!