Resurrection of Christ canceled in Syria

Christians "do not feel safe." "Easter cancelled in Syria," by Richard Spencer in the Telegraph, April 21 (thanks to AINA):

Good Friday and other Easter processions and festivals have been cancelled across Syria as street unrest boils over into violence.
The country's Christian population has been forced to abandon its usually colourful and exuberant commemorations because of the number of "martyrs" who have died and the "bad situation", a senior church official told The Daily Telegraph.

The whole country is braced for a wave of protests on Friday, despite an announcement that President Bashir al-Assad had signed a decree lifting the 48-year state of emergency, a key demand.

Government promises of reform combined with violence by armed plain-clothes security forces have only served to bolster the opposition, who are planning more demonstrations after regular Muslim Friday prayers.

But today these will clash with Good Friday services, which would normally see processions and public gatherings by Syria's Christian minority, estimated at between 1-2 million, or around five per cent of the population.

"We are not receiving official congratulations," Bishop Philoxenos Mattias, Assistant to the Syriac Orthodox Church Patriarchate in Damascus, the country's biggest Christian denomination, said.

"All of the Syrian churches have decided this together because of the bad situation and because of the martyrs who have died in recent days, out of respect for them."

He said services would still take place inside the churches, but all street processions and public music performances had been cancelled. "We decided to postpone them till next year," he added.

Normally streets in the Christian quarters of Damascus and other cities would see parades by uniformed marching bands and choirboys and even re-enactments of the Crucifixion.

One nun, speaking from her monastery but asking not to be identified, said Christians were afraid even to come to church.

"They do not feel safe," she said. "There aren't going to be any celebrations, but just prayers inside church. On Palm Sunday we cancelled the celebrations too."...

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22 Comments

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CGW | April 22, 2011 6:48 AM | Reply

My Lord Jesus Christ, protect your chosen and beloved people on this Good Friday. Let not your suffering have been in vain but bring Glory to those who are stricken by the evil violence of islam. Amen.

winoceros | April 22, 2011 7:10 AM | Reply

violence by armed plain-clothes security forces...

Those would be self-righteous, treasonous, devout Muslim mobs who realize the only way "to Islam" is through the blade of a knife or the barrel of a gun.

You might be drawn in by the tasty food or all those women, dressed modestly and who aren't loud, foul-mouthed, crass...

But the only way you're leaving Hotel California is in a casket.

Cornelius | April 22, 2011 7:52 AM | Reply

There is a premise floating around the diplomatic circuit that Assad's Syria, for all its faults, is preferable to any Sunni-majority, fundamentalist regime that would replace it. Assad being an Alawite, a Shia offshoot that is less than 15% of Syria's population, is dependent upon his narrow sect, on Syrian Marxists of Christian descent, and on Iranian Revolutionary Guards, to maintain himself in power. And while he is an implacable foe of Israel and uses Hamas and Hezbollah as proxies to hit Israel, the Syrian-Israeli border has been quiet for 37 years (it remained quiet even as Israel and Syria went to war with each other in Lebanon in the early 80s).

QUESTION: Should we in the anti-Jihad be rooting for Assad's ouster, or is his terror-supporting, Iranian-backed, but secular regime innately fragile because of its minority base and therefore preferable to what might follow?

Robert? Anybody?

CGW replied to comment from Cornelius | April 22, 2011 7:55 AM | Reply

Root for whomever you like, but send no American Blood nor Treasure to either side. Let them massacre each other if they are so inclined.

gravenimage | April 22, 2011 1:54 PM | Reply

Resurrection of Christ canceled in Syria

Christians "do not feel safe."
.................................

Christians have been in Syria longer than almost anywhere else, and yet Syria may drive out the last of the Christians there in our lifetime.

"All of the Syrian churches have decided this together because of the bad situation and because of the martyrs who have died in recent days, out of respect for them."
.................................

Or at least in the hope that if they keep a low profile that the roster of martyrs will not grow even longer...

He said services would still take place inside the churches, but all street processions and public music performances had been cancelled.
.................................

This is life under Shari'ah, where Christians are not allowed to ring bells, play music, or worship openly.

Here are some images of public Christian Easter celebrations in Syria from better times:

http://www.syrianchurch.org/Updates/SyEasterSc1.jpg

http://newsfromsyria.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/JNWeasterdamascus0120.jpg

The above are Syrian Easter parades featuring young Christian scouts.

The following image is a Syrian reenactment of Christ on his way to the crucifixion. This is done by Christians in many parts of the world on Good Friday:

http://www.globalpost.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/gp3_full_article/photogallery/gallery_5539515/syria_10_03_04_easter7.jpg

Amelia | April 23, 2011 2:18 AM | Reply

winoceros writes:

violence by armed plain-clothes security forces...

Those would be self-righteous, treasonous, devout Muslim mobs who realize the only way "to Islam" is through the blade of a knife or the barrel of a gun.

How ignorant of you is it to imply that Assad's mukhabarat are somehow jihadists when he himself is an Alawi who most hardcore Wahhabi-types would consider worthy of death. The plain clothes security forces fight for the government which is secular, albeit anti-Isreal and anti-West.

@gravenimage

Syria as you know is currently experiencing civil unrest which is probably why Christians over there have decided not to celebrate. It is a bit far-fetched to claim that Syria is driving out it's Christians because Good Friday celebrations have been cancelled amid violent protests and unrest. Syria banned face veils in universities recently and being a member of the MB is a capital crime, doesn't sound like Shari'ah country to me. Especially considering that it wasn't the Syrian government that cancelled Good Friday celebrations but rather concerned Christians.

Varalagom | April 23, 2011 2:23 AM | Reply

'Christ cancelled'!? - that's funny - the lost only wish it were so...

Mary | April 23, 2011 9:16 AM | Reply

Syria has abandoned it's cloak of keeping a low profile as the holder of the global jihad arsenal. Now, they are becoming more in line with the rest of the Muslim Brotherhood's global jihad factions ready to unite under their political Mahdi. The global jihad arsenal could be stored in conquered nations of Africa or distributed worldwide. If major cities are nuked we will know.

boakai ngombu | April 23, 2011 1:15 PM | Reply

" ... services would still take place inside the churches..."

May the faithful be encouraged and their zeal strengthened, for the Lord of All Living knows their pain.

Horse | April 23, 2011 6:11 PM | Reply

The government did not cancel it, the christians themselves did it due to the demonstrations, not because of government pressure or threats, gravenimage, your assertions that this has to do with sharia is nonsense.

gravenimage replied to comment from Horse | April 24, 2011 12:32 PM | Reply

"Horse" wrote:

To "Horse" and Amelia, this is Muslims themselves enforcing Shari'ah if the government is considered "insufficiently Islamic" to do so itself.

This is common throughout Dar-al-Islam, where pious Muslim mobs are frequently even more violent and oppressive than their governments. We have seen it recently in Iraq, in Somalia, in Egypt, and in Pakistan—where Muslims murdered a man who had been acquitted of blasphemy charges there a few days ago.

It's funny that "Horse" has held forth on several occasions recently that Syria is so very tolerant of Christians, and that they are so very grateful for that fact.

How does that square with Christians being so threatened by Muslims in Syria that they are canceling celebrations for their holiest day?

Even if the minority Alawite government is somewhat tolerant of Christianity, it is clear that Syrian Christians fear that the pious Ummah there is anything but.

Horse replied to comment from gravenimage | April 24, 2011 4:58 PM | Reply

Gravenimage is claiming that violent demostrations which have nothing to do with eastern and the ensuing crackdown with security firing live bullets, constitutes "muslims forcing christians to cancel celebrations".

If during a hindu holiday in india, rebels of whatever ideology or affiliation started rioting on the streets for completely unrelated reasons, people celebrating the occasion would also cancel festivities.

Horse replied to comment from Horse | April 24, 2011 5:00 PM | Reply

correction- eastern ->easter

Horse replied to comment from Horse | April 24, 2011 5:00 PM | Reply

correction- eastern ->easter

Amelia | April 25, 2011 2:59 AM | Reply

In the US Muslims postponed Eid festivities that fell on September 11 to the following day because celebrating on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks would be insensitive. Sunnis in Bahrain didn't celebrate Mawlid when the Shi'ah were protesting. There aren't Muslim mobs forcing the cancellation of Easter festivities in Syria, Christians have come to the conclusion that celebrating amid violent riots could be dangerous. I don't see how that is unusual or related to sharia. I'm sure if there was civil unrest in the US festivities would be cancelled.

gravenimage | April 25, 2011 12:39 PM | Reply

There is a consistent pattern of increased violence against Christians and other Infidels when Muslims are unconstrained by an authoritarian central power. We have seen this in Iraq, in Egypt, in many other places—and now in Syria.

Protestations by Muslim apologists such as Horse and Amelia notwithstanding, that is *exactly* what is happening to Christians in Syria.

Amelia | April 26, 2011 12:44 AM | Reply

You're forgetting the convenient fact that no Muslim mobs or Muslim leaders have been calling for violence against Christians in Syria and that the decision to cancel Easter celebrations came from Christians themsleves because marching and celebrating amidst violent crowds is not a wise thing to do.

Horse replied to comment from gravenimage | April 26, 2011 7:59 AM | Reply

Show me where in the article did is say Christians have been attacked? Show me the threats issued against them?

gravenimage | April 26, 2011 9:03 AM | Reply

"Countdown for Christians in Syria"

http://www.csi-int.org/countdown_for_christians.php

Things are, it is true, even worse in other parts of Dar-al-Islam—Christians in Syria have been shielded to a small extent by their somewhat greater numbers and by the country's minority Alawite rulers. But Christians are threatened in Syria, as well, and their days their are likely numbered there as in the rest of the Muslim Levant.

Horse replied to comment from gravenimage | April 26, 2011 12:39 PM | Reply

propaganda website

There is no evidence that the incident mentioned had anything to do with religion. It had to do with a bunch of gangsters behaving like typical gangsters in a cafe that happened to be owned by a christian. A muslim cafe owner would have been beaten to death the same way.

http://www.dp-news.com/pages/detail.aspx?l=2&articleid=69348

"Over the past century, Christians became famous in all walks of life. Among the long list of politicians are men like ex-ministers Mikhael Ilyan and Tawfiq Shamiyya, officers like Wadih al-Muqabari (commander of the air force), Yusuf Shakkur (Chief of Staff during the October War of 1973), and current Chief of Staff Daoud Rajha. The list unravels, reaching academics like Constantine Zurayk, former president of Damascus University, and George Toemeh of the American University of Beirut (AUB), administrators like Hanna Malek, the former Attorney General, and writers like Hanna Mina and Colette Khury, a former MP and current advisor to President Bashar al-Assad. The Christians also worked with and joined the secular Baath Party of Michel Aflaq, who himself was a Christian, and received more senior office when the party came to power in 1963. The most famous of modern times was probably Fares al-Khury, one of the founding fathers of Syria's independence who served as speaker of parliament and prime minister in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Among his many feats, he co-established the Syrian Parliament, co-authored the Syrian Constitution, taught and chaired the Faculty of Law, and founded the Syndicate of Lawyers. He helped eject the French from Syria in 1946. When he died in 1962, Syria's priests and Muslim clerics stood at his funeral, shoulder-to-shoulder, reading from both the Bible and Holy Quran."

Amelia | April 28, 2011 4:05 AM | Reply

@gravenimage

The secret police monitors mosques too and is in fact even more rigorously than churches; it is not just Syria that does that, the UAE appoints imams and gives them a list of specific topics that they are allowed to base sermons on. They also monitor sermons for any political or extremist rhetoric. That's the way of dictatorships.

Amelia | April 28, 2011 4:11 AM | Reply

@gravenimage

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