Gregory III Laham, Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, has resigned. During his patriarchate he became notorious for calling the Melkite Greek Catholic Church the “Church of Islam,” as is noted in the article below. He also claimed that Islamic jihad attacks against Middle Eastern Christians were a “Zionist conspiracy against Islam,” and exclaimed that “no one defends Islam like Arab Christians.”
That was certainly true of himself, but Gregory III Laham was not alone: the close relationship between some Middle Eastern Catholic bishops, including Melkites, to the “Palestinian” jihadis and other Muslims in the Middle East should be an embarrassment to the entire Catholic Church, but of course it isn’t. Melkite Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, who died on January 1, 2017, was such a stooge for the “Palestinians” that he was known as the “Chaplain of the PLO.”
I have personally never encountered such rabid Jew-hatred as I did in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and from other Middle Eastern IslamoChristians, including prelates: when one Melkite bishop was asked why he objected to my collaborations with Pamela Geller, he explained simply, “She’s a Jew,” and that was a good enough explanation for the assembled clergy. While Christians in Muslim countries are being slaughtered, exiled, subjugated, and/or forced to convert in numbers never before seen in history, all by Muslims acting in the name of Islam and in accord with its teachings, these hate-filled clerical dhimmis carry water for their killers and rail against Jews and Israel, where Christians live as full citizens.
In the end, Patriarch Gregory was forced to resign not for his apologetics for jihad or fanatical Jew-hatred, but because of his high-handedness and mismanagement. His pro-jihad stance and Jew-hatred are widely shared in the Melkite Church, and likely will be by his eventual successor.
“Leave them; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14)
“The Gregory-era, Patriarch of the ‘Church of Islam’, comes to an end,” by Gianni Valente, La Stampa, May 8, 2017 (thanks to Robert):
In the end, Patriarch Gregory III Laham pulled out. He is no longer the Primate of the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church. His somewhat troubled exit ultimately confirming his impulsive attitude. It also reveals factors – often removed – of the “inner” malaise that today crosses many Christian Middle Eastern communities.
Patriarch vs. Synod
On Saturday May 6, the Vatican Press issued Pope Francis’ letter in which he informs Gregory III of having accepted the Patriarch’s renunciation of the patriarchal assignment, a request submitted to Pope Bergoglio by the Patriarch at a recent hearing. In the letter, Francis considers the Patriarch of Antioch’s decision as opportune and necessary “for the good of the Greco-Melkite Church.” In the papal letter it is intentionally stated that the renunciation of the 85-years-old Patriarch has taken place “spontaneously”, and includes many customary thanks to Gregoire called a “zealous servant of the People of God”, “for keeping the attention of the international community focused on the tragedy of Syria”
Actually, the resignation of the Patriarch is the outcome of the clash developed in recent years between the Patriarch and an ever-widening majority of Melkite Bishops. According to local sources, it was the Melkite synod to pressure the Patriarch into signing the letter of renunciation on February 23. However, at the time the Patriarch had given the impression he wanted to freeze the process triggered by his signature. According to an official statement issued by the Patriarchate in early March, Gregory III would have remained in office, and was actually preparing to launch new projects.”
The “Church of Islam”
Gregory III has always been little accustomed to ecclesial prudence. When he was Vicar of Jerusalem, and his name was Loufti Laham, his pro-Palestinian intervention (he also recently joined the hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons) and criticisms of Western military interventions against Saddam’s Iraq Hussein aroused considerable discussion. “We are the Church of Islam,” he would say, baffling theorists of an alleged clash between the “Christian” West and the Muslim Ummah. Elected Patriarch in 2000, he remarked, as a Christian born in Syria, that “Islam is our environment, the context in which we live and with which we are historically supportive”, to the extent that “When I hear a verse of the Koran, for me it is not something strange, it is an expression of the civilization to which I belong. In his view, “After September 11, there is a plot to eliminate all the Christian minorities from the Arabic world” as “Our simple existence ruins the equations whereby Arabs can’t be other than Moslems, and Christians but be westerners.”
Ever since the Syrian conflict broke out, Gregory III has been suspicious of the “Arab Spring” matrix, proposing himself as a leader of the highest Christian hierarchs more in accordance with the scenario-interpretation proposed by the Syrian regime. As early as summer 2012, he denounced an ongoing campaign against bishops and Patriarchs of the Syrian Churches, accused by several parts of submission and connivance towards the regime. “The freedom of the shepherds,” Gregory said at that time “was guaranteed everywhere and it still is up to today, both in their behavior and in their public and private statements … We will not allow anyone to speak on our behalf or on behalf of Christians in Syria, to manipulate our statements or to charge us with accusation of any kind.” With the same strength, he then went on supporting reconciliation initiatives such as those sponsored by the inter-confessional movement Mussalaha, which insurgents saw as facade operations in support of the regime.
The roots of the crisis
The disagreement between the retired Patriarch and much of the Melkite Synod did not emerge from political issues. Even the most disapproving Melkite bishop almost fully share the Patriarch’s geo-political reading of the Syrian tragedy. And among those bishops, no one believes Assad can be excluded from negotiations on the future of Syria. The root of the clash between the Patriarch and Melkite Bishops lies in Gregory’s management of the Church, which many considered autocratic, as he would take decisions without confronting with anyone and without taking account of the synod dynamics….
Many Melkite bishops were eagerly awaiting the resignation of Patriarch Laham, but did not seem to be equally concordant with the choice of his successor. During the vacancy, Jean Clément Jeanbart, Aleppo’s Melkhite Bishop, who will convene the Synod for the new Patriarch within two months, will administer the Melkite Church. Potential candidates to the Patriarchy of Antioch are several: among them, Jeanbart himself, Damascus Vicar Joseph Absi and the 78-year-old Cyril Salim Bustros, Melkite Archbishop of Beirut and Jbeil. The new Patriarch, whoever he is, will face the suffering and discomfort conditions of the Christian communities in the Middle East, which the media usually fails to record. Spiritual and pastoral emergencies that cannot be solved with electoral campaigns and fundraising organized by some Western agencies.
Charli Main says
OFF TOPIC.
“At least 12 people have been injured and one is dead after a speeding car struck pedestrians in New York City’s Times Square. ”
No doubt, police will find no motive and suspect mental illness as the cause.
gravenimage says
There are now 22 injured.
mortimer says
A complete dhimmi like Gregory III Laham with severe theological and emotional disturbances should never be put in charge. However, many such bigots trick and fool people until they are in charge. The Melkites need a complete theological training in the matter of the eternal covenants of God. ‘Eternal’ actually means ‘eternal’, but these erring princes of the church make up their own dhimmi versions of sacred theology. Respect for the Jewish people, the elder brother, is sound Christian theology. Any cleric who doesn’t know that should not be teaching anyone.
It is beyond belief that clergy like these Melkite bigots exist in the modern world and especially in countries where Christians are regularly scapegoated by Muslim clergy with devastating results. They urgently need theological re-education.
St. Manuel II Palaiologos says
No,, it isn’t. Traditional and Orthodox Christian theology rejects the legitimacy of Judaism as a religion.
mortimer says
What is your definition of ‘forever’?
Richard says
Right on!!! St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that something cannot both be and not be. Differing opinions cannot both be right. The only way they can be equal is if they are equally wrong. Jesus is either God or He isn’t.
gravenimage says
Jesus himself was Jewish.
Charli Main says
As were the Holy Parents, all the apostles and Jesus’ followers during His ministry on earth.
Correct me, if I’m wrong GI but Jesus CLEARLY stated that he had not come to change the Law ( Judaic Law ) but to bring new ones to guide the people.
gravenimage says
Hi, Charli. Matthew 5:17 reads, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil”.
Michael says
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me that the Melkite Greek Catholic Church continues to keep the (erroneous) tradition that the Jews collectively are Christ-killers and accursed by God?
St. Manuel II Palaiologos says
The proper and Orthodox tradition.
Richard says
Of course it is. Mark xii1-9: “And he began to speak to them in parables: A certain man planted a vineyard and made a hedge about it, and dug a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it to husbandmen; and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen as servant to receive of he husbandmen of their fruit of the vineyard. Who having laid hands on him, beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent to them another servant; and him they wounded in the head, and used him reproachfully. And again he sent another, and him they killed: and many others, of whom some they beat, and others they killed. Therefore having yet one son, most dear to him; he also sent him unto them last of all, saying: They well reverence my son. But the husbandmen said one to another: This is the heir; come, let us kill him; and the inheritance shall be ours. And laying hold on him, they killed him and cat him out of the vineyard. What therefor will the lord f the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those husbandmen; and will give the vineyard to others.”
This prophecy of Christ is His coming death at the hands of the Romans and the destruction of Jerusalem and he giving over of the Holy land to the Catholic Church. In most religions, salvation goes with the land. This is why the Catholic Church, until very recently, would not accept the state of Israel, as it implicitly denies salvation through Christianity. On the same way, most Orthodox Jews do not accept Israel because it was founded by nonobservant Jews and does not follow many Jewish laws, like the keeping of the Sabbath. More importantly, Orthodox Jews rightly say Israel must be re-founded by God. The Church likewise believes that when the Jews accept Christ, they will indeed be given Israel again.
Religions are not politically correct. If they were, they would be worthless.
Michael says
The Divine Mercy is capable of remitting the temporal punishment of exile imposed on the Jews, if God sees this to be expedient.
The divine re-establishment of the political sovereignty of Israel would seem to be in line with God’s just punishment of the Muslims for the destruction of the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire, and for the Muslims’ blasphemous religion generally.
TJ says
The behavior of some of the people who steal into the church certainly make it difficult for Jews to be attracted to Jesus. Jews should follow the words of Isaiah if they want to find reality with Jesus because Jesus is a documented follower of Isaiah. Isaiah 52:7-8 says, “How beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns! Hark, your watchmen lift up their voices; together they sing for joy; for they shall see eye to eye the return of the Lord to Zion.”
Isaiah’s words help identify Jesus as the messiah since it says in verse 8 the person they will see eye to eye has been here before. These words, then, reveal it is Jesus who is the messiah who is participating in an overthrow of the quran’s dubious association of biblical figures with perverse accusations against Jews. Isaiah is a great prophet because his words give the Jewish messiah an opportunity to participate in the termination of those slurs against Jews. Isaiah is also putting the Jews in a conundrum because a Jew really needs to accept Jesus in order to be participating in this overthrow of their enemies. The Jews who reject Jesus are actually being overthrown together with jihadists by the actvivity in Isaiah 52:7-8. It should be imperative for a Jew to make sure this doesn’t happen to them. There is something great going on in this verse which produces evidence things are about to change for the better. Jews should make sure they are a part of it by focusing on this verse instead of paying attention to egotistical rants.
RCCA says
That’s your interpretation of the verse in Isaiah, as well as your interpretation of Jews and Judaism. I mean no offense to you, but want to inform you that you also are being offensive to Jews.
In case you don’t already know this, allow me to explain. The verse in Isaiah, in a Jewish interpretation, refers to the eternal nature of Hashem, AKA the eternal one who transcends all time and space, the “I am.” Again, not meaning any offense towards you personally, the Jews don’t need to be saved as they are in an eternal covenant with the Creator. Christianity makes available a relationship with the Creator for non Jews through Jesus, who was a Jew and taught the love of God. You, and other Christians, really are being highly insulting when you tell Jews their covenant is void and they need Jesus to be saved. IMO, Christianity is Judaism for the masses, and Judaism is the gold standard in terms of understanding the transcendent and eternal loving nature of the Creator. The concept of God as multidimensional, eternal existence both within nature and beyond nature who we can know personally within ourselves, is an advanced consciousness; especially remarkable considering Judaism started at a time when many people were worshipping stones with magical powers.
The fact that a leader in the Greek Melkite Catholic Church displayed so much animosity towards Jews imo indicates a shocking level of ignorance not only of the Creator but even of Jesus. The fact that Christians like yourself hold somewhat similar albeit benign views and attitudes towards Jews is also very disturbing to me.
TJ says
You are playing a dirty game, just going around co-opting your race, against both me and God. I follow the words of Jesus, not you. He spoke derisively to Jews who reject Him. He blamed it on their reliance on rabbis and their families for truth instead of prophets who testify in His favor. He told them to run from this and follow the words of prophets. He spoke to them like they are going to die if they don’t quit doing this. You don’t care what Jesus says. You love using your own ego to co-opt all the Jews. You just like concocting a story where every Jew is doing great, and they can not be judged by God. This is false security. Biblical figures are tougher on Jews than you are. The bible glorifies murdered babies over Jews. When the Jews just walk on by they are given over to death by war, pestilence, famine or by animals, just like everybody else. This is the judgment in the bible. If you don’t grieve over their loss, Ezekiel says, they will be lifted up over your head and you will perish. It is more caring of Jews to talk like I do, your just faking it with those guys.
Pong says
Changing Jesus to Mohamed would make your statement almost perfect for moslems.
St. Manuel II Palaiologos says
The whole Roman Church is the Church of Islam.
ElderlyZionist says
You are just a fountain of fellowship, ain’tcha?
St. Manuel II Palaiologos says
No. I don’t care about “fellowship” I care about reality. Reality or bust.
Bill W. says
The Islamics want kill or make slaves all people of the book. The people of the book are all Jews and Christians, catholic and non Catholic get a clue they hate everyone. You want to be a slave, side with the Islamiics they will let you live in there Dhimmitude for a while. When are usefulness is done they will kill all the men in “your tribe” and make your woman sex slaves , been going on for 1400 years. Some Jews work with the Nazis in the camps so they could live they died last that is your plan good luck!
gravenimage says
True, Bill. We are all in this together.
Joeyn says
Islam is the biggest threat to peace and justice in the world today. If any religious leader (even if is the Pope) is not in tune with that i have no respect for that person and I don’t think Jesus would either.
gravenimage says
Patriarch Gregory III Laham, who called Melkite Catholic Church “Church of Islam,” resigns under pressure
………………..
I hope his successor is better. He could scarcely be worse.
St. Manuel II Palaiologos says
LOL You’d be surprised. Your expectations for the Roman Church are much higher than mine.
gravenimage says
You don’t appear to care whether we have a chance against Islam or not.
Your namesake didn’t feel that way–in fact, he allied with Catholics many times against the depredations of the Ottoman Muslims.
Were you unaware of this?
Elisha says
Do these priests actually ever read the Bible?
The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. It shall be in that day that I WILL SEEK TO DESTROY ALL THE NATIONS THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM. – Zechariah 12:7-9
Helllooooo?
God bless.
Frank Verderber says
If the they were of us they would have stayed, but as it is they have left us. These are the Antichrists!
Baucent says
Good on Robert for calling the Melkites out. I’ve noticed that the Coptic Christians in Egypt seem to be more assertive as Christians than the type that live in the “Palestinian” territories. Stooges is a correct term for it. The town of Bethlehem, use to a Christian majority town. Not anymore, most have left tired of the persecution. Not that Gregory III would have spoken out for them.