In the Name of God: The Archbishop Who Armed the PLO by Adel Beshara & Antoine Francis & Sarkis Abouzeid

Author:Adel Beshara & Antoine Francis & Sarkis Abouzeid [Adel Beshara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912759286
Publisher: Black House Publishing Ltd
Published: 2019-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

Hilarion

Titular Archbishop of Caesarea, Palestine

Patriarchal Vicar of the Greek Catholics in Jerusalem

*****

His Beatitude Maximos V Hakim,

the Honored, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and Jerusalem

Ramleh Prison, 20/02/1976

Your Beatitude,

It is my heart writing this letter to you, not my pen. However, the simple language of the heart is eloquent in its sense because it is a replica of the abstract truth. The total exhaustion that afflicts me may not enable me to coordinate my thoughts: so please excuse me in advance and accept my letter.

As of January 28th, I have not consumed anything but water. I am on a complete hunger strike, which I will continue to the end. I have had enough of the enemy’s extreme insolence and mistreatment, blatant psychological warfare, and provocation against me. If only I were personally the sole target of their disgraceful behavior, I would not have cared, for the reasons that I will explain, and I would have forgiven them with my whole heart according to the will of my Teacher. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” However, the purpose of their vile harassments and tightened restrictions against me is the humiliation of the dignity of the Church and of my nation. The Israeli authorities consider that their greatest challenge is the support I get from my Church and my nation.

Therefore, the Israeli authorities persist on humiliating my Church and my nation through me in retaliation. While I am alive, I will not be silent at this vicious, childish harassment. God, my conscience, my Arabism, my honor, and my manhood require me to resist, to the point of death, offense to the dignity of my Church and my nation. Hence, my hunger strike. My goal is not to demand my release, but to be imprisoned where my dignity, and therefore the dignity of whom I am honored to represent, is preserved and where I get opportunity for prayer, meditation, and reading.

My arrest, as I said, does not bother me. Rather, at the personal level, I consider my prison and its accompanying psychological and physical torment as God’s greatest gift. How much I thank Him for this blessing! Through this, He granted me the honor of suffering for Him “who loved me and gave Himself for me.” I am thankful because He gave me the grace of participating in His pain, so I may, in my flesh and spirit, for His same purposes, fill up what is still lacking regarding His afflictions. How sweet prison is as a way to atone for my sins. He is my Father who loves me. So, He chastises me to protect me and qualify me to bear His name and perform His mission faithfully and to participate in His spiritual bliss here and His heavenly kingdom there. “How many are Your works, Lord! In wisdom You made them all.” I have never been happier than today, and in my lifetime, I have never been closer to Him than today. So, in my own heart, I feel joy overwhelming me and peace filling my heart.

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