The Syriac “Cave of Treasures”

The author of the "Cave of Treasures" called his work "The Book of the order of the succession of Generations (or Families)," the Families being those of the Patriarchs and Kings of Israel and Judah; and his chief object was to show how Christ was descended from Adam. He did not accept the genealogical tables which were commonly in use among his unlearned fellow-Christians, because he was convinced that all the ancient tables of genealogies which the Jews had possessed were destroyed by fire by the captain of Nebuchadnezzar's army immediately after the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. The Jews promptly constructed new tables of genealogies, which both Christians and Arabs regarded as fictitious. The Arabs were as deeply interested in the matter as the Christians, for they were descended from Abraham, and the genealogy of the descendants of Hagar and Ishmael was of the greatest importance in their sight, and it is due to their earnest desire to possess correct genealogical tables of their ancestors that we owe the Arabic translations of the "Cave of Treasures." The Nubians and Egyptians were also interested in such matters, for the former were the descendants of Kûsh, and the latter the descendants of Mizraim, and Ham was the great ancestor of both these nations. And it is clear that Syrians, Arabs, Egyptians and Ethiopians regarded the "Cave of Treasures" as an authoritative work on their respective pedigrees.
In the title "Cave of Treasures" which was given to the "Book of the order of the succession of Generations" there is probably a double allusion, namely, to the Book as the storehouse of literary treasures, and to the famous Cave in which Adam and Eve were made to dwell by God after their expulsion from Paradise, and which by reason of the gold, and frankincense, and myrrh that was laid up in it, is commonly called "The Cave of Treasures" (in Syriac, Me`ârath Gazzê, in Arabic, Ma`ârah al-Kanûz, and in Ethiopic, Ba`âta Mazâgebet).
The Syriac "Cave of Treasures" tells us very little about the real Cave, which was situated in the side of a mountain below Paradise, and nothing about Adam and Eve's way of life there. But in the "Book of Adam and Eve" the whole of the first main section is devoted to details of the physical Cave. The "Cave of Treasures" was introduced to the world by Giuseppe Simone Assemani, the author of the Catalogues of Oriental Manuscripts in the Vatican Library, which he printed in Bibliotheca Orientalis in four thick volumes folio. In Vol. ii. page 498 he describes a Syriac manuscript containing a series of apocryphal works, and among them is one the title of which he translates Spelunca Thesaurorum. He saw that the manuscript contained the history of 5,500 years, from the creation of Adam to the birth of Christ, and that it was based upon the Scriptures. He says that fables are found in it everywhere, especially concerning the antediluvian Patriarchs, and the genealogy of Christ and His Mother. He mentions that the Patriarch Eutychius alo describes a cave of treasures in which gold, frankincense, and myrrh were laid up, and refers to the "portentosa feminarum nomina," women of Jesus' ancestry. That the Syriac "Cave of Treasures" was known and used by Solomon, Bishop of Perâth Maishân (Al-Basrah) in 1222 is proved by the earlier chapters of his work the Book of the Bee. (The Book of the Bee is a collection of theological and historical texts compiled by Solomon of Akhlat in the thirteenth century. The book consists of 55 chapters discussing various topics including the creation, heaven and earth, the angels, darkness, paradise, Old Testament patriarchs, New Testament events, lists of kings and patriarchs, and the final day of resurrection. Solomon of Akhlat was a bishop of the Church of the East during the thirteenth century. He was bishop of Basrah, Iraq, and was present at the consecration of Catholicos Sabr Isho in 1222. The book was originally written in Syriac and has been translated into English and Arabic.) He excerpted from it many of the legends of the early Patriarchs, although his object was not to write a table of genealogical succession, but a full history of the Christian Dispensation according to the views of the Nestorians. The best manuscript of the "Cave of Treasures" which we have to the Nestorians, for Brit. Mus. MS. Add. 25875, was written by a Nestorian scribe in the Nestorian village of Alkôsh, and was bound up by him in a volume which included a copy of the "Book of the Bee," whose author, Solomon, was the Nestorian Bishop of Al-Basrah early in the 13th century.
This text is attributed to Ephrem Syrus, who was born at Nisibis soon after AD 306 and died in 373, but it is now generally believed that its current form is 6th century or newer.
The assertion that the Cave of Treasures was written in the 4th century is supported by the general contents of the work. These reproduce Ephraim's quaint and sometimes fanciful methods of exegesis and supply many examples of his methods in religious argument, with which we are familiar from his other writings. His pride in the antiquity of the Syriac language also appears in this work. That it was written in Mesopotamia by a Syrian, there is no doubt, and if Ephraim was not the author, the original author, or perhaps later editor, belonged to the school of Ephraim.
The oldest Christian work on the history of God's dealing with man from Adam to Christ is probably the anonymous Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, which, in its original form, is from the 5th or 6th century AD. The writer of the Cave of Treasures borrowed largely from the Conflict of Adam and Eve, or shared a common source with it.

Encyclopedia of Syriac Literature

Check out this excellent web-site:

http://www.roger-pearse.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

First through 3^rd Century AD

1. Peshitta
2. The Diatessaron
3. The Old Syriac Gospels
4. Bardaisan and the Book of the Laws of the Countries.
5. The Odes of Solomon
6. The Acts of Thomas
7. Pseudo-Melito's Apology
8. The Syriac Sentences of Menander
9. The Letter of Mara
10. The Story of the 'Aramaean sage' Ahikar

The 4^th Century

1. Aphrahat (Aphraates, 'Jacob of Nisibis')
2. Ephrem (Ephraim Syrus)
3. Liber Graduum (The Book of Steps)

 

5th century

1. Cyrillona
2. Balai
3. Narsai
4. John the Solitary (John of Apamea)
5. Anonymous prose hagiography
6. Marutha of Maiperkat
7. Isaac of Seleucia-Ctesiphon

5-6th century

1. Jacob of Serugh (W)
2. Simeon the Potter (W)
3. Philoxenus (W)
4. Isaac of Antioch -- a name covering more than one person
5. Symmachus (W)

6th century

1. Joshua the Stylite (W) - author of an eyewitness Chronicle of the Persian war of Anastasius.
2. Stephen bar Sudhaili (W) - a pantheist
3. Sergius of Resh`aina (W) - the translator
4. Simeon of Beth Arsham (W) - wrote to those persecuted by Jewish Arabs in Yemen
5. Elias (W)
6. Daniel of Salah (W)
7. Thomas of Edessa (E)
8. Cyrus of Edessa (E)
9. The Chronicle of Edessa (W)
10. John of Ephesus (W) - Justinian's evangelist to pagans. Author of two histories
11. Peter of Kallinikos (W)
12. Zacharias Rhetor (W)
13. Ahudemmeh
14. Abraham of Nathpar (E)
15. Anonymous literature of the 6th century

6-7th century

1. Barhadbeshabba `Arbaya (E)
2. Barhadbeshabba of Halwan (E)
3. Shubhalmaran (Subhalmaran) (E)
4. Babai the Great (E)
5. Martyrius (Sahdona) (E) - Tried to introduce ideas of Chrysostom.
6. Isho`yahb II (E)
7. John of the Sedre (W)
8. Marutha (W)
9. Gregory of Cyprus (E) - A Persian monk who spent time in Cyprus
10. Anonymous literature of the early 7th century

Second half of the 7th century

1. Severus Sebokht (W) - greatest scientist and astronomer of his day
2. Gabriel of Qatar (E)
3. Abraham bar Lipeh of Qatar (E)
4. The Khuzistan Chronicle (E) - covers end of Sassanid and start of Arab periods.
5. Isho`yahb III (E)
6. Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syrian) (E) - most influential Syrian ascetic writer in the Greek and Latin west.
7. Shem'on the graceful (Shem'on d-Taybutheh) (E)
8. Dadisho' (E)
9. John bar Penkaye (E) - world history includes eye-witness account of Arab conquest
10. The Apocalypse of Methodius
11. Hagiography of the 7th century

7th-8th century

1. Jacob of Edessa (=James of Edessa) (W) - translator from Greek
2. George, bishop of the Arab tribes (W) - pupil of Severus Sebokht

8th century

1. The Diyarbekir Commentary (E)
2. Sergius the Stylite of Gusit (W) - apologist against the Jews
3. Elia (E)
4. John of Dalyatha (=John Saba) (E)
5. Joseph Hazzaya, "the seer" (E)
6. Abraham bar Dashandad, "the lame" (W)
7. The Chronicle of Dionysius of Tel-Mahre (Chronicle of Zuqnin) (W)
8. Theodore bar Koni (E) - Author of the Liber scholiorum

8th-9th century

1. Timothy I (E) - letters on Greek manuscripts and Dead Sea scrolls
2. Isho` bar Nun (E)

9th century

1. Job of Edessa (E)
2. John of Dara (W)
3. Isho`dad of Merv (E)
4. Nonnus (W)
5. Antony of Tagrit (W)
6. Ps.George of Arbela (E)
7. Thomas, bishop of Marga (E) - Author of the Book of the Governors
8. Isho`dnah (E)
9. The anonymous commentary on the Old and New Testament (E)
10. Moshe bar Kepha (W)
11. Chronicle of Seert

10th century

1. Elijah of Anbar (E)
2. The Book of the Cause of Causes (W)
3. Emmanuel bar Shahhare (E)

11th century

1. Elijah of Nisibis (=Elias of Nisibis) (E)

12th century

1. Dionysius bar Salibi (Dionysius Syrus / Jacob bar Salibi) (W)
2. Elijah III Abu Halim (E)
3. Michael the Great (Michael the Syrian) (W) - Author of a massive Chronicle

13th century

1. John bar Zo`bi (E)
2. Solomon of Bosra (E)
3. Giwargis Warda (E)
4. The Chronicle of 1234 (W)
5. Jacob Severus bar Shakko (W)
6. Gregory Barhebraeus (Bar'ebroyo / Abu 'L Faraj / Gregorius Abulpharagius) (W)

13^th-14^th Centuries

Syriac is displaced by Arabic in the West in this period.

1. `Abdisho` bar Brika (Ebed Jesu) (E) 1250-1318 AD. - wrote list of Syriac writers
2. Khamis bar Qardahe (E) Late 13th/early 14th century.
3. Dioscorus of Gozarto (E) Late 13th/early 14th century.
4. The History of Yahballaha and Rabban Sauma (E). Soon after 1317.
5. Timothy II (E) Died 1353 AD.

15th century writers

• The priest Isaiah of Bet Sbirina (=Tur 'Abdin) and his son Yeshu (West Syriac/Monophysite; died. 1492). Some of the poems of Isaiah describe contemporary events, including the devastations of Timur Leng who died in 1407.

• Ishaq Qardahe Sbadnaya (East Syriac/Nestorian) wrote in the middle of the 15th century. His works include several acrostic 'Onyata, a 12-syllable poem on the Divine Economy, together with a prose commentary containing many quotations from earlier writers.

• Mas'ud of Tur 'Abdin (West Syriac/Monophysite) wrote a theological poem The Spiritual Ship at the end of the 15th century. The work is a collection of lectures, written so that the monks "should arrive safely in the port ... of heaven." (A Latin translation exists of this).

• There are three important poets at the end of the 15th/start of the 16th century: the Patriarch Nuh (West Syriac/Monophysite; d. 1509), David 'the Phoenician' (West Syriac/Monophysite), and Sargis bar Wahle (East Syriac/Nestorian). Sargis wrote a verse life of Rabban Hormizd, of which an English translation exists.

Late 16th - early 17th century writers

Modern Syriac writing begins in this period. Several poems written in the dialect of Alqosh are extant today. But otherwise there is little original writing again until the 19th century.

17th-18th centuries

In this period there were two outstanding writers, and also some translations from western texts into Syriac.

• The Chaldaean patriarch Joseph II (East Syriac/Nestorian; d. 1731) resided in Amida(=Diarbekir) and wrote The Magnet and The Shining Mirror which both circulated widely in manuscript.

• Metropolitan Basileios Shem'un of Tur 'Abdin (West Syriac/Monophysite; martyred in 1740) wrote a Book of Theology in 1714; a verse work on theological topics called The Ship of Mysteries in 1727/9; The Armour of Thanksgiving and Hope of Faith in 1723, which was translated into Arabic; and many homilies and poems. He also compiled a Syriac dictionary based on the late 10th century one by Bar Bahlul.

Several western texts were translated into Syriac in this period.

19th century

American missionaries arrived at Urmiah and set up a press there, printing Syriac texts. This led to a revival of Modern Syriac, and it became quite widely used as a written language.

20^th Century

Literary activity in Syriac revived greatly in the late 19th century. Notable figures include:

• T'omo Audo, Chaldaean metropolitan of Urmia (East Syriac/Nestorian; 1853-1917) who compiled a very valuable Syriac-Syriac dictionary (1896, reprinted 1985) among other things.

• The Syrian Catholic Patriarch Rahmani (West Syriac/Catholic; 1848-1929)

• The Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ephrem Barsaum (West Syriac/Monophysite; 1887-1957)

• Metropolitan Philoxenus Yuhanon Dolabani (West Syriac/Monophysite; 1885-1969) who translated two works from Arabic into Syriac: Barsaum's important History of Syriac literature and Paulos Behnam's drama Theodora.

In the 20th century some secular works have also been composed. Na'um Fa'yeq (West Syriac/Monophysite; 1868-1930) was one of the first to do this. He founded the periodical Start of the East in 1908.

Various secular western works have also been translated into Syriac:

• Bernardin de Saint Pierre, Paul et Virginie, a romantic novel, was translated by Paulos Gabriel (West Syriac/Monophysite; d. 1971) and Ghatta Maqdasi Elyas (West Syriac/Monophysite) and published in 1955 under the title Myatruto (=Virtue).

• Racine's play Athalie was translated by Abrohom Isu (Baghdad, 1978).

• Machiavelli, The Prince was translated by Gabriel Afram (Sweden, 1995).

There is still a considerable amount of writing in Classical Syriac, in both prose and verse, both in the Middle East and among Syriac-speaking communities around the world.

These notes from Brock's Brief Outline.

 

Jesus was married Papyrus fragment

I still don't believe it. The report admitted that a master forger could have made the ink and applied it to the manuscript. The manuscript is too small to date test the ink. It has always been known that the papyrus is real-they haven't proven that the writing isn't a modern forgery. This is exactly what the conspiracy folks want. How come they find a "Jesus is Married" writing-but we haven't found a Hebrew Matthew or Discourses upon the Oracles of our Lord by Papias, the Preaching of Peter or some other lost ancient writing? If it is too good to be true-it usually is. Jesus did not marry. If he was married-it would have been in the Bible-or known in some other ancient sources. To my knowledge the Church Fathers did not condemn any heretical group for saying Jesus was married.

The New Blacklist By Patrick J. Buchanan, April 8, 2014-04-09

http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/patrick-j-buchanan/new-blacklist#sthash.UgeDEtbh.dpuf

Whose Side Is God on Now? By Pat Buchanan April 4, 2014

http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/patrick-j-buchanan/whose-side-god-now#sthash.CK58Le1k.dpuf

In his Kremlin defense of Russia's annexation of Crimea, Vladimir Putin, even before he began listing the battles where Russian blood had been shed on Crimean soil, spoke of an older, deeper bond.Crimea, said Putin, "is the location of ancient Khersones, where Prince Vladimir was baptized. His spiritual feat of adopting Orthodoxy predetermined the overall basis of the culture, civilization and human values that unite the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus."Russia is a Christian country, Putin was saying.This speech recalls last December's address where the former KGB chief spoke of Russia as standing against a decadent West:"Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values. Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan. This is the path to degradation."Heard any Western leader, say, Barack Obama, talk like that lately?Indicting the "Bolsheviks" who gave away Crimea to Ukraine, Putin declared, "May God judge them."What is going on here?With Marxism-Leninism a dead faith, Putin is saying the new ideological struggle is between a debauched West led by the United States and a traditionalist world Russia would be proud to lead.In the new war of beliefs, Putin is saying, it is Russia that is on God's side. The West is Gomorrah.Western leaders who compare Putin's annexation of Crimea to Hitler's Anschluss with Austria, who dismiss him as a "KGB thug," who call him "the alleged thief, liar and murderer who rules Russia," as the Wall Street Journal's Holman Jenkins did, believe Putin's claim to stand on higher moral ground is beyond blasphemous.But Vladimir Putin knows exactly what he is doing, and his new claim has a venerable lineage. The ex-Communist Whittaker Chambers who exposed Alger Hiss as a Soviet spy, was, at the time of his death in 1964, writing a book on "The Third Rome."The first Rome was the Holy City and seat of Christianity that fell to Odoacer and his barbarians in 476 A.D. The second Rome was Constantinople, Byzantium, (today's Istanbul), which fell to the Turks in 1453. The successor city to Byzantium, the Third Rome, the last Rome to the old believers, was — Moscow.Putin is entering a claim that Moscow is the Godly City of today and command post of the counter-reformation against the new paganism.Putin is plugging into some of the modern world's most powerful currents. Not only in his defiance of what much of the world sees as America's arrogant drive for global hegemony. Not only in his tribal defense of lost Russians left behind when the USSR disintegrated.He is also tapping into the worldwide revulsion of and resistance to the sewage of a hedonistic secular and social revolution coming out of the West.In the culture war for the future of mankind, Putin is planting Russia's flag firmly on the side of traditional Christianity. His recent speeches carry echoes of John Paul II whose Evangelium Vitae in 1995 excoriated the West for its embrace of a "culture of death."What did Pope John Paul mean by moral crimes?The West's capitulation to a sexual revolution of easy divorce, rampant promiscuity, pornography, homosexuality, feminism, abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, assisted suicide — the displacement of Christian values by Hollywood values.Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum writes that she was stunned when in Tbilisi to hear a Georgian lawyer declare of the former pro-Western regime of Mikhail Saakashvili, "They were LGBT.""It was an eye-opening moment," wrote Applebaum. Fear and loathing of the same-sex-marriage pandemic has gone global. In Paris, a million-man Moral Majority marched in angry protest.Author Martha Gessen, who has written a book on Putin, says of his last two years, "Russia is remaking itself as the leader of the anti-Western world."But the war to be waged with the West is not with rockets. It is a cultural, social, moral war where Russia's role, in Putin's words, is to "prevent movement backward and downward, into chaotic darkness and a return to a primitive state."Would that be the "chaotic darkness" and "primitive state" of mankind, before the Light came into the world?This writer was startled to read in the Jan-Feb. newsletter from the social conservative World Council of Families in Rockford, Ill., that, of the "ten best trends" in the world in 2013, number one was "Russia Emerges as Pro-Family Leader."In 2013, the Kremlin imposed a ban on homosexual propaganda, a ban on abortion advertising, a ban on abortions after 12 weeks and a ban on sacrilegious insults to religious believers."While the other super-powers march to a pagan world-view," writes WCF's Allan Carlson, "Russia is defending Judeo-Christian values. During the Soviet era, Western communists flocked to Moscow. This year, World Congress of Families VII will be held in Moscow, Sept. 10-12."Will Vladimir Putin give the keynote?In the new ideological Cold War, whose side is God on now? - See more at: http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/patrick-j-buchanan/whose-side-god-now#sthash.CK58Le1k.dpuf

The New Blacklist

By Patrick J. Buchanan, April 8, 2014-04-09

"There is a gay mafia," said Bill Maher, "if you cross them you do get whacked."Maher, the host of HBO's "Real Time," was talking about the gay activists and their comrades who drove Brendan Eich out as CEO of Mozilla. Eich, who invented JavaScript and co-founded Mozilla in 1998, had been named chief executive in late March.Instantly, he came under attack for having contributed $1,000 to Proposition 8, whereby a majority of Californians voted in 2008 to reinstate a ban on same-sex marriage. Prop 8 was backed by the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church and the black churches, and carried 70 percent of the African-American vote.Though Eich apologized for any "pain" he had caused and pledged to promote equality for gays and lesbians at Mozilla, his plea for clemency failed to move his accusers. Too late. According to The Guardian, he quit after it was revealed that he had also contributed — "The horror, the horror!" — to the Buchanan campaign of 1992.That cooked it. What further need was there of proof of the irredeemably malevolent character of Brendan Eich?Observing the mob run this accomplished man out of a company he helped create, Andrew Sullivan blogged that Eich "has just been scalped" by gay activists. Sullivan went on:"Will he now be forced to walk through the streets in shame? Why not the stocks? The whole thing disgusts me, as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society."Yet, the purge of Eich, who, from his contributions — he also gave to Ron Paul — appears to be a traditionalist and libertarian — is being defended as a triumph of the First Amendment.James Ball of The Guardian writes that far from being "a defeat for freedom of expression," Eich's removal is a "victory — the ouster of a founder and CEO by his own people, at a foundation based on open and equal expression."Eich's forced resignation, writes Ball, "should be the textbook example of the system working exactly as it should."Ball seems to be saying that what the gay mob did to Eich at Mozilla is what the heroes of Maidan Square did in driving President Viktor Yanukovych out of power and out of his country.This is how the democracy works now.Mitchell Baker, the executive chairwoman of Mozilla Foundation, who escorted Eich out, said in her statement: "Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech.Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard."George Orwell, thou shouldst be living at this hour.What Baker is saying is that you have freedom of speech, so long as you use your speech to advocate equality.And what do we do with those who use their freedom of speech to express their view, rooted in religion and history, that traditional marriage is not only superior to same-sex marriage, the latter is a contradiction of the natural and moral law.And what of those institutions that teach and preach that outside traditional marriage sexual relations are wrong?One such is the 2,000-year-old Catholic Church whose 1976 catechism, "The Teaching of Christ," describes homosexual acts as "sexual vices" and "sexual perversions."Is that just yesterday's church and yesterday's belief?Well, one of the compilers of that catechism was Donald W. Wuerl of Angelicum University in Rome, who would appear to be the same cleric as Cardinal Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., who is now one of the inner circle advising Pope Francis I.Yet, it is not only Catholic, Mormon, Evangelical and Protestant churches that believe this, but the Islamic faith, perhaps a majority of Americans, and more than a majority of the world's peoples.Up until last year, Barack Obama opposed same-sex marriage.What the Brendan Eich episode teaches us, where a man was driven from a position he had earned, because of his beliefs, and was abandoned and left undefended by false friends and gutless peers in Silicon Valley, is this:In the new dispensation, opposition to same-sex marriage disqualifies you from leadership and may legitimately be used to bring about the ruin of your career.This is the new blacklist.The old blacklist declared that if you were a member of the Communist Party that toadied to Stalin, and you refused to recant and took the Fifth Amendment, you would not be permitted to work in Hollywood. We are Americans, said that Hollywood, and we believe in American values.Now, nearly seven decades later, the Stalinists of the '40s are martyr-heroes in Hollywood. And in Silicon Valley conservatives and traditionalists who oppose same-sex marriage are to be denied top jobs and driven into social exile.The new blacklist means that while diversity of races, genders and sexual orientations is mandatory, diversity of thought and opinion is restricted. In Silicon Valley, they burn heretics. - See more at: http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/patrick-j-buchanan/new-blacklist#sthash.UgeDEtbh.dpuf

 

EDITORIAL: HELP MAKE PLIGHT OF SYRIA’S CHRISTIANS KNOWN TO POLITICAL LEADERS

Published: 12:00 GMT Daylight Time - Thursday 17 October 2013

 

http://barnabasfund.org/UK/News/Archives/Editorial-Help-make-plight-of-Syrias-Christians-known-to-political-leaders.html?p=0

By Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund

The plight of Christians in Syria continues to plummet to new depths, and we need your help to make world leaders realise the gravity of the crisis our brothers and sisters are facing.

My colleagues at Barnabas Fund have this week produced asample letter to politicians, and we are urging our supporters to use this as a framework to write to their elected representative on behalf of Christians in Syria caught up in the brutal civil war. 

The deliberate targeting of Christians by Islamist rebels within the opposition is an “angle” that the Western media has largely ignored, while Western political leaders, especially from the US, UK and France, are actually backing the side that is intent on destroying the Syrian Church.

The difficulty for both the media and political leaders is that they “bought” a particular line on the Syrian uprising that has turned out to be false, and they need to be persuaded to have the courage to change their narrative.

The Western “line” on the Syrian conflict is that it has been about the masses rising up against a cruel dictatorial leader in pursuit of democracy and freedom. But as the war has gone on, it has become increasingly clear that, while this may have been the goal of some revolutionaries at the beginning, the battle against President Bashar al-Assad is now largely being fought by jihadists, many of them foreign, who do not represent the Syrian people and want to create an Islamic state. 

 

The 400,000 Christians among the 2.25 million people trapped in the rebel-held part of Aleppo are experiencing the grim reality of this, and yet we do not hear about their suffering in our newspapers or on our TV news bulletins.

They have been completely cut off for many months. While Muslims are able to travel in and out freely, Christians trying to leave the besieged areas are stopped at rebel checkpoints. Christian men are kidnapped and/or killed while women and girls are forced to convert to Islam or else be raped and/or killed.

Last month, around 25 Christians were kidnapped. Many have been held with no ransom demand or news of their whereabouts; their families do not know if they are dead or alive.

 

Not only can the Christians not get out of Aleppo; very few supplies are getting in. Our key partner in the city, a Christian doctor, said that many people, especially children, are now suffering from malnutrition. He said that people have not eaten meat, chicken or fish for the last six to eight months, and the very few vegetables that are now available to buy – at highly inflated prices – are turning rotten. The cost of some essentials has risen an astonishing 1,000%.

Barnabas is distributing food to around 10,000 Christians in Aleppo, as well as many thousands more in other parts of the country. Formerly wealthy Syrian families who used to donate support for others are now asking to be added to the distribution list. One woman said last month, “Here is my last gift; next month add me to the list of people to receive help.”

Their physical hardships are compounded by a lack of fuel, electricity and medicines. Dead bodies and rubbish are piling up in the streets as the fighting stops normal services from functioning.

On top of all this, winter has come early to Aleppo and, with no heating and people weakened by malnutrition, there are fears that the elderly will die in the cold; the young too are expected to suffer.

Our partner said:

I don’t know how long this will last, but God will never let us be ashamed. He is our best supporter.

Some relief for this besieged Christian community is in sight, as government forces last week managed to reopen a road from Aleppo to Homs and supplies of medicine are said to be on their way.  

 

Elsewhere in Syria, targeted attacks against Christian communities by Islamist rebels continue unabated. 

On 26 September, fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) stormed two churches in the northern city of ar-Raqqah; they destroyed crosses and other Christian symbols and hoisted a black flag over one of thebuildings.

Most of ar-Raqqah fell to the opposition in March. Where ISIL dominates, it imposes a strict version of sharia law on the population. Following the church attacks, ar-Raqqah residents took to the streets demanding ISIL leave their city.

 

Islamist rebels have also carried out raids on the historical Christian village of Saidnaya, north of Damascus. As in Maaloula, which was seized by al-Qaeda-linked rebels last month, a version of Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is spoken in Saidnaya.

Two Christians have been killed in the attacks, which appear intended to frighten the population into fleeing.

One church leader said, “Today the people of Saidnaya are afraid of having the same fate as Maaloula.”

Almost all of Maaloula’s mainly-Christian population of 3,000 fled following the Islamist takeover, leaving it a ghost town. 

Syria’s sizeable Christian minority is largely defenceless and unarmed; they are in danger of a full-scale genocide in a country where the Church has existed for nearly 2,000 years. This terrible prospect can no longer be ignored.

Please play your part in making those in a position of power realise what is happening to Christians in Syria, and urge them and their political parties to seek only those outcomes to the conflict that would allow freedom, equality and justice for all.  

Use our sample letter as a basis to write to your elected representative, and, if you have not already done so, please sign our petition and promote it in your church and community.

 

 

 

DISTURBING THREATS TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN THE USA

 

High court declines appeal from photographer objecting to working same-sex ceremony

Published April 07, 2014

FoxNews.com

 

The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from Christian photographers who were fined and admonished by the New Mexico Supreme Court for declining to work a same-sex ceremony, in what could be a blow to religious business owners.

The high court decision not to take up the appeal means the New Mexico ruling against them stands. That ruling is only binding in New Mexico, but could set a precedent that can be cited in subsequent cases.

In this case, Elane Photography, owned by Jon and Elaine Huguenin of New Mexico, was brought to court for refusing to photograph a same-sex couple's commitment ceremony in 2006.

The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in August that the business's refusal to photograph the ceremony involving two women violated the state's Human Rights Act.

Lawyers for the business argued the ruling violates the business owners' free speech rights by compelling them to "express messages that conflict with their religious beliefs."

Huguenin said she also has a right of artistic expression under the First Amendment that allows her to choose what pictures to take, or refrain from taking.

Is ‘intimidation’ to blame for ouster of Mozilla chief over gay marriage?

By Howard Kurtz

Published April 07, 2014

FoxNews.com

The forced resignation of Mozilla’s CEO over his views on gay marriage has sparked a passionate debate that doesn’t always break down along the lines you would expect.

The media framing of the saga of Brendan Eich has been that a bigot got what he deserved (that is, when it was covered; the network evening newscasts couldn’t find time for the Mozilla story last week). But even some of those who deeply believe in same-sex marriage say it’s a case study in intolerance.

Eich was pushed out of the company that makes the Firefox browser after a week in the top job because he contributed $1,000 to California’s Prop 8 back in 2008. He has not spoken of gays in disparaging terms or made his workplace unfriendly to gays. He simply supported the position backed by Barack Obama until the spring of 2012: that marriage should be between a man and a woman…….

Andrew Sullivan, the gay blogger who has been an advocate of same-sex marriage for decades and is married to his husband, is appalled by what happened to Eich:

“Will he now be forced to walk through the streets in shame? Why not the stocks? The whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society. If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out. If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us.”

For Sullivan to accuse some of his fellow gays and gay-rights advocates of fanaticism and intimidation is an incredibly strong statement—and a tribute to his long record of independent thinking.

Americablog’s John Aravosis, who got into a heated debate with Amy Holmes on yesterday’s “Media Buzz,” takes a different view—and at one point compared opposition to same-sex marriage to the Holocaust. Holmes shot back that the Human Rights Campaign endorsed Obama when his position was also in favor of traditional marriage.

Aravosis writes: “Normally, I wouldn’t really care how a corporate CEO felt about marriage equality. Don’t get me wrong, I care. And I’d laud a CEO if she came out in support of it. But I don’t think I’d launch a campaign against a company simply because its boss wasn’t quite there yet on marriage. I know lots of people who aren’t there yet – though that audience is slimming down fast.

“But Brendan Eich wasn’t simply ‘not there yet’ – he played an active role in creating and enforcing discrimination against millions of gay Californians. So his offense was pretty severe, and it went arguably beyond ‘speech’ – he joined the ranks of anti-gay activist.

“But does that mean he can’t be CEO of a company?

“Well. I think once you reach the level of CEO in a visibly-named company, there’s greater internal sensitivity to anything in your life that could harm the business.”

The company chastised itself for giving Eich the top job, and celebrated his departure:

“Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn’t live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves.

“We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act. We didn’t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We’re sorry. We must do better.”

Eich, for his part, told the Guardian before he quit: “I don’t want to talk about my personal beliefs because I kept them out of Mozilla all these 15 years we’ve been going. I don’t believe they’re relevant.”

In National Review, Reihan Salam says Eich could have minimized the damage but chose not to:

“I was a supporter of same-sex civil marriage long before our incumbent president — at least a decade before, if memory serves. I continue to support same-sex civil marriage. But I find the campaign against Brendan Eich instructive…

“Had Brendan Eich decided to apologize — had he decided to say that he had come around on the issue, and had he added that his donation to the Proposition 8 campaign was a profound mistake that he would regret for the rest of his life, and which he will atone for by making a large donation to one of the organizations pressing the case for same-sex civil marriage — he could have spared himself all of this trouble…Agree with him or disagree with him, Brendan Eich was willing to pay a price for his beliefs.”

That is true; he could have saved his job by mouthing the right words.

In Slate, Will Oremus acknowledges that the pendulum has swung dramatically in recent years—but insists it doesn’t matter:

“There was a time when supporting gay marriage made you a radical. Then there was a time when it made you a progressive. Now we’ve reached a point where not supporting gay marriage makes you unfit to lead a major Silicon Valley organization.

“Some will say we’ve come too far, too fast—that it’s unfair to pillory someone for a political view that was held by the majority of Californians just six years ago. They’re wrong…

“The notion that your political views shouldn’t affect your employment is a persuasive one. Where would we be as a democracy if Republicans were barred from jobs at Democrat-led companies, or vice versa?

“But this is different. Opposing gay marriage in America today is not akin to opposing tax hikes or even the war in Afghanistan. It’s more akin to opposing interracial marriage: It bespeaks a conviction that some people do not deserve the same basic rights as others. An organization like Mozilla might tolerate that in an underling, and it might even tolerate it in a CTO. But in a CEO—the ultimate decision-maker and public face of an organization—it sends an awful message.”

We’ll give the last word to a Mozilla staffer, Erin Kissane, who penned a tortured blog post before her boss stepped down:

“As a queer employee of Mozilla, I don’t actually feel particularly vulnerable, but I know many people in the wider community have been stung as well as intellectually offended by this choice. So my first duty is to them: to the people harmed. Neither Brendan nor our board have apologized for the ramifications of their actions, which is certainly their call. But I am sorry for the harm done. To everyone who has flinched away, and everyone re-traumatized by these events, I offer a complete and sincere apology: I have chosen to walk under this banner, and that makes me complicit, and I am so sorry for the pain I know this has caused…

“Brendan, I grew up in a very conservative religious home and many of the people I love the most can still be described as very religious and very conservative. I think your views on this issue are wrong, and that your actions have done harm, but I can no more caricature you as a terrible person driven by homophobia and hatred than I can break off relations with my cherished family members because they take actions similar to yours.”

Her conflicted stance underscores that this is not a clear-cut issue.

What America Would Look Like if We Made All Our Business Decisions Based on Politics  by Justin Charters

 

From Chik-Fil-A to Duck Dynasty and now Mozilla, I never thought I would see the day where people are targeting others for character assassination because they support traditional marriage. It is bad business to claim that because a CEO donated to Prop 8, they are unqualified to run a company.  Since when did you include your political views on your resume?

One of the founders of Bolthouse Farms donated $100,000 to Prop 8 too. Does that mean that their juice is bigoted and isn’t worthy of your refrigerator?  Brandon Flowers is the lead singer for the Killers and he supports traditional marriage, does that mean he does not produce multi-platinum quality music anymore?  Brad Pitt’s Mom thinks gay marriage is immoral, does it mean she doesn’t know how to raise kids?

OK Cupid telling people to not use Mozilla because their CEO supported Prop 8 is as irrational as saying do not use Google Chrome because they openly support gay marriage. I’ve used both browsers and I do not ever recall the terms of service covering social issues.  I installed my browser understanding it was a tool to access information more conveniently.  Before I step foot in Home Depot, I don’t Google if any of the company’s products they sell have CEO’s or executives who support traditional marriage. The best tool in the store is still the best tool, regardless of its political affiliation.

Can you imagine what would happen if we based where we choose to do business on a CEO’s political donations or stances?  Liberals would have to stop flying Southwest Airlines, end their insurance with All State, never eat at Olive Garden and cut their Nordstrom’s cards up. Conservatives would have to stop drinking Starbucks, discontinue their Amazon membership, never go into Dick’s Sporting Goods again and find another place to shop in bulk other than Costco.

And all both parties would be doing is creating a bigger divide and hurting the businesses they were boycotting.  They do not seem to realize or maybe they just don’t care about the simple fact that when a business isn’t making a profit, they usually have to downsize and downsizing comes with layoffs and job losses (Guys, gals that’s the job of Obamacare).  But at least you made your point right?

Don’t get me wrong, I respect your right to be a Grumpy Pants.  I’m grumpy too.  I’m grumpy because society is establishing a standard where “You Aren’t Cool If You Aren’t Being Offended” could be a hit reality TV show.  I’m grumpy because I’m told I’m a bigot if I don’t line up 100% with the activist left on what they think should be the cultural norm  (And I thought it was just religious people who did that type of thing). I am grumpy because I see my generation being brainwashed by the falsehood that political correctness, and not freedom for people to choose, makes the world a better place.

I know.  I know.  I am a bigot and a hate monger because I don’t see that the Mozilla CEO is really Godzilla’s twin brother set to wreak unspeakable havoc on the United States.  Actually I’m just a guy who appreciates people who preach from the pulpit of tolerance to tolerate people who have different beliefs than they do.

Now I wonder what’s on Amazon Prime…