letters from the holy land

Dear Friends of Saint George Taybeh,

I wish all of you a blessed Holy Christmas celebration with your loved ones. As I am celebrating Christmas in Boston with my family it is with a heavy heart to know about the tragedy in Connecticut. Prayer is more important than ever. May our New Born Lord and Savior Jesus Christ have mercy upon us and save us from all evil around us. Forgive the repeat in this recent blog, but it is meant to keep our hope in the Good News. With sincere good wishes during these most holy days,

Maria

Turning our Eyes to Bethlehem

By Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.

"Let all the earth worship you, and sing to you Shout with joy to God, all the earth!"

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

It is that special time of year where all eyes might turn to Bethlehem to receive the Prince of Peace in a place where peace simply does not exist right now. Although during this year’s International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people on 29 November, the United Nations General Assembly made a symbolic historic vote to grant Palestinians non-member state status which nine countries refused but 138 confirmed the existence of Palestine.

It is the same day, by the way, in 1947 Palestine was partitioned to create the State of Israel and the ethnic cleansing began for a pure Jewish state which continues to cause the day to day suffering of all people in the Holy Land shrieking down the Christian presence to less than 2% . So the complicated story continues with one nation’s great glory to another nation’s great catastrophe when more than 500 Palestinian towns were erased from the map and more than 750,000 people were forced to leave their homes at gunpoint to save their lives.

Dear Friends of Saint George Taybeh,

On the new calendar we desire to wish all of you a most blessed, healthy, happy and wonderful Church year.

The internet is buzzing with the news for September concerning Palestine to be recognized or not to be recognized by the United Nations and truthfully speaking whether we are recognized or not, on the ground nothing will change. We will continue to be a people who celebrate culture, heritage, traditions and values. However, all around us we see more and more Israeli settlements. We are technically in only 22% of historic Palestine, but still we cannot seem to have this small piece of land for any type of Free Palestine because Israel has a greater aim at 100% Jewish homeland. The settlements now take up more than half of the West Bank and control all boarders, roads, and natural resources. Last month we spent over ten days without running water. Do not be tricked by your mass media that Palestinians are terrorists, because each and every single day we have the Israeli army cheating us out of our basic human rights: thus some of us cannot maintain our peace and cannot keep the non-violent actions. But for us who witness for the peace and love of Christ, we shall continue a peaceful resistance. Please find my latest article aimed at promoting our village festival and we ask you to keep us in your holy prayers for this unique event because it is truly part of our non-violent action.

Christ is in our Midst, a blessed ecclesiastical year to all of you,

Maria

Which Soldiers Do You Like?

By Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.

Dear Friends of St. George Taybeh,

Sharing the following promotional article with you in case you wish to share it with people in charge of pilgrimages. And, also to let you know that the Palestine News Network (where this article appears online) offers alternative news. Our tourism is seriously affected by what is happening in the region in general and the Bethlehem and Jerusalem hotels are just empty. We hope you will keep us in your prayers for peaceful times ahead and by the way, please give glory to God even for simply things like water since Taybeh has not had running water for about ten days now.

With sincere good wishes on this most holy day,

Maria

Promoting the Husband’s Village

by Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.

I have become a fanatic with inviting people to visit one of the most ancient places in Palestine where we enjoy a deep rich history of Palestinian culture and faith in my husband’s village of  Taybeh  where I have lived for the last sixteen years but have been visiting for over thirty years.  It is not the easiest thing in the world to be promoting a different face of Palestine but I find myself part of the group that  works for a modern, moderate and liberal Palestine.  

A free Palestine with basic human rights for all.  I might say in our case, the basic right, to brew beer for beer lovers since Taybeh in modern times is becoming famous for its Palestinian Beer, the first micro-brewed beer in the Middle East and the first Palestinian product to receive franchise and produced in Germany under the Taybeh Brewing license.  

Dear Friends of St. George Taybeh,

Praying and hoping all of you are well and receiving many blessings from God on this most holy day. Christ is in our Midst! Thank you for helping us with our church projects in Taybeh whether financially or with prayers. I would like to share with you an update and the following article that was written for This Week in Palestine (July issue) reflecting the general work in Taybeh under my husband’s leadership as mayor which we hope is coming to an end but the elections scheduled July 9th were cancelled again. The Taybeh Education Fund established in Norfolk, Virginia will have a new home with the Annunciation Church in Little Rock, Arkansas where we are getting help to be a non profit charitable organization with the $60,000 raised to serve as an endowment educational fund helping our college students with an annual scholarship for local tuition in Palestine. The Taybeh Orthodox Housing Project is building the 19th and 20th home this summer which means the tenth duplex building with the grand total raised since 2000 reaching $165,000. Most of the homes are skeleton unfinished units but six families have completed their home on their own and settled in while others are partially finished. Fr. David Philip Khoury, our first cousin just finished an amazing renovation project of our St. George Church and the interior looks more beautiful than ever. Come visit us! Please feel free to share our news with others, any church, blog or your local paper; and know we continue to survive with your prayers. Ask your church to provide a link to us, www.saintgeorgetaybeh.org,

In Christ’s love,

Maria

Taybeh in the New Millennium

By Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.

Dear Friends of St. George Taybeh,

"Come ye and receive light from the unwaning Light and glorify Christ, Who arose from the dead."

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

On this Great and Holy Saturday we have just celebrated the Miracle of the Holy Fire from the Life Giving Tomb of Christ which appeared approximately at two in the afternoon local time in Jerusalem. Huge celebrations took place in Ramallah with over ten Scout groups both Christian and Muslim where my husband as Mayor of Taybeh and I went to wait for the Holy fire joining the Mayor of Ramallah, Jannette Michael, a faithful Orthodox Christian. The local protocol calls for the Ramallah governor to be present and as a Muslim woman, Dr. Laila Ghanam was holding the flame from the Miracle of the Holy Fire in respect to our Christian traditions marching in the streets of Ramallah. It was a great honor for the first time in the Holy Fire celebrations to have His Excellency the Prime Minister of Palestine, Dr. Salam Fayyad join the entire Christian community with other ministers from the Palestinian Parliament and on behalf of the President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas. This amazing day reflects a great hope for our Christian presence in the Holy Land. At about 5:30 pm the Light of Christ reached our village of Taybeh and we placed it on the altar of St. George Orthodox Church following a beautiful ecumenical procession of chanting and more scout groups. Truly the Lord is Risen!

May you always be guided by the True Light of Christ that we witnessed on this holy day.

With sincere wishes for a most blessed Holy Pascha to all of you, Maria

Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.

A tremendous miracle continues to happen every year at the same place and at the same time in Jerusalem no matter how many of us Christians are disappearing from the Holy Land. The terrible conditions of the Israeli military occupation and the fanaticism of extreme groups has contributed to our Christian population dropping even way below 2% of the total Palestinian population of four million people in Gaza and the West Bank. Even inside Israel proper, the Christian population is also less than 2%. Some days, I feel I am living in a museum by answering the same questions over and over to the few visitors that show support and solidarity by visiting not just the holy shrines but the living stones of the Holy Land, the Christian people in the communities like Taybeh where I have lived for over sixteen years.

By Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.

The biblical land of Canaan has been my home since the failed Oslo Peace Agreement when my husband, Daoud, returned to his home village of Taybeh. Sometimes I sit in the Middle of the Wilderness thinking it would have been easier if he simply married a nice girl from his village. I am sure she would pronounce everything perfectly well and travel much less than I do. I spent the whole day driving in historic Palestine, to take my husband to a business meeting passed Haifa with the required permits, of course, practicing the pronunciation of my son’s name and still after a three hour drive one way and twenty five years of practicing saying “ Canaan “ something is wrong with my accent. As a Greek, I simply cannot pronounce my son’s name correctly in Arabic and what a great name he has. It is his grandfathers meaning the land of milk and honey and all of historic Palestine where the first Canaanites dwelled given my first born son his deep roots and rich legacy of being Palestinian today. I got smart and gave my second born son a Greek name, so I have no trouble whatsoever saying “Constantine.” I seem not to be able to say anything appropriately in Arabic realizing that I have even pronounced my husband’s name incorrectly for over thirty years. Elena, my daughter, begs me not to speak Arabic.

By Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.

There are so many revolutions happening all around me, I am not sure which one to pay attention too. You lose count of the innocent people who die daily protesting for freedom and democracy in other countries. “Taste the Revolution” has been our company slogan for the last six years but the type of revolution happening in Taybeh has always been a peaceful one, a non violent one. We believe you can have peaceful resistance without guns and weapons. We are fighting the good fight by making a premium high quality product so we can inspire people to choose Palestinian products and help boost the economy. We are trying to practice non violent action in a very violent environment where in the month of February alone, seven people were killed and the Israeli settlers have uprooted more than 800 trees in Palestine. It was a huge disappointment to say the least about the U.S. veto of the UN Security council resolution condemning continued settlement construction by Israel in the Palestinian Territories. This was totally opposite from what President Obama says in press conferences and in the media. I don’t understand the language America speaks anymore. I am seriously trying to see the Light of God in the darkness.

The keynote speaker at the Orthodox Institute this fall will be Dr. Maria Khoury of Palestine. Here she shares about the miracle of Holy Fire in Jerusalem.

Carole

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Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.

April 26, 2008 - Pilgrims from all over the world gathered in Jerusalem today to witness the greatest of all miracles-the Miracle of the Holy Fire. The miracle has turned into a magnificent cultural event but many simply could not get anywhere near the Holy Sepulchre. The soldiers, the police, the large crowds, the noise, the drums of the Boys Scouts and the Girl Scouts anxiously waiting to receive the Holy Fire from the Life Giving Tomb of Christ is a day long adventure. It was a miracle in itself that Sam and Janet from our Sister Parish, Annunciation Church in Little Rock attended.

It was an exciting celebration with the sound of many languages at the same time where representatives of many churches from all over the Holy Land come to receive the Holy Fire and carry it back in small lanterns to their particular churches for the Midnight Resurrection Service. Special permits were issued for Christians from Gaza to enter Jerusalem but the large crowds meant no entry to the Holy Sepulchre.

It is on this Great and Holy Saturday that the Holy Fire was received by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, His Beatitude Theopilus as it has been done every year, on the same day, in the same manner, at the same time, at the same holy place of Christ's Life Giving Tomb. This is the miracle that allows us to believe that Christ is alive and offers eternal life. This is the miracle that tells us that Christ is truly among us. This powerful miracle is another way that God communicates. As we chant in our Midnight Resurrection Service: "Come ye and receive light from the unwaning Light, and glorify Christ, Who a rose from the dead."