The situation of Christians in Israel is rather ambiguous. On the one hand, Israel positions itself as a democratic state, and formally a Christian should not fear that he will be persecuted for practicing his faith. On the other hand, Christians are a group in the Jewish state that may face persecution and discrimination. There were repeated incidents of violence against the Christian population. In general, today Christianity is professed by about 2% of the total population of Israel. Christians in Israel belong to four main churches: Catholic, Orthodox, Monophysite and Protestant. The Catholic Church has the most followers. It owns an extensive network of religious, cultural and charitable institutions. The second largest in Israel is the Orthodox Church (Jerusalem Patriarchate). The Orthodox Church also includes: the Russian Spiritual Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, founded in 1874, headed by an archimandrite; mission of the American Orthodox Church and mission of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Monophysite Church in Israel has about 4.5 thousand parishioners, and the Protestant Church has about 4 thousand parishioners and is represented by approximately 20 denominations[1].
Legal status[edit]
According to the Israeli Law of Return, a Jew has the right to repatriation if he does not profess another religion (in particular, he cannot be a Christian)[2]. If it is established that the repatriate deceived the Israeli authorities and was already an adherent of a different religion when receiving citizenship, then citizenship may be revoked. There is a danger of citizenship being revoked for someone who has received Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return if a change of religion occurs during the next few years of his residence, since the Ministry of Internal Affairs may doubt the veracity of the declaration and take measures to revoke citizenship[3].
Missionary activity in itself is not prohibited in Israel; converting Israeli citizens to Christianity (or another religion) through persuasion is not a crime[4]. Israeli legislation (punishment law Art. 174א-ב) only prohibits giving or receiving any benefits for converting to another religion. Nevertheless, legislative projects banning missionary work have been repeatedly submitted to the Knesset for consideration, but so far they have remained only as draft laws. It is noteworthy that the latest draft law banning missionary work was submitted to the Knesset by two political antagonists, Rabbi Gafni (Yaadutatora party) and Tomi Lapid (Shinui party)[5]. The law does not prohibit the adoption of any faith; freedom of religion is protected by law.
Since the time of the Ottoman Empire, Christian communities have had internal autonomy. It was subsequently confirmed by both the British Mandate and Jewish authorities. This autonomy extends to the management of communally owned holy places, the appointment of clergy, school education and judicial proceedings. By virtue of the so-called “surrender agreements” concluded by the Turkish authorities with the European powers even before the First World War and recognized by subsequent governments, church property is exempt from most state and municipal taxes, duties and other fees. Sundays and Christian holidays are officially recognized as non-working days for Christians in Israel. Christian communities maintain their own primary and secondary schools. At the request of the Greek Catholic Church and the Baptist Church, the Ministry of Education and Culture officially recognized their schools and took over the payment of salaries for teaching staff[6].
During Turkish rule, Christian ecclesiastical courts had the right to hear certain matters of a civil nature, such as marriage and divorce. After the formation of Israel, the new government retained this right for the traditional communities in the Holy Land. These communities include Orthodox, Greek Catholics (Melkites), Armenian Catholics, Armenian Gregorians, Syrian Catholics, Uniate Assyrians, Jacobites. Since 1970, the same right has been granted to the ecclesiastical court of the Church of England[7].
Christian Arabs in Israel are exempt from compulsory military service (they can serve voluntarily), Israelis who converted to Christianity are not exempt from it[8].
The legal system of the State of Israel includes elements of Halakha
The system of rights of the State of Israel is very specific. An example is the field of family law, namely the institutions of marriage and divorce with related issues. All of them are under the jurisdiction of religious courts in accordance with the law of the Mandate era.
In addition, according to laws passed by the Knesset, the authority over matters of personal status of Israeli citizens depends on their religious affiliation. This provision directly concerns municipalities and village councils in the country. The councils have religious courts that resolve most disputes regarding personal civil status.
Municipality of Ness Ziona. In Israel, municipalities have religious courts that resolve all issues of a citizen’s personal status. Photo: s4.drugiegoroda.ru
The religious right is dominant in Israel. An example of this is the fact that marriage here is impossible unless it is recognized by one of the four main faiths; in particular, marriage between representatives of different religious groups is impossible. Moreover, restrictions on marriage actually do not depend on attitudes towards religion. Thus, non-believers and non-commandment Jews according to Halacha can marry according to Jewish religious law.
The activities of religious institutions in Israel are controlled by a special ministry.
From the very moment of the founding of the State of Israel, the Ministry of Religious Affairs was created to provide for the religious needs of the population and control the activities of religious institutions. As for religious courts (Jewish, Muslim, Druze and Christian), their jurisdiction includes matters of civil status, family law issues, and burials. The jurisdiction of rabbinical courts also includes the approval of conversion.
District Rabbinical Court building in Tel Aviv. Israeli rabbinical courts have jurisdiction over the approval of conversion (the conversion of a non-Jew to Judaism). Photo: upload.wikimedia.org
Researchers note a significant feature of the legal system of the Israeli state - the inclusion in it of elements of Jewish religious law (Halacha). However, she is not identical to him. This is manifested in the fact that when the court needs to make a decision on any issue, first of all, the search for a solution is carried out among the laws of the State of Israel, then among the laws of the British Mandate, and lastly, among Jewish primary sources (Talmud, Halacha, etc.). d.).
Cases of persecution of Christians[edit]
Insulting inscriptions made by Jewish pogromists on the fence of the Church of St.
Nicholas in Migdal HaEmeke Persecution of Christians in Israel has a long history. It began with the formation of the State of Israel.
During the capture of Jerusalem in 1948, many Christian churches and monasteries were occupied or seriously damaged and were subjected to targeted shelling and bombing by Jews. Thus, on May 14, the Zionists captured the Orthodox monastery of St. George. On May 7, a bomb hit the Cathedral of Saints Constantine and Helen, and fragments from it even damaged the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Many artillery shells were fired at the building of the Armenian Patriarchate from the Benedictine monastery on Mount Zion captured by the Zionists. The monastery of St. Abraham, the monastery of St. Spyridon, the building of the Jerusalem Orthodox Patriarchate, the Franciscan monastery, the building of the Latin Patriarchate, the Church of St. Mark and many other churches were also shelled.
Between 1949 and 1967, the Israelis captured and looted many temples and monasteries. All church utensils were stolen and the buildings were turned into military forts. There are many facts of unhindered desecration of Christian cemeteries by Israeli soldiers, blowing up graves with dynamite and digging up graves.
On Christmas Day 1952, Israeli soldiers destroyed the town of Ikret, whose population was 100% Christian. An ancient church located in this town was blown up. In October 1953, the Christian city of Kafr Burom in Galilee was destroyed, and all its churches were blown up.
On April 16, 1954, Zionists attacked the Greek Catholic cemetery in Haifa, and they attacked precisely in order to desecrate it. They danced on graves, dug up remains, and destroyed tombstones. At the same time, 73 stone crucifixes and 50 statues of angels were destroyed.
On January 10, 1963, 70 Yeshivatists attacked the Finnish Christian Mission school in Jerusalem, breaking all the windows there and beating its pastor, Risto Santalu. Thus, the students reacted to an article that appeared on December 23, 1962 in the newspaper Yedioth Aharonot, the author of which accused the mission of converting Jews to Christianity and called for a protest demonstration.
During the 1967 war, Israeli soldiers desecrated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, breaking into it with dogs. While in the Temple, they smoked. Roughly the same thing happened in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which was also shelled by artillery. In Ramallah, soldiers fired on an Episcopal girls' school, destroying it and killing many of its students.
The Baptist Church in Jerusalem was regularly attacked. Either they threw grenades at it, then they desecrated it with obscene inscriptions, or they set fire to the bookstore located next to it. Finally, on October 8, 1982, it was simply burned to the ground along with the adjacent library.
In June 1983, two Orthodox Russian nuns were killed by an American-born Jew. And a Russian Orthodox church located directly across the street from Jerusalem police headquarters was defaced with swastikas that same month.
On April 13, 1985, peacoated hooligans threw stones at a procession of Assyrians, representing the oldest Christian community in Jerusalem and heading to meet the Holy Fire. By the way, it will be noted that the entire area located around the Assyrian monastery once belonged to the Assyrians, but in 1967 all the buildings were confiscated and transferred to the Jews.
In 1988, 18-year-old Kader Tarazi was captured by Israeli soldiers on his way to the grocery store in Gaza. When asked about his religion, he answered: “Christian.” Then they put him on the hood of the car, told him to spread his arms crosswise, and began to beat him. Then he was driven through the streets of Gaza as an edification to the local residents. The next day the young man died from his wounds.
Most anti-Christian actions in Israel occur with the tacit consent or even direct participation of the authorities, often in violation of their own laws. The case of the burning of the books of the New Testament in the city of Or Yehuda received wide publicity. This action took place under the leadership of Vice-Mayor Uzi Aaron in violation of Art. 170, which provides for a punishment of up to 3 years in prison for burning religious books, and students of the local yeshiva helped him. According to Vice Mayor Uzi Aharon, a member of the Shas party (World Unity of Torah Observant Sephardim), this blasphemous act was a response to the actions of Christian missionaries who distributed books of the New Testament to everyone. In this regard, Uzi Aharon decided, in his words, to protect the townspeople from “aggressive Christian propaganda” and demanded that residents hand over the books received from Christians. At the same time, students of the religious school went around apartment by apartment and collected books, which were later used to make a fire. Aaron was pleased with the “event” and believes that the action of burning the Holy Scriptures, so hated by the Jews, “was successful”[9][10].
The constant attacks of Jews against Christians is a serious problem. According to the testimony of the head of the Russian Spiritual Mission, Archimandrite Tikhon, the Jews of Jerusalem, when they see a priest with a cross, usually spit at his feet, and “it’s good, if only phlegm, sometimes they threw stones.” Armenian Christians suffer the most from such boorish antics, since they simply live closer to the places where all this is happening. There have already been requests to parliament about this and demands for the Israeli court to tighten penalties for this kind of antics. The punishment for such actions is mild, everything is limited to fines, and Jews who spat on Christians often refuse to pay these fines, believing that by their actions they are fulfilling their religious duty[11]. Sometimes the police even cover up for the attackers and shift responsibility onto the injured party[12].
The incident that occurred on April 3, 2006 in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth during a Catholic service received wide publicity. When Christians gathered for prayer, suddenly a young Jewish couple entered the temple along with their daughter. No one, of course, began to take them out of the temple, mistaking them for baptized Jews. However, the couple looked around and began throwing firecrackers at the parishioners. As a result of the panic and stampede, several people were injured. Later, hundreds of angry townspeople gathered near the church and tried to carry out lynching of the hooligan, but the police stood up for them. The Israeli authorities presented the incident as an isolated, senseless act of mentally ill people[13]. Arab politicians in Israel commented on the Nazareth incident as a manifestation of the "Jewish disease of racism and hatred of Arabs, whether Muslim or Christian." “The Israeli authorities are trying to explain that the attack on a Christian shrine was not caused by ideological motives. We refuse to accept any justification for this crime,” said the mayor of Nazareth[14]. On the night of June 7-8, 2006, with complete indifference and open connivance of the Israeli authorities, the Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas. It is noteworthy that the church is located close to the city police department, but this does not affect its safety in any way. After the attack was reported, law enforcement officers appeared at the scene only two and a half hours later[15].
In Israeli schools, the arithmetic addition sign has been abolished and replaced with an inverted letter. The rabbis explain this by saying that otherwise children who are accustomed to the + sign will then be difficult to teach to spit on the cross. Through the educational system and mass culture, a hostile attitude towards Christianity is instilled, which is often depicted in the form of a series of crusades and anti-Semitic pogroms[16].
The public organization “Yad Le-Achim” (“Hand to the Brothers”) pays very close attention to ensuring that Christian leaders do not transgress what is permitted. One of the main tasks that this movement sets for itself is the prosecution of prohibited missionary activities. Since it is not formally prohibited, it is necessary to prove not just the missionary nature of this or that activity, but also its illegal nature - for example, the fact of monetary reward for a change of faith, or the inconsistency of the activities of this or that organization with its stated goals. Therefore, in search of the necessary evidence, Yad Le-Achim now and then has to resort to methods characteristic, if not of a special service, then of a private detective agency. To combat the missionaries, surveillance is organized, and agents are introduced into their ranks - usually specially trained yeshiva students who have received special permission from the rabbis to temporarily renounce their religious lifestyle. Their task is, by posing as a potential neophyte, to gradually gain confidence in order to discover the required incriminating evidence. Another goal of the movement is to put pressure on employers to fire a Christian from their job who is allegedly engaged in missionary activities[17].
There are often cases when employers fire their subordinates after learning about their religion, even if they were not engaged in any missionary activity[18].
Two percent of Israel's population is Christian
Jerusalem, October 31, 2005
The Christian community in Jerusalem has traditionally been heterogeneous. Under the apostles, it consisted mainly of fellow tribesmen of the Lord Jesus, and a few converts from the pagans. With the adoption of Christianity in Byzantium, the Greek Orthodox community began to enjoy the greatest influence here. The majority of residents of the modern Christian quarter are Arabs. But what is most amazing is that for the first time in two thousand years, Jews who believed in Christ appeared here again. They have to face the same difficulties that the Savior once faced.
The path to the Christian quarter of Jerusalem, where followers of Jesus have lived for centuries, leads through the spacious Jaffa Gate. The old city covers an area of just one square kilometer and is surrounded by an ancient battlemented wall with loopholes. It occupies a microscopic part of modern Jerusalem. But it is here that the spiritual heart of “Yerushalayim” beats, or “place of peace”, as its name is translated from Hebrew. Until the mid-19th century, new construction in Jerusalem was limited to the old fortress walls. When darkness fell, all city gates were bolted. It was dangerous to remain outside the city: residents of the surrounding Arab villages often did not disdain robbery on the roads. After the formation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the annexation of Jerusalem, large-scale construction of new neighborhoods outside the city walls began, and the total number of residents now exceeds 700 thousand. For comparison, the population of the Christian quarter of the Old City is only 10 thousand inhabitants.
In general, today Christianity is professed by about 2% of the total population of Israel, numbering over 6 million people (Jews - 79.2%, Muslims - 14.9%). This, apparently, is not much more than at the time when the Savior preached here. However, as we know, the Apostle Paul in his epistles says that “... all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:26). Just in our days, God began to gather the Jewish people in the Holy Land in order to save, that is, to convert them to His Beloved Son - Christ. And we are witnessing an amazing phenomenon. After hundreds of years of unsuccessful attempts in the East and West to get the Jews to voluntarily recognize Jesus as the Son of God, we see that the “people of God” gathered in their homeland suddenly began to seem to wake up from a deep sleep. Many of them are increasingly converting to Christianity. The process is difficult. But this is probably how it should be, because every Christian knows that “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
One of the main reasons for the difficulty of Christian preaching in modern Israel is that it can only be called a secular country conditionally. This is especially noticeable when the “Shabbat”, the Holy Saturday, begins. At six o'clock in the evening, public transport stops, most shops close, and no services work. People rush to synagogues: both old and young. Those who are not in a hurry try not to show themselves on the street. God forbid that at this time you drive a car into Mea Sharim, the quarter of Jerusalem where the “Haredi” - the “God-fearing” - live. They will throw stones. Residents of the quarter are easily distinguished by their black hats, long-skirted suits and sidelocks.
Residents of the neighborhood buy food only in special, especially kosher stores. Children are brought up in strictness and chastity. There is no television, a “breeding ground for vices,” in most Haredi homes. Some Israeli politicians want to make the same rules mandatory for the entire population of the country.
Religion is not separated from the state here, so the Supreme Rabbinate - the highest religious institution in Israel - strictly ensures that secular laws do not contradict the Torah. Sometimes even bizarre orders come from the pens of learned rabbis. So, due to its resemblance to the Christian cross, the generally accepted mathematical sign “plus” in this country is prohibited for use in schools and universities, and is replaced by an inverted letter “t”. Through the educational system and popular culture, a hostile attitude towards Christianity is instilled, which is often depicted as a series of crusades and anti-Semitic pogroms. Needless to say, the Orthodox have a hard time in such a harsh religious environment.
Through the endless shopping arcades of a typical oriental bazaar with its inextinguishable aroma of spices, luxurious carpets, embossed dishes and hookahs, our path lies to Brothers Street. A special specialty of Arab traders is the sale of souvenirs to pilgrims. Crosses made of olive wood, colorful postcards with views of biblical places, mother-of-pearl shells with finely carved scenes of the Nativity of Christ - all this equipment is laid out right on the ground, piled up on counters and hung on the walls of numerous shops. Hoping to empty the tourist's wallet before others can, hawkers ring the surrounding area with heart-rending calls, grabbing the buyer by the sleeve, offering the "best price in all of Jerusalem."
Turn left, here is the entrance to a residential building. Having passed through it, you find yourself in a vacant lot, at the far end of which stands the tiny temple of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. It belongs to the Jerusalem Patriarchate, but the main parishioners of the temple are Jews, emigrants from Russia. Just getting to the Holy Land for permanent residence became a kind of miracle for many of them. Indeed, in the Israeli “Law of Return” there is a clause: if a Jew voluntarily accepted any faith other than Judaism, then he has no right to repatriation to the Land of Israel. It is clear that this creates enormous inconvenience not only for many Orthodox repatriates from Russia, but also for all other Christians and Jews by birth. According to the authors of this law, which divided Jews into “clean” and “unclean,” only Arabs, but in no case the sons of Israel, can be the object of Christian preaching in the state of Israel. Here they tried to exclude the compatibility of the concepts “Jew” and “Christian” by law.
Nevertheless, with God's help, baptized emigrants get out as best they can. I have heard an anecdotal story about how one Orthodox Jew managed to move from Russia to live in Israel without renouncing Christ. When filling out the immigration form, he wrote “orthodox” in the “religion” column. In Israel, Jews belonging to the Orthodox wing of Judaism are also called the same way, as opposed to the Reform wing. The English-speaking immigration officer did not notice the catch and “our man” became a citizen of the Holy Land. Another, while undergoing a medical examination, so as not to remove the cross, unhooked the string from it, and glued the crucifix itself to his body with an adhesive plaster, telling the doctor that he had a boil there. So, people approach solving the problem creatively. But this is how it should be, because as one Russian priest admonished his Jewish parishioner who decided to move to live in Israel: “You can do whatever you want, just don’t renounce Christ.”
So they are “yelling”. Fortunately, our people, seasoned by Soviet and perestroika life, are accustomed to finding a way out of any situation. According to the Law of Return, Israeli citizenship can be obtained by any Jew, son or grandson of a Jew, as long as they have not converted to another religion. However, the law says nothing about their relatives, or more precisely about the religion of their wives, husbands and children, who also have the right to enter. For many, this has become a loophole, and this is how most “our people” end up in Israel. Some people manage to get in completely illegally. Thus, in March 2005, the Israeli Immigration Police Department announced that it was able to uncover an “international network” created by repatriates - “vatik”, which was engaged in importing Christians from Russia and the CIS into Israel as “new repatriates.” In recent years, the network has organized the false repatriation of dozens of families, the Department believes. As a result of all these tricks caused by the quirks of Israeli legislation, a fairly large number of Jews still ended up in Israel, some of whom were already Orthodox in Russia, but there is a certain number who came to the Church already in the Holy Land.
The atmosphere in which these people have to live and work cannot be called friendly. When our pilgrim group entered the Jewish quarter of Old Jerusalem through the Zion Gate, riddled with bullets and shrapnel, the guide frankly warned: “If they spit on you, do not be surprised and do not react.” Recently, an Armenian priest was subjected to such an “attack.” The police detained the hooligan, but soon released him. It would seem like a trifle, but all this greatly poisons the life of local Christians. Especially Jews who believed in Christ, who become the object of special hostility from fanatics. When leaving for the Holy Land, in the pilgrimage sector of the Moscow Patriarchate, along with the voucher, I was given a cassette with a film from the famous series “Orthodoxy in the Holy Land.” So, according to the author of the film, director Alexander Slobodsky, who lives in Israel, in order to avoid conflicts with his fellow tribesmen, he even has to hide his pectoral cross, wearing it under his T-shirt on a long chain.
If among Jews the number of people turning to Jesus is growing, then in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem and in the Palestinian Authority, on the contrary, there are fewer and fewer Christians. The main reason is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which has not subsided for half a century. At the same time, of course, Christians who find themselves caught between two fires are also hit hard.
When the British left the Holy Land in 1948 and the UN proclaimed the creation of Jewish and Palestinian states, the latter immediately fought with each other.
What it looked like “from the inside” can be found out from the expressive notes left by a Russian nun who witnessed the battles for Jerusalem: “On the morning of July 15, the British left Jerusalem, and the mandate was surrendered only at midnight. The Jews, without waiting for midnight, began to capture and advance: explosions and fierce shooting began, primarily around our mission and the cathedral. We prayed fervently. Bullets flew like flies through our garden, especially at night. Finally, the Arab troops approached with guns, armored cars, mitrailleuses and other, I must say, weapons of war unknown to me. We distinguished them only by the sounds they made, but we don’t know what kind of invention of military mechanics it was. The noise was unimaginable. After all, we are in Gethsemane - in front of the Holy City vis-a-vis the Mosque of Omar, and then behind it is the Jewish part of old Jerusalem with its two synagogues and extensive domes. And so it began. The cannons fired at the Jewish synagogues, where, neglecting their places of prayer, the Haganah (military detachments of Jews) had climbed into it, as if into a fort, and from there they fired in all directions.
Thousands of bullets rained down on our garden. More bursting dum-dums. Everywhere: on the roads, on the stairs, on the porch, at the sisters’ cells and around – bullets and shrapnel fell everywhere, but the Lord wonderfully protected us all. The Jews settled in neighboring Arab places and, most importantly, occupied Christian churches, schools and hospitals, turning them into forts, so that the Arab troops had to shoot at the churches. The terrible cruel system of the Haganah began to occupy churches and charitable institutions. They tore down the Red Cross flags, regardless of anything. At this time, 8 Russian people, men and women, who remained in the so-called “Russian courtyard”, died. The Arabs blew them up with bombs, mistaking them for Jews, i.e. all the Arabs had already fled from their homes in the neighborhood. The main Jewish headquarters was located in the Russian Mission. We must hope that there is more discipline there, and the Lord will protect our churches. Although the large dome has already been broken through and there are sandbags on the roof. In six days they expect a resumption of hostilities with greater force.” [1].
Do you think things have changed now? There is only one thing - if back then Jews and Arabs fired at each other from mitrailleuses and armored cars, now they use more advanced means of killing. The result, from the point of view of Christians, is unchanged - they again turn out to be “extreme”. Suffice it to recall the seizure in 2001 by Palestinian militants of the ancient Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the subsequent punitive action of the Israelis, during which a Russian pilgrimage hotel was seized. In 2003-2004 Dozens of families from villages located near Jerusalem with a predominantly Orthodox and Catholic Arab population - Beit Sahur and Beit Jala - were forced to abandon everything and flee. As the newspaper “Eton Yerushalayim” reported, this happened due to the increasing incidence of shelling from both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. The hardest hit were those living near the Shedma army base. Since the start of the intifada, the base has been under constant attack by militants. In response, the IDF soldiers, with a clear conscience, “ironed” Beit Sahur and other villages, without particularly delving into whether civilians were hiding there or whether there were only militants. As a result, more than 140 houses were damaged. This forced their inhabitants to quickly leave the village and seek salvation from relatives in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and other cities.
Thus, members of one of the families said that their house was forcibly seized by Palestinian “guerrillas” and began firing from it at the Israeli military base in Gilo. “We tried to talk to the militants, but they insisted that our problems did not bother them. Even if the house is destroyed due to shootings, they don’t care,” the father of the family told a newspaper correspondent. Other residents who tried to protect their homes from seizures were severely beaten. As is known, the same tactic of covering civilians with a “shield” was adopted by Chechen terrorists.
There is no war going on in the Old City of Jerusalem now - in December last year, the Israelis and Palestinians signed a “hudna” - a temporary truce. However, here too the Christian world is concerned about the rapid reduction in the number of its coreligionists. According to the city mayor's adviser for religious communities, Moti Levy, in the Christian quarter of the Old City, despite its small size, the community does not feel like a minority, thanks to the support of the rest of the Christian world. But in East Jerusalem, among Muslim Arabs, it is really difficult for them to live. Christian Arabs who do not want to fight Jews are branded “traitors” by their Palestinian compatriots. The attitude towards Christians especially worsened after the invasion of Iraq by the United States, Great Britain and their allies. In the East, this aggression was perceived as a new “crusade” by the West against the Muslim world. And the Islamists, as in the old days, take it out on their own blood brothers who have just converted to Christianity, considering them as a “fifth column.”
As Levy notes, most souvenir shops in East Jerusalem, traditionally owned by Christians, have already found Muslim owners, and if not, they pay tribute to racketeers. They have nowhere to expect protection, because the Israeli police don’t care about such subtleties, and even in the Arab quarter. As a result, 18 thousand Muslims and only 5 thousand Christian Arabs now live in the old city of Jerusalem: a decade ago there were twice as many of the latter. Most of the latter prefer, giving up everything, to emigrate. And this is now, during the period of the next “truce”, which, as practice shows, in the Middle East does not last very long. A visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority leaves a lasting impression of the calm before a big storm. This means that Christians will continue to fall under the steamroller of the Arab-Israeli confrontation.
Even an inveterate skeptic will not deny: many biblical predictions regarding Jerusalem and Israel have already come true. According to the word of Jesus, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Israel was in 70 AD. destroyed by the Romans, and the people themselves, who crucified the Son of God, were scattered like sand on the face of the earth. But the Old Testament prophets say that in the last days “the people of God” will once again gather in their land. In 1948, that is, two thousand years later, this happened with the formation of the State of Israel.
Thanks to soil cultivation and irrigation, the local deserts have turned into beautiful citrus groves, and dry reservoirs into rich fish farms. The drip irrigation is impressive - the lifeless Martian landscape is all around, the air is melting from the heat, and the trees and flowers are blooming wildly. Rubber tubes with small holes are laid on the ground, from which clear, life-giving moisture, necessary for plant life, oozes. Moreover, only 5% of the population is employed in Israeli agriculture. But thanks to high technology and the ingenuity of the Israelis, this is quite enough to feed not only our own people, but also other peoples. Including Russians, who can no longer imagine their New Year’s table without fresh Israeli strawberries.
Indeed, one never ceases to be amazed at the achievements of agriculture in this country. Less than sixty years ago, this state was built on sand and in the middle of impassable malarial swamps, without drinkable water, and now the markets are already bursting with abundance, the kibbutz complain about the crisis of overproduction, vegetables and fruits are cheap and available to everyone. This is how the prophecy of Isaiah came true, who said 2,500 years ago that when the Jews returned from exile to their homeland, “the desert and the dry land will rejoice, and the uninhabited country will rejoice and bloom like a daffodil; It will bloom magnificently and rejoice, it will triumph and rejoice” (Is. 35:1-2).
What will be next? Israel will turn to Christ and be forgiven: “And on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem I will pour out the spirit of grace and compunction, and they will look at Him whom they pierced (Jesus), and they will mourn for Him, as they mourn for their only begotten son, and mourn, how they mourn their firstborn. On that day there will be a great cry in Jerusalem, like the cry of Hadadrimon in the valley of Megiddon... On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for the washing away of sin and uncleanness.” (Zech. 6-12). The city of Jerusalem will be the city of the King; all nations will worship Jesus. The appearance of the Holy City will be similar to the Heavenly Kingdom on earth: “And the city has no need of either the sun or the moon for its illumination; for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The saved nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates will not be locked during the day, and there will be no night there. And they will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations; And nothing unclean will enter into it, nor anyone who practices abomination and lies, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 21:23-27). Even nature will triumph: “And it will happen in that day: the mountains will drip with wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the riverbeds of Judah will be filled with water” (Joel 3:18). So, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, “all Israel,” and with him all of us, will be saved.
Sergey Putilov, Jerusalem – Moscow
Note
[1] The tragedy of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem // “Orthodox Rus'”. Church and public body, No. 13 (417), July 1/14, 1948.
Christians in Israel (statistics)
In Israel, Christians make up 2.3% of the country's total population and 13.7% of its non-Jewish population (90% of whom are Arabs). About 50% of Christians live in Galilee. The largest communities are in Nazareth and Bethlehem (Bethlehem). Most Christians in Israel speak Arabic and are no different in customs and appearance from Muslim Arabs.
Christians in Israel belong to four main churches: Catholic, Orthodox, Monophysite and Protestant.
The Catholic Church is the largest. It owns an extensive network of religious, cultural and charitable institutions. The Catholic Church includes a number of Eastern churches that retain their structure and rituals, but recognize the primacy of the Pope: Greek Catholic, Maronite, Armenian Catholic, Syro-Catholic, Chaldean and Coptic.
The Orthodox Church is the second largest in Israel. Inside, the largest one is Greek. The latter is headed by the Patriarch; he occupies a leading position among the country's Orthodox clergy.
The Orthodox Church also includes: the Russian Spiritual Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, founded in 1874, headed by an archimandrite; mission of the American Orthodox Church and mission of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The Monophysite Church has about 4.5 thousand parishioners. It is represented in Israel by the Armenian Apostolic (Gregorian) Church. About half of its parishioners live in the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem. Monophysites include Armenians, Copts, Jacobite Syrians, and Ethiopians.
The Protestant Church in Israel has about 4 thousand parishioners and is represented by approximately 20 denominations.
Israel recognizes autonomy in the internal affairs of Christian communities, which extends to the administration of holy sites, the appointment of clergy, school education and judicial proceedings. Sundays and Christian holidays are officially recognized as non-working days for Christians. Over the past 30 years, many holy places have been restored at government expense. Christians are exempt from military service.
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Attitudes towards Christianity in Israeli society[edit]
According to a survey conducted in March 2009 by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies in collaboration with the Center for Judeo-Christian Relations, attitudes towards Christianity in Israeli society are quite complex and ambiguous. Secular Israelis are more tolerant of Christianity than religious Jews; People over 30 are also more tolerant of Christianity compared to young people. Israelis with higher levels of education and income, as well as Ashkenazi Jews, show greater tolerance. Approximately 52% of those surveyed said they had no Christian friends either in Israel or abroad. 91% of “secular” respondents said they did not mind someone wearing a cross, while 60% of Orthodox respondents said it bothered them. 80% of the “secular” people have nothing against going to church and have been to churches as tourists. Among the religious population of Israel, 83% are convinced that entering a church is prohibited. 78% of religious believe Christianity is “idolatry”; 66% of secular Israelis disagree. Secular Jews believe that Christian soldiers serving in the Israeli army should be allowed to swear an oath on the Gospel. When asked whether Christian communities should have the right to buy land to build churches, the majority of respondents in both segments answered in the negative (64% of non-religious and 95% of Orthodox). As part of the study, questions were asked by telephone to 500 Israelis[19].
According to the testimony of the Catholic priest Slawomir Abramovsky from Haifa: “In the Jewish mentality, a Christian ... is someone who is best avoided. Children, studying the history of their people at school, learn about the persecution of Jews by Christians. A serious problem is the attitude of some employers who do not hire Catholics. There are also problems in schools, where some children treat Catholic children badly, and even the efforts of teachers do not help.”
In general, the atmosphere in which the Christian minority in Israel has to live and work cannot be called friendly. This is especially true for Jews who believed in Christ, who become the object of special hostility from fanatics[16].
Orthodoxy in Israel[edit]
Main article
:
Jerusalem Orthodox Church
Orthodox Christians in Israel are members of the Jerusalem Patriarchate.
Since 1874, the Russian spiritual mission has been operating in Palestine. The objectives of the mission were to help pilgrims and preserve Christian shrines. The mission also helped the local Orthodox population, organized educational institutions in Palestine and published spiritual literature. The mission was most active before the revolution. After 1917, when support from Russia ceased, the scope of its activities decreased, and some of its acquisitions were lost. Currently, the following churches and monasteries are under the jurisdiction of the Russian Spiritual Mission: Trinity Cathedral and the temple in honor of the holy martyr Queen Alexandra at the Russian Compound in Jerusalem, the Gornensky convent near Jerusalem, the monastery with a temple in honor of the holy Apostle Peter in Jaffa, the monastery of the saint Equal to the Apostles Mary Magdalene in Tiberias, the monastery of the Holy Trinity in Hebron, the temple in honor of the holy prophet of God Elijah on Mount Carmel, the monastery of St. John the Baptist in Jericho. A children's Sunday school has been operating in the Gornensky Monastery since March 2009. Today the Mission is, first of all, the representation of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the state structures of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan[20].
In addition to the Russian one, there are Orthodox missions of the American and Romanian Churches in Israel (and in general, in the Holy Land). Their goals and objectives are similar. The scope of their activities in comparison with the Russian mission is more modest.
Ancient Eastern churches in Israel[edit]
Ancient Eastern churches in Israel are represented by small communities.
The Armenian Apostolic Church includes the autonomous Jerusalem Patriarchate, which cares for the Armenian church communities of Israel and Jordan. In Jerusalem itself (in the old city) there has been an Armenian quarter since ancient times. The Armenian Patriarchate has ownership rights to part of the main Shrines of the Holy Land, including the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem. In addition to the Armenians, Copts and Ethiopians have their own places for prayer in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Ethiopian Church in Israel is a small community headed by an archbishop and consists mainly of several dozen monks and nuns living in the Old City and in the vicinity of the Ethiopian Church in West Jerusalem.[7]
There are approximately 700 members of the Assyrian Church of the East living in Israel (mostly in Jerusalem) and an even smaller number of members of the Chaldean Church (Uniate). The Assyrian Church in Israel has its own archbishop.
Israel is the cradle of three world religions
Israel can rightfully be called a unique country, because it is the cradle of three world religions. At the same time, it is quite easy to answer the question of which faith of the Israelis is considered the main one. The fact is that today the country has more than 7 million inhabitants.
Most of them profess Judaism, which is 78% of the country's citizens. Another 15% of them profess Sunni Islam. As for Christians, they are approximately 2%. The remaining 3% are new religions, different religious communities and movements - Baha'is, Druze, Ahmadists.
Jerusalem, Israel, view of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Despite the fact that Judaism is the main, but not official, religion of the State of Israel, representatives of other religious denominations, for example, Christians, also live in the country. Photo: atorus.ru
It is worth noting that the Christian faith in Israel is defined in a very unique way. The fact is that in this state only those who formally declared their faith are considered Christians. Also, their number includes only those who are regular parishioners of a particular church.
Based on this information, the number of Christians in the country is estimated at 2% of the total population of Israel. Naturally, this information is far from true. In the State of Israel you can meet representatives of the main Christian movements: Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants.
Catholicism in Israel[edit]
Catholicism in Israel is represented by both communities of the Latin rite and the Eastern rites (Uniates). The nationality of the believers is Palestinian-Arabs; after World War II, Catholic-Jews also appeared. The latter is closely connected with the personality of the Carmelite hieromonk Daniel Rufeisen. During the Great Patriotic War, he, being a Jew, pretended to be a Pole and enlisted in the German gendarmerie. Taking advantage of his position, he transferred weapons to the underground fighters, and then failed the action to liquidate the ghetto in the town of Mir. Hiding from persecution, he hid in the attic of a Carmelite monastery, where, after reading Christian literature, he came to faith. Already being a monk, Fr. Daniel came to Israel. Thanks to his activities, communities of Catholic Jews were founded in Haifa and then in Jerusalem. In 1958, services began to be held in Hebrew. Soon other priests joined the mission, many of whom came from Jewish families.
In the early 1990s, mainly due to immigration from the countries of the former USSR, the number of Jewish Christians increased. Although most of the baptized immigrants were Orthodox, there were also Catholics among them. In 1991, the Russian Catholic Society of St. Judah Thaddeus, services, unlike the existing communities of Jewish Catholics, were conducted in Russian. Alexander Deriev stood at its origins. However, for reasons unknown to the general public, the relationship between the two Jewish Catholic communities - “Russian” and “Hebrew-speaking” - did not work out, and at the end of 1994, according to A. Deriev, “due to the machinations of the Hebrew-speaking Catholic community, the society of St. Judas Thaddeus ceased to exist." However, at the beginning of 1998, a small group of Russian-speaking Catholics began to gather again for Sunday mass in Beit Jala, which was celebrated by a Spaniard who barely spoke Russian. Masses were also celebrated sporadically in Jerusalem. Orthodox Jews repeatedly tried to interfere with the activities of this group: they repeatedly broke the sign to Beit Jala, and then tried to set fire to the monastery that provided it with its premises.
It should be noted that relations between Catholic Jews and Arabs are quite cool. According to priest Slawomir Abramovsky, this is a consequence of the Arab-Israeli conflict. “Many Christian Arabs are leaving; as a result, the local Church is going through a crisis and the local clergy has enough problems of its own to even take care of the emigrants. Another problem is xenophobes who ... argue that Catholics must learn Arabic in order to participate in the life of the local Church. However, there are also circles that are very open to dialogue.” Sometimes Catholic Jews also have to leave in search of a better life. A great loss for Catholic Jews was the deprivation of Israeli citizenship of the Deriev couple in 1997 and the death of Fr. Daniel Rufeisen in July 1998. For a number of reasons, many communities disintegrated.
In the 90s, a proposal arose among some believers to establish a separate jurisdiction for Catholic Jews. This idea caused numerous debates; there were both its opponents and supporters. Opponents of the idea believed that this would provoke a division of Christians along national lines; supporters believed that this would serve to more successful preaching among Jews.
Finally, in August 2003, it was decided not to create a separate jurisdiction for the care of Catholic Jews and to leave it as before under the jurisdiction of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, but to create a separate vicariate for this purpose. By decree of Pope John Paul II, Abbot Jean Baptiste Gurion (Jewish by nationality) was appointed bishop-vicar. Gurion's episcopal consecration took place on November 9, 2003 in the Church of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant near Abu Ghosh[21].
After the death on June 23, 2005, Bishop. Jean Baptiste On September 1 of the same year, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa was appointed to the post of vicar of the Hebrew-speaking community[22].
Protestantism in Israel[edit]
Episcopal Cathedral of St.
George Protestant communities have existed in Palestine since the 19th century. Western missionaries who arrived in the Holy Land intended to engage in the conversion of the Muslim majority and Jews, but the only activity that yielded any result was the seduction of local, mainly Orthodox Christians into Protestantism.
The Anglican Church appeared in Palestine in 1841. Currently, congregations of this branch of Protestantism are subordinate to the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East, one of the local churches of the Anglican Communion. The Jerusalem diocese of this church unites approx. 4.5 thousand Anglicans in Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Approximately 2.5-3 thousand of them live in Israel. It is the largest Protestant community in Israel. The cathedral of the diocese is the Church of St. Great Martyr George in Jerusalem[23].
The Lutheran Church began its existence in the Holy Land in 1841, when the Queen of Great Britain and the King of Prussia decided to establish a joint Protestant bishopric in Jerusalem. In 1886, the single bishopric was divided into German and English. In addition to the Germans, Arab parishioners also appeared in the Lutheran community. Since 1979, the Arabic-speaking parishioners have their own bishop and both churches exist independently of each other. The Arab community numbers approximately 500 and the German community approximately 200. German Lutheran property was confiscated by the British in 1939 and then acquired by the Israeli government in 1951 as part of reparation agreements.
Baptists first appeared in the Holy Land in Nazareth in 1911. Today the Association of Baptist Churches has a total of ten churches and centers in Acre, Qana, Haifa, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Kfar Yassif, Nazareth, Petah Tikva, Rama and Turan. The number of believers is about 900, most of them Arabs.
The community of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, dating back to 1840, is small and consists of foreigners helping pilgrims to the Holy Land. She owns two temples in Jerusalem and Tiberias. Both churches have hospices. The independent Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society trains nurses in Nazareth.
In recent years, three Protestant communal agricultural settlements have been established in different parts of Israel. Kfar Habaptistim, north of Petah Tikva, was founded in 1955 and, in addition to farming, provides conferences and summer camps for Baptists and other Protestant communities in the country. Nes Amim, near Nahariya, was founded by a group of Danish and German Protestants in 1963 as an International Center for Promoting Christian Understanding of Israel. The settlement of Yad Hashmonah was founded west of Jerusalem in 1971. In this settlement there is a hotel for tourists and pilgrims from Finland[7].
In addition to the above, there are other Protestant denominations in Israel. The number of believers in them is also very small.
Christianity is the third largest religious denomination in Israel
In Israel, Christianity is recognized as the third religion, after Judaism and Islam. There are 150-200 thousand Christians in the country. This is approximately 2% of the population, and there are difficulties in determining the exact number of Christians, since Israeli law recognizes as such only those people who have officially declared this or are parishioners of Christian churches.
In 2000, there were 197 Christian churches and places of worship operating in Israel, belonging to 72 different Christian denominations.
Meeting of the Council of Churches of the Middle East. Some of the Christian churches present in Israel cooperate through the Council of Churches of the Middle East. Photo: armenpress.am
Some of the Christian churches operating in Israel cooperate together in the Council of Churches of the Middle East, associated with the World Council of Churches. Almost all major Christian denominations are represented in the country. The overwhelming majority are Catholics. As of 2010, there were 90,000 people of different traditions. Most Israeli Catholics are Uniates.
150-200 thousand
Christians live in Israel live
The Melkite Catholic Church is recognized as the largest Greek Catholic church in the country. It unites about half of the Catholics in the State of Israel. In addition, there are also communities of Maronites, Syrian Catholics, Chaldeans and Armenian Catholics. The Roman Catholic Church of the Latin Rite has 30 thousand believers in Israel.
Patriarchal Cathedral of the Melkite Catholic Church in Damascus. The Melkite Catholic Church is the largest Greek Catholic Church. Photo: upload.wikimedia.org
Orthodox and believers of the ancient eastern churches of the Holy Land number 30,000 people. Protestants are also present here. These are Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Adventists, Baptists, and supporters of the Holiness Movement.
Several thousand Israeli citizens are recognized as supporters of a wide variety of near-Christian organizations. For example, since 1920, Jehovah's Witnesses have been preaching in the country. In addition, since the 1970s, Mormons have been trying to gain a foothold in Israel, and since 2015, communities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been operating here.
Notes[edit]
- [1]
- [2]
- [3]
- [4]
- [5]
- National and religious minorities of modern Israel
- ↑ a b in Jewish Virtual Library - Christian Communities in Israel
- [6]
- [7]
- [8]
- Israel Shamir: Orthodox Jews consider it their religious duty to spit on the cross
- In Jerusalem, a group of young Jews attacked Christian Armenians with spitting
- [9]
- [10]
- [11]
- ↑ a b Two percent of the population of Israel profess Christianity // Pravoslavie.ru, October 31, 2005.
- Evgeny Levin. ALWAYS ON GUARD. The Israeli struggle against missionaryism: truth and fiction
- Note
: It has not yet been possible to find monitoring of such cases based on AI, but on Israeli forums we can find topics where users talk about how an employer fired an employee after learning, moreover, by accident (that is, the employee did not talk about this topic) that that Christian, it's not difficult - A survey on tolerance towards Christianity was conducted in Israel // Blagovest-Info, 03.23.2009
- Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem. Official site
- Mikhail Fateev
Hebrew-speaking Catholics. Past and prospects//Religare, October 6, 2005 - Hebrew-speaking Catholic vicariate in Israel
- The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem
Abraham
And then the Bible talks about Abraham's sacrifice of his first-born son Isaac, which could never have happened, but which also tells us about Calvary, predicting it. “In the sacrifice, Abraham represented God the Father, and Isaac represented the Son of God, who had to suffer on the cross. This parallel is drawn in the Gospel, where it is said: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The importance of the prophecy of the blessing of all nations in the Descendant of Abraham is evident from the fact that God confirmed His promise with an oath.” After Calvary, Judaism ceased to have the meaning of its existence. The Jews cannot make more sacrifices, because... Israel, shortly after Calvary, lost the high priesthood. The Son of God Jesus Christ became the High Priest for everyone. For Christians, followers of the original faith, God appointed Jesus Christ as the High Priest, “the High Priest of the good things to come,” who “not with the blood of goats and bulls, but with His own blood, once entered into the sanctuary and obtained eternal redemption” for those who love Him, and therefore those who believe in Him " (Hebrews 9, 11-12)
