The myth of the Arab Orthodox Movement.
The myth of the Arab Orthodox Movement
Since the emergence of Arab nationalism in the 19th century, a political and social movement has emerged in Palestine aimed at the Arabization of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. This movement has one and only goal: to develop an Arab identity among the members of the flock, to appoint an Arab nationalist patriarch, to place the Patriarchate’s properties under his control, and to replace Greek with Arabic as the liturgical language of the Church, in order to strengthen Arabization and the regime of servitude within our Roman people.
According to the narrative of this “Arab Orthodox Movement,” over the past five hundred years a non-existent “struggle” took place against a “secret alliance” between the various authorities that governed Palestine and Jordan and the Greek spiritual leadership of the Patriarchate, which supposedly acted against the interests and rights of the Arab-speaking faithful. However, their narrative is based on many historical inaccuracies and falsehoods, which we will examine below in order to fully understand the issue and to reveal the dirty methods used by the Arabists to erase our identity.
First false claim: "We are Arabs of Ghassanid origin"
This is a widespread myth with absolutely no basis, which attempts to claim that we are direct descendants of Monophysite/Miaphysite Arabs, who somehow magically became Chalcedonian Christians after the Islamic conquest of the region. In reality, most Ghassanids were either assimilated into Syrian (and not Roman) communities or were forcibly converted to Islam.
Second false claim: "The Church of Jerusalem has always been historically Arab"
This is a truly ridiculous claim, to the point of attempting to present as Arabs the majority of previous bishops and patriarchs, including Patriarch Sophrony I of Jerusalem, who held the patriarchal throne at the time of the Islamic conquest. However, the original bishops of the Church were all Hellenized Jews until 135 AD. And when the first bishops from the nations began to be appointed, they were overwhelmingly Greeks (Romans). This historical context is absolutely crucial to understanding the early Christian Church and its development. As for Patriarch Sophrony, who is known for negotiating the handover of the Holy City to the Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab, he was of Greek (Roman)/Byzantine origin.
Third false claim: “The indigenous Orthodox Christians of Palestine fought the Franks in the Crusades”
According to the Arab Orthodox Movement, the indigenous Orthodox population of Palestine, who were supposedly of Arab origin, were massacred by the Franks and therefore sided with our Muslim tyrant against the Crusaders. They even went so far as to claim that one of Saladin’s commanders, Isa al-Awam, was a Christian. However, there are no eyewitness sources that state that the Crusaders killed the native Romans of Palestine. On the contrary, according to early Eastern Christian sources, such as Matthew of Edessa, Anna Komnena, and Michael the Syrian, no such claims appear. According to William of Tyre, a Catholic bishop and medieval historian, the Romans of the Holy Land were of Greek origin. Furthermore, from his writings we know that the Romans of that time in Palestine still spoke Greek. At the same time, according to modern researchers, the majority of the Crusader defensive armies were composed of the indigenous Christians of the region, who formed the backbone of the guards in all the major cities controlled by the Franks. As for Isa al-Awam, according to Baha ad-Din ibn Sadat, the Arab folk hero who served in Saladin's army during the siege of Acre was a Muslim, not a Christian.
Conclusion:
The Arab Orthodox Movement has manipulated our Arabic-speaking province into believing that we are Arabs. The movement’s narrative is based on historical distortion, a distorted sense of presentism, and many historical fallacies. In fact, all historical and ecclesiastical sources prove that the Greeks in Palestine and Jordan are not ethnically Arabs, but descendants of the indigenous Greek populations who inhabited Palestine and Jordan and whose language was gradually Arabized due to 1.400 years of continuous Arab-Islamic occupation. There is no ethnic or racial difference between our flock and the clergy (all speak fluent Greek), only a language barrier. The true history of Orthodoxy in the region shows that the spiritual and ethnic leadership of the Church of Jerusalem was always Greek (Roman).
This is a completely ridiculous claim, which even goes so far as to present the majority of the earliest bishops and patriarchs as Arabs, including Patriarch Sophrony I of Jerusalem, who led the Patriarchal Throne during the time of the Islamic conquest. However, the original bishops of the Church were all Jewish until 135 AD. When the first national bishops began to be appointed, they were overwhelmingly Greek (Roman). This historical context is crucial to understanding the early Church and its development. In contrast, Patriarch Sophrony, who is known for negotiating the handover of the Holy City to the Muslim caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, was of Byzantine Greek (Roman) origin.
3rd false claim: “The native Orthodox Christians of Palestine fought against the Franks in the Crusades”
According to the Arab Orthodox Movement, the native Orthodox population of Palestine, who were supposedly ethnically Arab, were massacred by the Franks and therefore sided with our Muslim oppressors against the Crusaders. In fact, they go so far as to claim that one of Saladin’s commanders, Isa al-Awam, was a Christian. However, there are no eyewitness accounts of the Crusaders killing native Romans, and according to early Eastern Christian sources, such as Matthew of Edessa, Anna Komnenos, and Michael the Syrian, no such allegations appear. According to William of Tyre, a medieval Catholic bishop and historian, the Romans of the Holy Land were of Greek origin. Furthermore, from his writings we learn that at that time there were still Greek-speaking Romans in Palestine. At the same time, according to modern scholars, the majority of the Crusader armies were composed of native Christians, who formed the backbone of the garrisons in all the major cities controlled by the Franks. While, according to Baha ad-Din ibn Sadat, Isa al-Awam, the Arab folk hero who served in Saladin's army during the siege of Acre, was a Muslim and not a Christian.
Conclusion
The Arab Orthodox Movement has manipulated our Arabic-speaking parish into believing that we are ethnically Arab. The movement’s narrative is based on historical revisionism, a distorted sense of the present, and numerous historical inaccuracies. In fact, all historical and ecclesiastical sources prove that the Greeks of Palestine and Jordan are not ethnically Arab, but descendants of the indigenous Greek population that inhabited Palestine and Jordan, and whose language was gradually Arabized as a result of 1.400 years of continuous Arab-Islamic occupation. There is no ethnic or racial difference between our parishioners and the clergy, only a language barrier. The true history of Orthodoxy in the region shows that the spiritual and ethnic leadership of the Church of Jerusalem was always Greek (Roman).
Πηγές
[1] Robson, Laura (2011). Colonialism and Christianity in Mandate PalestineUniversity of Texas Press.
[2] Ball, Warwick (2000). Rome in the East.Routledge.
[3] Eusebius. The History of the Church(trans. AG Williamson), Penguin Books, 1965.
[4] Kennedy, Hugh. The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In. Da Capo Press, Philadelphia, PA: 2007.
[5] Tritton, AS; Gibb, HAR (1933). "The First and Second Crusades from an Anonymous Syriac Chronicle". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 65 (2): 273–305.
[6] Madden, Thomas F. (1999). A Concise History of the Crusades. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
[7] Karolidis, Pavlos (1909). On the national origin of the Orthodox Christians of Syria and Palestine. Athens: Types P. D. Sackellariou.
[8] Ellenblum, Ronnie (2010). Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.Cambridge University Press.
[9] MacEvitt, Christopher (2008). The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance. University of Pennsylvania Press.
[10] Maalouf, Amin (1983). The Crusades as Seen by the ArabsI read.