From: ACSA [mailto:info@acsa.nu]
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 1:15 AM
To: info@acsa.nu
Subject: THE SYRIAC-ORTHODOX CHURCH IN A DIFFICULT CHOICE

It’s been going on an extensive activity and debate within the church.

The struggle is going on between the reactionaries and the democratic minded people. The reactionaries want to lead the church back to the darkness of the middle ages. The democratic minded people want a democratic, open, tolerant church that cares about their members and shows them humanity.

The Bishop Hazail Soumi, who arbitrary excommunicated people and denied the genocide Seyfo and who also was praised by the Turkish state’s representatives, has recently through the patriarch stopped a priest that refused to carry out an order about droving out people from the church. The priest wasn’t even given the opportunity to defend himself against these accusations. In other words priests are being judged by outside legal judgements because they don’t follow the lead. The priest has been in service for 22 years.

Bishop Avgin Kaplan has done his own business activities with millions of borrowed funds, which has lead to a big scandal, without being able to hold him responsible. Those who wants to hold him responsible, was excommunicated by the church. Another bishop has been able to pawn a church estate in Holland estimated 1 million euro, without the knowledge of the board of the church.

The Patriarch, who is old and doesn’t have the energy to be that active, follows those who are the strongest. Today it seems that those who are close to the Syrian intelligence is allowed to control and change in this vacant space.

But the people in Europe, doesn’t accept these ways of ruling and is now questioning more than ever, this mainly because the church ought to be more democratic.

In Sweden, ishop Abdullah Shabo, has taken position to send the church into the darkness. He openly supports the bishop Hazail Soumi.

Even bishop Shabo want to decide arbitrary. He won’t allow any insight in the church. He himself appointed only three persons when he established his own religious communion.

He has pronounced in public that he doesn’t want any floor workers and pizza bakers in the synod of the church. During 2005 he changed the name of the church under several occasions back and forth. 29 000 members in twenties of parish’s didn’t have any idea how he controlled and changed.

Bishop Shabo have lived here more than 25 years, but still has decided to not accept something from the open, democratic society. He hasn’t even bothered himself to get his priests the right to wed people with each other, so his members doesn’t have to go an extra round to the municipality or the district court to get the wedding legally registered.

Now the members of the Syriac Orthodox Church have to take a stand to this and choose!

Do you want an undemocratic church in the darkness or a democratic church that serve the people that cares about the society?