kriz@skat.usc.edu (Dennis Kriz) (03/06/90)
Excerpted from the NY Times [Sat. Mar 3, 1990]:
Patriarch Assails Factions as Lebanes War Stalls
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by Ihsan A. Hijazi
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Mar 2 -- An offensive by Gen. Michel Aoun's army in
Christian-controlled East Beirut halted today after making little
headway on the second day of brutal clashes with rival Christian
militiamen. As the offensive stalled, Patriarch Nasrallah Peter
Sfair, the head of the Maronite Catholic Church, threatened to
excommunicate those continuing the violence.
"These criminal acts, including deliberate mass killing, fall under
ecclesiastical punishment," he said "By the spiritual authority vested
in me, I warn those issuing shooting orders and those following them
that they face the punishment of excommunication and separation from
the church. Only God has the right of life and death." ...
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It may be medival ... but then so is the whole mentality of the
conflict. After reading this, I set out to find the Patriarch's
address.
Tell him the obvious, that killing a Moslem is just as bad as killing
a Christian, but that words begging to stop the killing are good.
Anyway, his address is ...
Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Sfair
Residence of the Patriarchy
Bkerke, Lebanon
The person I talked to at the Maronite parish here in LA says that
the mail service is nearly non-existant now in Lebanon ... but that
letters to the patriarch may actually get through (on account of his
name and title). Bkerke is a small village outside Beirut. If the
letter can get out of Beirut, then it should get to him ... but then
that's huge if. Most people who correspond now with relatives in
Lebanon the person told me ... find someone who is going there in
person to hand-deliver the correspondence. Anyway ... if ya want to
try...
dennis
kriz@skat.usc.edu
[This doesn't necessarily imply that the Patriarch values Christians
more than Moslems. It seems that when both sides are Christians,
Christian leaders have a special responsibility to stop the fighting.
If one side is not Christian, then there is always the excuse that
unless you can get the other side to disarm, it isn't safe for us
to. When both are Christians, any excuses are far thinner. Sort
of like Paul considering it particularly disgraceful for Christians
to sue each other. (1 Cor 6) --clh]