Israel: Christians Searching for Hope; Faithful under pressure from all sides

[stumbler]

THE future of Christianity in the Holy Land hangs in the balance as a combination of poverty, religious discrimination and even violence blights Catholic communities.

Away from the headline-grabbing political struggle over the future of Israel and clashes between radical Jews and Muslims, a little-known crisis threatens the Christian community.

The Christian presence in Israeli society is on the verge of disappearing into obscurity and could be at risk of disappearing altogether.

Reduced in number to about 150,000, Christians face oppression and discrimination at school, in the workplace and in the community – be it because of their religion, their social class or because of their ethnic origin – most of them are Palestinian Arabs.

Tension frequently spills over into violence, when Christian communities are hit by sporadic shootings, arson, verbal abuse and hate mail. Some are forcibly removed from their property and suffer anti-Christian propaganda in the media. . . .

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Full article

 

[Fr_Ambrose]

**“The Russians Are Coming” ** to rescue Christianity in the Holy Land.
weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/494/op1.htm

There have been significant changes to Israeli religious demographics over the last 10 years, thanks to the influx of more than 1 million Russians. One in 5 Israelis is now Russian, 20% of the population. A proportion of these are Jews by ancestry but Russian Orthodox Christians by religion. Today new Orthodox churches are being built throughout Israel and even on the
kibbutzim! The Russians and the Arabs are brother Orthodox in Israel and together they will bring a new springtime of Christianity to the Mother Church of Jerusalem.

"I was recently given two startling pieces of information by a visiting Palestinian friend from Jerusalem. One was that there were several Russian Orthodox Christian churches being built in the southern Israeli town of Beersheba…

"Just as remarkable is Lustick’s observation that a significant number of the newcomers had registered themselves either as Christians or persons of no religion at all. As a result of this situation, the Russian [Christians], or to put it another way, non-Arab Christians are the fastest growing Israeli religious community and now constitute 8-9 per cent of the non-Arab
population of the state… "
weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/494/op1.htm

One factor with which the Jerusalem Patriarchate will have to come to terms in the near future is the large numbers of Russian Orthodox who are now part of its flock. These are Jews genetically and Orthodox Christians religiously. Jerusalem has set up a church department for the Russians but it seems inadequate for the numbers of Russians involved. In the years ahead the character of the Patriarchate will be altered by the Russian Orthodox influx.

Another article:

portal-credo.ru/site/print.php?act=news&id=33276

Last wave of immigration sharply increased
the number of secret [Orthodox] Christians in Israel

Although official statistics indicate that the number of Christians in Israel is constantly decreasing, in reality, EAI data shows that there is a large number of secret Christians among the Jews who arrived from Russia and Ukraine between 1989-1993.

Thus, the research conducted among 86,000 new immigrants in 1999 demonstrated that approximately 53% of them cannot be considered Jews in accordance with Judaic law. Available data suggest approximately 400,000 “unregistered [Orthodox] Christians” arrived with the last wave of immigration.