Yesterday was Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi's day in Dimaan. It is not a trivial matter that his words were met with applause and that attendees of the Mass stood in support when he stated in his sermon: "And you who insult the dignity of the Lebanese, cease your claims that the aid comes from agents; rather, go and search elsewhere for the agents, as you know where they are and who they are." With these words, the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East for the Maronites settled the issue of fabricating an indictment against Bishop Moussa al-Hajj, the Bishop of Haifa and the Holy Land and the Patriarchal Vicar for the Archdiocese of Jerusalem and Jordan. Furthermore, the Patriarch asserted that what the Bishop had done is precisely what he should be doing and should continue to do. The Patriarch was decisive and firm in rejecting what he termed the insult to the Bishop, to himself, and to the patriarchate when he said: "In vain do the ruling and controlling group attempt to turn the orchestrated aggression that His Eminence Bishop Moussa al-Hajj faced, which violated the dignity of the church he represents, into something merely legal, which is baseless and a cover for the wrongdoing, in addition to unconvincing interpretations and efforts. If there is a law preventing the receipt of humanitarian aid, let them present it to us. Moreover, the Patriarch demanded the return of what was confiscated from the Bishop who is fulfilling a national duty: 'It is unacceptable for a bishop to be subjected to arrest, searching, and questioning without referring to his legal ecclesiastical authority, which is the patriarchate. This deliberate omission is an insult to the Maronite patriarchate and an encroachment on its jurisdictions. We reject these police-like actions with their political implications that no one is unaware of, and we demand that all that was seized from His Eminence Bishop Moussa al-Hajj be returned to him.' The Patriarch elevated the confrontation from being just a fabricated case to a national issue at the core of the resisting church's work: 'The Maronite Patriarchate remains steadfast as always in its positions and will continue its journey with its people.' Following this statement, the Patriarch placed the ball in the court of the President of the Republic, who promised to work on addressing the repercussions of the arrest of Bishop Moussa al-Hajj and to resolve the issue in a way that restores justice to its rightful owners, and puts an end to this serious infringement upon the role of the Maronite Patriarchate and the church, as any submission to what happened would certainly mean the collapse of the last bastion defending Lebanon's identity.
The patriarch's day in Dimaan yesterday was marked by the absence of the "Free Patriotic Movement," which revealed some backgrounds of the "ruling and controlling group" that includes both the Movement and "Hezbollah." Instead of standing by its spiritual authority in such a significant issue, the Movement attempted to cover up the arrest of the Bishop and the insult to the Patriarch and the patriarchate, instead launching an attack on the "Lebanese Forces" in the opening news segment of its television station, OTV. Meanwhile, "Hezbollah" resorted to some names and associations to issue statements that attacked Patriarch al-Rahi and the Maronite Church regarding a matter related to the very existence of this sect, its history, and its future. It took upon itself to affirm the accusation of collaboration against the Bishop and to generalize it against the Maronite sect even before the judiciary directly accused him, thus revealing the identity of those behind this fabrication as if they wanted to issue their verdict without trial in a baseless case.
Perhaps it did not occur to Patriarch al-Rahi that he would face what his predecessor, Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, the great symbol who played the largest role in the battle for new independence that "Hezbollah" is trying to end and cancel, endured. He thus addressed the crowd gathered in Dimaan, stating: "Patriarch Sfeir lives in us." Patriarch al-Rahi was a witness to the humiliation Patriarch Sfeir faced on November 5, 1989, when supporters of General Michel Aoun stormed the patriarchal edifice in Bkerke following the election of MP Rene Mouawad as President of the Republic. That night, which Patriarch Sfeir detailed in his memoirs, he said he prayed before an image of Jesus on the cross because he believed he would encounter His face in heaven. He left the patriarchal residence in Bkerke to move before dawn with Bishop Bechara al-Rahi to Dimaan. When General Michel Aoun was asked about this the following day, he stated that the Patriarch chose the path of exile. Though in the days of Patriarch Sfeir, and previously, no bishop faced what Bishop Moussa al-Hajj is enduring now, and no bishop in the Archdiocese of Jerusalem, Haifa, and the Holy Land was subjected to searches, nor were such fabricated accusations manufactured, it is happening today during the presidency of Michel Aoun. Will he have a role in erasing this image of his presidency by restoring respect to the law, the church, the Patriarch, and the patriarchate, and erasing this humiliation? Or will he, as the Movement did, cover it up and prove that he is part of this ruling and controlling group?
Not far from the atmosphere of Dimaan was the stance of the Bishop of Beirut for the Greek Orthodox, Bishop Elias Auda, who echoed Patriarch al-Rahi's reading of the implications of what happened, considering that "what happened to our brother the Bishop is unacceptable and indicates a new approach in dealing with security and judicial matters that could lead to serious repercussions at the national level. This is a dangerous and unacceptable matter, and we hope it does not recur." He added: "If his arrest is a message to the church to silence its voice, the church does not succumb to intimidation or malice, and fears only its Lord, and obeys only His commandments, and listens only to the voice of conscience and duty, and its duty is to respect, love, and defend human dignity and freedom. This is how the church has been since its inception, and this is how it will remain by the grace of its Lord and Master Jesus Christ."
