December 21, 2002
Today is the poorly-named Feast of the Lepers. The historic church in Burqin known for the miraculous healing of Ten Lepers (Luke 17) has an unofficial feast day the first Sunday before Western Christmas. Because of the situation, though, the date has needfully remained flexible - last year it was celebrated in January, and Bishop Timotheus came with an entourage of Greek Christians. This year, Marthame joined Fr. Thomas and two members of his community as the non-Burqin delegation. It's a far cry from the celebrations of the past. Below, the traffic headed towards Jenin and the hideous walk through the mud.
Meanwhile, the church has been revisited by vandals. Not content to scrawl graffiti on the convent's walls, now someone has taken to climbing over the wall and writing political slogans on the church hall as well as digging in the grounds (possibly looking for gold or artifacts) and busting up a couple of lights. It's unpleasant to say the least, and potentially quite disturbing. People here often point to the camaraderie between Christian and Muslim, which is true, but incidents like this do little to increase confidence in a bright, tolerant future. Other such incidents have been linked to Israeli collaborators, but are disturbing nonetheless. Fr. Thomas promised to contact folks in his Patriarchate who might be able to intervene. We hope so.
One of those who came from Zababdeh was invited by Fr. Thomas to say a word as part of the homily. He spoke about the Orthodox perspective on the Virgin Mary and how it differs from the Catholic understanding. A little bit of lay preaching, Orthodox-style.
Marthame arrived back to Zababdeh in time to join the teachers and staff for their annual luncheon celebration, replete with Nablus-style knaffe. The teachers have certainly earned it, going through quite the ringer this year.
In the afternoon, Marthame joined Fr. Thomas at the Orthodox church in Zababdeh for "Sunday" school. Two women in the congregation organize activities and lessons for the children. Fr. Thomas was keen to point out that those children who came represented quite the "icon" of the body of Christ: Orthodox, Catholic, Melkite, and Anglican children all came. Quite to Marthame's surprise, so did a couple of Muslim kids. According to Fr. Thomas, it was the first time - he guessed they came because they heard they might get presents. And for most small kids, that matters more than any sense of religious identity might at that age.
The best news for the day: hot showers!
