The Three Martyrs of Melitene

When the persecution against Christians began under Roman Emperor Decius, Nearchos said to Polyeuctus, “Friend, we shall soon be separated, for they will take me to torture, and you alas, will renounce your friendship with me.” Polyeuctus told him that he had seen Christ in a dream, Who took his soiled military cloak from him and dressed him in a radiant garment. “Now,” he said, “I am prepared to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.” With joy he bent his head beneath the sword of the executioner and was baptized in his own blood. Soon, when the Church of Christ in the reign of St Constantine had triumphed throughout all the Roman Empire, a church was built at Meletine in honor of the holy Martyr Polyeuctus.

Melitene is the ancient name for Malatya. Please go read this moving tribute to our martyred brothers by a good man who knew them well.

News coverage of Necati's funeral- the subtitles are imperfect but you get the idea.

Uğur Yüksel

Necati and Şemsa Aydın

Courtesy of a heartbroken friend in Istanbul. Christ is risen; he has trampled death by death.

Martyrs update

There is not much new to report today, except that the suspects appeared in court, including the girlfriend of the ringleader. Cell phone records show that he called her during the attack, so I suppose the charges for some of these must be conspiracy or the like.

I wanted to say a word about Uğur Yüksel, the other victim who hasn't gotten as much attention in the media. He leaves behind a fiancee, and reportedly his Muslim family refused to bury him as a Christian (Lord, have mercy). According to one newspaper I read, he was still alive when taken to the hospital, but died soon afterward.

There are suggestions that there is an organized terror campaign motivated by nationalism as well as radical Islam, and authorities are investigating possible connections with these murders to the killing of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and Catholic priest Fr. Andrea Santoro. In this light, the threats that other Turkish Christians have been receiving (as reported by the media and my friends also confirm they are getting them) take on a more grave light. Turkish Christians have always faced harrassment from both the authorities and the populace. For instance, two Christians in Istanbul are currently up on charges of "defaming Islam and Turkishness," the same sort of song and dance that Necati and another believer were put through in 2000, and the authorities wage a war of attrition by not allowing churches to build new buildings. The only grace here is that enough of the Orthodox population has been driven out that many beautiful old churches stand empty.

However, things seem to be taking a far bloodier turn. Evil begets evil, hatred rippples out in more hatred, and no doubt such acts are testimony to the efficiency of the murderous thugs of al Quaida and Hezbollah in laying out a training pattern for angry young males looking for transcendence. In our own country, the Columbine pattern seems to work in similar fashion. What can the innocent and reasonable do in the face of such reckless, illogical hatred?

Psalms for the martyrs

Judge me, O Lord, and avenge my case against an impure nation; You shall deliver me from the unjust and crafty man. For You are my God and my strength; why have you cast me off? And why do I walk gloomily, while the enemy oppresses me? Send forth your light and your truth; they have led me, and brought me into Your holy mountain, and to Your dwelling. And I will go into the altar of God, before the face of God who gladdens my youth; I will give praise to You with the harp, O God, my God. Why are you sad, o my soul? And why do you trouble me? Hope in God, for I will give thanks to Him.
***

Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear me, for I am poor and weak. Preserve my soul, for I am pure; save your servant, O my God, who hopes in You. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for to You I will cry the whole day. Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul. For You, O Lord, are righteous, and gentle, and plenteous is your mercy to all who call upon You. Give ear to my prayer, O Lord, and attend to the voice of my supplication. In the day of my trouble I cried to You, for You heard me.

There is none like You, O Lord, among the gods, and there is none that is able to do Your works. All nations whom You have made shall come and shall worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name. For You are great, and do wonders; You alone are the great God.

Guide me, O Lord, in your way, and I shall walk in Your truth; let my heart rejoice, that I may fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forever. For Your mercy is great toward me, and You have delivered my soul from the lowest Hades.

O God, transgressors have risen up against me, and an assembly of violent men have sought my soul and have not at first set You before them. But You, O Lord God, are compassionate and merciful, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy and true. Look down upon me, and have mercy on me; give strength to Your servant, and save the son of Your handmaid. Establish with me a sign for good, and let those who hate me see and be ashamed, because You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me. Alleluia.
***

The past few days I have felt sick and sad, angry, depressed, and full of remembrance. I can't stop thinking about Şemsa (pronounced Shemsa) and the other wives. This morning, these two psalms were given me to pray during matins, and they had vivid meaning with this backdrop; it was also a lesson in itself to be worshiping among Copts, who have suffered so much for the faith. Vivid, too, was the gospel reading from the sixth hour, the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets before you."

Though radical Muslims talk a great deal about martyrdom, how different martyrdom is when one worships a Savior who was crucified. There is on the one hand no morbid glorification of such an act, but the awareness that death itself has been fully redeemed- restored from corruption. As we still repeat in many forms during the liturgy during the 50 days, "Christ is risen from the dead, He has trampled death by death." Compared to this, all the suicide bombings and hate-filled acts are just blowing futile smoke into the void.

Necati (his name is pronounced "nejati"; source: Radikal Gazetesi)

I found several examples in my scan of Turkish papers of the insinuation, subtle or (from people being quoted by the articles) disgustingly blatant, that these men deserved their fate or at the very least that the actions of the attackers were understandable. How anyone can sympathize with these animals is beyond me. According to the medical examiner's report, the men were tortured for some three hours. I will not describe in detail what was done, but it was horrible. One of the attackers was recording their "work" on his cell phone camera.

Tilmann Geske, the German man, apparently came to the office after the attackers had already gotten there. Finding the door locked, he knocked and tried to get in; the attackers grabbed him. When a parishioner from Necati's church came later and also found the door locked, he got suspicious and went to get the police. As I've said before, it is when the police were breaking in the door that the attackers slit the mens' throats.

Ten men have been arrested and others brought in for questioning. One of those arrested is the son of a local politician. The leader, Emre Günaydın, had been coming to the office and asking questions about Christianity in order to gain the trust of the Zirve guys beforehand. When police broke in, he flung himself from the window and has been in the hospital with head injuries. At first he tried to claim that he was a victim, that the Zirve men had been "forcing him to sell Bibles," but the police found a note in his clothing that made it obvious he was an attacker.

The funerals of the men were held today. Necati's body was taken back to Izmir. Susanne Geske insisted on her husband being buried in Malatya. The authorities had tried to prevent this, but an Armenian cemetery allowed him to be buried there- a sign of compassion from the Orthodox, at last. This Turkish Daily News article (in English) is a fairly good account of reactions in Malatya, among Christians and among the common people.

Funeral procession for Necati (source: Akşam Gazetesi)

Geske family- the children are 14, 10 and 8 (source: Die Zeit)

Tilmann Geske buried in Malatya's Armenian cemetery (Die Welt Online)

The Malatya Martyrs

Susanne Geske gave a statement that she forgives the attackers, quoting the words of Christ, "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do."

The German press is proving a better source for what happened two days ago in Malatya than the Turkish. It appears that the three men did not just have their throats cut. They were being tortured and brutalized, and only when police were about to break in did the criminals slit the throats of the two Turkish men. The German man, Tilmann Geske, died from receiving a total of 156 stab wounds (as reported by the Frankfurter Allegemeine).

There appears at least some recognition in the Turkish press that the government and media have sensationalized the perceived threat of missionaries in Turkish society, and this has become a rallying point for people from all over the political spectrum. Meanwhile, where is that solidarity I was hoping to hear from the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Byzantine Orthodox Church, stepping away from dhimmitude? The only statement I could find from him was expressing a hope that people would not hold this against Turkey. True to form, again showing that the Orthodox Church will not take any kind of spiritual leadership in the region. The Vatican representative for the Malatya region also was trying to distance himself from the three, saying that this can't be compared to the murder of Fr. Andrea Santoro, the Italian Catholic priest who was shot in Trabzon last year, and that "certain missionaries use questionable methods." So, they got what they deserved, padre??? [Edit: I think the media was quoting selectively here. Both the EP and the Vatican rep condemned the attacks.]

Şemsa, Necati's wife (from Radikal)

Since the American press is understandably occupied elsewhere, and since I speak both German and Turkish, I'll post updates here as I can for those interested. I'm afraid I'm not really impartial, but will do my best. Meanwhile, please be praying for the families of the slain and for the Christian community in Turkey.

Martyrdom in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Turkey —

Attackers killed three people Wednesday at a publishing house that had been the subject of protests for distributing Bibles in Turkey, the government-run Anatolia news agency reported.

One person who had his throat cut inside the publishing house and another who jumped from the third floor to escape were taken to local hospitals for treatment, the private Dogan news agency said. Anatolia said one of those taken to the hospital later died.

Nationalists previously had protested outside the Zirve publishing house in the city of Malatya, accusing it of proselytizing, Dogan reported.

Video footage broadcast on private NTV news channel showed one man being tackled by police outside of the building, and another in a neck brace being loaded into a stretcher.

Malatya is known as a hotbed of nationalists and is the hometown of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981.
***

I knew one of these men- you can see his picture here. I stayed with his wife for part of the time that she was left alone, pregnant, when he was arrested for distributing Bibles near the biblical city of Smyrna. Suffice to say that she, like all the believers in Turkey, is not unaccustomed to persecution, but no one can be prepared for this. It is some of the most brutal martyrdom to have occurred there in some time. Please be praying for the families and churches of these men and for their repose. Necati's brother is talking to the media, telling the most despicable and hurtful lies about him and his wife- no doubt a last punishment for his conversion from Islam, thereby staining their "family honor."

This should be a wake-up call to the Turkish authorities to stop their policy of media and civil harassment that puts Christian missionaries in the spotlight as "enemies of the people." The Turkish government aimed the sight, even if it was Islamists who pulled the trigger.

Even more tragic than this, the Orthodox Church in Turkey has been a pawn in this, the EP sending represtantives to panel TV shows to criticize Protestant missionaries in a shameful fashion- more venomous than the Islamists next to them. Such things kept me for many years from taking Orthodoxy seriously, until I came in contact with American converts. I hope that there will be less dhimmitude and a bit of backbone in showing solidarity with other Christians, now that not only Armenian and Greek, but Turkish blood has been spilled in martyrdom.

Freedom of conscience goes bye-bye in England

In one of the world's most powerful democracies, it will soon no longer be legal to hold religious beliefs that you actually think are true. It will, however, be legal to prosecute someone simply for offending you.

We knew this was coming, of course. Don't be shocked when they come for you.

"Britain has a new law banning Catholic schools from teaching Catholic morals -- and it was steered through Parliament by a Catholic.

Under the new Sexual-Orientation Regulations, it will be illegal for a teacher in any school, including a Catholic school, to state that homosexual activity is morally wrong, and that this is a teaching that should be accepted as true. A teacher could be prosecuted if a pupil were able to claim that, by teaching the sinfulness of homosexual activity, the teacher had discriminated against him and caused him to feel hurt or humiliated.

Ruth Kelly was the prime mover of this legislation. She is the Labor Government's secretary of state for communities and local government and minister for women. She is also a Catholic who has been the target of public criticism due to her involvement with the personal prelature Opus Dei.

The legislation also affects a whole range of other activities, and will force Catholic adoption agencies to offer children for adoption by homosexual couples. A plea by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales that Catholic adoption societies be exempt from the new laws was rejected by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Also affected are all private businesses that offer goods and services of any kind. Thus, a photographer or wedding caterer who declined to do business with a lesbian or homosexual couple's planned "wedding" could also be prosecuted, as could the owner of a bed-and-breakfast business who declined to offer a double bed to two homosexuals..."

Props to the excellent essay by Touchstone's Anthony Esolen.

Links

I'm going to do the classic cheat of someone who doesn't have anything to blog about, and point you elsewhere.

I regularly update, and circulate, my links. A couple to draw attention to:

* My friends Annie and Curtis are blogging at Learning A New World. They are going through the same process of being foreigners in a whole 'nother world, in the same city that I lived in, so for me reading their blog is nostalgia. But it's also just delightful. They have a simple joy of life and discovery that clearly comes through.

* Got Medieval, as I note next to its link, is really funny. It's a medieval history grad student's panning of how popular culture treats the Middle Ages, and in so doing poking some fun at the weird world of medievalists.

* Lots of other medieval links added, too.

* You probably already know about First Things, but if you don't, their blog is always a good read. Notable recently was a two-essay piece (one positive, one negative) on the state of political conservatism, and Anthony Sacramone's skewering of the movie "Children of Men" (I was disappointed in it, but not quite so disappointed as he).

* Simply In Season is the website for a Mennonite cookbook series. A good friend gave me SIS as a wedding present, and it's proved yummy and useful for ideas on how to use the CSA box.

Ekhristos anesti!

A grasslands story

The following is a fascinating bit of local natural history, and history in the making, from the newsletter of the CSA farm from which Pavel and I get big bags of wonderful vegetables every week. The CSA also has a great blog written by Andy of Mariquita Farms. His essays are often humorous and poetic, but full of facts to stimulate anyone the least bit botanically inclined.

For the story of the grasslands, read on...

A WINTER TALE ABOUT OWLS, GOATS AND GRASSLANDS AT HIGH GROUND ORGANICS

By: Laura Kummerer/ Grassland Restorationist at High Ground Organics

On a cool January night, High Ground Organics was visited by a rarely seen, short bodied, large eyed and feathery migrant, a Burrowing Owl. Records from the Santa Cruz Bird Club show that up until the early 1990's this owl regularly visited and even nested in the uplands of the Watsonville Slough System, which is home to High Ground Organics Farm. Unfortunately, current sightings of these owls in Watsonville have dwindled to almost none. Their decline in Watsonville is mirrored by a decline in the Western Hemisphere, placing the Burrowing Owl on the list of "National Birds of Conservation Concern". With a boon of housing developments in the few remaining grassland areas in Watsonville and across the country, the habitat that these owls depend upon for forage and nesting has shrunk down to a few small parcels of land. High Ground Organics is a steward to one of these parcels. This parcel is located on a slope that connects the farm to the wetland. Last year we began an ambitious project to restore the ten acres of grassland under our care from a weed choked field to the thriving coastal prairie grassland it once was just 200 years ago. Our restoration methods are not quite conventional. We are re-introducing cattle and goat grazing to the grassland to mimic the herbivory of elk and deer that grasslands evolved with. Researchers studying grasslands in coastal California have shown that with a carefully managed rotation of animals through grasslands, the native species that once thrived can return again.

As many of you know, we spent most of last year laying down the foundation for the restoration project. We pulled upon the expertise of local range land managers and ecologists, collected baseline vegetation and soils data, gathered and grew up seed from nearby native grasses and built a fence to contain a herd of goats and cows. This winter, as the first rains began to fall, we put our idealistic plans for the project in to practice.

At the end of November we began our rotational grazing with a herd of goats and now have mixed the herd with cows. We have been carefully moving the herd through one acre paddocks to control the proliferation of weeds that are choking out the islands of native grasses, rushes, sedges and wildflowers. In just a short time the animals have transformed the landscape. Early in the season, they ate down the 6 foot stalks of old thistle and radish clearing space away for the germination of new seedlings. Now, they are devouring the invasive grasses that have been crowding out the native California Oat Grass (Danthonia californica) and shading out the endangered Santa Cruz Sunflower (Holocarpha macradenia).

Like all processes of transformation, the grazing has its downsides. Although the animals are doing a great job of removing the weeds, they have also had some negative impacts on the native plants we are working to restore. In the early winter before the annual grasses had gained their stature, the goats devoured the native California Oat grass like it was an ice cream treat. With thoughtful cross fencing and continually reminding ourselves that native grasses have thrived for thousands of years with grazing, we continue on.

In conjunction with the rotational grazing program, we are working to replenish a local stock of native grass and wildflower seed, by creating permanent seed harvest beds on the farm. This past spring, we collected seed from the four main grassland species growing in small pockets throughout the Watsonville Sloughs. We grew this seed up in the greenhouse through the winter and planted seedlings in to the permanent beds. The well tended beds are in their full glory right now, adorned with fresh and wispy flower heads. In about a month we hope to collect about 20 pounds of seed from these beautiful plants. This seed will then be infused into degraded parts of the grassland on a yearly basis. As the years unfold, we plan to maintain our seed beds and augment them with rhizome producing grass species and a myriad of annual wildflower species. In time, the re-introduction of large quantities of seed into the degraded grassland coupled with the grazing for weed control will create a healthy and diverse grassland community. My deepest hope is that this grassland will not only provide habitat for the Burrowing Owl, but for a diverse array of rare and endangered plants and animals that depend on open grassland for their very survival.

As you can see, this project is a long term endeavor. It has come to life with a whole lot of community support and will require the patience and commitment of many hands and hearts now and in to the future. In closing, I'd like to recognize the incredible amount of hands that have carried the project this far. We have received funds from the Natural Resource Conservation Service, The Santa Cruz County Resource Conservation District, and the Open Space Alliance. The perimeter fence for the grazing was raised with the good humor, creative minds and strong backs of Noe Reyes, Edilberto Cruz, Uriel Toledo, Aurelio Lopez, Ken Moore, Jerry and Patrick Thomas, Tom Schroeder and Freddy Menge and Ellen Baker. Billy and Laura Noblin have been lending a hand with whatever detail needs tending from seed collection to electric fence maintenance. Mariquita Farm has once again formed an integral partnership with us, by providing a well cared for and sweet herd of goats to work their magic. Rochelle and Marcel Beerli, the landowners of Mariquita's Hollister farm, have generously lent us their horse trailer giving us the ability to move goats whenever we need to.

In the months to come we will need many more hands to assist with weeding, collecting seed, tending goats, working in the greenhouse, monitoring and just enjoying the grassland. I will put monthly announcements in the newsletter for Saturday volunteer events. I can also use help during the week for regular grassland maintenance projects. Call Laura Kummerer at (831) 761-8694 if you'd like to get involved or learn more about this project.

Before

After

GRASSLAND RESTORATION EVENT:
Come join us for seed collection and grassland tending on SATURDAY May 5th, from 10-1pm. Families with children are welcome. Contact Laura Kummerer (831)761-8694 for details.

Hosanna

Today on the feast of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, we prayed the general funeral service, as no funerals are given during Holy Week. Every year we joke about attending our own funeral, etc. Naturally the point is not to pray for ourselves, but for anyone in the parish who might die during this time. More significantly, I realized that in reality we "pray our own funeral" whether it be standing before Holy Week, or reposed some other time. There is an eschatological dimension to all Orthodox worship- the church is always seeking to pull back the veil to the real reality of heaven. One of the implications of this is the awareness that the departed pray with us, that the church is not limited to, as G.K. Chesterton said, "those who happen to be up walking around." At an Orthodox funeral, the feet of the departed are positioned towards the altar. This is a tangible statement of where we really believe them to be, in worship with the whole church, together before the throne.

This general funeral represents a fitting change of mood. After the festive Palm Sunday liturgy, the clergy don subdued vestments and the windows are covered with black banners. This week is when we contemplate more than any other time the consequences of sin, so the joyful solemnity of the funeral service, expressing our hope in the Resurrection, is perfect complement to the sorrowful expectation of Holy Week. The fact that the church prays for physical healing and death during "normal time," and then sets these important ministries aside for the week of weeks, is also an eschatological statement. Physical sickness and death, while still requiring the mercy of God and ministry of the church, is not the real deal- it's been crushed. The only true death for us now comes from a voluntary acquiescence to sin.

***
I was reminded of the "real reality" in a discussion at Jesus Creed on the ministry of the Theotokos. Scot McKnight is doing a good thing in seeking to increase the footprint of St. Mary in evangelical consciousness. I pointed out that Orthodox veneration of her is a recognition that her ministry did not conclude in the first century, but is ongoing.

***
This brilliant poem by Fr. Jonathan Tobias about sums it up for me as I consider my own love affair with sin. His blog is always worth a read, for both the prose and verse.

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A blessed Holy Week to all.