At the end of Lent, Christians have listened to the narrative of Christ’s suffering and death from St Luke’s Gospel read in churches on Palm Sunday, and the focus is squarely on Jerusalem for Holy
At the end of Lent, Christians have listened to the narrative of Christ’s suffering and death from St Luke’s Gospel read in churches on Palm Sunday, and the focus is squarely on Jerusalem for Holy Week – the very Jerusalem that is part of the suffering and death in Israel-Palestine and the entire Middle East today.
It is appropriate then, that for the latest Middle East Analysis podcast (23 March 2016), our gaze is widened to discuss the Passion and Resurrection in the context of the whole Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
It might surprise some people to realise that culturally, Easter in not just celebrated by Christians, but honoured by some Muslims too. It is a season of surprises.
For this podcast there is a special guest, Bishop Declan Lang, Chair of the International Affairs department of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales. He looks with us at Christ’s sacrifice, played out in front of suffering and conflict from Libya to Gaza, and from Yemen to Syria.
In this discussion we are asking the sharp but necessary question: Will the MENA region get beyond the suffering and pain of the Cross to the salvation and hope of the Empty Tomb?
* Listen to the full podcast here: Is there an Easter in the Middle East North Africa region?
* Easter in the Middle East. It’s not just a time for Christians (short except): 4335777-easter-not-only-for-christians-in-the-middle-east
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© Harry Hagopian is an international lawyer, ecumenist and EU political consultant. He also acts as a MENA and inter-faith advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales. He is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/HarryHagopian). Formerly Executive Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches, he is now an international fellow, Sorbonne III University, Paris, and author of The Armenian Church in the Holy Land. Dr Hagopian’s own website is www.epektasis.net – follow him on Twitter here: @harryhagopian and on Facebook here: https://m.facebook.com/MENA.analysis/