How do I respond to my friend who sent me the following???? PLease help.

[ruthles]

http://www.antiochian.org/water-of-cana

THE WATER OF CANA IS TURNED INTO BLOOD By His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP Primate, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America July 31, 2006

Cana (modern spelling is �Qana�) is a little village in South Lebanon which was blessed by the presence of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, his Holy Mother and his disciples. Cana is the Village where Christ performed his first miracle by changing the water into wine at the marriage feast. (John 2: 1-11). Thus, Cana is deeply rooted in our Christian history.

Unfortunately, in modern times and due to the conflict between Israel and Arab nations, including Lebanon, Cana has been the victim of Israeli aggression twice: once in April 1996, when an Israeli rocket killed 105 Lebanese men, women and children. And second, on Sunday morning, July 30, 2006, when an Israeli rocket killed 60 people, including 37 children. This indiscriminate killing is against the Geneva Convention, the United Nations Charter and all laws of civilized nations.

This savage war is between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon has no air force, no navy and no large military force. As a matter of fact, the Lebanese army is not involved in this war at all. This war, then, is between Israel and Hezbollah. Why is Israel bombing Lebanese cities, villages, bridges, roads and killing innocent men, women and children � in the south and north, east and west of Lebanon? According to UN statistics, more than 800 civilians have been killed, many of them children, and more then 800,000 Lebanese have been made refugees in their own country. Israel knows very well where Hezbollah is. Why doesn�t Israel fight Hezbollah on its own turf? Why is Israel bombing civilian cars, motorcycles and pickup trucks carrying food for hungry people and medical supplies for the wounded? Lebanon is a poor country; the devastated infrastructure will cost billions of dollars to rebuild.

We deplore the killing and destruction on both sides. We know that Hezbollah has some weapons which are causing some unfortunate killing and destruction in Israel. But Hezbollah does not have American weapons such as F-16s, F-15s, Apaches and smart bombs, etc��

When I saw the Lebanese Red Cross retrieving the tender dead bodies of little children from underneath the rubble and I looked at their innocent faces and iconic eyes, I wept. I was indeed ashamed to see the extent of the cruelty and barbarism of our world. This morning, when the Lebanese Broadcasting Company showed pictures of the city of B�int-Jbeil which was completely leveled by the Israeli air force, I was reminded of the destruction of Stalingrad and Berlin during the Second World War. We and the whole world, with the exception of the United States, Great Britain, and Israel, are calling for an immediate cease fire. If we allow the law of the jungle to prevail, and if we allow our moral principles to be trodden on by barbarian feet, what will be left of our civilization?

The behavior of Mr. Ehud Olmert in this war reminds me of the behavior of his ancestor of old, Joshua, recorded in the Book of Joshua 6:21. �And they (Joshua�s army) destroyed all that was in the city (Jericho) both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep and ass with the edge of the sword.� Thanks to Mr. Olmert, nothing is left in B�int-Jbeil except some starving dogs feeding on corpses.

[A CA Guy]

Tell her that considering the Lebanese have backed terrorist in Hezbollah, they are lucky they are not also being targeted in general.
Israel did NOT ask for this.
Hezbollah and Lebanon broke the agreements of UN resolution 1559 which had Israel withdraw years ago in exchange for Hezbollah disarming and Lebanon moving only their armies to the south regarding the border.

Israel was honorable, meanwhile the other side dug out and cemented bunkers, instead of shedding the weapons they added thousands of missiles and other weapons.

Hezbollah started this recently by coming over the border to kill 8 Israeli soldiers and taking others hostages.
They also while supposedly disarm end occasionally were lobbing missiles at Israel.
Most recently they have fired over 3500 missiles at Israel.

War in this case is good.
There is a battle and the victors can declare the terms of the peace.
The UN for all it's posturing have never accomplished a dam thing.

[Iscool]

You will find that over time, your friend and you will drift apart...

In the meantime, remind your friend that Hezbolla occupies about a third of the elected Lebanese gov't...Hezbolla's infrastructure is located all over Lebanon...Beirut on the west, the Bekaa Valley on the east, and they have taken over southern Lebanon to have a large staging area from which to fire missiles at Israel...

If Hezbollah stopped firing rockets today, the war would be over, today...Israel would stop as well, and work toward peace...

Conversely, if Israel stopped it's incursion into Lebanon, Hizbollah would continue to fire their rockets until they ran out of them, killing as many civilian Jews as possible...

Israel can not stop until Hezbollah is dead, or surrenders...It would be suicide for Israel...

The war would stop today, the killing would stop today, if Hizbollah would stop fighting...

Tell that to your friend...

[metesky]

My paternal Greek grandfather told me that story almost sixty years ago.
;O)

[Taxbilly]

No commandment to drink it, it's just FYI. You might want to wear your boots and not your good shoes.

[Kolokotronis]

"yes tell her the greeks are socialist who have not supported the US in years and are for the most part anti semitic. we just don't care what they think."

+Philip is a Syrian, not a Greek. In fact, if anything, he is anti-Greek.

[N. Theknow]

When you reply to your "friend," address your response to "Mein Fuhrer."

[Kolokotronis]

"comments?"

Two things. First, +Philip is a Syrian (in the old sense of the word). His people are the ones under the bombs. One shouldn't be surprised that he's angry. In other words, take it whence it comes. And second, for better or for worse, remember that in Orthodoxy, there's no such thing as a "just war" doctrine.

[Kolokotronis]

"Tell him the serious Greek Orthodox people remember 1821. They remember the "secret schools" when the Islamic overseers would not let the slaves learn greek."

As my forefathers were taught those stories and taught me, so I have taught my sons. In fact, as I sit here in my office, I have a picture of Nikitaras, the Turk Eater, on my wall and my oldest has one of Kolokotronis on his.

The Antiochians are different in the sense that they have not been able to permanently crawl out from underneath the heel of the Mohammadens the way that the Greeks, the Serbs, the Bulgarians and the Romanians have. Their worldview is different from ours.

[Agrarian]

To what K responds, I would add a couple more comments. The seat of the Patriarch of Antioch is in Damascus, Syria, and there are many Orthodox Christians in Syria. A priest who is a father of two of our parishioners is there right now visiting family in Syria.

There is always great fear of violence by Muslims against Christians in Lebanon (where most of the Orthodox Christians in the region are) but more importantly in Syria itself. So it would be unwise for Met. Philip to do anything but be in opposition to this war if he wants to help protect his fellow Orthodox Christians from the ever-present threat of Muslim violence.

That said, these local interests aside, as K says, there is no such thing as a just war doctrine in Orthodoxy. All war is wrong. That doesn't mean that the "kings of the earth," even Christian kings, don't have to do what they have to do -- because the world is a messy place.

"The kings of the earth" have a responsibility to protect their people and keep them safe. Sometimes that means that they have to do wrongs to protect them from wrongs. That doesn't make it right -- it's just the reality of a broken world.

So with that in mind, it is wise for us as Americans to make sure that we are wearing our sensible, political, what-do-we-need-to-do-to-protect-our-families hats when we talk about these things. Not our religious hats. If one thinks that having Israel strike Lebanon is in the best interest of protecting our homes and families, then it makes sense that one would be politically supportive of it. I myself have no opinion becaues it would be based on nothing -- I know too much about the Middle East and the Balkans, and I know that rhetoric is pretty extreme, and when passions are high, truth is sometimes held captive to exaggeration and emotion.

It's *very* difficult to know the truth in any political/war situation, and almost impossible to know the truth of what's going on in that part of the world, even for those who are there on the ground.

[Between the Lines]

Lebanon has no air force, no navy and no large military force. As a matter of fact, the Lebanese army is not involved in this war at all.

If you are not willing to be a player in your own preservation, you are doomed to be an observer and a victim.

[TWfromTEXAS]

Philip is a Syrian, not a Greek. In fact, if anything, he is anti-Greek.

OH that's OK the Syrians are our friends .............

[RobRoy]

You are right. It was an over generalization. I have noticed that I can discuss politics sometimes (rarely) at work with men I disagree with, but when I try to do it with women who disagree with me they tend to get emotional and see me as "cold". I am not cold. I am male.

I read Ann Coulters book and although I think it is VERY good and well written, I see why her detractors call her (M)ann Coulter. If you did not know who wrote it, it smacks of being written by a man.

Fact is that, generally speaking, men and women are different and, again generally speaking, they do not discuss/argue under the same rules. When I say I don't argue politics and religion with women and ignore them or say, "that is an interesting position", I am not saying they are "worse" than me. I am only saying they are different and I choose not to play by their rules.

Also, from a Christian perspective, a womans minister is her father first, her husband second, and her minister third. I really have nothing to say to them on things of importance.

Call me old fashioned. I am VERY "male". My wife loves me that way! She is also VERY female! We embrace our roles. It works very well.

[Paved Paradise]

I guess I'm more like Ann Coulter than not. My husband always jokes that I'm intense, but it's not that I'm intense, I just discuss things more the way a man would. I'm also very logical, which is why women often drive me crazy. At get-togethers, you know how the women tend to eventually gravitate to one area while the men gravitate to another; I like to go with the men because their conversations are usually way more interesting, unless, of course, it's sports, which I could care less about; I equate sports with talking about celebrities or Oprah or some such.

For whatever it's worth, there ARE a lot of us out there. And I happen to be a Christian too and have no problem with being a woman (in other words, I am NOT a feminazi).

Good talking with you.

[hsmomx3]

Do you know that this post was linked from an email newsletter I get titled, Topix.net News Alerts for Orthodox church?

[patton]

send this

---

The Middle Times were ending, and the heavens were filled with fire, and The Lord did fight to throw The Daemon out of the heavens.



And the fight was fierce, and the sky was filled with bright flashes of fire, and debris did rain down on the people, and they were frightened.



And The Lord did seem to cast The Daemon out.

And The People did wear clothing, and such armor and helms as they had, to protect them, all painted in the various colors of the desert, so The Daemon might not see them.



And The Daemon did come, as if cast from the heavens, roaring down with a great noise, a frightening wail as had never been heard before.



And The People saw him approach the earth, and they were afraid.



And The People faced The Daemon, and prostrated themselves flat on their bellies; and they turned up their collars, to hide their necks, and they tucked their arms under them, lest the Daemon see their hands; and they bowed their heads, and seemed to kiss the dry desert floor.



But The Daemon knew them, and saw them in the desert, and was displeased, that they had attempted to hide.



And The Daemon released his awful wrath, and The People were terrified.



And those of The People that had displeased The Daemon, by their proximity to him, were instantly consumed by fire, such that all that was left of them, and of their clothes, and of their armor and helms, was a dark stain on the dry, cracked desert floor.



And those that had displeased The Daemon, by casting their eyes on him, were instantly struck blind, never to see again.



And those farther yet from The Daemon, were burned horribly, although they did live, some for a day, some lingering on in awful pain for weeks.



And those farther yet from The Daemon, they thought themselves spared, and that the Daemon might let them live.



And then The Daemon did exhale, in a mighty blast of hot air, so strongly that boulders were tossed across the desert, as a child might skip a rock on a calm lake; and the sick, and the burned, and the wounded, and the dead, were rolled up in the great wave of The Daemons breath, and many were crushed.



And then did The Daemon draw breath, in a wave of air as strong as his mighty exhalation, and more of The People were caught up, and torn, and crushed by the rocks and boulders of the desert.



And then there was a mighty clap, such that many of The People that had survived thus far were struck deaf, and The Daemon was gone.



And in place of The Daemon was a mighty pillar of fire, topped by a huge cloud of smoke, that blacked out the sun, and made the day into night.



And those of The People who had survived, again thought that they had bean spared; but many among them did sicken, and their fingernails, and their toenails, and their teeth did fall out, and they did die.



And The People were no more, and only a few, scattered through the desert, did survive.



And the Final Times did begin.

[G Larry]

1) This is NOT the Cana of the Bible.
2) The terrorists PLACED the 28 handicaped children at that location, BEFORE the terrorists launched their ATTACK ON ISRAEL from that location, KNOWING that the resulting retaliation would kill the children and MALICIOUSLY using their deaths in a PR campain.
3) Why do you insist on falling for the transparent terrorist crap?