Perspectief 2019-44

2019-44 Mor Polycarpus Augin Aydin PhD 7 established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require. They love all of humankind, and by all of humankind are persecuted…. They are reviled, and yet they bless…. (5.1–15) In her article “The Cosmopolitan Church: Voices from the Tradition”, Angela Russell Christ- man commenting on this relevant passage says: This description of the Church is remarkable. Christians are spread throughout the entire known world and span every national, ethnic, and linguistic group. Like all human beings, they live in particular places, but they don’t count themselves as citizens of their homeland. The Epistle to Diognetus says: “Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land.” Christians recognize every land as home, but at the same time, no land is home, because their true commonwealth is with God. In particular, the persecution of the Middle Eastern Christians in the late 19 th and the early 20 th centuries forced many of the survivors to take refuge in the Western world, especially, in the North and South Americas. The ongoing persecution of the Oriental Christians in the Middle East and North Africa has also led many of them to seek asylum in Western European countries such as Sweden, Germany, the Benelux, France and Switzerland. The emigration of large scale people from the Middle East and Africa to Europe has changed the landscape and the cultural identity of Europe. Thus, on 23 rd November 2004, the Coun- cil of Europe’s Standing Committee on Culture, Science and Education reported about the existence of the Diaspora cultures saying: Diaspora cultures exist as a result of the dispersion of communities throughout the world; this dispersion is often forced or has historical reasons. Diaspora communities represent and maintain a culture different from those of the countries within which they are located, often retaining strong ties with their country and culture of origin (real or perceived) and with other communities of the same origin in order to preserve that culture. This is an essentially cultural phenomenon and is not necessarily linked to migration. The report goes further to make the following observation: Some Diaspora cultures, which have clear origins and are the result of enforced disper- sions, are well documented, for example the Armenian, Greek, Irish, Italian and the Jewish