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F O r e W O r d This book offers you a testimony of the faith of the Orthodox Church in the Arab world in the historical period between 700 and 1700. It weaves together an anthology of many previously unpublished works, unknown in Arabic and even more so in English. This is a good initiative by Samuel Noble and Dr. Alexander Treiger, who strive to show the entire world how much the Lord has spoken through the mouth of authors devoted to Him, amidst major historical events from the rise of Islam, through the Umayyad, ʿAbbasid, and Fatimid periods, the Crusaders, the Mongols, and the Mamluks, down to the Ottoman era. All this bears witness to the fact that the Christian Church is nourished by the ongoing revelation of the Holy Spirit, the Divine Spirit who inspires and acts within individuals dedicating themselves to witnessing to the Truth—that Truth that became incarnate in Him who has overcome all kinds of death and corruption throughout human history: our Lord Jesus Christ. In both their life and their society, people of the Middle East can feel, in a great number of ways, the effects of this Truth, and so the Lord inspires those who love Him to find ways to express His ongoing presence and His continuous operation within human history. It is true that in the period under discussion there were times of bloodshed and tragic historical events, and so these writings, published in the selections below, bear special witness to the ever-present Divine Light that shines forth through the tribulations of this world. The Arab Middle East remains a place where heavenly messages are heard, for the sake of human beings’salvation from temptations, sins, suffering, and ultimately from death. This fulfills the Lord’s promise of granting us humans eternal life and taking us back into the everlasting presence of God which is realized within His creation from the very beginning. This book is suitable for both the specialist and the general public. We ought to be thankful to Dr. Alexander Treiger and Samuel Noble who worked joyfully on publishing these rich selections from our holy Antiochian heritage. We ask God to reward their efforts and also encourage others to conduct similar research so that we can publish the Foreword viii rest of our great heritage in the two languages, Arabic and English, at the very least. With the blessing of the Lord Jesus our God and our Savior, who has come in the flesh. Christmas 2012 +Ephrem (Kyriakos) Metropolitan of Tripoli, al-Koura, and Dependencies ...

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