In the Holy Land, he explains, one lives surrounded by holy places, but not necessarily with a deep formation. \u201cYou know where the places are, you enter a church, you have faith... but you don't know the reason for many things, and it's not the fault of the people there or the clergy, but the situation and the instability of the area that makes you lose focus on the main thing while you focus on surviving.<\/em>\u201d. Jerusalem, Nazareth, Lake Tiberias are part of the daily landscape. \u201cI don't get excited anymore when I go to Jerusalem, because since I was a child we used to go two or three times a year.<\/em>\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n The central message communicated by Elias is the need for Christians in the Holy Land that when people make pilgrimages \u201cnot only visit the stones, but also care about the living stones, which are the Christians there. Let them show us that they are with us, that they support us, and that they have not abandoned us. We are eager to share some time or religious ceremony with the pilgrims. It's something that rarely happens, but when it does, we appreciate it very much\u201d. Without that local community, he recalls, the holy sites would never have been preserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, he encourages pilgrims to visit local communities, to listen to testimonies, to put a face to a faith that is not touristy. The parishes \u201care very responsive<\/em>\u201dWe have been able to facilitate this type of event. Dinners, simple meetings, real exchange. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe Christians have been here for 2,000 years without interruption,\u201d he says. \u201cWe are very few, but we are the ones who have been on this land the longest.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that permanence came at a very high price. \u201cFrom the 7th century until not so long ago, you could not convert to Christianity in the Holy Land, they would cut your head off.\u201d Taxes, threats, constant pressure. Many converted. Those who remained, know where they came from. \u201cWe know we are descended from the first Christians.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elias has traced his family tree. \u201cI was tracing the baptismal records of my parish, and since 1800 my family has been in the same town, with the same surname and in the same parish.\u201d Before there were no records, but there were remains. \u201cIn my village there are Christian remains from the first centuries of Christianity... a column from the first church.\u201d Byzantine tombs from the 4th and 5th centuries. Christian presence from the origins. \u201cPractically since the time of Jesus Christ\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That's why he is pained by the pious ignorance of the West. \u201cPeople go to Mass every day, but they don't know where Christianity really comes from.\u201d And he says this without anger, but with a sadness that is hard to disguise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are episodes that mark you forever. One occurred in his own village, when he was a teenager. A conflict with Druze youths escalated to the extreme. \u201cThey took out their guns and wanted to go and burn the church and kill everyone in their way.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The response was immediate. \u201cEveryone went down to the church...if you want to burn it, you have to kill us all first.\u201d Without weapons. With sticks, with the body, with faith. \u201cThere you are giving your life for the church and defending the Christian presence in the holy places.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No one was killed by a miracle, although there were injuries. For El\u00edas, it is not a heroic anecdote. It is almost routine. \u201cThe worst thing is that for us this is normal.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maintaining the parishes is not so easy when one lives with Jewish and Muslim majorities around, especially because, from a labor point of view, there is usually a lot of reluctance to hire people of another religion. This means that in economic terms many Christians are in precarious positions, although this does not reduce their commitment when it comes to moving the Church forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, when his parish was short of money a few years ago, people responded. \u201cWe went from house to house asking if they wanted to contribute on an ongoing basis. The result was that a significant monthly amount was collected from families in the village. \u201dWith this, they built a parish center, restored the entire church, and got the school out of debt. All without significant outside help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This article could end with figures, but it is better to end with a sentence. One that El\u00edas repeats almost as an act of resistance: \u201cWe exist\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And perhaps that is the first step for any Christian who travels to the Holy Land: not just to look at ancient stones, but to meet those who, against all odds, continue to live there the faith that was born on that very soil.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" El\u00edas Luc\u00eda no habla desde la teor\u00eda, habla desde la biograf\u00eda. Desde un lugar concreto del mapa y del tiempo que muchos cristianos occidentales veneran, pero apenas conocen. Cuando dice que es de Galilea, la reacci\u00f3n suele ser inmediata y autom\u00e1tica: \u201cAh, o sea, t\u00fa eres jud\u00edo\u201d. Y entonces \u00e9l responde, una y otra vez, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1166,"featured_media":58635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[36,46],"tags":[777],"class_list":["post-58519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualidad","category-mundo","tag-tierra-santa"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cThe living stones\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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An uninterrupted presence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When faith is defended with the body<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A Church sustained from below<\/h2>\n\n\n\n