The situation in Lebanon remains critical – with the economy on the point of collapse and the continuing
political stalemate.

This update from Dr George Sabra, President of NEST (Near East School of Theology, Beirut) just received:
23 February 2021

NEST started the second semester completely online. It seems to be going well. Lebanon is still having high rates
of infections, but there is some improvement in the last couple of days. The vaccines are coming into the country,
but it doesn’t look like we will get them soon. They’re starting with older age groups and health workers, and
there aren’t enough vaccines being imported. Very few students remain in the dorms at NEST, but the Library
remains open.

The COVID situation will eventually improve, but our greatest problem is the economic collapse and the
political stalemate in Lebanon which is causing the economy to collapse even faster. We have no idea what
to expect in the next weeks and months, but we know that it is going to be very bad.

Keep us in your prayers.

In my excitement, 154 tubes became 254. But there you are! I think PYT will still be very pleased with our total, and who knows, by collection time next Wednesday it might have grown even more.

The Grasping the Nettle online conference (Through a Glass Darkly) has just concluded with the third and final lecture from Professor Alister McGrath.  It was a superb series of talks where he grappled with the fascinating interplay between science and religion, the limitations of perspective and our ‘toolbox’ of ways of understanding reality.  Visit the Grasping the Nettle website (graspingthenettle.org) to catch up if you missed this excellent series of lectures.  Well worth listening to all three and visit the WATCH space on the website.

The sessions were chaired by the Very Rev Dr Angus Morrison.

Update from Beirut

Many of you will remember Rev Dr Rima Nasrallah who preached in the Old Parish and at Eddleston in August 2019.   She keeps in touch with news from NEST.  This month’s email came with particularly sad news….  I remember Rev Savag Trashian very well.  

The situation in Lebanon is very unstable. We are unable to form a government or agree on a way forward. The country is experiencing chaos and lawlessness. The interest in help and reconstruction decreased dramatically yet so many people are still homeless and many are still sliding under the poverty line. Educational institutions are teaching online and trying to catch up with the academic year which means that many of the young people who were volunteering in the first few days are now off the streets. 

Our Churches are still in ruins and many institutions are dysfunctional. Since Sunday some villages and towns are under strict lockdown and this is paralyzing us even further. 

We as a community experienced a great shock this weekend. One of our graduates/student Rev. Sevag Trashian age 41, passed away suddenly due to a heart attack. He was a perfectly healthy man and very active. We do not understand what happened. For me, this news is extra sad. He was working with me towards his Sacred Theology Master for the past 5 years, I met with him every week for three hours and our friendship extended beyond the classroom. Sevag was the pastor of a local Armenian Evangelical Church (you probably remember him….. We had his funeral yesterday in a Church with no windows and demolished sides and walls. It was so sad! Misery upon misery. 

I am sorry to send only bad news. We cling to our Christian hope. 

Blessings, 

Rima