SAVE ABOUD Palestine
Israel is constructing its Apartheid separation wall on the land of Aboud village. The survival of the ancient Christian and Muslim Palestinian West Bank community of Aboud is threatened.
An orthodox Christian in the West Bank village of Aboud holds a crucifix he made himself |
Aboud is a picturesque and ancient Palestinian village. Stone houses blend into the rocky hills. Vines and red and violet bougainvillea climb trestles. From balconies there are beautiful vistas over terraced hills covered in age old olive trees. Leafy fig trees provide shade to its streets. Villagers make their own olive oil and wine. Two thousand two hundred people live in the village: Nine hundred are Christian, the rest are Muslim.
The Christian Heritage of Aboud
There are almost equal numbers of
Catholic and Orthodox Christians in Aboud, and a much smaller Protestant
congregation. Christians and Muslims in Aboud live together in harmony. There
are Muslim as well as Christian children attending the Latin (Catholic) school
in the village founded in 1913.
Local tradition states that three millennia old Aboud received the faith of
Christ from Christ himself. Ruins
of the ancient Messiah Church mark the location where Jesus is said to have
preached. Close to the village is the Roman Road that Jesus and the Holy Family
would have used when travelling between the Galilee and Jerusalem. The
Orthodox church in Aboud, was built in the 4th century days of the Roman emperor
Constantine. The Byzantine capitals of its columns bear the image of cross and
palm branches. In the southern wall of the church there is a plaque in Aramaic
the language of Jesus.
There are remains of nine ancient churches in and around the village.
Saint Barbara and Aboud
On December 17th (4th December, St. Barbara's day in the calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church) the people of Aboud, venerate the village patron saint, St. Barbara, an early Christian Martyr. On a hillside facing the village are extensive remains of St. Barbara’s Monastery. The tiny sixth-seventh Century shrine or Church of St. Barbara was maintained and used. On 31st May 2002 the church was blown up and destroyed by the Israeli army. It has since been rebuilt.
Please act to save Aboud
There is more information about the village on the Aboud Christian Youth website www.hcsn.org/aboudyouth/
Operation Dove an Italian Catholic Peace Taskforce have a permanent presence in Aboud
