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Christina
Goes to the Holy Land
by Maria C. Khoury
Author's
Note
The journey
of a lifetime with Christian that every
believer hopes to undertake. Christina
Goes to the Holy Land is a unique book
created to help children love and appreciate
the sacred and precious land of our Lord's
birth, life, death and resurrection by walking
in the footsteps of Christ our Saviour as
a pilgrim. Like all of the special books
in the Christina series, it aims
at preserving and documenting valuable traditions
reflecting treasures of faith.
Christina
Goes to the Holy Land is also a spritually
enriched book that promotes Christian heritage
and deep roots by instilling the importance
of maintaining a Christian presence in the
Holy Land, the land of Canaan.
About the
Author
Maria (Kouremenou)
Khoury, the author of Witness
in the Holy Land, lives with her
husband, David C. Khoury, in the small village
of Taybeh outside the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Dr. Khoury is a graduate of Hellenic College
(1982), Harvard University (1985), and Boston
University (1992). She is the mother of
Canaan, Constantine, and Elena. She devotes
time to fundraising for the Taybeh
Orthodox Church Housing Project.
Review by
Marilyn Rouvelas
Christina
Goes to the Holy Land tells the fictional
story of Christina and her family seeing
the sites Christian pilgrims have visited
for centuries. Through the sites, Christina
learns about the life of Christ. The sites
are generally presented in chronological
order of Christ's life: The Church of Annunciation
in Nazareth , the Church of the Nativity
in Bethlehem , the Jordan River (Theophany/Epiphany),
the Mount of Temptation near Jericho where
Christ fasted, Cana where Christ performed
the miracle of turning water into wine,
and the Galilee area. In the Jerusalem vicinity
the family visits the Tomb of Lazarus, Bethpage
where Christ mounted the donkey for Palm
Sunday, Mt. Zion the location of the Last
Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane , the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre where Christ's Crucifixion
and Resurrection are commemorated and the
Mt. of Olives where he ascended into heaven.
At each site,
Maria explains its relevance to Christ's
life. Thus the book is an excellent way
to learn about Christ's life, and Bible
quotations support the text. With the Church
of the Nativity, for example, the Christmas
story of Christ's birth is related along
with such information as the word "
Bethlehem " means "house of bread"
because there were so many wheat fields
around the town and that the church was
built by two of the greatest Orthodox saints,
Saints Constantine and Helen. This sentence
could lead to a special spiritual conversation
with the parent and child that Christ is
our bread of life and God specifically had
a plan for our salvation because He loves
us.
The colorful
illustrations by Fotini Dedousi help the
reader feel present at the sites. The original
artist of the Christina character, Antonia
Marshall, lives in the Boston area and was
not able to travel to the Holy Land. Fotini
Dedousi and Maria Khoury live in the Holy
Land and have visited these sites. The appendix
includes "Vocabulary," "Map,"
and "Chronology" for parents.
The last
page of the story tells about Christina's
family visiting the only remaining all-Christian
village in the Holy Land, Taybeh (north
of Jerusalem ). This is the village where
Maria has lived with her family since 1995.
In Christina's story, this understated sentence
appears, "Many Christian people have
left the Holy Land because of the terrible
wars." Of course Maria does not want
to frighten her young readers, but the facts
about the Christian community living in
the Holy Land today are frightening.
There are
approximately 32,000 Christians left in
the West Bank today that is less than two
per cent of the entire Palestinian population.
There is 60-70 per cent unemployment and
life is extremely difficult because of the
occupation, roadblocks, land confiscation
and now the Apartheid Wall being built by
Israel. This dire situation has been reported
by Maria in email articles that have appeared
in the Greek-American press. The chronicles
written during the current Uprising since
2000 have been collected in her book, Witness
in the Holy Land.
The need
for housing for Orthodox Christians is tremendous,
and Maria has started a fundraising campaign
to build houses in the village of Taybeh.
If each Christian in America would give
$1, the houses could be built. The One Dollar
Campaign will be in effect until Pascha
2006. If one million dollars in not raised
through the fundraising efforts to build
all thirty homes needed for St. George Greek
Orthodox Church of Taybeh at least one home
will be build with net profits from the
Christina Book series. Furthermore, Maria
is selling her rights to her new books!
for a direct donation to the housing for
publication in other languages to bring
greater awareness of the Christian presence
in the Holy Land. This book has been translated
to Greek, Spanish and French.
Related Links
Housing
Project in the Holy Land
St.
George Greek Orthodox Church of Taybeh
Oh
Bethlehem! What Have They Done to You? (recent
article by Dr. Khoury)
Author's
detailed biography
By the same author:
Witness in the Holy Land
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