The Episcopal New Yorker

I lived in Iran during the 1960s and 1970s, and have often longed to go back again to see friends and family and to see the changes of the past 27 years. In December 2005, the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) sponsored a trip to Iran and I was asked to be one of the co-leaders. We hoped to have dialogue with Iranians, to present a friendly and respectful face of America, and finally, to continue to learn and talk and write about Iran when we got back home. As an interfaith organization which focuses on peace and justice, FOR sponsored this delegation as part of an effort to address the threat of U.S. military action against Iran.
Since I had lived in Iran as a member of a religious minority, I was especially keen to learn about the status of these groups today. We had several discussions with representatives of religious minorities, and they all spoke of current advances they perceived in the rights and support of religious minorities in Iran. We met with Christians, Zoroastrians, and Jews; our schedule, which was approved by the Iranian government, did not include a meeting with Bahais.

The Rev. Dr. Ellen Francis Poisson with schoolchildren in Iran. Photo by Marian Ward.

In the city of Isfahan, we visited the Vank Cathedral (Armenian) and spoke with Father Popkin and Archbishop Gorian Bobian. We met in an impressive room, with portraits of patriarchs high above our heads and a portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini in the middle. The Archbishop said that building personal relationships has been extraordinarily important in maintaining good community relations; during the Revolution, he told us, a crowd approached the area of the Cathedral and had damaged other property, but they didn’t touch the church.

We were told that today the indigenous churches of Iran, such as the Armenian and Assyrian Churches, have total freedom of worship. There are specific Armenian schools which teach Armenian culture and religion, and the Ministry of Culture pays all their expenses. In issues of family law, such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance, Iran respects the customs and traditions of the church. There are currently approximately 100,000 Armenian Christians in Iran and two representatives to the Parliament.

We also were told that it is illegal for Iranian Muslims to convert to another religion, and this is the reason for the animosity in Iran towards Christian evangelists and missionaries. Under the shah, conversions from Islam to other faiths were possible, although discouraged. In the Islamic Republic, however, it is illegal and a capital crime to convert from Islam to another faith. This is because, in Islam, the revelation of God to Mohammad is considered the last revelation, and once accepted it is considered apostasy to revoke. The Anglican Church in Iran was closed, as I understand, because they had made converts, among them the Bishop of Iran himself. The indigenous minorities are given complete freedom to worship and teach their faith within their own communities, but they do not proselytize.

In Teheran, we went to visit a synagogue, and we were greeted very warmly on the sidewalks by worshippers with the words: “Shabbat Shalom!” They were especially interested in meeting the Jewish members of our delegation. Inside the synagogue, we met with Morris Mottaned, who is in his second term as the Jewish representative to the Parliament. According to Mottaned, Iran has the second oldest Jewish community in the world, after Israel. There is a mausoleum for Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan, Iran, and one for Daniel in Susa.

We learned that before the Iranian Revolution, there were 100,000 Jews living in Iran, but today there are about 25,000. Many have gone to Israel or the U.S., but some are now returning to Iran. Mr. Mottaned affirmed that there would always be a Jewish community in Iran because the Jewish roots are so deep there. He told us that as of two years ago, equality under law was established in Iran for the religious minorities and there is now equal opportunity for employment. The Iranian authorities no longer question Iranian Jews when they travel abroad. There are Jewish elementary and high schools, and about 40% of the Jewish families choose to send their children to these schools. There are currently 20 synagogues in Teheran and others in more than 15 cities, but only three rabbis. We asked his opinion of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and Mottaned responded tactfully that the Iranian Jewish community supports dialogue and compromise on both sides and opposes violence on both sides.

We also visited several mosques and shrines, and spoke with two imams in the holy city of Qom. At one shrine, I was sitting quietly to one side, and a woman approached me with her daughter. We began to talk and she asked if I was Muslim or Christian, and we agreed that we both believed in the same God. Then she began to tell me her story – one of her daughters had been killed recently in a car accident and her other daughter was injured. As she talked she began to cry, and I and an Iranian woman who was with us said words of comfort. All the women in our group gathered around her, and though they didn’t understand her words, they understood her grief and we all offered our prayers and presence and support.

Other highlights of the trip included a visit to a school for journalism, a women’s environmental center, and many impromptu discussions with school children and people on the street and in shops. We visited historical sites, museums of history and crafts, shrines to martyrs and Iranian poets, and even a special Iranian gym called a “Zur-khane”. Those with the greatest stamina were rewarded one evening by a Kurdish wedding in our hotel and were invited to dance with the guests. I was delighted to find that the others on the trip also came to love Iranian food! And I was also able to see my Iranian family again after 27 years.

Sometimes there were witnesses to our conversations and in some cases we were certainly given officially sanctioned information. Iranian society is highly complex, as is the current political impasse over nuclear energy. Iranians also have an ancient and distinguished history, as well as traditional art, music, architecture, literature and poetry, of which they are deeply proud. In such a short visit – only eight days – we got a glimpse and a taste of this rich complexity. It is clear, however, that Iranians have a deep resentment of past foreign interference and will oppose with all available strength any future interference.

There is a Farsi expression, “A guest is a gift of God,” and so we were indeed treated like honored guests. I think we presented a friendly and respectful face of America, and in spite of concerns for our safety, we found that the Iranians whom we met extended the most gracious hospitality to us. Many Iranians said, “We really love Americans. Tell everyone back in America this. Tell your friends to come to Iran, too.”

THE EPISCOPAL NEW YORKER
International Connections	January/February 2006
A guest is a gift of God: Reflections on Iran By the REV. DR. ELLEN FRANCIS POISSON, OSH

I lived in Iran during the 1960s and 1970s, and have often longed to go back again to see friends and family and to see the changes of the past 27 years. In December 2005, the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) sponsored a trip to Iran and I was asked to be one of the co-leaders. We hoped to have dialogue with Iranians, to present a friendly and respectful face of America, and finally, to continue to learn and talk and write about Iran when we got back home. As an interfaith organization which focuses on peace and justice, FOR sponsored this delegation as part of an effort to address the threat of U.S. military action against Iran. Since I had lived in Iran as a member of a religious minority, I was especially keen to learn about the status of these groups today. We had several discussions with representatives of religious minorities, and they all spoke of current advances they perceived in the rights and support of religious minorities in Iran. We met with Christians, Zoroastrians, and Jews; our schedule, which was approved by the Iranian government, did not include a meeting with Bahais. The Rev. Dr. Ellen Francis Poisson with schoolchildren in Iran. Photo by Marian Ward. In the city of Isfahan, we visited the Vank Cathedral (Armenian) and spoke with Father Popkin and Archbishop Gorian Bobian. We met in an impressive room, with portraits of patriarchs high above our heads and a portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini in the middle. The Archbishop said that building personal relationships has been extraordinarily important in maintaining good community relations; during the Revolution, he told us, a crowd approached the area of the Cathedral and had damaged other property, but they didn’t touch the church. We were told that today the indigenous churches of Iran, such as the Armenian and Assyrian Churches, have total freedom of worship. There are specific Armenian schools which teach Armenian culture and religion, and the Ministry of Culture pays all their expenses. In issues of family law, such as marriage, divorce, and inheritance, Iran respects the customs and traditions of the church. There are currently approximately 100,000 Armenian Christians in Iran and two representatives to the Parliament. We also were told that it is illegal for Iranian Muslims to convert to another religion, and this is the reason for the animosity in Iran towards Christian evangelists and missionaries. Under the shah, conversions from Islam to other faiths were possible, although discouraged. In the Islamic Republic, however, it is illegal and a capital crime to convert from Islam to another faith. This is because, in Islam, the revelation of God to Mohammad is considered the last revelation, and once accepted it is considered apostasy to revoke. The Anglican Church in Iran was closed, as I understand, because they had made converts, among them the Bishop of Iran himself. The indigenous minorities are given complete freedom to worship and teach their faith within their own communities, but they do not proselytize. In Teheran, we went to visit a synagogue, and we were greeted very warmly on the sidewalks by worshippers with the words: “Shabbat Shalom!” They were especially interested in meeting the Jewish members of our delegation. Inside the synagogue, we met with Morris Mottaned, who is in his second term as the Jewish representative to the Parliament. According to Mottaned, Iran has the second oldest Jewish community in the world, after Israel. There is a mausoleum for Esther and Mordechai in Hamadan, Iran, and one for Daniel in Susa. We learned that before the Iranian Revolution, there were 100,000 Jews living in Iran, but today there are about 25,000. Many have gone to Israel or the U.S., but some are now returning to Iran. Mr. Mottaned affirmed that there would always be a Jewish community in Iran because the Jewish roots are so deep there. He told us that as of two years ago, equality under law was established in Iran for the religious minorities and there is now equal opportunity for employment. The Iranian authorities no longer question Iranian Jews when they travel abroad. There are Jewish elementary and high schools, and about 40% of the Jewish families choose to send their children to these schools. There are currently 20 synagogues in Teheran and others in more than 15 cities, but only three rabbis. We asked his opinion of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and Mottaned responded tactfully that the Iranian Jewish community supports dialogue and compromise on both sides and opposes violence on both sides. We also visited several mosques and shrines, and spoke with two imams in the holy city of Qom. At one shrine, I was sitting quietly to one side, and a woman approached me with her daughter. We began to talk and she asked if I was Muslim or Christian, and we agreed that we both believed in the same God. Then she began to tell me her story – one of her daughters had been killed recently in a car accident and her other daughter was injured. As she talked she began to cry, and I and an Iranian woman who was with us said words of comfort. All the women in our group gathered around her, and though they didn’t understand her words, they understood her grief and we all offered our prayers and presence and support. Other highlights of the trip included a visit to a school for journalism, a women’s environmental center, and many impromptu discussions with school children and people on the street and in shops. We visited historical sites, museums of history and crafts, shrines to martyrs and Iranian poets, and even a special Iranian gym called a “Zur-khane”. Those with the greatest stamina were rewarded one evening by a Kurdish wedding in our hotel and were invited to dance with the guests. I was delighted to find that the others on the trip also came to love Iranian food! And I was also able to see my Iranian family again after 27 years. Sometimes there were witnesses to our conversations and in some cases we were certainly given officially sanctioned information. Iranian society is highly complex, as is the current political impasse over nuclear energy. Iranians also have an ancient and distinguished history, as well as traditional art, music, architecture, literature and poetry, of which they are deeply proud. In such a short visit – only eight days – we got a glimpse and a taste of this rich complexity. It is clear, however, that Iranians have a deep resentment of past foreign interference and will oppose with all available strength any future interference. There is a Farsi expression, “A guest is a gift of God,” and so we were indeed treated like honored guests. I think we presented a friendly and respectful face of America, and in spite of concerns for our safety, we found that the Iranians whom we met extended the most gracious hospitality to us. Many Iranians said, “We really love Americans. Tell everyone back in America this. Tell your friends to come to Iran, too.”