The four Gospels combined in this Persian ‘Easy Good News’

Wednesday, 6 May 2009

by Beryl Rule

Retired Anglican priest the Revd Khalil Razmara, who previously ministered to a Persian congregation at Alphington from 1990-98, recently produced The Easy Good News, a Persian translation combining the four Gospels. Behind it lie eighteen centuries of history.

In 170 AD Tatian, a Mesopotamian who had been converted to Christianity, produced his Diatessaron, (or Harmony) a symposium of the Gospels which aimed at giving the full story of Christ’s life and all His recorded teaching, omitting repetition. At a time when copying had to be done by hand, this approach was more economical of time and paper, and simplified the gospel narrative.

Ezz od Din, who was to die for his faith, prepared a new Harmony translation in the middle of the thirteenth century, and now Khalil Razmara has spent nearly 10 years writing a version in his turn.

“Persian has developed as a living language, and has become more simple in structure and words,” he said. “Old words disappear; sentence structure changes… We can expect new translations in the future.”

Convinced of the Diatessaron’s significance for ministry and mission to Christians in Persia and Afghanistan, Khalil presented copies to former president of Iran Mohammed Khatami who visited Melbourne in March, and also to the Iranian Ambassador.

“I was much encouraged by Mr Khatami’s gracious reception of the book,” Khalil said. “It will be on CD and the Internet, and copies are going to Iranian Christians in England, Europe and America.”

He is very conscious of the number of Christians who have been martyred in Iran between the thirteenth and twenty-first centuries, in particular his friend and co-worker Arasto Sayyah, who was struck down in his office in Shiraz. Had Khalil not been on a visit to Australia at the time, he would almost certainly have been killed too. Against advice, he did go back to Iran for six months, but after two attempts on his life he returned to Australia to continue his ministry.

Born in Iran to a Muslim family, he likes to describe himself, not as a convert but as a “revert” to Christianity.

“Before the coming of Islam the Christian Church was active in Iran .I think my ancestors could have been Christian,” he explained.

Working as a nurse in a Christian hospital, he was impressed by the gentleness and kindness of the doctors and nurses to the needy, which contrasted with the warnings he had received about keeping away from Christians, who were categorized as unclean. After a dream in which Jesus called to him to come and listen to His teaching Khalil studied the faith for a year. Finally he was accepted for baptism but had first to inform his parents, which he found terribly difficult. His father’s reaction was to throw him out of the house, although, due to Khalil’s mother’s efforts, there was eventual reconciliation.

Khalil had intended becoming a doctor, but when, in another dream, Jesus called him to ministry he changed his studies from medicine to theology. He was priested in Iran in 1966, and married an Australian, Janet, who had been working as a CMS missionary.

Khalil, who is emphatic that only repeated material has been left out of The Easy Good News, and says there is another advantage to a combined version.

“Muslims say, ‘We have one Koran; why do you have four different books about Jesus?’ With the Diatessaron, we can answer that we have one book too.”