On Wednesday, 16 May, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem delivered its new Cyrus Award to President Jimmy Morales of Guatemala in honor of his nation’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move its Embassy to the holy city. 

President Morales was in Jerusalem that day to officially open the new Embassy of Guatemala in the Malha neighborhood. The Christian Embassy has established the Cyrus Award as a special honor bestowed on those national leaders who distinguish themselves by officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and by moving their embassies to the city, out of respect for its historic status as the center of Jewish national, religious and cultural life and aspirations. 

“We are thrilled that the nations are finally starting to come back up to Jerusalem, with the United States and Guatemala in the forefront”, said ICEJ President, Dr. Jürgen Bühler. “It is wholly appropriate that we give due respect to those national leaders who have shown courage and moral leadership by initiating this historic return to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”

The Cyrus Award was created following the historic declaration of U.S. President Donald Trump in December 2017 to grant de jure recognition to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to move the American Embassy to the holy city. This principled decision challenged the decades of unfair treatment of Israel by the international community as the only nation in the world denied the sovereign right to designate the city of its choice to serve as its capital and seat of government. The Cyrus Award also will be presented to President Trump in the near future. 

In 1950, the newly reborn nation of Israel chose Jerusalem to be its capital, reflecting the deep attachment of the Jewish people to the city ever since King David made it the capital of his united Israelite kingdom over 3,000 years ago. In the ensuing millennia, Jerusalem gained universal spiritual significance and today is revered by billions of people of faith worldwide. Yet only the Jewish people have ever made Jerusalem the capital of their national life and central to their identity as a distinct people.

The Cyrus Award is named after Cyrus the Great, the founding monarch of the Persian Empire who is remembered today for his tolerant attitude and actions towards religious and ethnic minorities within his vast kingdom. His humane decrees toward these minority communities were exceptionally unique in the ancient world, and are preserved to this day on the renowned Cyrus Cylinder now proudly on display in the British Museum in London. This exceptional archaeological treasure, which was discovered in 1879 underneath the foundation of an ancient Babylonian temple in Iraq, contains the decree of King Cyrus to allow religious minorities within his realm to rebuild their temples and reclaim their religious heritage. 

The Bible documents this noble legacy as well, and even presents Cyrus as a prophetic figure decades before his rise to power. His edict charging the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the “house” of the “God of heaven” is recorded in Second Chronicles 36:22-23 and Ezra 1:1-8, among other passages. Indeed, Cyrus not only allowed the Jewish people to return from exile to rebuild Jerusalem and their holy Temple, but he also provided funds from the royal treasury to support these endeavors.

Thus, the Cyrus Award is a special distinction reserved for worthy leaders of nations who show solidarity with the Jewish people by respecting their eternal bond with Jerusalem through their official recognition of the city as the capital of Israel. The award itself is a replica in gold of the prized Cyrus Cylinder, specially crafted by noted Israeli artist Sam Philipe. 

When the last thirteen national embassies left Jerusalem in 1980, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was founded as a permanent expression of Christian solidarity with Israel and particularly with its capital of Jerusalem, in recognition of the ancient Jewish attachment to this city. From its headquarters in Jerusalem, the ICEJ now oversees a worldwide pro-Israel Christian movement with established branch offices in over 90 nations and a reach into more than 170 countries worldwide.

Written by: David Parsons, Senior International Spokesman
Article source: us.icej.org