THE Patriarch of the Syrian Melkite Greek-Catholic Church, the
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, His Beatitude Gregorios III
Laham, has called for a campaign of prayers to make the planned
international conference on Syria in Geneva next month a
success.
He made the call during a series of meetings with religious and
political leaders in London last week. Among those he visited was
the Archbishop of Canterbury, who tweeted later that the Patriarch
was "full of grace and Spirit of God, pray for the peace of
Syria".
The main focus of Patriarch Gregorios's visit was a mass at
Westminster Cathedral and a meeting in the Cathedral Hall to mark
the launch of the latest annual report by the RC advocacy group Aid
to the Church in Need into the oppression of Christians.
Patriarch Gregorios spoke about the appalling conditions under
which all Syrians, whether supporters or opponents of President
Bashar al-Assad's regime, were living. "Syria is experiencing a
lengthy, bloody way of the cross, stretching along all the
country's roads." As far as Syrians were concerned, nowhere was
safe because "at any moment you may be killed by bomb, missile, or
bullet, not to mention being kidnapped or taken hostage".
The Syrian Patriarch said that 36 Melkite Greek-Catholic
churches in Syria had been destroyed or damaged, and many more
abandoned because both the priests and the congregations had been
forced out of their communities, often by Islamist rebels.
Many Christians had been killed or kidnapped. In Yabroud, near
Damascus, which is controlled by anti-government forces, the
ancient church of Constantine and Helena was shelled. Two bombs
that had been hidden inside - one in the confessional - were
defused.
Patriarch Gregorios said that people inside and outside Syria
accused Christians of being supporters of the regime. But such
affiliations were irrelevant, for Christians in Syria were first
and foremost Syrians, and wanted to build a new country side by
side with Muslims.
The Patriarch expressed hopes that the second international
conference on Syria in Geneva, scheduled for late November, could
present a good opportunity to end the war. "Therefore," he said,
"we are calling for a campaign and efforts to make Geneva
successful, for the sake not just of millions of Syrians," but also
for the region as a whole.
The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, speaking to the BBC on
Tuesday, emphasised the importance of the moderate opposition
taking part at Geneva. If they did not play a role, Mr Hague said,
"then all the Syrian people have got left is a choice between Assad
and extremists".
Later on Tuesday, after a meeting in London, the 11 countries
that constitute the Friends of Syria urged the biggest opposition
group, the Syrian National Council, to attend the Geneva talks.
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