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An advocacy for the survival of Christians
in the Middle East
- Dear brothers.. Cardinals, archbishops and Bishops. Greetings in the Lord the Good Shepherd.
- I am grateful to His Eminence Peter Cardinal Erdo for allowing me to address your august assembly and expose the dire situation that engulf the Middle East today.
- My thoughts and heartfelt thanks go to His Holiness our dear Pope Francis who since the beginning of his pontificate defended the cause of peace, justice and the religious liberties, in general, and especially calling to pray for the war torn Syria..
- I salute and applaud the Catholic Church and peoples of Europe to make pressure on their governments, so peace option in Syria would be the only alternative to resolve the horrible crisis in Syria..
- Since I was elected to Patriarch of Antioch January 2009, I already visited 10 times Iraq, the war torn country, and where we already lost close to the half of our faithful who emigrated abroad and still waiting to emigrate as refugees in neighboring countries. I visited 3 times Turkey where only a tiny minority of Christians still live, mostly in the huge Istanbul area. I already made visits once to the Holy Land, twice to Jordan and Egypt. I also traveled 3 times to Kerala, India, to strengthen ties with our sister Churches of Syriac heritage, the Syrian Malankara and the Syro-Malabar Churches.
- Therefore, by experience, I can tell you that I am acquainted with plight of most Christian communities in the Middle East, where an unending spiral of violence, undermined the very existence of non Muslim minorities, particularly Christians in lands that knew the birth of our faith and was the cradle of early Christian Communities for the first six centuries of our era .
- But the greatest concern we have at the present time is the terrible situation happening in Syria, my birth country where my parents fleeing Turkey, sought refuge right after the First World War. The last time I could visit Aleppo, the second largest city of Syria was in the summer of last year. Since then I only had to communicate with the bishops, clergy and faithful of our 4 Syriac Catholic Dioceses, Damascus, Homs, Aleppo and Hassakeh by phone calls when available.
- Because of the ongoing bloody conflict in Syria, lasting already for two and half year, this country so deeply rooted in the ancient civilization, is horribly ravaged by a sectarian religious civil war, that quickly as we warned, turned into a regional even international conflict, triggered by the Sunni Muslim majority that is supported by some Western countries. Some politicians in the West, pretending to defend democracy, gave up with the complicity of agglomerate media, their own principles and values. It seems that behind this confusing attitude was the fear of violence coming from radical Sunni Muslims, and the secularist opportunism that worships modern times Mammon.
- One must recognize that after Turkey a century ago, Palestine and Lebanon some decades ago, and Iraq for the past 20 years, it is Syria now that knows the frightening exodus of its Christian population living there for millennia. This country has been rocked since March 2011 by a conflict triggered by opponents and rebels, who initially pretended a peaceful change of a regime blasted as a dictatorial. Although Syria was commonly known as the second country in the Middle East, after Lebanon, that respected all religious denominations and exercised tolerance towards all minorities including Christians.
- Now it is a common understanding that Syria well rooted in ancient civilization like Mesopotamia and the Nile Valley, is ravaged by a sectarian war, between two religious denominations : the Sunnis who make the majority of the population and the Alawites ( a Muslim sect not recognized by the Sunnis as true Muslims) who used to be marginalized even mistreated for centuries, because of hateful discrimination, until they ascended to power in the 1970’s…
- As a result of the violent turmoil in Syria, over one hundred thousand were killed, millions were displaced inside the country or became refugees in neighboring countries…
- Fighting, bombing attacks, kidnapping and killing horrified and alienated mostly innocent population looking for peace and security. The chaos that led to the civil war brought a horrible destructions of a country known to be one of the safest in the region. Massive emigration resulted that needs immediate intervention for humanitarian assistance as the winter is approaching, while spring seasons seem fading!
- We still remember the insidious Machiavellian assertions of Western politicians telling publicly since the beginning of Syrian tragedy, that will soon be an end by the fall of the regime. On the contrary, as we feared, the crisis turned into chaos, and the chaos ultimately led to the most horrible sectarian civil war in recent generations.
- As you are well aware, this sectarian war spread to many areas, and Christians have been targeted by radical groups.. Several churches and monasteries have been heavily damaged and even burned.. Exactly what we, Christian leaders, warned most often of, since the beginning. (Maaloula and Raqqa are the latest examples)
- We, Christians of the Middle East, we really do not understand why politicians of the Western World, believing in principles of democracy, ignore that what is happening now in Syria, is far from seeking a true democracy, freedom and equality for all citizens. At one hand, those politicians profess a separation of Church and State in their own countries, while they tolerate emerging regimes based on political Islam with a clear agenda of applying the Sharia and professing an amalgam between the religion and every aspect of life, individual or public!
- Christian Leaders in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, made many statements that clearly say that they do not side with any governing person or family, neither with any regime or political party. They did urge all parties in conflict to act for reconciliation, to seek reforms in dialoguing not with violent means.
- Looking at what did happen to the Christians in neighboring Iraq, we have believed that any political change of the regime in Syria should have been solely peaceful. First of all we feared that this sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiits with their multiform denominations, will undoubtedly spread to Lebanon that hangs to a very delicate balance and other Middle Eastern countries. It is primarily the duty of the Sunni majority to inspire confidence and respect the civil rights of all minorities.
- This is the message of the Holy Father Pope Francis, who kept praying for peace and calling for a reconciliation among all components of the Syrian people. We owe the Successor of Peter a lot of gratitude for his courage following the steps of the Divine Master and proclaiming that “the war is the defeat of humanity..”.
- Christians of the Middle East are facing in recent times the greatest challenge of their history that put their very survival at risk. Given the spreading of violent radicalism in political Islam, the young generations instead of remaining rooted in the land of their ancestors, to be witnesses to the Lord, they are seeking freedom and dignity in the lands of emigration. Let us remember any evangelization is still a proselytism forbidden in countries where Islam has the majority. Because Islam does not recognize the religious freedom, it condemns those willing to embrace the Christian faith even to death! Unless, the community of nations clearly and without any politically correct language or condition, defends the Charter of Human Rights, as it was adopted by the United Nations in 1948, the Middle East will continue to sink in a fatal hemorrhage emptying itself of Christian communities that lived for millennia in that region.
- We have confidence that you, dear brother shepherds, will do whatever you can to bring Catholics to awareness to the plight of Christians in the Middle East. We need you to waken up the silent majority of citizens, who are lovers of truth in charity, seekers justice to all and who want to be peace makers in our turbulent world.
Thank you.
Ignace Youssef III Younan
Patriarch of Antioch for Syriac Catholic Church
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