Prayers for the Orthodox and fellow Christians in Syria

[The Liturgist]

All Christians in Syria, such as our Antiochian, Syriac and Armemian brethren and our friends in the Melkite, Syriac and Latin Catholic churches are in immediate danger due to the country having been taken over by an Islamist movement which has a history of persecuting Christians.

Through the Intercession of the Theotokos, St. Ephrem the Syrian, St. John Chrysostom, St. John of Damascus, St. Ignatius of Antioch, the Holy Apostles Peter, Paul and Thomas, and all the saints, have mercy O Lord, and save our brothers and sisters in Christ who reside in Syria and deliver them from all evil!

 

[Lukaris]

Lord, have mercy.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Lord have mercy!

 

[prodromos]

Lord have mercy!

 

[Hazelelponi]

All Christians in Syria, such as our Antiochian, Syriac and Armemian brethren and our friends in the Melkite, Syriac and Latin Catholic churches are in immediate danger due to the country having been taken over by an Islamist movement which has a history of persecuting Christians.

Through the Intercession of the Theotokos, St. Ephrem the Syrian, St. John Chrysostom, St. John of Damascus, St. Ignatius of Antioch, the Holy Apostles Peter, Paul and Thomas, and all the saints, have mercy O Lord, and save our brothers and sisters in Christ who reside in Syria and deliver them from all evil!

My prayers are also with them.

 

[prodromos]

Thank God the Assad family made it to safety. It makes me sick how the Western media portrays Assad as a brutal dictator when it was the complete opposite. Every Syrian I have spoken to loves Assad. He was the only one responsible for maintaining peace in a country with Christian and Moslems. He was always very supportive of the Orthodox monasteries in Syria despite not being Christian himself.

 

[Lukaris]

I asked a Syrian lady in our parish if she had contact with relatives in the old country. She said her relatives ( & friends) are ok and feels hopeful that things will work out. She told me that it is good that the Assads are gone.I know of another Syrian parishioner who told me years back of a relative who was arrested during a demonstration during the so called “Arab Spring”. He told me his relative was never heard from again.
Personally, I have usually held the opinion that the Assads were at least the lesser of evils for Syria ( & still tend to think so). I don’t know overall, it is complicated and I would think the Alawites ( the Islamic faith of the Assads) are probably vulnerable.

Alawites - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[rusmeister]

Thank God the Assad family made it to safety. It makes me sick how the Western media portrays Assad as a brutal dictator when it was the complete opposite. Every Syrian I have spoken to loves Assad. He was the only one responsible for maintaining peace in a country with Christian and Moslems. He was always very supportive of the Orthodox monasteries in Syria despite not being Christian himself.

What do you do when your spouse believes all of the Western propaganda (regarding all of these world events) and refuses to admit any nuances? You wind up having to keep your mouth shut.

 

[The Liturgist]

What do you do when your spouse believes all of the Western propaganda (regarding all of these world events) and refuses to admit any nuances? You wind up having to keep your mouth shut.

I’d keep my mouth zipped as soon as I detected any pushback or resentment. Its not worth it to alienate someone who loves you for the sake of demonstrating intellectual supremacy, especially with regards to something as fickle and subjective as the relative morality of political figures.

By the way, I would note with a mixture of chagrin and regret that I learned this one the hard way in my youth.

 

[prodromos]

I am thankful that my wife and I are on the same page for pretty much everything.

 

[RileyG]

Lord have mercy!

 

[prodromos]

I'm a bit late to the party, but I just learned that Călin Georgescu, an Orthodox Christian candidate for the Romanian presidency, had won the election, only to have the results nullified by the courts, citing evidence of "Russian interference" in social media swaying election results.

Where have I heard that before?

Romanian court annuls first round of presidential election

Ruling follows revelation of declassified intelligence alleging Russia ran online campaign to promote far-right outsider

www.theguardian.com

 

[Chesterton]

Every Syrian I have spoken to loves Assad.

That's my experience also.

 

[prodromos]

The so called "moderate jihadists" have announced they intend to behead the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Aleppo, Ephraim, just as they had done to his predecessor, the hieromartyr Paul.

My apologies. I had no means of checking the veracity of the above claim and accepted it at face value, since it was consistent with their past actions. I will not post any more of such claims unless I can confirm them.

Forgive me.

 

[Lukaris]

The Syrian Patriarchs seem to be all right at present. Unfortunately, those long missing ( since 2013), remain so.

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

www.antiochian.org

Bishop Denies Threats Amidst Spread of Fake News in Aleppo

"It is not true that jihadists have threatened the Greek Orthodox bishop of Aleppo, Ephraim Malouli, to behead him. I was with him yesterday afternoon and he was calm. Unfortunately, fake news is...

www.ilmessaggero.it

Prayers for their continued witness, safety, & wellbeing.

 

[prodromos]

The Syrian Patriarchs seem to be all right at present. Unfortunately, those long missing ( since 2013), remain so.

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

www.antiochian.org

Bishop Denies Threats Amidst Spread of Fake News in Aleppo

"It is not true that jihadists have threatened the Greek Orthodox bishop of Aleppo, Ephraim Malouli, to behead him. I was with him yesterday afternoon and he was calm. Unfortunately, fake news is...

www.ilmessaggero.it

Prayers for their continued witness, safety, & wellbeing.

Thank you for your correction. My wife's family has history in Aleppo, so we are a little over sensitive to news we hear from there.

 

[rusmeister]

staff edited

Hi, Nick,
The trouble with what you’re saying is that there is not a lot of thought behind it. You are stating an incredibly oversimplified narrative. “Assad is a really bad man.” OK. Let’s grant that. My previous questions stand unanswered. What did his rule mean for non-Muslims in Syria, and what does the change to a serious traditional Muslim regime that believes in jihad of the sword, paying the jizyaa, taqiyya, and all the rest mean for all those people? You’re not demonstrating actual thinking about any complications here. You could convince me otherwise by actually showing thinking about sides of Assad that maybe weren’t entirely demonic, even though we’ll assume and grant that he has done a lot of evil things to his own enemies.

 

[The Liturgist]

My apologies. I had no means of checking the veracity of the above claim and accepted it at face value, since it was consistent with their past actions. I will not post any more of such claims unless I can confirm them.

Forgive me.

Officially we still do not know what happened to Metropolitan Paul and Archbishop Gregorios. The Antiochians continue to regard Metropolitan Paul as in captivity, and I as far as I am aware this is the Syriac Orthodox position as well.

 

[The Liturgist]

Thank you for your correction. My wife's family has history in Aleppo, so we are a little over sensitive to news we hear from there.

I have Syriac Orthodox friends from Aleppo so I can well understand. Actually it was the abduction of the two Metropolitans, Paul and Gregorios, that was the primary motivation for my conversion a decade ago.