Prelates insist: preserve Syria’s Christian tradition
December 16, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: “Christians must live their natural and active presence within Syrian society, being a genuine and essential component of it,” said Maronite Catholic Patriarch Bechara Rai in his homily on Sunday, December 15. He reminded the faithful that Syria is “the cradle of Christianity in the region,” and that his own title—Patriarch of Antioch—reflects the ancient roots of the Church.
In Syria, after the fall of the Assad regime, Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus admitted that Christians had not been fully honest about the human-rights violations of the Assad government. “We were not brave enough to tell the truth,” he said.
However, Syrian Christians were clearly concerned about their future prospects in an Islamic regime. “We have fought against injustice,” said Archbishop Jacques Mourad of Homs, “but not so that Shari’a law can replace the palace of justice.” Archbishop Mourad—who was seized and held as a hostage by the Islamic State for five months in 2015—said that Christians should work for justice in new government. “Let us hlep this new state, even if it claims to be Muslim,” he said.
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