His Beatitude John X appeals for peace in Syria…

His Beatitude John X appeals for peace in Syria and stability in Lebanon

29 September 2013

From Rome, Patriarch John X repeated again his call for the peace in Syria and all the East. His appeal came throughout his speech in the conference entitled “the courage to hope, religions and cultures in dialogue” organized by the community of St. Egidio. The following are his own words:
“Syria is called on the basis of dialogue and the furtherance of political and peaceful solutions to pass over its crisis and to return splendid, as a bride of all those brides of the east. Peace in Syria cannot be achieved through destructive rockets and warships, but rather through the will to peace; from inside and outside, through logic of dialogue and efforts to stabilize with a peaceful political solution. Syria exported to all the world the strength of its culture, not the culture of strength. Proclaiming peace is better than declaring war.

From Rome, whose soil was blessed with the blood of the first Martyrs of our Lord, I address all the faithful of the world, using the words of the Bishop of Antioch, St. Ignatius in his letter to the Romans, some 2000 years ago: “Remember in your prayer the Church in Syria... Jesus Christ alone shall take care of her together with your love” and I add, “remember in your prayer all the Syrians and Lebanese and ask God Almighty to implant in their land His divine peace”.

Brothers and sisters, establishing peace in Syria is a real criterion of our Christianity. Shall we work together to remove every single tear of the Syrians and lead the battle of peace and freedom toward the future?!”.