Worshippers attend a mass at the Syriac Orthodox Church in Al-Darbasiyah, Hasakah province on Nov. 13, 2013. Due to the clashes in north-eastern Syria, many Christians have fled the area seeking safety elsewhere, activists say.
The Lebanese Forces Party (LFP) has called on the United Nations to help protect holy places, archaeological sites, priests and nuns in Syria following recent attacks.
There were also calls stressing the need for the UN Security Council to convene and put the ancient Christian town of Maloula and other Muslim and Christian archaeological areas in Syria under its direct protection to prevent violations against them.
Muslim militants stormed the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Takla in Syria Monday afternoon after seizing the historical Christian town of Maloula. They forcibly took away 12 nuns. The reason for the kidnapping is not yet known.
MP Fadi Karam, a member of the Lebanese Forces Bloc, denounced the kidnapping noting that they have called on the Syrian regime and all disputing parties in Syria to put Maloula under the supervision of the United Nations and spare it the armed conflict.
For his part, Father Nicola Daoud from the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Tripoli and Koura said in remarks to the Lebanese Now website that 11 nuns and the head of the convent, Mother Pelagia, were kidnapped. The abductees are Syrian and Lebanese citizens.
He expressed concern that they may face the same fate of the two abducted bishops Bolous Yazigi and Youhanna Ibrahim, who were kidnapped April 22 and have not been returned.
See also this, from Agenzia Fides:
Intellectual and political campaign against the exodus of Christians
Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) –Non-stop interventions on behalf of intellectuals, journalists and Iraqi politicians mostly of Muslim faith have been launched on the www.ankawa.com website as a contribution to counteract the haemorrhage of Christians fleeing from the ancient Churches present in Iraq. The campaign, as well as providing an opportunity for in-depth historical and sociological phenomenon of the exodus, also gives way to the characters involved to offer concrete solutions on how to address and curb the phenomenon. “Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq”, says Nuri al-Hamdan, Christians were more than a million, but now there are about 300 thousand”. According to one of the speakers, Professor Mahdi al-Jaber al Mahdi, “what is happening to Christians today is a wake-up call for all those who care about the prosperity of the Country”. While the Shiite politician leader Ahmed Chalabi hopes that the next government puts the return of Iraqi Christians who have emigrated abroad as a priority on its agenda. On his behalf, Sheikh Abdul Hussein al-Saadi suggests that the Holy See should intervene in order to urge Christians not to leave their Homeland. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 4/12/2013)
Read online here.