Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate
Of Antioch and All the East
Of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
Protocol 413/2013 D Damascus, 1 September 2013
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria
Just before the Angelus
of 1 September, His Holiness Pope Francis announced his decision to proclaim next
Saturday, 7 September, “the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer
for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world.” The Holy Father invited “each person,
including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of
good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.” He
also condemned the use of chemical weapons, calling on us all to get involved
in working for peace.
As President of the
Assembly of Catholic Hierarchs in Syria (ACHS), and Patriarch of Antioch and
All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, we call upon all our faithful
sons and daughters to join in this day of fasting and prayer. We ask for
services to be held in all parishes – according to the situation and conditions
specific to each. Let these services and celebrations be held in union with the
Holy Father, who from 7 p.m. until midnight will be in St Peter’s Square “in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace
upon the beloved nation of Syriaand upon each
situation of conflict and violence around the world.”
We call upon all our priests to open their
churches during that period to pray with any parishioners who manage to come. This
vigil will be marked by the celebration of Vespers and Matins with a time of
prayer and meditation. The prayer uttered by Blessed John Paul II at Quneitra
on 1 May 2001 should also be recited. We also suggest reading Pope Francis’ remarks of 25 August and 1
September as well as our own statements and appeals for peace.
The collections taken
during this prayer vigil and the next day, Sunday, will be entirely for the
benefit of Syria’s crisis victims in need and distress.
With the Holy Father, we
ask “Mary to help us to respond to violence, to conflict and to war, with the
power of dialogue, reconciliation and love. She is our mother: may she help us
to find peace; all of us are her children! Help us, Mary, to overcome this most
difficult moment and to dedicate ourselves each day to building in every
situation an authentic culture of encounter and peace. Mary, Queen of Peace,
pray for us!”
Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and
All the East
Of Alexandria and of
Jerusalem
President of the
Assembly of Catholic Hierarchs in Syria