In view of the tragically difficult times that
the whole Middle East, and especially Syria, is going through, H. B. Patriarch
Gregorios III wrote a letter on 20 April 2011 to Western leaders, asking them
to help boost social and political evolution in the region. He stressed that
the current revolutions are unlikely to benefit Christians, and may even result
in more Christians being obliged to flee the unrest. He believes that Western
support for peace is very important for Muslim-Christian living together in the
Arab region, for the Christian presence there, for the communion and witness of
its Churches to be maintained and for the aims of the recent Special Assembly
for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops to be fulfilled.
***
Letter to Heads of State
Damascus, 20 April 2011
In the current tragic
situation of my country, Syria, I am writing to you once more, Your Majesty
(Your Excellency).
During my meeting on 22
March of this year with some Ambassadors at the Melkite Greek Catholic
Patriarchate, one or two of them asked me to write to you, and through you to
the world, in the name of Syria’s Christians and Muslims too.
Few television channels
and media are making the link between the revolutions in the Arab world and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This conflict, in my opinion, has a great impact on
these bloody revolutions arising as if by magic in various countries, including
my homeland of Syria, where my Patriarchal Residence is situated, in the holy,
historic quarter of Saint Paul. This is also the seat of my two colleagues, the
Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs, as well as of Archbishops and
Bishops of the Orthodox and Catholic Armenian, Syriac Catholic, Maronite and
Latin Churches, and of Protestant leaders.
Damascus is one of the
most important cities in terms of Christian presence in the Arab world. Syria
is also the most significant country for its Christian presence in a Muslim
majority country, but which is a model of faithful and open secularism, as I affirmed
before the Ambassadors on 22 March 2011.
I repeat what I said to
the Ambassadors on 22 March in the Patriarchate, at the beginning of the events
in Syria, and which is contained in the report issued after this meeting. (See
the attached copy.)
Here is the most
important passage:
“If this [Israeli-Palestinian]
conflict is not resolved, there is great danger for this Christian presence,
threatened by demographic (lower birth rate) and political factors,
particularly as a result of tensions weighing on the small Christian
communities: hence the importance of peace, especially for the countries of the
Middle East and particularly for Syria, where all the country’s inhabitants
really do live together.”
One Ambassador “emphasised that the country’s Christians, and the
Patriarch, through his influence, should make Syria’s importance better known,
in the context of the current unrest; and he supported the wish, voiced by the
Patriarch, for the international media not to adopt a hostile tone towards Syria
but rather help Syria to surmount and move beyond this turmoil in order to
safeguard its pattern of living together.”
I expressed
the same thing in a letter I wrote to several Heads of State of Europe and the
Americas. Here is the most important passage of this letter:
“If you
wish there still to be Christians in the Middle East, in the Holy Land,
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and the countries of the Gulf, help us to
make peace and stop the Israeli settlements on the West Bank, recognized in international
law as Palestinian land!
Christians, from lay-people to Patriarchs,
together with Muslims in Arab countries are wondering why sanctions can be
imposed upon a number of countries such as Syria, Iraq, and Iran, but never any
that affect Israel.
Such a state of affairs feeds fundamentalism
and extremism and in turn rebounds upon us Christians, especially in Iraq and
Egypt.”
This seems even more
valid than ever, today in the present state of affairs of the situation in
Syria and elsewhere in the Arab world.
Moreover, I would like to
add an argument, the fruit of my knowledge and experience of the Arab world in
Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Egypt and Jordan.
Our Arab countries are
not ready for revolutions, and not even for democracy of the European kind and
model. That is due to their social, religious, demographic structures and their
very multifaceted plurality. It is for these reasons that I am asking the West
not to encourage revolutions unconditionally here and there in the Arab world. But
rather Arab Heads of State should be invited and encouraged to develop
democratic structures, freedom, respect for human rights, including those of
women and children; and be supported in promoting systems of medical and social
welfare, housing etc…
With this support, they
can give real, tangible content to a programme that could be demanded from Arab
countries’ leaders.
This is the comment that
I heard from an ambassador of a large, very conservative, Arab country. He told
me: “What we need in our Arab world is evolution, not revolution.”
What is the outlook after
the revolutions?
That is why I am once
more launching an appeal to our friends, the Heads of State, especially of the
European Union, the Americas and elsewhere. Ask the Heads of State of Arab
countries to work for real development and demand a clear, bold plan! But don’t encourage revolutions!
Already, the situation has
deteriorated into organised crime, robbery, fear, terror being spread, rumours
of threats to churches; victims, including the forces of law and order and
others, are being mutilated… All this creates trauma.
This did not happen in
Egypt.
Fundamentalist groups are
threatening citizens and wanting to create “Islamic Emirates.” Now
the government has reacted positively to the demands and demonstrations, on the
political and social level.
I tell you this frankly
as a Christian citizen and as Patriarch, a pastor and leader highly conscious
of his responsibility: what I am asking has great influence on Muslim-Christian
living together and dialogue, mutual respect and so forth.
Christians especially are
very fragile in the face of crises and bloody revolutions! Christians will be
the first victims of these revolutions, especially in Syria. A new wave of
emigration will follow immediately. We have experience of that. In Lebanon, after
the war in South Lebanon of 2006 and between 2006 and 2010, one million Lebanese
emigrated.
Hence, Your Majesty (Excellency),
this clear, frank, insistent, urgent appeal, springing from the heart of a
pastor who is very committed as a Christian in society: an appeal based on our
Christian faith! We Christians wish to be agents for peace! This appeal is
based on our frank, sincere citizenship, our faithfulness to our homelands, our
loyalty to our leaders, our sincere, indiscriminate love to our Sunni and Shi’a
Muslim, Druze, Kurdish and Christian fellow-citizens.
This appeal is based on
our great concern for national unity in every country, on our faith and
conviction that the future lies in dialogue, fellowship, development of minds,
citizenship training and not in revolutions, blood, violence, chaos and often
armed, fundamentalist disorder; the Iraq experiment cost a great deal to Iraqis,
especially to the little flock of Christians in that country, and to its unity.
What we need is:
Ø The solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the recognition of the State of Palestine
Ø General just and lasting peace
Ø Stability and security
Ø Social development
Help us, you Heads of State and governments, especially
of Europe and the Americas. Help us!
I hope that all of you
will hear this alarm call from an Arab Patriarch, who is open and sincere to
God and his country, loving all citizens, and these Arab countries, which are
our homelands, as Christians and Arabs. We constitute in these countries the
Church of the Arabs, and even of Islam: a
Church in solidarity with the Arab world and for this Muslim majority society. We
want to stay here, in our Arab countries, which are the cradle of
Christianity, and as our Master, Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ taught us, we
want to be the light, salt and leaven in the lump of our world, and with and
for this world.
Thank you! Excuse the
length of this letter! I found it absolutely necessary and imperative to write
this letter and make this presentation.
Thank you for your kind
reception of this letter. I am praying for you and for your countries!
Sincerely yours,
+ Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and
All the East
Of Alexandria and of
Jerusalem