Aleppo Prelate Reflects on His 20 Years as Archbishop, All That He's Lost in the Last 4 Years

Zenit News Agency ^ | 9/22/15

[marshmallow]

"Comforting the people and encouraging them to persevere has become an indispensable effort. Helping the faithful in their distress has become a priority for me"

Here is a letter from Aleppo, written by the archbishop of the city, Jean-Clément Jeanbart, reflecting on his 20 years of service here, as he now fights for his faithful to stay in Syria. The letter is made available by Aid to the Church in Need.

* * *

It has been 20 years, exactly. On Sept. 16, 1995, the Church saw fit to appoint me to lead the Diocese of Aleppo. It was a solemn day in my life; even as the celebrations surrounding an episcopal nomination were taking place and festive atmosphere all around pushed all worries aside, I foresaw already, without saying a word, all the efforts and hard work that this responsibility would call on me for I didn’t know how many years.

A few days later, the warm and enthusiastic welcome with which the faithful of Aleppo, turning out in great numbers, awaited my arrival in the city, moved me profoundly and confirmed my commitment to dedicate myself wholly to serving them.

The Diocese of Aleppo is one of the oldest Sees of the universal Church. It already was established in the third century and in 325 its archbishop participated in the Council of Nicea. In both the ancient and recent history of the Middle East this active and prosperous community was a center of Christian radiance in the region. It is a reason to be really proud and it has always moved me, giving me a strong attachment to the local faithful past and present and lending an extra dose of enthusiasm to the exercise of my episcopal ministry.

In fact, during all these years of intense efforts, I have been..........

[Oratam]

Amazing how the Christians of the middle-east could survive 14 centuries of Islam but not two terms of Obama.

[Liz]

That is so profound.....and more importantly....how do we recover from the destruction this beast has wrought.

[Shark24]

Yes it is very profound and his words and efforts to stop the emigration of Christians (and Moslems) from Syria are totally ignored by the MSM. I keep up with the Aid to the Church in Need website and support them with donations and prayers. Fundraiser for them with our teens at Church is in the planning stages.

http://www.churchinneed.org/site/PageServer?pagename=mainpage

[Oratam]

Thank you for the compliment.

I think WW2 may provide the only precedent for removing totalitarian regimes from large swaths of territory. I think the West as a whole suffers from a moral and spiritual breakdown like Europe after the Great War.

There is not only no more will to fight but the majority of those living in Western nations appear willfully ignorant of the evil intent of our enemies. In fact, I would say they would deny we have enemies.