Posted on 01/29/2016 9:25:23 AM PST by Trumpinator
'Moscow gives us hope', says Syrian Catholic patriarch
'We will thank anyone who helps us stay in our country'
28 January, 20:21
- ROME - Syrian Catholic Church patriarch Ignatius Ephrem Joseph III Younan has said that he approves of Russia's actions as an attempt to resolve the Syrian conflict and defeat the Islamic State (ISIS). ''The Russian intervention gives us a bit of hope in this tragic situation,'' he said. ''Russia has helped Syria a great deal to retake and liberate cities and villages under the control of terrorist groups.'' ''Syrian Christians are grateful to Russia,'' he said.
''Since it intervened, many things have changed on the ground.'' ''We will thank anyone who helps us to remain in our country,'' he added, expressing gratitude towards the Russian Orthodox Church for its words of support to local Christian communities, ''which we have not received from other parts with the same determination''. ''Our anguish and our screams of alarm is that something is happening in Iraq and Syria that has already happened in Turkey: Christians are disappearing in the very lands where Christianity was born.'' The community, he added, was being reduced ever more by ISIS attacks in a very bad situation from a humanitarian standpoint. Christians, he said, ''accounted for between 15 and 19% of the population in Syria in the 1950s, but now this has dropped to less than 5%. After the emptying of Mosul in June 2014, in Iraq we have remained only in Kurdistan as refuges, while two-thirds of the Christians who had been in Baghdad have left.''
The reason Syrian Christians would support Russia, is the Russians are supporting Assad the Alawite, who has not persecuted the Christians.
If Assad goes, and fundamental Muslims like Isis, or other Sunni Wahhabi type groups take over, the Syrian Christians will suffer the same fate as they did in Mosul-they will be killed or have to flee. - Tom
I had freepers on here shockingly try and sell the notion that Assad does not protect Christians. I forget the freepers name but can look it up if need be. I think there is a contingent that wants to oust Assad so bad - for whatever foreign policy agenda reasons - they just don’t care about the Christians being wiped out - they are immaterial to the overall mission.
I believe many elitists don't like Christianity because it says some of their behavior is sinful, and they don't like that.
Laws handicap law abiding people and Christianity cramps their lifestyle.
They want Christianity to go away. -Tom
I think that plus the eastern Christians are hated by many Protestants also - I heard a few openly say that on Freerepublic which shocked me (I am not an eastern Christian, FYI).
ANyone making fun of a famine obviously is not a Christian. I saw a number of persons on this forum doing so.
You are the one on a previous posting that was screaming that Assad was not defending Christians. So this article must be problematic for you.
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