{"id":36866,"date":"2015-04-20T10:13:08","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T07:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sana.sy\/en\/?p=36866"},"modified":"2023-01-08T17:00:49","modified_gmt":"2023-01-08T15:00:49","slug":"patriarch-ephrem-ii-expresses-christians-adherence-to-their-homeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.sana.sy\/en\/?p=36866","title":{"rendered":"Patriarch Ephrem II expresses Christians adherence\u00a0to their homeland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Damascus, SANA The Syriac Orthodox and the Greek\u00a0Orthodox Patriarchates on Sunday held a prayer at\u00a0the St. George’s Cathedral of the Syriac Orthodox\u00a0in Damascus for the return of the two kidnapped\u00a0bishops Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi and the\u00a0return of security and stability to Syria.<\/p>\n

Aleppo’s Greek Orthodox Archbishop, Paul Yazigi,\u00a0and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim\u00a0were abducted on April 23, 2013 by gunmen while\u00a0returning to the northern Syrian city from the\u00a0Turkish border.<\/p>\n

\"ephrem<\/a><\/p>\n

The prayer, which was held on the second\u00a0anniversary of the abduction of the two bishops,\u00a0was led by , of\u00a0Antioch and all the East.<\/p>\n

Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem II stressed that those\u00a0who abducted the two bishops aims at undermining\u00a0the charity works in Syria and forcing the Syrian\u00a0people to leave the land of the ancestral,\u00a0expressing the Christians adherence to the land of
\nthe ancestral.<\/p>\n

\"ephrem<\/a><\/p>\n

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all\u00a0East and the Syriac Orthodox Church, stressed, in\u00a0a joint statement, called for supporting the issue\u00a0of the two kidnapped bishops and for releasing
\nthem soon.<\/p>\n

\"ephrem<\/a><\/p>\n

The statement also called for enhancing tolerance,\u00a0understanding, cooperation and integration among\u00a0the people of the one homeland, asserting that\u00a0solution can be reached by dialogue not by\u00a0violence.<\/p>\n

It affirmed the Syrian people’s commitment to\u00a0their homeland and they will together defend it.<\/p>\n