One came from desolate Syria and the other had arrived from the jungles of Africa. Both traveled from places on the planet where Christian populations are being severely tested. From the podium of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy in Chania, the Metropolitan of Arcadia of the Patriarchate of Antioch, Vassilios, conveyed the anguish of the forgotten (?) Christians of Syria, who, despite silencing their weapons, are now fighting for survival against the enemy. the Islamic State, but poverty and hunger. And the Orthodox Christian MP in Uganda, Theodore Sekikumbo, captured the image of the spread of Islamic extremism in the Black Continent and the threat posed by his criminal christianity news daily.
They both spoke to "K", with Metropolitan
Vassilios revealing to us excited, for the first time, that he had drawn up a
plan to buy land in Greece to build a "Ark of Salvation" for
Christians in Syria! "It was 2015 and the terrorists of the Islamic State
(ISIS) had reached the entrance of the Christian Valley, on the border with
Lebanon, where they had taken refuge to escape Christians from all over
Syria," he said. "ISIS had captured a Muslim village, the only one in
the valley, and turned it into a base for attacks on Christians. There was
great concern, panic, as we learned about the atrocities of the terrorists
against the Christians and the Muslims who were not with them. Some who had
relatives abroad left to be hosted by their relatives in Europe or America. But
some had nowhere to go or the financial means to travel christian post.
Then, together with my two assistant archimandrites, Elias and Dimitrios, we
quietly planned to buy in Evia at first, but we ended up in the Peloponnese, an
area, and said that if we did not have to leave, it would be a solution to rent
it. and raise money from olives to help people. But the people had to leave in
the end, because the terrorists had reached the door of the Valley of
Christians. Those who did not have relatives outside we would tell them, come
and settle here until the storm passes. That is, to save them.
Read also: The great ordeal of Christians
With the silence of the cannons in Syria and Iraq and the
defeat of ISIS on the field, the spotlight of the global interest in the fate
of the Christian element in the famous Levante (Syria, Iraq, Lebanon) suddenly
went out, as if they were not expelled. thousands of them were killed. So, I
asked the Syrian-born, with Greek and Lebanese citizenship, hierarch to
describe to me the situation, after the war, of the Christians in the
areas of the Bible.
"The issue is not what the situation of Christians is
in Syria and Iraq, but what the situation is in Syria and Iraq, because we are
citizens of these countries, just like our Muslim brothers. Yes, there is a
majority of Muslims and we are a minority, but we are all citizens of the same
country, we have the same religious rights, we open churches, monasteries, we
teach our religion, we become officials, members of parliament, ministers in
them. After the war came poverty and hunger because with the embargo of the
West there is no economy. There is hunger, the economy in Syria is anemic. And
those who have money do not find products to buy. Westerners and Arabs do not
allow the import of products. Another big problem is that many Christians
transferred their money to banks in Lebanon during the war. But now these banks
have almost faltered and lost their savings. "People are hungry."
The Metropolitan of Arcadia emphasizes on this the help that
the Church provides to the tested Christians: "The Church has played and
continues to play an important role, it helps a lot throughout the territory of
Syria. We distribute food in the houses, we help in the care, in the repairs of
the houses, we buy books and material for the students christian news headlines.
Then, some who have gone abroad and return, give money to their relatives and
those who need it most. We help each other to survive. "Our brothers in
the West do not seem to be fully aware of our situation."
Mr. Vassilios talks about the fate of the churches and
monasteries that were destroyed in the war, but also about the Christians who
left Syria. "A monastery of Agia Thekla in Maaloula was destroyed for us
Orthodox. The nuns returned, with the help of Greece and Russia, the monastery
was repaired, and I think some churches on the outskirts of Damascus have
already been repaired. Some, however, while they were not harmed, no longer
have believers, because they left for areas that had not been occupied by
terrorists, such as Tartus, Laodicea, etc., or abroad. Slowly, those who
suffered damage are repaired. At the same time, we are building other churches…
".
"Do you have any idea how many Christians may have left
Syria?" I asked him. "At least 400,000 out of 1,700,000 Orthodox and
Catholics. Many fought to save their homes, their families, their sanctuaries.
At least 120 Witnesses testified in the Valley of the Christians. "At
first there were fierce battles there, but they could not understand it because
they did not have access to the inside of the valley." As for the image
from Iraq, which belongs to the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Antioch, he
says: "First of all, there are no Orthodox in Iraq, the question is
whether more than a hundred families are counted. But the Jacobites, the
Syrians, and the rest of the Syrochaldeans, and the old Assyrians, were left
with at least 250,000 of the two or three million that was. "They had big
losses."