Auxiliary Bishop at the
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East Luqa al-Khoury
declared war on the Syrian rebels by calling on the Christians to carry
arms to defend Syria and its its churches and monasteries.
“Our men are ready and their fingers are on the trigger.” He warned the rebels
“
I urge every Christian man capable of carrying weapons to defend Syria
and its churches and monasteries that are being vandalized by armed
groups,” Khoury said in remarks published in Az-Zaman newspaper on
Saturday.
“We will not stand by idly,” the cleric stressed.
He
also noted that the men are “waiting for instructions from the
Patriarchate,” but stressed that “we will wait for two days, not more,
until we start acting.”
Christian
places of worship are being subject to attacks by Syrian rebels,
drawing international condemnation against the vandalism of religious
sites.
On
Monday, 13 nuns were reported missing from Maalula north of Damascus
after rebel forces, including jihadists, seized control of the Christian
town.
Pope
Francis called Wednesday for prayers for the nuns missing from the Greek
Orthodox Mar Takla convent in Maalula and “for all kidnap victims in
the conflict.”
However,
the nuns that vanished resurfaced on Friday in a video, saying that
they had left with rebels to escape shelling in the area and were safe
with a Christian family.They urged the Syrian forces to stop shelling
the places of worship.
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