Patriarchs in call to prevent national disintegration

Three Eastern Catholic patriarchs and two Orthodox patriarchs issued a statement on 1 July urging “the world to prevent Iraq’s disintegration and save its people from the scourge of a devastating war”. The patriarchs also “called upon the international community to preserve Iraq’s civilisations, including the deep-rooted Christian civilisation.

The statement was released at the opening of their Holy Synod, in Lady of Balamand Convent in north Lebanon, against a background of spiralling violence in Iraq and Syria that has caused massive displacement of people. The Iraqi Government in Baghdad has lost control of vast swathes of the north of the country to Sunni Muslim terrorists. The patriarchs urged Christian communities to try “to cling on to their land and not give it up under the pressures of current conditions”. A particular focus for prayer was the people of Mosul and its ­environs. The patriarchs called for the release and safe return of all kidnap victims, particularly bishops Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi who went missing in Syria 14 months ago.

The patriarchs were Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, Melkite Gregorius III Lahham, Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius III Younan, Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem and Greek Orthodox Patriarch John Yazigi. In addition, the Holy Synod was attended by more than 40 bishops from around the Middle East region.

Forty-six nurses, nearly all Catholic, who were held captive in Tikrit, Iraq, for two weeks, were flown home to Kerala, India, on a flight sent from Delhi on 5 July after negotiations by India’s foreign ministry, writes Anto Akkara.