Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Moscow, SANA –Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church and permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk stressed that the foreign terrorist aggression launched against Syria aims at undermining the harmony of the social relations of the society in the country.
During his meeting with Awqaf Minister Mohammad Abdul-Sattar al-Sayyed and the accompanying delegation in Moscow on Sunday, Hilarion stressed that the Church is against all foreigners who attempt to determine Syria’s future.
“I visited Syria several times and saw with my own eyes how people from different religious backgrounds in Syria live in harmony and amity, yet this harmony was violated after the country underwent foreign terrorist aggression…There are powers that seek to escalate the situation there,” he added.
“We have repeatedly warned that the foreign meddling in Syria’s internal affairs would not lead to anything of good nature,” Hilarion said, adding “the Russian Orthodox Church’s and government’s stances towards the events in Syria have been firm and principled since the beginning.
Hilarion pointed out to what is taking place in Iraq and some Syrian and Egyptian areas where terrorists are perpetrating crimes, describing that as “systematic genocide against Christians”, expressing regret for the destruction and desecration of Christian churches and temples.
For his part, Minister al-Sayyed appreciated on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad, for Patriarch Kirill and thanked the Russian Church, government and President Vladimir Putin for the political and economic support provided to the Syrian people, adding that the Syrian people appreciate Russia’s and the Orthodox Patriarchate’ stances.
Al-Sayyed said that targeting Syria by the West and some extremist Arab and regional countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey through sending terrorists and supplying them with weapons and money is because “Syria is the cradle of Christianity and the springboard of the Islamic culture…our enemies want to us an Islam similar to that in Saudi Arabia or Qatar; they do not want the Syrian type where churches embrace mosques.”
The Minister pointed out that U.S. strikes on the ISIS terrorist groups’ sites in the Syrian territories without the consent of the Syrian government are considered violation of the national sovereignty and blatant aggression on Syria.
R. Milhem / Ghossoun
