Al-Rahi, Meqdad Exchange Words during Yazigi's Enthronement in Damascus
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Greek Orthodox leader Youhanna X Yazigi was on Sunday enthroned in Damascus during a ceremony that was attended by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and the Syrian deputy foreign minister.
The ceremony took place at the Church of the Holy Cross in Qassaa, a central neighborhood of the conflict-hit Syrian capital.
Gregorios III Laham, Patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, was also among the top spiritual officials present at the mass.
TV footage showed al-Rahi and Laham speaking with Syrian Deputy FM Faisal al-Mekdad as he entered the church to attend the ceremony.
Presidential Affairs Minister Mansour Azzam, a key adviser to Bashar Assad, was among ministers representing the embattled government.
Snipers deployed on the rooftops around the church and guests bearing official invitations were whisked through metal detectors at the door, but their chauffeurs were prohibited from parking, and throngs of devotees had to watch the liturgy on a giant screen outside.
Al-Rahi said after Yazigi's enthronement that he came to Damascus at a difficult time to confirm his solidarity with the “wounded” Syrian people.
“You have been chosen at a difficult time in Syria,” he told the Greek Orthodox patriarch. “We stress unity and love among us.”
“We are all brothers and sisters and we should preserve the life of humans,” he said.
Discussions on reform and democracy cannot be compared with the blood shed by a single person in Syria, he added.
In remarks to LBCI, al-Rahi denied that his visit had a political aspect.
Al-Rahi said on Saturday that reform in Syria is reached through internal efforts and dialogue, explaining that it cannot be imposed by any foreign interference.
During a mass he held at the Maronite Cathedral of St. Anthony in Damascus' Christian district of Bab Tuma on the occasion of St. Maroun, al-Rahi said: “Any role for the international community should not contradict with this.”
"We pray each day for the end of war and violence and that a unanimous peace may be achieved through cooperation,” he stated.
His visit -- the first by a Maronite patriarch since Syrian and Lebanese independence in 1943 -- comes as the revolt against Assad's regime nears the two-year mark.
Yazigi was chosen as the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East on December 17, replacing Ignatius IV Hazim who died earlier in the same month.
After his enthronement, Yazigi said: “Anything that harms Lebanon or Syria would affect all of us deeply.”
“We salute Lebanese President Michel Suleiman,” he said.
He also thanked Assad and said: “We hope that Syria would find a peaceful political solution so that violence ends and the country returns to stability and peace.”
10 February 2013, 08:23
87
That is taking it too far. I may not like it and it may be used by the regime for propaganda. Sometimes you simply get cornered.
10 February 2013, 11:03
66
Woooooow. The leader of the Church visiting with people responsible for murdering thousands of innocent people. waynak ya Patrark Sfeir, we want you back.
10 February 2013, 13:57
35
strange patriarch indeed!!!!!!!
a similar inaugural ceremony is going to be held in st nicolas church in beirut in the coming days , so ya batrak and with all due respects of course, what are you doing in syria mingling with syrian regime officials involved in a controversial and bloody war against the majority of their own people??????????
10 February 2013, 08:40
38
I feel so sad today,how did he disrigard the feelings of at least half the maronites,Why meddle in politics,Why not stay neutral?Its all very puzzling to me.
10 February 2013, 08:54
48
it is a sad day for christians to see such an important figure meeting with criminals and murderers. I believe the christians must demonstrate against the visit and even to go to the extreme and not allow the patriach to return to lebanon. he must step down immediately since he doesn't present the interests of the christians. he is becoming an enemy of our religion. he must be kicked out and even put on trial for treason. he is meeting with people who had killed and keep on trying killing our leaders and intellectuals.
10 February 2013, 10:10
46
When did Geagea party with wahabis? Or is lying part of the course with you. And for the record, the overwhelming majority of wahabis (they refer to themselves as salafis and people like you denegrate them as wahabi) are peace loving and struggle to live their lives and raise their families the best they can as all of us do.
10 February 2013, 14:50
12
FT - how many salafists do you know? I am telling you this as a secular person to the core that believe that religeous parties and polical currents (whether hiz, MB or extremes like qaeda or mahdi army) are symptoms of something deeply wrong in society.
10 February 2013, 09:23
46
We should send a letter to the vatican pointing out our concerns.And we should stop going to church and putting money in the tray untill this batrak resigns.
10 February 2013, 11:12
25
ft,You dont know me.But in response.Dirty money,dirty people,ashraf el nass,zionist nass,emperialism,etc ,,are all words hizb and assad use when they dont know what to say.You have the right to support his visit and I have the right to object.Stick to the subject ,no insults.
10 February 2013, 19:44
12
and he became violent and broke all the merchants stands , you forgot this one ya ahbal
"you become a force of peace not by sticking with the good guys like a sissy but by reaching out to the bad ones and walking among them." really ? walk among them and turn into them eh and you dare calling others blockhead idiot !
11 February 2013, 07:45
10
ahaha FT , refering to Aoun as the one who is walking among the bad ones ahaha the joke of the day ... ya haboub sissies are the ones who walk among bad people and change to the bad ones , go get a life idiot
10 February 2013, 10:03
36
You talk about freedom but you support some of the most brutal regimes in the world whose support of terror is state policy.
10 February 2013, 10:15
35
my only response to all your comments is simple.
Long Live The Syrian Civil War!
10 February 2013, 11:26
25
I have decided to start going to orthodox church ,untill this batrak resigns.see you there guys.please tell your friends and families.
10 February 2013, 11:42
00
we officially entered the civil war in syria,it is sad to say that rahi is helping assir.
10 February 2013, 13:18
83
In the mind of Sunnis-Wahabi we Christians are infidels. No sugar coating on it. The Sunnis Lebanese, as long as they have money, they will act some sort of civil way and. The minute the money is gone, everyone of them will be a jihadist and every Christian is a target. THIS IS HISTORY. Those who do not learn from it are condemned to repeat it.
10 February 2013, 14:57
06
Yes Josh. That is why as a hatefull sunni, I am married to a Catholic from spain and I named one of my sons manuel. You are a bigoted idiot who knows nothing about history. But let me ask you couple of questions about history. After the spanish reconquest of spain, how many muslims and jews were allowed to remain? After the reconquest of coastal syria, lebanon and palestine by the muslims, how come we continued to have substantial christian communities?
10 February 2013, 14:22
00
rahi officially brought the syrian crisis to lebanon,i dont care if the administrator will put this comment at least he read it.in my point of view its worse than the ain el remmaneh bus,because its a silent killer virus.bibi elections.
10 February 2013, 15:03
04
the Wahabies are comming; the wahabies are comming; they will kill your babies, they will eat your babies. all the peace loving Alawites, Shia,Druze and Christans better run and better hide. BOO,ya waylkun, here comes your end.
10 February 2013, 15:08
13
What would you have said if the POPE went to Syria? Would you be against the visit?
The Batrak is also "Head of a Church" ...this is how it is recognized in the Vaticano...and it is normal - as a Pastor - that he has to take care of ALL his people.
Certainly, his visit MUST remain a "Pastoral" and "Spiritual" visit.
10 February 2013, 15:47
16
Its laughable when some accuse hakim of wahabism. When he disagreed with mustaqbel on the electroal law, no one was talking wahabism or being bought out by harriei. You see ouwet have principles that stuck to it since day one.
10 February 2013, 18:35
24
Shaking hamds with the devil. Way to go patriach. They kill us and tou shake your hands with them. We haven't forgotten martyr Bachir and so manu that followed. The problem is that syrian regime still consider lebanon a proxy of syria
10 February 2013, 20:52
00
Maybe the Cardinal does not mean to send any political message but just likes to be in the headlines.
