Audeh Calls for Unity Around Suleiman, Holding Polls on Time
Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut Elias Audeh called on Sunday for the elections to be held on time and for the Lebanese to unify around President Michel Suleiman.
“Criticizing the president is similar to cursing your father,” Audeh said in his Easter sermon at the St. George cathedral in downtown Beirut.
“The elections should be held on time ...There should be unity around the president to bring life to the democratic life,” he said.
“Most of the leaders in the country are dictators but speak of democracy,” he mocked.
Audeh rejected attacks on religious sites and slammed the recent kidnap-for-ransom phenomena.
“Civilization is based on the respect of other people's freedoms,” he said.
“Civilization is not about wealth, cars and mansions. Civilization is not a computer or a smartphone or social networking. It is dialogue, peace, justice and values,” he added.
Audeh hoped that all abductees would return home and that Aleppo's Greek Orthodox Bishop Boulos Yaziji and Syriac Orthodox Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim would be released.
They were kidnapped last month by armed men en route to the northern city of Aleppo from the Turkish border.
Audeh also called for dialogue, saying “the fire of extremism will harm everyone.”
“Let us go back to our humanitarian values and work for the benefit of the country. Every citizen is a full partner but no one can impose his opinion on the other,” he stressed.
Audeh lamented that the economic situation is becoming worse and the security situation has gone backwards.
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