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ITAR-TASS, Russia
December 11, 2013 Wednesday 06:10 PM GMT+4
Orthodox Christians from 23 countries call for freeing nuns abducted in Syria
MOSCOW December 11
- Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (IAO) that unites the
Eastern Orthodox Christian communities from 23 countries has condemned
as brutal barbarianism the abduction of nuns from the world-famous St
Thekla convent in the Syrian village of Ma'aloula and has asked the
governments of Christian countries to lend a helping hand to the
efforts to free the hostages.
A statement the interparliamentary body issued Wednesday expresses
deep concern and indignation over a new cruel act of barbarianism and
makes a demand for universal respect for religious shrines, religious
institutes and Syrian Christians.
The cruelty of the abduction is intensified further if one considers
the absence of any guilt on the part of nuns, the historic
significance of the convent, the social servicing exercised there, and
the fact that the nuns were kidnapped seven months after the abduction
of the Antioch Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, Paul, and Metropolitan
Mar Gregory of the Syriac Orthodox Church..
The assembly says that the two metropolitans were conducted by the same forces.
Members of the IAO urge the deputies of parliaments and government
officials of the IAO member-states to condemn the act, which puts the
Christians still present in the spacious region of the Middle East at
risk of total disappearance, and ask them to do everything in their
power to free the people who have been kidnapped.
Nuns of the Eastern Orthodox convent of St Thekla with Abbess Pelagia
at the head were forcibly moved out of the village of Ma'aloula, one
of the world's most ancient Christian sites, by members of Syrian
extremist opposition groupings calling themselves the Free Qalamoun
Brigades and the Nusra Front, which is believed to be tightly
affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
They said in a video address that was aired by Al Jazeera December 6
that the abductors promised to set them free within 48 hours, but a
field commander who introduced himself as Mohannad Abu Fida said later
the women would remain hostage until the Syrian government fulfilled
the terms the militants had handed to it via the Vatican's ambassador
in Damascus.
Their main demand is the freeing of a thousand women from the families
of militants, who are kept in jails at present. Also, the militants
demand that the government forces lift the siege of Maloula and the
town of Yabrud - a move that will let them to trickle away to the
mountains.
The IAO consists of parliamentary delegations of Albania, Armenia,
Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland,
Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland,
Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovakia, and
Ukraine, as well as groups of Members of Parliaments from Australia,
Asia, Africa, and the U.S.
December 11, 2013 Wednesday 06:10 PM GMT+4
Orthodox Christians from 23 countries call for freeing nuns abducted in Syria
MOSCOW December 11
- Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (IAO) that unites the
Eastern Orthodox Christian communities from 23 countries has condemned
as brutal barbarianism the abduction of nuns from the world-famous St
Thekla convent in the Syrian village of Ma'aloula and has asked the
governments of Christian countries to lend a helping hand to the
efforts to free the hostages.
A statement the interparliamentary body issued Wednesday expresses
deep concern and indignation over a new cruel act of barbarianism and
makes a demand for universal respect for religious shrines, religious
institutes and Syrian Christians.
The cruelty of the abduction is intensified further if one considers
the absence of any guilt on the part of nuns, the historic
significance of the convent, the social servicing exercised there, and
the fact that the nuns were kidnapped seven months after the abduction
of the Antioch Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, Paul, and Metropolitan
Mar Gregory of the Syriac Orthodox Church..
The assembly says that the two metropolitans were conducted by the same forces.
Members of the IAO urge the deputies of parliaments and government
officials of the IAO member-states to condemn the act, which puts the
Christians still present in the spacious region of the Middle East at
risk of total disappearance, and ask them to do everything in their
power to free the people who have been kidnapped.
Nuns of the Eastern Orthodox convent of St Thekla with Abbess Pelagia
at the head were forcibly moved out of the village of Ma'aloula, one
of the world's most ancient Christian sites, by members of Syrian
extremist opposition groupings calling themselves the Free Qalamoun
Brigades and the Nusra Front, which is believed to be tightly
affiliated with Al-Qaeda.
They said in a video address that was aired by Al Jazeera December 6
that the abductors promised to set them free within 48 hours, but a
field commander who introduced himself as Mohannad Abu Fida said later
the women would remain hostage until the Syrian government fulfilled
the terms the militants had handed to it via the Vatican's ambassador
in Damascus.
Their main demand is the freeing of a thousand women from the families
of militants, who are kept in jails at present. Also, the militants
demand that the government forces lift the siege of Maloula and the
town of Yabrud - a move that will let them to trickle away to the
mountains.
The IAO consists of parliamentary delegations of Albania, Armenia,
Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland,
Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland,
Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovakia, and
Ukraine, as well as groups of Members of Parliaments from Australia,
Asia, Africa, and the U.S.