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SYRIANS TELL PRINCE OF HEARTBREAK
Press Association Mediapoint, UK
December 17, 2013 Tuesday 4:07 PM BST
by Tony Jones, Press Association Court Correspondent
The Prince of Wales has heard the heartbreaking stories of Syrians
desperate for the international community to end the conflict in
their homeland.
David Yakoub, who was close to tears, put his hands together and
pleaded with Charles to help as the heir to the throne visited the
London cathedral of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
The prince listened intently as the Mr Yakoub described how his home
village of Sadat, was attacked by insurgents who killed people and
desecrated the settlement's church.
When he appealed to the prince to help, saying "I ask you to do
something", Charles patted him on the arm in sympathy.
Another Syrian man showed the prince mobile phone images of the
destruction in his home village.
At St Thomas Cathedral in East Acton, west London Charles met other
worshippers of the Syriac Orthodox Church whose followers are spread
across the Middle East from southern Turkey to Syria, Jordan, and
parts of India.
Mr Yakoub, 27, who fled to England eight years ago, said after meeting
the prince: "Even our Muslim friends won't accept what they are doing
to us - they're not Syrian, they just want to kill everyone and that's
what they do. We need somebody to do something.
"They've just been to my village Sadat. They went to the village at
6am. They tried to kill a lot of people; they were civilians, they
were nothing to do with the war."
The heir to the throne spent the day meeting Christians from the
Middle East to learn about the problems they face.
In Stevenage at the Coptic Orthodox Church centre, he chatted to
Syrian Anglican Huda Nassar, 51, Middle East director for the Awareness
Foundation, which aims to improve relations between East and West.
"He said it was heartbreaking what was going on in Syria," she said.
Charles was accompanied by Prince Ghazi of Jordan and the Bishop of
London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres throughout his day.
Charles also chatted to Bishop Vahan Hovhannesian, Primate of the
Armenian Orthodox Church in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
The senior cleric accompanied the prince when he visited Armenia in
May and toured some of the ancient religious buildings in country.
Later the pews of the small cathedral were filled with worshippers
who had travelled from across the country for the royal visit.
A Christmas Carol was sung in Syriac, a form of Aramaic - the language
that would have been spoken by Jesus.
In his address, Archbishop Athanasius Toma Dawod, leader of the
Syriac Orthodox Church in the UK, told the prince his visit was "a
signal of your solidarity for those of us who are originally from the
Middle East but who witness the daily humiliation of many within our
community - who are kidnapped, killed, displaced and forced to flee
their homelands in many cases because of their faith."
Press Association Mediapoint, UK
December 17, 2013 Tuesday 4:07 PM BST
by Tony Jones, Press Association Court Correspondent
The Prince of Wales has heard the heartbreaking stories of Syrians
desperate for the international community to end the conflict in
their homeland.
David Yakoub, who was close to tears, put his hands together and
pleaded with Charles to help as the heir to the throne visited the
London cathedral of the Syriac Orthodox Church.
The prince listened intently as the Mr Yakoub described how his home
village of Sadat, was attacked by insurgents who killed people and
desecrated the settlement's church.
When he appealed to the prince to help, saying "I ask you to do
something", Charles patted him on the arm in sympathy.
Another Syrian man showed the prince mobile phone images of the
destruction in his home village.
At St Thomas Cathedral in East Acton, west London Charles met other
worshippers of the Syriac Orthodox Church whose followers are spread
across the Middle East from southern Turkey to Syria, Jordan, and
parts of India.
Mr Yakoub, 27, who fled to England eight years ago, said after meeting
the prince: "Even our Muslim friends won't accept what they are doing
to us - they're not Syrian, they just want to kill everyone and that's
what they do. We need somebody to do something.
"They've just been to my village Sadat. They went to the village at
6am. They tried to kill a lot of people; they were civilians, they
were nothing to do with the war."
The heir to the throne spent the day meeting Christians from the
Middle East to learn about the problems they face.
In Stevenage at the Coptic Orthodox Church centre, he chatted to
Syrian Anglican Huda Nassar, 51, Middle East director for the Awareness
Foundation, which aims to improve relations between East and West.
"He said it was heartbreaking what was going on in Syria," she said.
Charles was accompanied by Prince Ghazi of Jordan and the Bishop of
London, the Right Rev Richard Chartres throughout his day.
Charles also chatted to Bishop Vahan Hovhannesian, Primate of the
Armenian Orthodox Church in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
The senior cleric accompanied the prince when he visited Armenia in
May and toured some of the ancient religious buildings in country.
Later the pews of the small cathedral were filled with worshippers
who had travelled from across the country for the royal visit.
A Christmas Carol was sung in Syriac, a form of Aramaic - the language
that would have been spoken by Jesus.
In his address, Archbishop Athanasius Toma Dawod, leader of the
Syriac Orthodox Church in the UK, told the prince his visit was "a
signal of your solidarity for those of us who are originally from the
Middle East but who witness the daily humiliation of many within our
community - who are kidnapped, killed, displaced and forced to flee
their homelands in many cases because of their faith."