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CHURCH LEADERS CALL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE IN SYRIA
Standard Newswire, NY
June 13 2014
Contact: World Council of Churches, +41-79-507-6363
GENEVA, June 13, 2014 /Standard Newswire/ -- Recognizing the failure
of the Geneva 2 talks four months ago and the ongoing violence and
human calamity in Syria, church leaders and representatives from
Syria gathered in Etchmiadzin, Armenia, to address the challenges
for faith communities in the crisis in Syria.
The group met June 11 and 12 in a consultation at the invitation
of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all
Armenians, in cooperation with the World Council of Churches (WCC).
In a communique released by the group on Thursday, 12 June, they
called for restrictions on funding humanitarian aid in Syria to be
lifted, for an end to the flow of arms and funding to all parties to
the conflict, and for withdrawal of all armed foreign fighters.
Conferees pointed to the current regional humanitarian assistance
addressing the needs of refugees fleeing Syria, and they called for
"further cooperation among the different churches and church agencies"
working there.
They acknowledged the 22 January, 2014 meeting on Syria held at the
Ecumenical Centre in Geneva where church leaders said in a message to
Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations-Arab League joint representative
for Syria, that they were convinced there is no military solution and
there needed to be an "immediate cessation of all armed confrontation
and hostility within Syria" ensuring that "all vulnerable communities
in Syria and refugees in neighboring countries receive appropriate
humanitarian assistance" and that "a comprehensive and inclusive
process toward establishing a just peace and rebuilding Syria" should
be developed.
In Armenia they also called for "the immediate release of the
two Archbishops from Aleppo, His Eminence Boulos (Yazigi), Greek
Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo and Alexandretta, and His Eminence
Mor Youhanna Gregorios (Ibrahim), Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of
Aleppo, as well as Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, and all captives and
those unjustly imprisoned."
The leaders gathered on the eve of the Centenary of the Armenian and
Syriac Genocide and prayed for justice and peace. The group included
representatives from the Middle East Council of Churches, the WCC,
the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, and the Community of Sant'Edigio.
Participants came from Armenia, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Norway,
Poland, Russ, the UK and the USA.
http://www.standardnewswire.com/news/554729345.html
From: Baghdasarian
Standard Newswire, NY
June 13 2014
Contact: World Council of Churches, +41-79-507-6363
GENEVA, June 13, 2014 /Standard Newswire/ -- Recognizing the failure
of the Geneva 2 talks four months ago and the ongoing violence and
human calamity in Syria, church leaders and representatives from
Syria gathered in Etchmiadzin, Armenia, to address the challenges
for faith communities in the crisis in Syria.
The group met June 11 and 12 in a consultation at the invitation
of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all
Armenians, in cooperation with the World Council of Churches (WCC).
In a communique released by the group on Thursday, 12 June, they
called for restrictions on funding humanitarian aid in Syria to be
lifted, for an end to the flow of arms and funding to all parties to
the conflict, and for withdrawal of all armed foreign fighters.
Conferees pointed to the current regional humanitarian assistance
addressing the needs of refugees fleeing Syria, and they called for
"further cooperation among the different churches and church agencies"
working there.
They acknowledged the 22 January, 2014 meeting on Syria held at the
Ecumenical Centre in Geneva where church leaders said in a message to
Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations-Arab League joint representative
for Syria, that they were convinced there is no military solution and
there needed to be an "immediate cessation of all armed confrontation
and hostility within Syria" ensuring that "all vulnerable communities
in Syria and refugees in neighboring countries receive appropriate
humanitarian assistance" and that "a comprehensive and inclusive
process toward establishing a just peace and rebuilding Syria" should
be developed.
In Armenia they also called for "the immediate release of the
two Archbishops from Aleppo, His Eminence Boulos (Yazigi), Greek
Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo and Alexandretta, and His Eminence
Mor Youhanna Gregorios (Ibrahim), Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of
Aleppo, as well as Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, and all captives and
those unjustly imprisoned."
The leaders gathered on the eve of the Centenary of the Armenian and
Syriac Genocide and prayed for justice and peace. The group included
representatives from the Middle East Council of Churches, the WCC,
the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, and the Community of Sant'Edigio.
Participants came from Armenia, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Norway,
Poland, Russ, the UK and the USA.
http://www.standardnewswire.com/news/554729345.html
From: Baghdasarian