As for the public issues, the Fathers reflected on what has happened and is happening in occupied Palestine and what has afflicted and befallen the honorable Palestinian people. The position of the Church of Antioch, expressed by her Patriarchs and Synod since long and until today, is clear, bright, and well-known. It affirms the importance of Jerusalem in the conscience of every Christian and Muslim, and the right of return of the Palestinian people and the establishment of their independent State.
The Church of Antioch condemns the siege imposed today on the Palestinian people and on the Gaza Strip in particular, and strongly denounces the genocide committed there, right before the eyes of the world. The violence that is taking place is the result of violating international laws and resolutions which are intended for the application of justice. It is a continuation of the falsification of the identity of the land and history and an attempt to obliterate the outstanding Palestinian cause.
Therefore, the Synod Fathers offer fervent prayers to the King of Peace and Lord of Mercies, to wipe away every tear from the eyes of the Palestinian people, and to remove all injustice, oppression, homelessness, and displacement. They call on all their children and Antiochian parishes to dedicate next Sunday to praying for justice, and for peace to prevail in the country of peace, and to collect aid for the relief of these afflicted people. Since the current circumstances require intensifying prayer and cooperation, the Holy Synod decided to restore ecclesiastical communion with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and to assign a committee in the Patriarchate to communicate with the brothers at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem in order to find a solution to the issue of the ecclesiastical dispute over the jurisdiction of "Qatar" in a way that preserves the right of ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the See of Antioch over it. The Synod also decided to send a church delegation to visit Amman to express the love of the faithful in the Church of Antioch for the faithful in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and to stand by them in these difficult fateful circumstances.
The Synod Fathers offered their prayers for the stability of Syria and for the end of terrorism against it. They called for the lifting of the vicious economic blockade. This blockade pushes Syrians to emigrate and creates a wave of displacement that affects neighboring countries, and most especially Lebanon. The Syrian person has the right to live in human dignity. This right makes him firmly anchored in the land where he or she was born. The Fathers also prayed for the unity of the Syrian territory and for Syria in all its religious denominations, which pay the bill of terrorism from the lives of its children, as occurred in the military academy recently where blood was shed. Also, the suffocating siege is creating very difficult economic conditions. Our people in Syria have the right to live in peace and not to have their land as the scene of other people's conflicts and the settling of international accounts.
As for Lebanon, in light of the difficult circumstances and the unprecedented economic crisis plaguing the region, the Fathers call on all officials, especially the members of parliament, to elect a President of the Republic who guarantees the well-functioning of all constitutional institutions. They also call to give priority to the spirit of dialogue and consensus instead of entrenching behind the logic of confrontation and imposing the will on the other in all files. The Fathers pray for Lebanon's stability. The Lebanese are paying the bill of recklessness and political infighting, and as a result their life earnings are held in banks. The Fathers pray for the repose of those who died in the Beirut port explosion and stress that justice that must not to be hindered by self-interests finds its way and prevail, in compassion for Lebanon and the Lebanese.
The Fathers pray for Iraq and for all the peoples of the region. They call to give priority to the spirit of dialogue in the region instead of the language of military confrontation, whose victim is the human being of this country. This human being deserves by God’s mercy to live a peaceful life seeking to please his Lord and to have a good relationship with his or her neighbor.
The Fathers reiterated their call for an end to wars and conflicts all over the world, especially in Ukraine, praying for Metropolitan Onufriy, the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a confessing Church whose children are being persecuted by local authorities for their faith.
The Fathers looked at what is happening in the Orthodox world in general, and call on all churches to come together and be reconciled, stressing that Orthodoxy transcends nationalities in order to proclaim the glory of God in His creation.
Finally, the Synod Fathers express their gratitude and praise for the revealing spiritual works of their children in the homeland and abroad through their daily lives of holiness, and for their achievements at all other levels, through the added value they provide to the societies in which they live: they offer a testimony worthy of what they were entrusted with to glorify the Lord. The Fathers ask Jesus Christ, the Lord of peace and God of all comfort, to eradicate with His mercy the power of war and the wildness of evil, and to heal the wounds of the afflicted and mournful in a world that yearns and longs for His sweet peace, Him the Blessed One forever, Amen.
