In the Triumph of Orthodoxy service on the first Sunday of Great Lent, the clergy and faithful proclaim – with many shouting – bold statements of faith from the year 787, after decades of persecution.
"This is the Faith of the Apostles! This is the Faith of the Fathers! This is the Faith of the Orthodox! This is the Faith, which has established the Universe!"
These words were especially poignant during the March 9 rites at the Mariamite Cathedral of Damascus, amid reports that hundreds, maybe thousands, of Christians and members of the Muslim Alawite sect have been killed by Islamist militias in Syria.
The Antiochian Orthodox Patriarch John X addressed part of his sermon, by name, to the nation's interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa, the former ISIS and al-Qaeda militant who is also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani.
"Mr. President, two days ago, I heard a sheikh, a friend of mine, publicly say that the Noble Prophet [Mohammad] instructed his followers that, 'If they go to war against a people, they must not harm the innocent, must not betray, must not mutilate, must not kill a woman or a child, and if they find a monk in his hermitage, they must not kill him,'" he said, in a translation by the ancient Antiochian patriarchate.
The patriarch added: "The tragic events unfolding in the Syrian coastal region have claimed the lives of many civilians and public security personnel, leaving numerous others wounded. However, the majority of the victims were not affiliated with any militant factions – rather, they were innocent, unarmed civilians, including women and children."
In a Reuters interview, al-Sharaa vowed to stop the violence, adding: "We won't accept that any blood be shed unjustly, or goes without punishment or accountability, even among those closest to us. … Many parties entered the Syrian coast, and many violations occurred" while combatants sought "revenge."
In the chaos, journalists have struggled to confirm statistics about fatalities, while waves of social-media videos claim to show crucified Christians, Alawites being beaten, militants firing machine guns into houses, women being paraded naked and bodies stacked near streets.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a statement confirming the religious elements of the violence, condemning "radical Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadis, that murdered people in western Syria in recent days. The United States stands with Syria's religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities, and offers its condolences to the victims and their families."
The congregation gathered for this Triumph of Orthodoxy rite included the Greek ambassador to Syria, Emmanuel Kakavelakis, and Nikolaos Farantouris, a member of the European Parliament committee on security and defense. After meeting with religious and government groups, including the new Syrian regime's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Farantouris claimed that as many as 7,000 Christians and Alawites have died in the violence.
"Christian and other communities with a millennial presence in this region are at risk of extinction," he said, in an online statement. "The new Islamic regime … is claiming that it cannot control the paramilitaries and the gangs associated with them who attack innocent civilians."
The land's ancient Christian communities – the biblical Book of Acts notes that "in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians" – were decimated by the Syrian civil war that began in 2011. The community of about 2 million believers has fallen, in recent estimates by Open Door USA activists, to about 300,000. Now more Christians and members of other religious minorities are fleeing their homes and sanctuaries.
A statement from Syria's Christian leaders urged the "transition to a state that respects all its citizens and lays the foundation for a society based on equal citizenship and genuine partnership, free from the logic of vengeance and exclusion." Patriarch John X, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II and the Melkite Catholic Patriarch Youssef Absi also reaffirmed the "unity of Syrian territory and reject any attempts to divide it."In a final appeal to Syria's new leader, John X's sermon added: "We urge you to advance national reconciliation, civil peace and peaceful coexistence, and to uphold freedoms as a supreme value in a society founded on the principle of citizenship. …
"Let sectarianism fall and let the nation live. Long live a free and dignified Syria."
FIRST IMAGE: Uncredited photo, care of Greek City Times.