Syria: “We feel abandoned by the Christians of the West”

Archbishop Abraham Nehmé, Melkite-Greek Catholic Metropolitan bishop of Homs, Hama and Yabroud (Syria) from 1986 to 2005, is presently living in the convent of St. Anthony of Kfarchima, near Beirut.  When questioned on February 13, by the press agency Apic, the 84-year-old Archbishop Emeritus, did not yet speak of a massive exodus of the Christians of Syria – where they still make up about 8% of the population --, but he pointed out that “a few thousand have already left”.  “We feel completely abandoned by the Christians of the West, and we risk suffering the same fate as the Christians of Iraq…”

The Lebanese prelate deplores the attitude of the western governments “that only  function according to their own interests and take no interest in the fate of the Christians of Syria.”  Archbishop Abraham Nehmé points out that the Muslim Brothers, who are gaining influence everywhere thanks to the “Arab Spring”, “do not seem to look on the Christians with a kindly eye.”  If they were to come into power, it would be a threat to the long-term presence of the Christians in this region, he insists.  “I am almost certain that if the Islamists come into power, we will not be very comfortable!”

The primate of the Syrian Orthodox Church, Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, declared on February 12, that the troubles in Syria are instigated and organized “by external forces and not by members of the Syrian society,” according to the Russian information agency RIA Novosti.  During the meeting, which was held in his residence in Damas, the patriarch denied the existence of a repression of Syrian Christians.  “The Christians in Syria remain safe, unlike those in Egypt and Iraq,” he pointed out.

The Syrian Christians’ fear at the change of regime in Damas is justified, claimed Fr. Samir Khalil Samir on Vatican Radio on February 17.  According to the Egyptian Jesuit, professor of the history of Arabian culture and of Islamology at St. Joseph University in Beirut, there is no doubt that an Islamist regime in Syria will represent a danger for Christians, for it will certainly be less neutral than the present regime.  What is happening in Egypt, he thinks, will repeat itself in the other countries of the region.

The Christians in Syria are an element of stability and they provide an economic and political contribution, he continues.  “Insofar as possible, we Christians have the duty to remain as long as we can.  The exile of the Christians would be a catastrophe for the whole Middle East:  already in Palestine, the Christians who have left no longer come back; the same in Iraq; in Jordan the Christians are few…”

The Jesuit Father points out that those who can flee do so, for staying in the hotspot means risking death, and the tiniest step may unknowingly be one’s last.  “To avoid this, the people protect themselves as they may, but even the houses are not safe.  Protecting oneself means not going out, but it also means suffering from hunger.  Everything has become precarious!”

When interviewed by Vatican Radio on February 20, the patriarch of the Syro-Catholics, Ignatius Youssef III Younan, who resides at the patriarchal seat of Beirut (Lebanon), said he is very worried about the situation in his country.  In Syria, “the Christians feel that they are in danger, and truly fear that a civil war based on religious motives may make them its first victims.”  When in Rome for the Consistory on February 18, 2012, the Oriental prelate gave the reasons for this strong worry; while the power concentrated in the hands of the Baas party, to which the Alaouite minority of Bashar al-Assad belongs, could set off a real religious conflict, “[the Christians] have no Christian party, no weapons, and they are spread out all over Syria,” he explained.

When interviewed the same day by Vatican Radio, the Maronite patriarch Béchara Rai hoped that the international community would help the Arab world to “separate religion from the State” in order to “prepare it for democracy”.  In Syria, “the international community needs to intervene, to find solutions through dialogue and not through violence,” he begged, lamenting the fact that “the interests of the nations are very different”.  In his eyes, the greatest worry remains the risk of “fundamentalist groups”, supported from abroad “politically, and with money and weapons.”

Archbishop Mario Zenari, Apostolic Nuncio in Damas, confided to Vatican Radio on February 10, that “up until now, the Christians had not been targeted for being Christians.  Not one church had been touched.  And if we make a comparison with other countries in the regions, this point is positive;” he added that the Christians of Syria enjoy “much respect and could play a mediating role in this climate of violence.”  (sources: apic/imedia/Asian/rian/radiovatican – DICI#251, March 9, 2012)

You can also read :
Syria: What Lies in Store for Christians?
Syria: “We are afraid of the Islamists... they are exclusivist!”
Syria: Some bishops dread the rise of Islamism