Christians and Muslims, hand-in-hand ,against terrorism

DAMASCUS, (ST) _ Christian communities Bishops based-in Damascus condemned in the strongest terms the  cowardly terrorist attack against the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus that claimed the lives of several citizens.

“targeting worshipping places and Muslim and Christian clergymen is  but  a targeting of the values of tolerance, amity and peace that the divine messages have called for,”underscored the bishops, who paid a solidarity visit to the Umayyad Mosque on Saturday.

The bishops made it clear that  the Grand  Umayyad Mosque has a special status in the Syrians’ hearts specially Christians  as embraces John the Baptist’s shrine(Peace Be Upon Him).Furthermore, the Umayyad Mosque is a very important Christian and Islamic’s landmark.

“actually, our basic aim of the visit is to voice solidarity and to show that all Syrians are standing together  as regards the conspiracy that target both Christians and Muslims, “underlined Greek Orthodox Patriarchal Assistant Archbishop Luka al-Khoury .

He highlighted  that the criminal act, perpetrated by terrorists, will definitely fail as the Syrians are one family.

“we are insisting to live together  as brothers , one family and hand in hand .So the entire world must know that whatever terrorists did in Syria they will not force us to quit our homeland. Moreover, they will fail to tear apart our national unity” asserted Khoury ,”.

Bishop Armash Nalbandian, Primate of the Diocese of Damascus said that the Syrian people are in pain over the attack that has rocked the Umayyad Mosque, indicating that ”it was the Syrian diversity and unity that the terrorists sought to target.”

For his part, Bishop Matta Khoury, the  Syriac Orthodox Patriarch secretary said that the Umayyad Mosque’s visit is to express our boundless love to the Umayyad Mosque .

M.D