{"id":14447,"date":"2016-04-20T10:14:21","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T10:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=14447"},"modified":"2016-04-20T10:14:21","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T10:14:21","slug":"middle-east-vatican-joins-russian-orthodox-to-help-persecuted-christians-acn-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/04\/20\/middle-east-vatican-joins-russian-orthodox-to-help-persecuted-christians-acn-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"MIDDLE EAST &#8211; Vatican joins Russian Orthodox\u00a0to help persecuted Christians &#8211; ACN Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>MIDDLE EAST &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Vatican<\/strong><strong> and <\/strong><strong>Moscow Patriarchate<\/strong><strong> offer<\/strong><strong> joint <\/strong><strong>help <\/strong><strong>for <\/strong><strong>persecuted <\/strong><strong>Christians<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Following the historic meeting in Cuba between Pope Francis and Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches have joined forces to provide humanitarian assistance to Christians in the Middle East who have suffered as a result of the conflict. They will also offer help to rebuild churches damaged or destroyed during Syria\u2019s five year war.<\/p>\n<p>Hieromonk Stefan, secretary of the Department for External Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church,\u00a0 described as \u201cunprecedented\u201d the joint humanitarian effort in favor of the Middle East\u2019s Christians: \u00a0&#8220;this is undoubtedly a result of the agreements reached in Havana.&#8221; A statement issued by his department stated: &#8220;everyone knows that the tragedy in the Middle East, which has caused suffering to different Christian denominations and other groups, and the need to take urgent measures to improve the situation there were the focus of the meeting in Havana 12 February 2016.&#8221; \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The statement also acknowledged &#8220;the need to draw up a detailed list of Christian shrines, churches and monasteries destroyed and damaged during the war in Syria and the strengthening of the common Christian witness of the Syrian tragedy have been recognized as a short term priority.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A joint delegation from the Vatican and Moscow Patriarchate travelled to Syria and Lebanon on 6-7 April\u00a0to coordinate humanitarian aid for displaced persons and begin drawing up a list of Christian sites in need of repair.<\/p>\n<p>The delegation visited refugee camps and held consultations with local church leaders. The envoys included Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), and Msgr. Paolo Pezzi, the Latin rite Archbishop of the Mother of God Archdiocese in Moscow, and representatives of the charity Aid to the Church in Need.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>\u00a0ACN Malta<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MIDDLE EAST &#8211;\u00a0Vatican and Moscow Patriarchate offer joint help for persecuted Christians &nbsp; Following the historic meeting in Cuba between Pope Francis and Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches have joined forces to provide humanitarian assistance to Christians in the Middle East who have suffered as a result of the conflict&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MIDDLE EAST - Vatican joins Russian Orthodox\u00a0to help persecuted Christians - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/04\/20\/middle-east-vatican-joins-russian-orthodox-to-help-persecuted-christians-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MIDDLE EAST - Vatican joins Russian Orthodox\u00a0to help persecuted Christians - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MIDDLE EAST &#8211;\u00a0Vatican and Moscow Patriarchate offer joint help for persecuted Christians &nbsp; Following the historic meeting in Cuba between Pope Francis and Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches have joined forces to provide humanitarian assistance to Christians in the Middle East who have suffered as a result of the conflict....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/04\/20\/middle-east-vatican-joins-russian-orthodox-to-help-persecuted-christians-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-20T10:14:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Father-Halemba-in-front-of-St-Elian-Church-Syriac-Orthodox-in-Ql-Qaryateyn-v7.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"248\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"374\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ACN Malta\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ACN Malta\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/04\/20\/middle-east-vatican-joins-russian-orthodox-to-help-persecuted-christians-acn-malta\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/04\/20\/middle-east-vatican-joins-russian-orthodox-to-help-persecuted-christians-acn-malta\/\",\"name\":\"MIDDLE EAST - Vatican joins Russian Orthodox\u00a0to help persecuted Christians - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/04\/20\/middle-east-vatican-joins-russian-orthodox-to-help-persecuted-christians-acn-malta\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/04\/20\/middle-east-vatican-joins-russian-orthodox-to-help-persecuted-christians-acn-malta\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Father-Halemba-in-front-of-St-Elian-Church-Syriac-Orthodox-in-Ql-Qaryateyn-v7.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-20T10:14:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-20T10:14:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/f770d78fd03dbb385e4841f5fd9b386c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/04\/20\/middle-east-vatican-joins-russian-orthodox-to-help-persecuted-christians-acn-malta\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/04\/20\/middle-east-vatican-joins-russian-orthodox-to-help-persecuted-christians-acn-malta\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2016\/04\/20\/middle-east-vatican-joins-russian-orthodox-to-help-persecuted-christians-acn-malta\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Father-Halemba-in-front-of-St-Elian-Church-Syriac-Orthodox-in-Ql-Qaryateyn-v7.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Father-Halemba-in-front-of-St-Elian-Church-Syriac-Orthodox-in-Ql-Qaryateyn-v7.jpg\",\"width\":248,\"height\":374,\"caption\":\"Syria 08 April 2016 demolition of St. Elian church (Syriac Orthodox) in Al-Qaryateyn Al-Qaryatayn (also spelled Karyatayn, Qaratin or Cariatein) is a town in central Syria, administratively part of the Homs Governorate located southeast of Homs. It is situated on an oasis in the Syrian Desert. Nearby localities include Tadmur (Palmyra) to the northeast, Furqlus to the north, al-Riqama and Dardaghan to the northwest, Mahin, Huwwarin and Sadad to the west, Qarah, Deir Atiyah and al-Nabk to the southwest and Jayrud to the south. Al-Qaryatayn translates as \\\"the two villages\\\". According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Qaryatayn had a population of 14,208 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the al-Qaryatayn nahiyah (\\\"subdistrict\\\") which consists of three localities with a collective population of 16,795 in 2004. Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims and Christians. On 5 August 2015, the town was captured by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. al-Qaryatayn is important to ISIL because the town is one of many along the Damascus-Homs Highway. On 6 August 2015, ISIL abducted 230 civilians, including at least 60 Christians from al-Qaryatayn. ISIL later advanced even further, taking control of Mahin and Huwwarin by 8 August, thus forcing hundreds of Christians to flee persecution by the terrorist group. On 9 August 2015, the Syrian Arab Air Force (SAAF) bombed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant positions in al-Qaryatayn, resulting in the death of around 30 militants as well as the destruction of seven vehicles and a rocket depot, according to government sources. Meanwhile, ISIL announced a 30-day ultimatum for the remaining Syrian officials in the city to \\\"declare their repentance\\\", or else their houses would be seized. On 21 August, ISIL released images showing their demolition of the Monastery of St. Elian in al-Qaryatayn. Parts of the monastery were 1,500 years old. 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It is situated on an oasis in the Syrian Desert. Nearby localities include Tadmur (Palmyra) to the northeast, Furqlus to the north, al-Riqama and Dardaghan to the northwest, Mahin, Huwwarin and Sadad to the west, Qarah, Deir Atiyah and al-Nabk to the southwest and Jayrud to the south. Al-Qaryatayn translates as \"the two villages\". According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics, al-Qaryatayn had a population of 14,208 in the 2004 census. It is the administrative center of the al-Qaryatayn nahiyah (\"subdistrict\") which consists of three localities with a collective population of 16,795 in 2004. Its inhabitants are predominantly Sunni Muslims and Christians. On 5 August 2015, the town was captured by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. al-Qaryatayn is important to ISIL because the town is one of many along the Damascus-Homs Highway. On 6 August 2015, ISIL abducted 230 civilians, including at least 60 Christians from al-Qaryatayn. ISIL later advanced even further, taking control of Mahin and Huwwarin by 8 August, thus forcing hundreds of Christians to flee persecution by the terrorist group. On 9 August 2015, the Syrian Arab Air Force (SAAF) bombed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant positions in al-Qaryatayn, resulting in the death of around 30 militants as well as the destruction of seven vehicles and a rocket depot, according to government sources. Meanwhile, ISIL announced a 30-day ultimatum for the remaining Syrian officials in the city to \"declare their repentance\", or else their houses would be seized. On 21 August, ISIL released images showing their demolition of the Monastery of St. Elian in al-Qaryatayn. Parts of the monastery were 1,500 years old. 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