{"id":22111,"date":"2017-04-19T07:29:18","date_gmt":"2017-04-19T07:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=22111"},"modified":"2017-04-19T07:29:18","modified_gmt":"2017-04-19T07:29:18","slug":"syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/","title":{"rendered":"SYRIA &#8211; Aleppo Christians celebrate Easter again after years of conflict -Eva-Maria Kolmann"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>SYRIA &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Aleppo Christians can celebrate Easter again\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">The last few Easters were sad ones for the people of Aleppo. Good Friday was ever present, the light of the resurrection seemed far away. Only last year, Sister Annie Demerjian said to the pontifical foundation <strong><em>Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)<\/em><\/strong>, \u201cOur children get coffins for Easter.\u201d The name Aleppo had become synonymous with death, sorrow and horror.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Even though it is difficult to believe, because it is not being reported by the media: this year, the situation in Aleppo has improved and the people are once again able to celebrate Easter. Today, Sister Annie can say, \u201cThankfully, we feel a lot safer. The bombing has ended. On this Easter feast I am so happy, just like all the other Christians who will be celebrating it in peace after so many years of war. Now we feel a lot safer as we go to church and come back from church. We thank God that the situation has improved. I wish that all the people who fled could return to their restored houses next year at Easter. I hope that peace and love will gain the upper hand in our country so that we can all be united once more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Nevertheless: the great suffering that the people of Aleppo have endured has not been forgotten. Many things are still lacking. Especially in Holy Week, believers try to unite their pain with the Way of the Cross of Christ. Najib Halak, a Christian from Aleppo, said, \u201cUnder these circumstances we try to follow Christ, who walked the Way of Sorrows. We join him along this path in order to achieve glorious resurrection with him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Lina Nalanand, a believer from Aleppo, has also given this some thought, \u201cCertainly, what we have been through is difficult and painful, but of course we cannot compare it with the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ gives us hope, strength and the victory of life, which is why we always say, \u2018If God is for us, then who can be against us?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Rana Idelbi, an older lady from Aleppo, said she had been looking forward to Easter again this year. \u201cThis is an incredible feeling for me. I know that I am getting old, but I am just as excited as the children on the feast days.\u201d She has also endured much suffering and says, \u201cIt is true that we are tired and afraid and many martyrs have died, we have cried and many of our brothers and relatives have left because of the war. But even under these circumstances, I knew that the Lord is always with us and my faith has grown. I pray with more humility than before and I know that the Lord is with me and with all of us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">Sister Annie thanks all benefactors of <strong><em>Aid to the Church in Need<\/em><\/strong> who stood by the people of Aleppo in these difficult times and who continue to help alleviate the hardship, which remains great, \u201cI thank Jesus, who suffered for us on the cross and who brought us together within the faith with good people such as yourself, who have supported us. This is a blessing of God. Thank you for helping us carry the cross with patience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">There are an estimated 40,000 Christians living among the remaining inhabitants of Aleppo and surrounding areas. These are the ones who were not able to flee the city because they are too poor and because the relatives to whom they could have gone had already left the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">For months, Aleppo was surrounded on all sides by the Syrian army, which, supported by the Russian air force, was fighting against the rebels for control of eastern Aleppo. The Christians had long since fled the persecution by the rebels in the city. The news agencies reported on the bombardment of eastern Aleppo, but only very few also mentioned the rebel attacks on western Aleppo. These were carried out with sophisticated weapons and caused many civilian casualties and widespread fear and terror.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;\">The Christians in Aleppo still feel very isolated and in constant danger, but stay because of their faith. Destitute, with scant supplies of food and basic commodities, shortages in medicine, electricity and water, they turn to the churches for help. These are now working together well to distribute emergency aid. <strong><em>Aid to the Church in Need<\/em><\/strong> is cooperating closely with the churches and is supporting several projects in Aleppo. Since 2011, the pontifical foundation has granted 17,786,401 euros in emergency and pastoral aid for the Christians in Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>Eva-Maria Kolmann<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SYRIA &#8211;\u00a0Aleppo Christians can celebrate Easter again\u00a0 &nbsp; The last few Easters were sad ones for the people of Aleppo. Good Friday was ever present, the light of the resurrection seemed far away. Only last year, Sister Annie Demerjian said to the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), \u201cOur children get coffins&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SYRIA - Aleppo Christians celebrate Easter again after years of conflict -Eva-Maria Kolmann - 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\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SYRIA - Aleppo Christians celebrate Easter again after years of conflict -Eva-Maria Kolmann - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SYRIA &#8211;\u00a0Aleppo Christians can celebrate Easter again\u00a0 &nbsp; The last few Easters were sad ones for the people of Aleppo. Good Friday was ever present, the light of the resurrection seemed far away. Only last year, Sister Annie Demerjian said to the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), \u201cOur children get coffins...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-19T07:29:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ACN-20170120-50195-1024x680.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\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 Media\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/\",\"name\":\"SYRIA - Aleppo Christians celebrate Easter again after years of conflict -Eva-Maria Kolmann - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ACN-20170120-50195.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-19T07:29:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-19T07:29:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ACN-20170120-50195.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ACN-20170120-50195.jpg\",\"width\":4096,\"height\":2720,\"caption\":\"Trip to Syria (Aleppo) 2016, January 10, Visiting Caritas Syria in Aleppo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SYRIA &#8211; Aleppo Christians celebrate Easter again after years of conflict -Eva-Maria Kolmann\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\",\"name\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"description\":\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\",\"name\":\"ACN Malta Media\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ACN Malta Media\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SYRIA - Aleppo Christians celebrate Easter again after years of conflict -Eva-Maria Kolmann - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SYRIA - Aleppo Christians celebrate Easter again after years of conflict -Eva-Maria Kolmann - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","og_description":"SYRIA &#8211;\u00a0Aleppo Christians can celebrate Easter again\u00a0 &nbsp; The last few Easters were sad ones for the people of Aleppo. Good Friday was ever present, the light of the resurrection seemed far away. Only last year, Sister Annie Demerjian said to the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), \u201cOur children get coffins...","og_url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/","og_site_name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","article_published_time":"2017-04-19T07:29:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":680,"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ACN-20170120-50195-1024x680.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ACN Malta Media","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ACN Malta Media","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/","name":"SYRIA - Aleppo Christians celebrate Easter again after years of conflict -Eva-Maria Kolmann - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ACN-20170120-50195.jpg","datePublished":"2017-04-19T07:29:18+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-19T07:29:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ACN-20170120-50195.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/ACN-20170120-50195.jpg","width":4096,"height":2720,"caption":"Trip to Syria (Aleppo) 2016, January 10, Visiting Caritas Syria in Aleppo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2017\/04\/19\/syria-aleppo-christians-celebrate-easter-years-conflict-eva-maria-kolmann\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SYRIA &#8211; Aleppo Christians celebrate Easter again after years of conflict -Eva-Maria Kolmann"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website","url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/","name":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","description":"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2","name":"ACN Malta Media","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93fb625be2ad6b7f825159f4ef11b098?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ACN Malta Media"},"url":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/author\/admin2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22111"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22125,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22111\/revisions\/22125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}