Orontes Syria: Also known as the Assi River, the Orontes is the only perennial river in Western Asia and its route through Syria encompasses some of the areas where the Christian minority has been most severely affected during this time of conflict in their country. It was at the city of Antioch on the Orontes River that followers of Jesus were first called “Christians” and from here that the first organized mission team set out to spread the gospel. Syria has been a place of Christianity since the first century A.D.
This site contains news, views and information about Syrian Christians from a variety of media and news sources, where possible articles are supplemented with images and drawn together with videos and other news items to provide extra information and context.
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It should be understood that while this site focuses on the plight of Christians in Syria the issues it highlights have a profound effect on all religious communities.
Christians are not the victims of Muslims but rather all are the victims of an extremism and radicalisation that is being supported and funded from abroad.
“The suffering has exceeded all limits. The crisis has mown down thousands and thousands of soldiers, enemies, opponents of civilians, men, women and children, sheikhs and priests, Christians and Muslims.”
His Beatitude, Gregorios III, Patriarch of Antioch,
and All the East of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
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As-Salaam-Alaikum
H.E. The Sunni Grand Mufti of Syria, Sheikh Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun - “I am the Mufti of all Syrians – Sunni Muslims, Christians, Alawites, Druze – of all the diversity of sects we had before the war. There is no choice other than reconciliation."
H.B. John X Yazigi, Antiochian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch -
The Antiochian Orthodox Patriarch in Syria, John Yazigi, says Syrian Christians "will not submit and yield" to foreign-backed extremist militants who attack "our people and holy places."
H.E. Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani, Sunni Grand Mufti of Lebanon - “Christians’ fears nowadays over their presence and their dignity in the Middle East are right and justified”
H.B Cardinal Bechara Rai, Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch - The West and other countries are helping to foment conflict in the Middle East "there is a plan to destroy the Arab world for political and economic interests"
H.E Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, Deputy President of the Higher Shiite Council Lebanon - Called on the U.S to “work on giving people their freedom in Syria by refraining from supporting radical Islamists and criminals who are killing innocent people and violating their freedoms.
H.B. Gregorios III Laham, Melkite greek-Catholic Patriarch of Antioch - "Every day Islamic extremists from all over the world are pouring into Syria with the sole intent to kill and not one country has done anything to stop them."
H.H. Mor Ignatios Zakka I Iwas, Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch (R.I.P.) - "Syrians are the only ones who will decide their destiny, and that decision will be taken in Damascus, not in a European country."
H.H. Mor Ignatius Ephrem II Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch - “Christians and Muslims alike are exposed to a terrorist war in the region”.... the Patriarch denounced the silence of the world regarding crimes committed by armed terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.
H.B. Youssef III Younan, Syriac Catholic Patriarchs of Antioch - "We Syrian Christians, sold by the West for oil” - "Christians in the Middle East have not only been abandoned, but we have been lied to and betrayed by Western nations, like the United States and the European Union."
H.B. Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, “Who appointed them [United States] as ‘policemen of democracy’ in the Middle East? ”
H.E. Maroun Laham, Latin Patriarchal Vicar for Jordan - “This interest, on the part of the United States or of Europe, for human rights or for the defence of the weak, no one believes. No one believes it!,”
H.E. Jacques Behnan Hindo, Syriac Catholic Archbishop ofHassaké-Nisibi (northeastern Syria) - Regarding the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabuis “Please excuse my expression. They are screwing all Syrians”
H.E. Theodosius Hanna, Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Sebastia (Nablus, Palestine) - "Will the displacement of Christians from Syria, their killing and slaughter and the destruction of their churches lead to an alleged democracy?"
Rev. Georges Massouh Antiochian Orthodox priest and director of the Christian Muslim Studies Center at Balamand University, Lebanon. "It goes without saying that Christians in Syria do not consider themselves greater or more important that their Muslim partners in the one nation. They find themselves in solidarity with all the people of Syria, in the calamities that they share and the strikes that fall upon all their heads."