NNA - Syria will find the gateway to salvation through dialogue, newly-installed Greek-Orthodox patriarch John X Yaziji told visiting Lebanese Maronite patriarch Beshara Rahi today.
Addressing his distinguished Lebanese guest in presence of high-ranking regime officials including minister of State Mansour Azzam, the patriarch cited problems facing Syrian youth and prescribed what he termed " mega workshops of religious and secular magnates as a feasible solution. He called on Church and government to embrace all those displaced and that praying for them maybe helps remedying the situation. Patriarch Yaziji preached a peaceful solution to the conflict and saluted the Lebanese people and regime saying what befalls them befalls the Syrians.
Patriarch Rahi responded in kind and equated Syrian suffering with past Lebanese painful endurance and experience. He described both conflicts "absurd wars" and added that both Syrian and Lebanese churches uphold high the Holy Scriptures for the sake of peace, reconciliation and brotherhood. Rahi concluded that all blood innocently shed thus far, is equivalent to the tears of Christ.
=================== G.G./R.K.