Department for External Church Relations
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Metropolitan Hilarion: Christians in the Middle East need our compassion and prayer
During a live video interview given on Jesus-Portal YouTube channel on 22nd February 2021, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, spoke, in particular, about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and other countries.
As Metropolitan Hilarion noted, today Christians experience the greatest sufferings in the countries of the Middle East and Africa. “The situation in which Christians are living in the Middle East and some African countries is very difficult. They are being subjected to persecutions, to genocide,” the hierarch said.
The archpastor also reminded his viewers that the Christian population in Iraq at the time of Saddam Hussein had stood at 1,5 million people. However, after Hussein was overthrown the situation of Christians took a dramatic turn for the worse, and great many people started to leave the country.
“Terrorists were exterminating Christians, and now one tenth at the most is what has remained of the number of Christians in Iraq. Therefore, Christians in the Middle East and other countries need our compassion and prayer,” Metropolitan Hilarion also said, pointing out that the Russian Orthodox Church “again and again draws the attention of the world community to the terrible plight of Christians in these regions.”
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