Statement by Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media concerning mass killings of civilians in Syria

DECR Communication Service, 11/03/2025

The Synodal Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media has issued a statement with regard to the mass killings of civilians in Syria.

A lot of blood has been shed in the Syrian land over the years of the civil strife instigated and supported from the outside, and the sufferings of its civilian population continue to this day.

The groups of armed people that have assumed the right to use weapons without just cause or any control from the authorities have initiated mass persecutions, killing members of different ethnical and religious groups, including Alawites, Muslims and Christians.

The terror has been unleashed based on accusations of their disloyalty and of them posing a threat to the new Syrian authorities. Such arguments, however, lose their credibility amidst numerous reports of the killings of unarmed people, including children and the elderly. There is every reason to believe that the persecution is being waged on religious and ethnic grounds.

On 8^th March 2025, Patriarchs of three Christian Churches in Damascus issued a joint statement. It was signed by Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East of the Orthodox Church of Antioch, Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II of Antioch and All the East, the Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church, and Patriarch Youssef Absi of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. The three Primates bore unanimous witness to “the massacres targeting innocent civilians.”

Video footages are available online, showing innocent people being subjected to insults and humiliation and murdered with particular ruthlessness. Christians all over the world, along with representatives of other traditional religions raise their voice against the unleashed lawlessness.

The Russian Orthodox Church expresses solidarity with the representatives of the religious minorities that have become a target for extremists coming from various regions of the world. Many of them have arrived in the Syrian land with the intention of committing acts of unparalleled brutality, murders, robberies and terror.

We call upon the state leaders, international organizations and heads of religious communities to combine their efforts in order to put an end to the sufferings of innocent people and restore the long-awaited peace and concord in Syria.

Synodal Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media/

Patriarchia.ru

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Statement by Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media concerning mass killings of civilians in Syria

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons