RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Arab Christians reject Russian Christian justification of Putin's military actions

SYRIAN CHRISTIANS OUTRAGED BY STATEMENTS OF RUSSIAN CHURCH ABOUT "HOLY WAR"

RISU, 7 October 2015

 

Christians living in Syria have responded very negatively to recent statements of an official representative of the Russian Orthodox church, in which he called the air strikes delivered by Russian warplanes a part of a sacred struggle. This is being reported by BBC.

 

The report recalls that the head of the synod's Department for Relations of Church and Society of the Moscow patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, stated: "The struggle with terrorism and for a just peace and the dignity of people who are experiencing the challenge of terror is very moral and is, if you will, a holy struggle, and today our country is, probably, the most active force in the world that is opposing terror."

 

The priest also emphasized that Russia has always played "a special role" in the Middle East.

 

In response to this statement, one of the leaders of the Syrian Christian church, Bishop Ilias Tuma, stated: "There cannot be any kind of holy war in Christianity! Regardless of whether someone agrees with this or not."

 

Yet another Syrian priest, Ispiridon Tanus, stated in an interview with the website Suriyat, which sympathizes with the opposition, that Russia is playing with fire: "Martyrs in our church will not become martyrs of war; they are victims of war."

 

At the same time, an announcer of the pan-Arab sattelite television channel Al-Jazera, Feisal al-Kasim, wrote on his Twitter page: "When the Russian church describes the Russian intervention in Syria as a holy war, it thereby unwittingly calls Muslims to jihad."

 

Many Christian commentators on social networks also have expressed anger over the words of the press secretary of the RPTs. "The unchristian and unethical statements of the Russian church do not reflect either the views of Christians of the East or of Christianity in general. Let's recall that the idea of 'holy war' came from the western crusaders," Nadzhib Georg Avad wrote on Facebook.

 

"We Christians of the Middle East believe in holy peace and coexistance," he added. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 October 2015)


Background article:
Religious leaders of Russia approve air action in Syria
September 30, 2015

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