ASIA/INDIA - Christians will bring aid to Syrian refugees during a journey of solidarity

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Ernakulam (Agenzia Fides) - The Indian Christians mobilize for their confreres in Syria which has caused since the beginning of the civil war more than 90,000 victims and refugees continue to increase. The Syrian Christians are suffering along with the population because of displacement and poverty, and it is estimated that over a million and a half Syrians have emigrated. Due to this alarming situation, the Jacobite Church in Kerala, linked to the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, has launched a collection of humanitarian aid for the assistance to the Christian communities in Syria. "The fight has become increasingly violent and has damaged most of the churches and Christian properties in Syria," explains a note sent to Fides Agency by the Jacobite Church. All the communities of the faithful in Kerala are contributing generously to the collection, which will be led by Catholicos Baselios Thomas I, leader of the Jacobite Church in India. In the coming weeks a delegation of the Church will carry out a solidarity mission in Syria and will deliver the aid. The Christian communities in India, of all denominations, express sympathy and concern for the delicate, unresolved matter regarding the kidnapping of two Syrian bishops.
The Jacobite Syriac Church, one of the various Christian churches founded in India by the preaching of St. Thomas the Apostle, is an integral part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Patriarch of Antioch as its supreme head. The head of the Church in India is the "Catholicos of the East", currently Baselios Thomas I, and its seat is in the state of Kerala in southern India. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 22/05/2013)


Share: