The Patriarch of Antioch sent his own message for the new year that we welcome “with pray so as to remind ourselves that we worship the Lord who created the world and created man into whom He breathed life.”
In addition, he stated: “We pray that the pandemic, which we ask the Lord to have mercy on us and to help us overcome this burden. We pray and we hope that it was a positive shock from which humanity will wake up by moving away from of hostility and leaning towards unity.”
Moreover, he prayed for peace in Syria, which has suffered a lot due to the war and its people went through the bitterness of displacement, terrorism and violence. “We pray for this country, which is the epicentre of international interests and, as a result, this leads children towards poverty, misery and economic exclusion,” he said. “We pray for a worn-torn Iraq, for every part of the East and for peace around the world,” he added.
In addition, he stated that as Christians of the East, we had never been immigrants, but that we had played a historic and key role in the wider region because peace prevailed over on our land and that is all we have been asking for.
He referred to the New Year that just began and said: “We call on the divine child Jesus Christ, Lord of life and death, the God of hope and love, to bless His world.”
In the end, he wished: “Lord, have mercy on us and guide us in our lives. Your Gospel is the helm that we take and helps us to follow the right path into the cave of our hearts.”
