melkite-greek-catholic-bishops

"Why are people so critical of the Church and of its servants? Because. People in high places are more accountable and they must give a good example of integrity. The closer you come to the light, the more your defects become noticeable. You do not see the dirt in dark corners; but you see it blatantly near a bright-lighted bulb."

"Needless to say the entire Catholic community here is praying for the Pope. Our Patriarch Gregory III Laham sent a letter to parishes encouraging people to pray for the Pope to comfort him at this time of trial. The Pope is our Shepherd and we Catholics in Syria are in communion with him in prayer"

"I who lived in Jerusalem for very long, I worshipped under the calls of its minarets, and submitted to the will of God under the rhythm of its church bells. I was exiled from my beloved Palestine. I am thirsty, I am longing to return to Jerusalem, I am longing to beautify my eyes with it before I die."

"They should not be classed among the extremist theological currents, factors of heresy or schisms. They are all united by faith lived in the action of every day, in the hope of salvation and fidelity to Christ. It is in this that they are united, and merit entering in the same communion. Their division is, in my opinion, a problem for institutional jurisdiction. We cannot apply the dogmatic or canonical rigor of the West to them, but rather the pastoral economy of Saint Paul."

"I do not deal with politics. I have never presented my candidacy, or supported any candidate on a specific issue. According to my faith, anything that harms Man harms the faith and harms God. This means that the path of martyrdom-seeking is itself wrong."

"We ourselves need to be disciples of Jesus first, before we can call others to discipleship. It's from this that all the ministries of our Church will flow. God is constantly calling people to ministry in the Church, he's not asleep. We will never have a shortage of vocations if we create the listening environment of discipleship so that the called can answer."

"Modify the discourse of the Church towards Islam, to distinguish clearly between Islam and fundamentalism. This eases our dialogue with Muslims in view of helping us to persevere in our land."

"The war in Iraq and the situation in the Holy Land are mortal blows for the Christians in the Middle East. Willing or unwilling, we end up being branded as a fifth column of the West. But the strength of fundamentalism lies in the weakness of the so-called Christian West. Fundamentalism is a sickness that gets loose and takes root because of the void of the Western modernity, that uses Christianity only as ideological cover"

"Christians need a certain "positive laicity". Where do they go to find it? Presently, our "lay flock" denies itself; it is a matter of their giving a legitimacy that the only ones with power to give it are the Ecclesiastics provided that it had been acquired by their statutes. We think that Christians who so desire should be authorized to adopt lay statute, without betraying the Dogmas or the teachings of the Churches, keeping in mind that one is not in a solely Christian land."

"Lord, the Christians of Syria love you, and you know that, they have remained faithful to you despite all the suffering and the trials they have undergone for the sake of your love, come to their aid."

"I feel it is my duty to be faithful to the one who gave me what I have, of course, to the Lord Jesus Christ who has his Church beginning in this country."

"There needs to be a fair dialogue. The West can bring pressure so that the government agrees to find a way to peace and change some of its behavior."

"I pray the United States may come back to the best of what it used to be, a country of love and a country of respect for human beings, and at the same time that the Church in United States may take back its position as a leader in humanity."

"If arms continue to come into the country, the situation will get worse. It is not Syrians who are fighting Syrians – those involved in the fighting are non-Syrians. Instead of bringing arms into our country, bring peace. Arms are like a cancer – a foreign body that threatens to destroy us. I would say to President Obama, you always talk about peace… please leave us alone and put these ideas of peace into practice. You have your own idea of democracy and it is beautiful but it is not necessarily our idea of democracy; let us work out our own idea of democracy."

"During the twenty past centuries our Christians from the Holy Land were like condemned and privileged to share oppression, persecution and suffering with Christ. He is risen but his cross is still high in our sky. Our Christianity is still hanging on that terrible cross. They still live under daily threats from officials who dream continuing the transfer of our minority, away from their lands, their homes, away from their ancestral homeland. If it was not for Him, the cross would have been damned and hated."

"Our Lord and God is with us always, and with Him we will be victorious over everything through love. Knowing that love hurts, love kills... But love revives and love alone can conquer all. Yes indeed, love is the key for salvation. But there is no true love without true holiness. Let us be saints because our heavenly Father is Holy. Holiness is the solution. Yes, the sanctified love is the solution."

"We feel completely abandoned by the Christians of the West, and we risk suffering the same fate as the Christians of Iraq. I am almost certain that if the Islamists come into power, we will not be very comfortable!"

"We need to re-establish our dialogue with our Orthodox brothers and sisters, especially of the Antiochian tradition. It existed under Archbishop Tawil and now it is time to resurface it. We are the same people-broken by history, and we will not throw the blame on each other. The break was caused more by political disunity. We need to become closer so that when unity takes place, we are one Church. Do I believe unity can take place? Most assuredly. If God could break the clutches of communism overnight, he can certainly break the pride of many overzealous church leaders and bring back unity to His body. God calls men and women to religious vocations. And I believe he also calls married men to priesthood. We need to study this situation in our country and develop the proper formation for men who are truly deemed worthy of this call."

"We, the emigrants from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and – allow me to say it – Egypt, our country will always love you and stay close to our country and our origins. There are numerous men and women that can give the religious impulses and with scientific and economic generosity in the countries can be active, welcome us with open arms."

"We need prayers, prayers and more prayers. It is the only thing that can bring us unity in this country."

"Death! People seem to have completely forgotten it in the midst of their preoccupations with the affairs of life, feverishly running after their livelihood, or blindly embracing atheism, materialism, agnosticism, and many other frivolous absurdities. They have closed every window that might let in some light from another world or simply remind them that there is another world. In the year of the corona, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ reminds us, his followers, that death is not an ordinary matter, nor a natural conclusion for human life followed by nothing. Death is not a futility unworthy of attention and concern, but the archenemy of humankind. Fortunately, Our Lord’s Resurrection comes at the right moment to remind us that by his Resurrection, Christ has totally and completely crushed the power of death."

"Since Vatican II, the Church tries to find a regulating matrix between the Truth of the Word and the values of freedom. The means used in this sense remain the actions undertaken by the institutions of the Churches in Lebanon, especially those that educate and dispense social and humanitarian actions. Education and assisting others being the cornerstone of all reinforcing of freedom of religion and conscience. To promote and strengthen these two parameters will be the challenge that our Churches will have to face, because all dialogue and all freedom cannot exist unless the intellectual bases it on the basic and the reflex; freedom of religion and conscience cannot proliferate unless in an educated atmosphere and without great social and financial disparities."

"My Christian faith makes me respect the other and love the other, do the best for the other. This is why our Lord Jesus Christ came and gave his life for us, so we can convert and love the other whatever he is, whether he's a Jew, a Muslim or any other religion. We have to respect each other and love each other."

"Don't forget that our ultimate goal is to glorify the name of God and the good of the Church."

"I think that behind everything in life there is a wisdom: God has his own plans."