Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The Situation of Christians in the Middle East

Photo: Russian Orthodox Church / Serbian Orthodox Church
Over the course of the weekend, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church and chairman of the Department of External Church Relations, was in Liechtenstein where he encountered a few different members of the Princely Family.

On Saturday, he met with the Prince Hans-Adam II at Schloss Vaduz to talk about his recent visit to Lebanon, the situation of Christians in the Middle East in general and Lebanon, Iraq and Syria in particular as well as a supposed de-Christianisation of Europe. Metropolitan Hilarion also conveyed greetings and best wishes from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to the Prince who in turn talked about his impression of the situation in the Middle East and Western Europe.

On Sunday, an international colloquium on the Syrian crisis was held in Vaduz under the high patronage of Prince Hans-Adam. While the Prince did not seem to have attended, the Princely Family was represented by other members, namely Prince Nikolaus, Liechtenstein's ambassador to the Holy See, and his fifth cousin once removed Prince Stefan, the country's ambassador to Germany. Another guest at the colloquium was Archduchess Gabriela of Austria, daughter of Archduke Otto and Georgia's ambassador to Germany. The participants talked all kinds of matters in relation to the ongoing war in Syria with one of the special focuses being the situation of Christians in the Middle Eastern country. They also seemed to have attended a mass.



Sources: Russian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church

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