John X asks Romania: why the international community is silent?

In the sermon spoken after the thanksgiving service of TeDeum in Bucharest, on November 28, 2014, the The Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, John X Yazigi, said that Romania was known, in the past, as “Christian’s Country” even by the former Patriarch, Makarios III (XVII century CE).

The Orthodox Antiochian Patriarch, John X, named the Romanian Orthodox Church, “the place of convergence between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church,” as the Antiochian Church is the place of convergence between the Greek and Syriac cultures and civilizations.

“Romania is the meeting place between the occidental language and the eastern faith, so that’s why it was called LATINITAS ORIENTALIS”, said John X, pointing out “the essential role of the Romanian Orthodox Church” in the Orthodox-Catholic relationship.

He also reminded the visit of the Antiochian Patriarch, Makarios III, in Romania, in 1653, on which occasion he consecrated the Orthodox Patriarchal Cathedral. Another historical visit was the visit of Athanasius IV and Sylvester, in XVIII century.

John X also mentioned that the first liturgical books in Arabic language were made and printed by the effort of St. Antim Ivireanul and the first printing houses were offered to Antiochian Patriarchate by St. Voivode Constantin Brancoveanu, at the begining of the XVIII century.

In the same sermon, The Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, John X Yazigi, talked about the battles that occur in the provinces of Antioch: “We are tired of sweetened slogans. The only goal should be the peace recovery throughout Syria, and we know that this it is not impossible”, he said.

“I don’t want to see our country as a land of border terrorism. The two metropolitans of Aleppo, who are kidnapped for more than a year and a half (check Orthodox Mansions News Archive), were only the peace ambassadors. What does the world now? Is the world concerned with this problem? Why the international community keeps their fate silently?”.

“I came here to convey our pain, for what is happening in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and throughout the Middle East”.