Grand Mufti of Syria: The kidnapped Orthodox bishops are alive and in Turkey
Moscow ( AsiaNews) - The Grand Mufti of Syria, Ahmad Hassoun Badreddin , the spiritual leader of Sunni Islam, claims he has information that the two Orthodox bishops of Aleppo, kidnapped in April, are alive and outside the country. The news was reported by Interfax -Religion. Elena Agapova, vice president of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, the Russian Orthodox organization that plays an active role in the Middle East and takes care of delivering aid to the Syrian population reports: "According to information from the mufti they are in Turkey."
Agapova states that 28 October
Hassoun met in Moscow with representatives of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine
Society. The Grand Mufti believes that "there is the hand of the Chechen
militants and Turkish services behind the kidnappings" . According
to the Syrian spiritual leader, the kidnapping may be linked to Ankara's
request to transfer the seat of the patriarchate of Antioch from Syria to
Turkey. During
his visit to the Islamic University of Moscow, the same Hassoun complained that
at least 2 thousand Russians, mostly from the North Caucasus , are fighting in
the ranks of the armed opposition in Syria.
The
Metropolitan Boulos Yazigi (the Orthodox Church of Antioch ) and Metropolitan Mar
Gregorios Youhanna Ibrahim (the Syrian Orthodox Church ) were seized by a group
of militants, who killed their driver . The
two Orthodox leaders were engaged in humanitarian work in the village of Kafr
Dael , near the Turkish -Syrian border. The
Russian Orthodox Church has expressed "deep concern" about their
fate. "In all this time we have had no news of where they are and how they
are . There have been many rumors, but none of them has never been officially
confirmed"
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk
, chairman of the Department for External Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate told
AsiaNews late August. ( N.A. )
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02/01/2018 15:19
