by Elie Younan

Hailing from Damascus, Riad Sargi has not left his country despite the war. At the World Meeting of Families, he received a copy of the Gospel from the pope. He calls his homeland "the cradle of Christianity" and views his task as helping the poor, the old and the abandoned. For him, living with Muslims is possible.

Damascus (AsiaNews) – Riad Sargi, a Greek-Catholic Melkite, attended the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia with his family where he received a copy of the Gospel from the hands of the pontiff (pictured). For him, the pope embodies the idea of peace and coexistence at a time of conflict.

“I decided to stay in Syria for many reasons,” he told AsiaNews, “but mostly because I feel that my roots are in this land," which is also "the cradle of Christianity. Our region, Damascus, is full of churches and, inside them, there is an atmosphere of holiness.” Now “What I wish with all my heart is that peace and security come back to my beloved country.”

Riad is a mechanical engineer. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for a long time, overseeing imports from Europe. He is also a volunteer with the local Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He is married to Rouba Farah, a doctor and medical researcher. The couple has three children, a girl named Leila (born in March 2001, now in grade 9) and twin boys (Elias and Michael) born in September 2010, now in kindergarten.

The Apostolic Nuncio in Damascus, Mgr Mario Zenari, worked hard to get the Sargi family to meet with the Pope in the United States. The nuncio told AsiaNews that he thought about Riad Sargi because he knows “how to travel” and “I was certain that he would return to Syria and not use the trip to escape since he is very attached to their native land.”

“Getting a visa on a short notice was hard,” the prelate added, “but I am glad that he was able to have this unique experience and bear witness to his story” from a war-torn country.

Here is Riad Sargi’s interview with AsiaNews.

The Synod on the family just ended in Rome. Mr Sargi, what does being a family mean today in Syria, at such a time of war?

For all of us, it means living together in an atmosphere of constant fear. We are afraid of bombs and rockets that are randomly launched at schools, hospitals, houses and roads. After the last five years (of conflict), there is great fear about the future. Some kidnap victims have come home after paying a large ransom; others have disappeared forever. The unluckiest have been slain or had their heads cut off because they profess another religion.

Why did you decide to stay in the country in such an atmosphere of war and violence?

I decided to stay in Syria for many reasons, but mostly because I feel that my roots are in this land. Syria is the cradle of Christianity. Our region, Damascus, is full of churches and inside them there is an atmosphere of holiness. My work is in Syria, my parents live in Syria, my brother and my sister, and their families, still live in Syria. Moreover, we cannot abandon the poor, the families in need, and the elderly who need us, our help. Finally, I do not feel like leaving my homeland under the present circumstances and live happy and safe somewhere else.

Where did you find the strength to remain in the country and, above all, stay together as a family?

The strength, in reality, is a gift from God. Perhaps, our choice to stay in our country in spite of the fears and enormous difficulties and dangers lies in the drive for the mission (inherent in the Christian faith) to help the poor and the needy, who need us to be near them.

Can you describe for us a typical day, in the context of war and terror . . .

Unfortunately, daily life in this atmosphere of violence is horrible. All the time we always run the risk of being wounded, beaten and even killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, hit by a mortar or a rocket. For this reason, we try as much as possible to forget the dangers, not to think about them, in an attempt to lead our lives as normally as possible by relying on God, our Savior Jesus Christ and his mother, the Virgin Mary.

Pope Francis is one of the few voices of peace, in an international context that fuels the conflict. How important is his closeness, especially for you since you were able to meet him?

The war fought in Syria is a dirty war, to the benefit of the superpowers involved, and for the benefit of arms manufacturers and traffickers. It is a bloody conflict between two models, between the idea of ​​peace and coexistence embodied by Pope Francis and the meanness represented by money and various leaders and world authorities. The Syrian people experienced directly being turned into the fodder that feeds this dirty war. As Jesus Christ himself exhorted us: Do not believe in two divinities, the true God and money.

Have four years of war changed relations between Christians and Muslims?

In the past, before the war, Christians and Muslims were accustomed of living together without distinctions. Today we can still live side by side with moderate Muslims, but extremist individuals and groups represent a great danger because they feel it is their duty to convert Christians to Islam, to force them pay a tribute (Jizya) or kill them. This is how these people think they can serve their God.

Mr Sargi, one last question: What are your hopes for the future for your family and country?

What I wish with all my heart is that peace and security come back to my beloved country, that life go back to what it was before the war. I hope so much that my family can live in peace and that my children may build a good future. Therefore, I ask God every day [in prayer] to protect us from harm.

• syria
• interview
• riad
• sargi
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• family