Lebanese exodus looms as patriarchs fear widening crisis

Over a third of Lebanese people are seeking visas to leave their country, according to the Greek-Melkite Patriarch of Antioch.

Speaking at the annual assembly of the Greek-Melkite Synod, held at the patriarchal summer residence in Ain Trez, Lebanon, Patriarch Grégoire III said that “according to a recent survey, 60% of the Lebanese are considering the idea of emigrating, and 35% of them are actually waiting for a visa”.

The meeting has considered discussions about the family and the crisis in the Middle East, with the Patriarch commenting on how the violence and chaos in the Middle East is driving populations to flee to other areas of the world.

Lebanese people seeking to emigrate, the majority of whom are Christian, fear that Syria’s war will overflow into their country and so are seeking to leave the region entirely. 

“If this is the case for Lebanon, what will happen in countries with less stability?” the Patriarch asked, asserting that “it is necessary to operate in every way possible to try to stop this bleeding”.

Assembly

The annual assembly of another Eastern Catholic Church has also addressed the crisis in the Middle East. 

The Synod of the Maronite Church, presided over by Boutros Bechara Rai, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, has been meeting at the Patriarchal See of Bkerke in Lebanon, and has prayed for peace in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East.

In Rome, meanwhile, Pope Francis has spoken with the Syrian Orthodox Church’s Patriarch of Antioch, Mor Ignatius Aphram II, describing the Syrian Orthodox Church as “ a Church of martyrs from the beginning”.

Calling for prayer for the victims of the crisis in the Middle East and violence elsewhere in the world, he prayed “for the grace of always being ready to forgive and of being workers of reconciliation and peace”.

“This is what animates the witness of the martyrs. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of unity in the Church and the instrument of the building up of the kingdom of God, which is a kingdom of peace and of justice,”  he said.