(Damascus) Last week was the parish of the Holy Trinity in Aleppo was the target of a brutal attack by Syrian rebels. The parish church was attacked with a rocket that struck just in front of the church. Three Christians were killed, including two nuns. Now the priests and faithful have planted an olive tree in response at the point of impact, as a sign of peace and for the future.
"We had just celebrated the Holy Mass. Had the rocket hit the stairs to the church, the number of victims would have been much greater," said Father Joseph Bazouzou to the news agency Fides. Last Sunday, the priests and faithful of the parish gathered after the Sunday Mass, "to give the only answer to the bombs and the violence that for years always claims new lives," said the priest. As a symbol against violence and for the hope in Christ, they planted an olive tree at the point at which the Islamist rocket struck and took three dead. They wrote in Arabic on the pot: "Peace" and "God is love".
Since the outbreak of the civil war, Christians have been the target of Islamist rebels. Christians are murdered, expelled, or forcibly converted subject to the Islamic dhimmi system.
While the West is silent or finances the Islamists and equips them with weapons, church organizations engage in concrete help. Regarding the Prayer of the Fraternity of St. Peter for the persecuted Christians and the fasting and prayer of Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna has already been reported. Help for needy Christians, who made up 15 percent of the population, according to the Church historian Rudolf Grulich, until the outbreak of the civil war in 2012, comes from the Relief Organization, Church in Need .
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Infovaticana
image: Infovaticana
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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