Three years after two Syrian archbishops were kidnapped near Aleppo, the World Council of Churches’ head has urged Christians around the world to “keep hope alive and pray for their safety and release”.
Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Boulos Yazigi, were kidnapped by gunmen on 22nd April, 2013 while returning from the Turkish border to Aleppo where they were based.
In a letter to Antiochian patriarchs sent from Geneva last week, Mor Ignatius Aphrem II and John X, Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, said the “ecumenical family” was saddened by the continued absence of the two archbishops and that, together with your churches and Christians in Syria and around the world, continued “to keep hope alive and pray for their safety and release”.
“In keeping our two brothers and beloved bishops in our hearts and prayers, we remember all the millions of innocent people in Syria who have lost their loved ones in this tragic and absurd war, all those who are tortured and unjustly imprisoned, and all those who have been forced to leave their homes and live in insecurity and vulnerability,” he wrote.
