Tripoli, June 2, 2015
On May 29, 2015, His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East at his residence in Balamand Monastery received a delegation of Russian parliamentarians and public figures arriving in Lebanon after their visit to Syria, where they had delivered humanitarian aid – foodstuffs and medicaments, reports the External Church Relations Department’s press service.
The delegation headed by Dmitry Sablin, member of the Federation Council of Russia, was accompanied by representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia at the Patriarch of Antioch Igumen Arseny (Sokolov) and Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin.
During his conversation with the Russian guests His Beatitude Patriarch John informed them about the tragic situation with Syrian and Iraqi Christians living on the territories occupied by “the Islamic State” terrorist group and shared his thoughts concerning the current difficult domestic political climate in Lebanon – a country which has been without a president for more than a year. According to the Lebanese Constitution, only a Christian man can become the country’s president, elected by the Parliament. Lebanon is the only state in the Arab world and the Middle East where Christians have a right to hold high-ranking positions.
D. Sablin talked about the stay in Syria, the meetings with the top leaders of this country, the visits to the hospital and orphanages, the humanitarian aid that the delegation had brought to the population of Damascus and Homs, which is suffering from war.
Igumen Arseny (Sokolov) gave the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Antioch an account of the service celebrated on May 28 at the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in Damascus. The delegation members prayed at the Liturgy together with workers of the Russian Embassy in Syria.
At the end of the meeting, Archimandrite Iakovos (Khalil), Abbot of Balamand Monastery, organized a tour round the ancient monastery for the Russian delegation.
On May 30 the delegation left for Russia.
