Message from the Custos of the Holy Land

Message from the Custos of the Holy  Land
December 18,  2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
the Lord give  you peace!

As we approach the Solemnity of Christmas,  together with the Prophet we
hear in these days of Advent and how the readings  of the Sunday “Gaudete”
reaffirm today, I would come to you with joyful  news.

Unfortunately and once again I have to bring  to your attention the
increasingly difficult situation of our last two Christian  villages in the Orontes
of Syria, of our parishioners and of our brethren who  assist them.

The northern Syria is now more and more firmly  in the hands of extremist
rebels, while the so-called “moderate” forces are  losing strength.  The
rebels who controlled “our” area, which until now  were considered tolerant,
have been replaced by extremist groups who do not like  the presence of
non-Muslims in their “emirate”.

The last orders received from our brothers,  Father Hanna and Father Dhiya,
are as follows:

 -  All the crosses must  disappear.
-  Is forbidden to ring the Church  bells.
-  Women should not get out of the house without covering  their face and
the hair...
-  All the statues must disappear  ...

In case of refusing to abide to these orders,  they will apply the Islamic
law.  In short:  who does not accept or  goes away or will be executed.
These orders apply to Knaye,  Yacoubieh and Jdeideh, which is currently served
by our brethren.  For  those who may not know the area, those villages are
exclusively Christian.   This is exactly what happened in Ghassanie last
June.

I invite everyone to pray for all the  communities of Syria, especially for
those who live under the control of these  extremists.

I ask all of our fraternity, each in the  manner they consider appropriate
to insert in the Christmas novena, which begins  tomorrow, December 16, a
special time of prayer for our brothers and for the  communities entrusted to
their care.

The word that we hear these days sounds  particularly provocative:  “The
blind receive their sight, and the lame  walk, the lepers are cleansed, and
the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up,  and the poor have good tidings
preached to them” (Mt 11: 5).  We pray that  the hears of these people will be
open to listening and especially that our  small flock of Syria continue to
put their trust in the Lord, without  fear.

Fraternally,

Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, O.F.M.
Custos  of the Holy Land