His Eminence the Sheikh Akl of the Druze Unitarian Community the Sheikh Naim Hassan visited the Patriarchal siege in Balamand where he met his Beatitude the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East for the Greek Orthodox Youhanna X Yaziji, in presence of the President of the Druze Court of Appeal, the Judge Faysal Nasreddine as well as the members of the Confessional Council the Sirs Nizar El Baradihi, Farouk El Jurdi and Abbas Halabi. During the meeting, they discussed the general spiritual situation and the general affairs and they agreed by mutual consent upon the necessity of consolidating the Islamo-Christian union, getting all the confessions closer to each other and adopting the language of openness, solidarity and harmony in face of the calamities that are targeting our entire region.
His Eminence the Sheikh and the Patriarch Yaziji hoped that peace reigns in Syria and in all the regions of the Arab world that are going through unstable situations, and that the file of the two kidnapped archbishops in Syria immediately comes to a happy end with their safe return. They also hoped that the humans’ rights and freedoms as well as the diversity in the Arab region and in the world are well respected.
As for the Patriarch Yaziji, he emphasized the necessity that all the people in the East should be aware of the common roots of both the Islamic and Christian confessions, as well as the importance of building on this basis, underlining that the responsibility shall be equally held by the Christians and Muslims in order to prevent dissensions from happening in their region and consolidate their union to build their safe future together.
His Eminence the Sheikh Akl the Sheikh Naim Hassan emphasized the importance of continuous communication between the spiritual Islamic and Christian leaderships, mentioning the role of the Patriarch Yaziji and his serious work since his reach for the Patriarchal chair at the service of the fundamental issue for all the confessions, and which is the human. The Sheikh Hassan urged all to stick to national union and prioritize the country’s interest above all. He also called the political leaderships to rise up to the offending risk, since dialogue and agreement cannot be abandoned in any way.
Furthermore, his Eminence expressed his strong worry for the recent continuous delay in the constitution of a national united government destined to save Lebanon from the pond of the current paralyzation that has started hindering the public life in Lebanon and threatening the citizens’ bread of life.