Faithful made the journey to the Syrian cathedral dedicated to the Holy Spirit from countries such as Lebanon, Iraq, France, Germany, and Italy, as well as all the regions of Syria.
Al-Kabalan also noted at the Mass that the wounds of the civil war have been aggravated by the recent earthquake that struck southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria and that seriously affected Aleppo, Mourad’s hometown.
“In these trials, the baptized are led to recognize that they are in exile, because our homeland is heaven,” Al-Kabalan said, adding that God is always with his children.
The attending hierarchy also highlighted the “special humility and generosity” of the new archbishop of Homs, the spiritual son of the Italian Jesuit priest Paolo Dall’Oglio, founder of the Deir Mar Musa monastic community. Dall’Oglio disappeared in late July 2013 when he was in Raqqa, the stronghold of the Islamic State in Syria at the time, seeking the release of two Orthodox bishops.
Kidnapped by the Islamic State
In May 2015, masked Islamic State militants broke into the Mar Elian Monastery in Syria and kidnapped Mourad.
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