SYRIA: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visits monastry to mark Christmas with members of Syria's Christian community

Record ID: 278992

  • Title: SYRIA: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visits monastry to mark Christmas with members of Syria's Christian community
  • Date: 25th December 2007
  • Summary: ASSAD SITTING WITH HASSOUN AND IWAS CLOSE OF ASSAD AND IWAS TALKING MORE OF MEETING BETWEEN ASSAD, HASSOUN AND IWAS CLOSE OF ASSAD LISTENING TO SPEECH BY HASSOUN MEN LISTENING AS HASSOUN MAKES SPEECH
  • Embargoed: 9th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAA3H6PAX1RJ0SL8K2WYCZVZUZB
  • Story Text: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visits the Assyrian St. Aphrem's Patriarchal Halls monastery in the village of Seidnaya to mark Christmas with members of Syria's Christian community.
    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad embarked on an inter-faith visit to the Assyrian St. Aphrem's Patriarchal Halls monastery in the village of Seidnaya on Tuesday (December 25) to mark Christmas with members of Syria's Christian community.
    Assad was accompanied on the visit by Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church Ignatius Zakka Iwas and the Syrian Grand Mufti, Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun.
    Assad toured the monastery with Hassoun and Iwas and later held talks with the two religious leaders.
    After the talks, Hassoun praised inter-faith relations in Syria and said they be used as a model for the rest of the world.

    "This is Syria which received messages from the heavens and in which lived the prophets so today we find that the united family in Syria is a model for the world as there is no clash of civilisations, of sects, of beliefs, or of religions," Hassoun told Reuters.
    The monastery of St. Aphrem's Patriarchal Halls is an international centre for Syriac studies and was opened in 1996 by Patriarch Zakka Iwas.
    The village of Seidnaya, which lies 20 miles north of Damascus, is also a major pilgrimage destination as it is home to the historical convent of Our Lady of Seidnaya which was founded in the 6th century A.D. and is famed for its icon of the Virgin Mary.
    Christians in Syria make up around 10 percent of the country's total population, with the majority belonging to the Greek Orthodox church.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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