Statement by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russiaand the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on the situation in the Middle East. 5th April 2002
12.04.2002 · English, Архив 2002, Определения Священного Синода
STATEMENT BY PATRIARCH ALEXY II OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA AND THE HOLY SYNOD OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ON THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
A new bloodshed in the Middle East arouses a special anxiety in the Russian Orthodox Church. The faithful of the Moscow Patriarchate are concerned for the safety of the peaceful citizens of various nationalities and faiths living in the Holy Land. At the same time, we are concerned for the fate of the great biblical shrines located in that region.
By virtue of its history and geographical location the Holy Land is a place where people of various ethnic backgrounds and followers of the three religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam have co-existed. Consequently, only one national or religious group cannot prevail in this sacred land. The Holy Land must become a hospitable home for everybody, not only the Israeli and the Palestinians, but any person. Christian, Muslim and Judaic shrines should be preserved there with respect for the legitimate rights of every inhabitant of that land and every pilgrim who wishes to visit freely the places of worship.
Today the Holy Land has been blasphemously defiled with enmity and stained with blood. We mourn every victim, condemning violence against civilians. We, who have survived many wars and terrorist actions, are horrified by the killing of innocent people in Jewish cities and districts. We are especially saddened by the fact that terrorist suicides have been used to kill, which contradicts the teaching of every religion. We also mourn and protest seeing the life and freedoms of peaceful Palestinians trampled upon and their houses and property destroyed.
We are shocked by the abuse of shrines, the use of buildings and territories which belong to religious organizations for violent struggle. There is an extremely acute confrontation developed around the great shrine – the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem. Our Church urges that that any violent action in the place of the Nativity of Christ be abandoned and armed people be withdrawn from it.
It causes alarm to see the Arab civil self-organizations structures slackened forcibly and attempts made to deligitimatize the Palestinian National Administration. These actions can lead to a complete breakdown in the negotiation process and to the deprivation of the Palestinian people of their internationally recognized right to create a state of their own. We remind all that the heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem in their joint statement made on March 9 reiterated that it is important that “the Palestinians may enjoy their rights as represented in the International Legitimacy”.
Peace must return to the Holy Land. It is our profound conviction that to this end it is necessary first of all to stop all the hostilities and to return to responsible dialogue. The Palestinian side should unconditionally stop terrorist actions against civilians, while Israel should withdraw its troops from Arab cities and return to the Palestinian leader the freedom to communicate with the world and his compatriots.
We ask the leadership of the Russian Federation, the United States of America, the United Nations and the European Union to exert every effort to establish peace in the conflict region and to ensure there the implementation of the decisions made by the world community.
Any further escalation of the bloodshed will not only involve destabilization of the situation throughout the Middle East, but also create a real threat of a clash between civilizations in other regions. If the conflicting sides do not show the will for peace or prove unable to cope with the situation, the world community can and must increase the degree of its involvement in the peace process in the Middle East so that the suffering of civilians may end and international stability may be protected, as was the case in many other recent conflicts. It should be borne in mind that the Holy Land is a property of all humanity and we must together share responsibility for its fate and the fate of its inhabitants.
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