Antioch, Nov. 6, 2007 (FIDES/CWNews.com) - With fears of war mounting in the Middle East, members of Turkey's Christian minority gathered to pray at Antioch, the Fides news service reports.
Conflict between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdish region would be a disaster for the peoples of the whole region of the Middle East, especially people in southern Turkey, Syria, and northern Iraq. With a growing threat of another conflict, Christian minority communities in Turkey and Syria are praying for peace.
Christians in Aleppo and Antioch came together to pray on the occasion of the anniversary of the death of St. John Chrysostom in 407. Some 330 Christians of different confessions, including 12 Catholic nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, traveled from Aleppo to Antioch for a special Marian prayer in the city's Orthodox church presided by the Greek Orthodox Metropolita Paul Yazici of Aleppo.
The celebration included a procession with a precious Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary and an icon of St. John Chrysostom. Six bishops were present at the liturgy, including four from Aleppo representing the Greek Orthodox Church and the Melkite, Maronite, and Armenian Catholic communities. Archbishop Luigi Padovese, the vicar apostolic for Turkey, took part in the ceremony.