Assad Revealed Attempts To Divide Antioch Church In Syria, Lebanon - Russian Lawmaker

Syrian President Bashar Assad spoke about attempts to divide the Church of Antioch in Syria and Lebanon in a manner similar to what happened in Ukraine at a meeting with a Russian delegation in Damascus, the head of the Russian State Duma's group on relations with the Syrian parliament, Dmitry Sablin, said on Thursday following the meeting

DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2019) Syrian President Bashar Assad spoke about attempts to divide the Church of Antioch in Syria and Lebanon in a manner similar to what happened in Ukraine at a meeting with a Russian delegation in Damascus, the head of the Russian State Duma's group on relations with the Syrian parliament, Dmitry Sablin, said on Thursday following the meeting.

The Church of Antioch, which originated from Christianity, is currently represented by five churches: the Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church, Maronite Church, Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and Melkite Greek Catholic Church. The majority of the Church's members are Greek or inhabitants of the historical region of Levant.

"We started our discussion with the issue of religion. Attempts to divide believers is one of the most serious problems not only for you [with regard to Ukraine's split from the Russian Orthodox Church], but also for our country [Syria]. At the moment we see attempts to divide the church on our soil. There is an attempt to divide the Church of Antioch in Syria and Lebanon," Assad said, as quoted by Sablin.

According to Sablin, the Syrian president said that the attempts to divide church in Syria resembled the religious conflict in Ukraine, where authorities decided to form a new autocephalous church of non-canonical structures.

Assad also underlined that it was important to prevent the division of Orthodox churches by means of cooperation at all relevant international forums.

"We have to oppose such a division within the framework of all international organizations. Otherwise we will have hundreds of Orthodox churches, and only one Vatican," Assad said as quoted by Sablin.

This issue was brought into spotlight by Ukraine's decision to form a church that was independent from the Russian Orthodox Church. In mid-December 2018, the so-called unification council was held in Kiev at Ukrainian President Poroshenko's initiative, during which the head of the new church, uniting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, two previously non-canonical structures, was elected. On January 6, Constantinople Patriarch Bartholomew handed over the tomos of autocephaly to the head of the new church.

The Russian Orthodox Church has refused to recognize the results of the council and Constantinople's decision to grant autocephaly to Ukraine's new institution.