Patriarch John X celebrated the Divine Liturgy at Our Lady of Balamand Monastery. He was assisted in the service by the following Metropolitans: Damaskinos (São Paulo and all Brazil), Silwan (Byblos, Batroun and dependencies), Ignatius (France, Western and Southern Europe), Ghattas (Baghdad, Kuwait and dependencies), Antonios (Zahle, Baalbek and dependencies), Nicholas (Hama and dependencies), Basil (Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines), Ignatius (Mexico, Venezuela, Central America and the Caribbean), Athanasius (Latakia and dependencies), Jacob (Buenos Aires and all Argentina), Ephrem (Aleppo, Alexandretta and dependencies), Gregory (Homs and dependencies), Antonios (Bosra, Hauran and Jabal al-Arab), the Patriarchal Vicar, Bishop Romanos al-Hannat, Bishop Moses al-Khasi, and a group of priests. In the presence of a large number of worshippers,
His Eminence the Metropolitan of Lattakia spoke, saying: “We come to the Holy Synod, gathered around His Beatitude, praying together before the Holy Bible open in the center of the hall, with a lit candle before it. We will speak not with the wisdom of words, but with the inspiration of the Gospel and the grace of the Holy Spirit. We gather to discuss our reality, carrying the concerns of our people from all the dioceses of our Antiochian See, and we will study them with specialists to arrive at possible solutions that will facilitate the lives of our people and all our brothers and sisters who live with us and share our citizenship. The message of the Antiochian Church is a message of truth that is greater than all our private personal interests. Therefore, we must rally around our Patriarch, around our bishops and pastors, around our Synod, and around our Church, to invest our talents and pool them in the face of the flood of this world. Then the Lord’s promise to us will surely be fulfilled: He will be with us, and the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church.”
After the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude met with the faithful in the monastery hall and spoke in particular with the parishioners of Arbin (Damascus) who were on a trip to Lebanon.