Divine Liturgy at the Monastery Our Lady of…

His Beatitude Patriarch John X celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Monastery Our Lady of Balamand, assisted by the following hierarchs:

Damaskinos (São Paulo and all Brazil),

Silouan (Jbeil, Batroun and dependencies),

Ignatius (France, Western and Southern Europe),

Ghattas (Baghdad, Kuwait and dependencies),

Antonios (Zahle, Baalbek and dependencies),

Nicholas (Hama and dependencies),

Basilios (Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines),

Ignatius (Mexico, Venezuela, Central America and the Caribbean),

Athanasios (Latakia and dependencies),

Yacoub (Buenos Aires and all Argentina),

Ephrem (Aleppo, Alexandretta and dependencies),

Gregorios (Homs and dependencies),

Antonios (Bosra, Hauran and Jabal al-Arab),

Patriarchal Vicar Bishop Romanos Hannat,

Bishop Mousa al-Khassi,

and a host of priests, in the presence of a large congregation.

His Eminence Athanasios, Metropolitan of Latakia gave the following homily:

“We come to the Holy Synod gathered around His Beatitude, all praying before the Holy Gospel opened in the center of the hall, with a lit candle before it. We speak not with eloquence of words, but with the inspiration of the Gospel and the grace of the Holy Spirit. We gather to speak of our reality, carrying the concerns of our people from all dioceses of our Antiochian See, and we study them with specialists to arrive at possible solutions that may ease the lives of our people and all those who live among us and share our citizenship.

The mission of the Antiochian Church is a mission of truth, broader than all our personal interests. Therefore, we must rally around our Patriarch, our bishops and shepherds, our Synod, our Church, to invest our talents and unite them against the flood of this world. Then, the Lord’s promise to us will surely be fulfilled—that He will be with us, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church.”

After the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude met with the faithful in the monastery’s hall and spoke with his former parishioners members of the Arbin (Damascus) parish who had come on a pilgrimage to Lebanon.