Page 55 - AlNashra Year 2024 Issue 05

Together, we are the bearers of a shared
history with all its ups and downs, and
our destiny is one.
In Syria, we are in a homeland of
national partnership, a partnership that
has always been, and will remain, with
God’s will, unified—unified by its soil
and, above all, by the unity of the hearts
of its people, from all spectrums. As
Christians, we have extended our hand
since the very beginning, and today,
we extend it to all components of this
nation. We are the sons of Syria—the
dream every Syrian aspires to. And the
Syria we envision is:
• Syria: A Civil State: A state
where all are equal in rights and duties,
including the preservation of personal
status laws for each of its components.
• Syria: A State of Citizenship:
We do not seek our citizenship as a
favor from anyone. We are an integral
part of this national fabric, a fabric that otherwise when all its components are
transcends the logic of majority and
minority, adopting instead the logic of
role and mission. Just meters away from
us stands a church or the home of John
of Damascus, who once served at the
Umayyad Court. We come from the
Church of the Patriarch of Mercy, Gregory
Haddad, whose funeral procession was
attended by all of Damascus—Muslims
and Christians alike.
• Syria: A State of Coexistence
and Civil Peace: We extend our hand
to everyone, as we have always done,
and we call on both the near and the
far to safeguard civil peace and national
partnership. We urge everyone to look
towards a bright future, one that we build
together with aspiration, consideration,
and hope. We say this not to commend
the past but to hope for a promising
future. We say this as we embrace the
freedom from hearing our church bells,
which have always, and will always,
resonate alongside the minarets, calling
together upon the Most High, seeking
and striving to be one heart.
• Syria: A State of Law and
Respect for Religions: For how can it be
on the same boat, a boat that rejects the
logic of protectionism and subjugation.
We say this with our eyes fixed on a
homeland that enshrines the rule of law,
respects religions, and upholds human
dignity—the foundation upon which its
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