…and as the Christians in Syria are increasingly threatened by Islamic supremacists. “Christian archbishop flees Syria: report,” from Reuters, August 27 (thanks to David):
ROME (Reuters) – A Christian archbishop fled Syria after his offices were ransacked last week amid fighting between rebels and government forces in the country’s biggest city Aleppo, Catholic news agency Fides said on Monday.
The Melchite Greek Catholic archbishop of Aleppo, Jean-Clement Jeanbart, and a number of priests fled to Lebanon after the attack on Thursday, Fides said.
The Melchite Greek Catholic Church is a community of Middle Eastern Christians who are in full communion with Rome.
Fides said “unidentified groups who want to feed a religious war and drag the Syrian population into sectarian conflicts” attacked the Christian area in the old quarter of Aleppo.
A Byzantine Christian museum and an office of the Maronite Christian faith were also damaged, the report said.
There are several Christian groups in Syria, many of which have been in the region since pre-Islamic times….
But whether they will be able to survive this latest round of jihad remains to be seen.