CATHOLICOSATE JOINS INTERRELIGIOUS CALL FOR NATIONAL UNITY IN LEBANON

With the blessing of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia is represented on an interreligious committee in Lebanon that has presented concerns and recommendations to the country’s government, following a call for national unity and solidarity by the heads of the country’s religious communities. 

In separate meetings with Lebanon’s President, General Joseph Aoun; Prime Minister Nawaf Salam; and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, the committee—in which Very Rev. Fr. Sarkis Abrahamian represents the Catholicosate—presented the main points, concerns, and recommendations contained in the joint declaration issued by Lebanon’s religious leaders following a recent meeting at the Druze community headquarters in Beirut. 

President Aoun, Prime Minister Salam, and Speaker Berri expressed their full support for the joint declaration of the religious leaders, emphasizing that it embodies the spirit of Lebanon’s national unity and reaffirms the imperative of safeguarding the country’s internal peace and territorial integrity in the face of current challenges. 

His Holiness Catholicos Aram I; His Beatitude Patriarch Raphael Bedros XXI of the Armenian Catholic Church; and Archbishop Shahe, Prelate of the Armenian Prelacy of Lebanon, participated in the interreligious meeting that issued the declaration on June 2. 

The representatives of all confessions condemned Israel’s attacks, expressed solidarity with displaced persons, and affirmed support for the Lebanese government. The statement, which was unanimously adopted, was prepared by the Christian-Muslim Dialogue Committee, on which Dr. Jean Salmanian represents the Armenian community.