Moscow, April 26, 2017
Photo: mospat.ru Residents of Mahardah, one of the biggest Christian cities in Syria, recently received a Paschal gift of humanitarian aid from Russia, reports Interfax-Religion. Mahardah is the native city of His Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch, the previous primate of the Antiochian Church, and 23,000 others who are predominantly Orthodox.
More than 3.5 tons of aid, including medicine, food, school kits, toys, and Pascha kulichi were delivered to Mahardah by representatives of the “Combat Brotherhood” all-Russian veterans organization, with the assistance of the Russian center for the reconciliation of warring parties, by request of the Russian Church.
The aid was distributed at the charity center of the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos to the needy, who are always grateful to receive help from their Orthodox brothers in Russia.
The city was recently besieged by militants, and fighting is currently underway in the surrounding areas. Mahardah is being protected by the local Christian militia. More than fifty missiles fell on the city on the day of the Bright Week delivery. Two churches had previously been destroyed.
