Damascus, February 1, 2012
On January 29, 2012, following the murder of priest of the Antiochian Orthodox Church Hieromonk Bassileus (Nasser), another act of aggression against a holy site of the Antiochian Patriarchate was perpetrated. The monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God in the town of Sadnaya, where a miracle-working icon of the Mother of God has been kept for many centuries, was fired upon. According to tradition, the miraculous Sadnaya Mother of God icon was painted by Apostle Luke.
On Sunday, while many pilgrims and worshippers were present in the monastery, a shell was fired at its walls. By God’s Providence the shell did not explode when it hit the wall, Patriarchia.ru reports, citing the website of the representation of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia at the Antichochian Patriarchate.
The representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and Russia Archimandrite Alexander (Elisov) spoke by telephone about the incident with the Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Patriarch of Antioch and the East, Ignatius IV, who is currently in Lebanon. Fr. Alexander expressed his deep concern over these events and assured the Patriarch that the Russian Orthodox Church would continue to pray for the Syrian Christians in this time of serious trial.