Moscow, November 7, 2015
The press conference of Patriarch Mar Ignatius Aphrem II of Antioch and all the East was to take place on November 9 at 11.00 at the Danilovskaya Hotel in Moscow.
Primate of the Syriac (Monophysite) Church is visiting Russia for the first time after his enthronement. The previous such visit was in 1988, when Patriarch Mar Ignatius Zakka I Iwas took part in the celebrations dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of Baptism of Russia.
The Syro-Jacobite Church is one of the most ancient Christian denominations of the Middle East region. It belongs to the family of the Oriental Churches. The majority of the communities are concentrated on the territories of Syria and Iraq, where in recent years persecutions of Christians became particularly violent. Today Russia, responding to the tragedy of the Syrian people, is helping Syria against extremists who are terrorizing the civil population and have unleashed brutal religious persecutions.
That the fate of two Syrian hierarchs kidnapped in 2013 by the militants is still unknown. These hierarchs – Orthodox Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo and the Jacobite Syrian Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim — are among the best-known and most respected Church figures of today’s Syria.