Source: Interfax-Religion
April 12, 2016
Metropolitan Luke of the Antiochian Orthodox Church has asked for assistance in the search for information about the fate of Orthodox Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo and Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan Gregorios Yohanna of Aleppo who were abducted in Syria three years ago.
"Regrettably, we know absolutely nothing about their fate. We do not know where they are, what they [militants] have done to them, whether they are alive or have been killed. We have absolutely no idea about their whereabouts," Metropolitan Luke said at a meeting with a Russian parliamentary delegation.
"If you can find out anything about it, please tell us. We would be very grateful," he told them.
Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo, the brother of Patriarch John X of Antioch, was kidnapped by militants near the border with Turkey on April 22, 2013.
Aleppo's Jacobite Syriac Archbishop Gregorios Yohanna was abducted together with Metropolitan Paul. Both bishops were monitoring the distribution of humanitarian aid on the outskirts of Aleppo.
During the attack terrorists killed a deacon who was driving the bishops' car and abducted the clergymen themselves. The militants took them in an unknown direction. Presently, there is no reliable information about them. Reports claiming either the priests' release or their death have appeared in the media from time to time.
