Your Holiness,
Allow me, once again, as an Arab Syrian Catholic priest, to address you with these words. This may be my final message to you, as someone like me, who is nearing the age of ninety-one, expects to « depart » at any moment.
Despite the circumstances, which are more than terrible, imposed on the remaining inhabitants of my country Syria, due to the infernal and absolute injustice of the war that has been waged on my homeland for over twelve years now, not a single moment has passed without urging me to write to you.
However, your immobility, which has become absolutely incomprehensible as you represent the earthly authority of Jesus Christ, especially after the earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey on the night of the 6 /2/2023, and also the silence of all Western churches, has firmly convinced me that there is no hope of liberating the church from the complete domination seemingly exercised by the forces of death, I mean the United states of America and carried out by numerous actors in Europe, the both of Arabic and Islamic worlds. and Israel!
Furthermore, the Lord Jesus had said, two thousand years ago :
• « My kingdom is not of this world » (John 18:36).
• « Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things belong to God » (Luke 20:25).
• « For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels » (Mark 8:38).
• « No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon » (Matthew 6:24).
• « But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, ‘You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great high officials exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many' » (Mark 10:42-45).
• « Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God » (Matthew 5:9).
• « The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly » (John 10:10).
Fr Elias Zahlaoui
Your Holiness,
Why do these words, so simple and decisive, seem to leave you unable to repeat them loudly and repeatedly, at all times, in a world that is completely lost, even though it was bought at a high price, the blood of the one you are supposed to be the true representative of on earth, Jesus Christ?
What a miserable end Christianity has reached in these catastrophic and crucial times!
In conclusion, let me confide in you, always as a Catholic priest, what compelled me to write to you today, without justifying myself with any hope !
On the evening of May 5, 2023, I was able to follow an astonishing program on the Lebanese ‘Al mayadeen Channel’ titled « One Man Against Empire! »
The episode revolved around the struggle that an individual has been waging for many years, at an exorbitant price, by the Australian journalist Julien Assange against the united states of Am erica ,that has become a hellish machine in the manufacture of lies and death worldwide!
A solitary man facing hell on earth…
While the Catholic Church appears silent and immobile, does it resemble a partner? Would it surprise you if I admitted that?
Do you see me surprising you if I tell you that in the face of Julian’s loyalty, bravery, determination, purity, and integrity, I felt extremely proud of my humanity and very saddened by the decline of my church!
your Holiness, Finally, let me ask you, and ask every official in the church, whoever they may be and however they may be, sincerely and humbly:
Doesn’t the Lord Jesus, who chose to redeem the whole world with His precious blood, deserve a noble stance that is somewhat commensurate with His sacrifice?
Accept my love.
Fr Elias Zahlaoui Damascus,
6/29/2023 Feast of Saints Apostles Peter and Paul