“It is the goal of the jihadists to sow hatred between Christians and Muslims,” the Patriarch said in an interview with Aid to the Church in Need. He said that Syrian Church leaders are working with their moderate Muslim counterparts to maintain friendly ties despite the jihadists’ campaign. “We are in danger of losing this relationship, the longer this war continues,” he said.

Until the onset of civil war in 2011, Christians and Muslims lived together amicably in Syria, the Melkite leader said. But after several years of bloodshed the Christian presence is endangered. He reported that more than 100 Christian churches have been destroyed; hundreds of thousands of Christians have fled for safety.

“We Christians have a calling here,” the Patriarch said, lamenting the losses to the Christian community. “We are the moving force of pluralism in the Arab world.”

Patriarch Gregory insisted, however, that Western leaders are mistaken to think that they can help Christians by providing arms to Syrian factions. “It is very wrong to think that western Christians can help the Christians in the East by supplying them with weapons,” he said. “The only solution is peace.”

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