<\/a> – Source: Assembly of Bishops<\/a><\/p>\n

The Honorable John Kerry
United States Secretary of State<\/p>\n

Dear Secretary Kerry,<\/p>\n

We, the Members of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, kindly bring to your attention the urgent and very serious plight of the Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo, Paul Yazigi and Yohanna Ibrahim, who were abducted this past week by “a terrorist group” in the village of Kfar Dael as they were carrying out humanitarian work.<\/p>\n

Since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, religious minorities have not only come under increasing attacks by Islamic fundamentalist rebels, but also have been caught in the crossfire of the opposing factions. As you well know, on April 22, 2013, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released a report entitled Protecting and Promoting Religious Freedom in Syria. Religious minorities, including the Christian population, have been targeted for extinction in an attempt to create an Islamic State in Syria and to impose Sharia Law as the law of the land. To that end, Christian clerics have been kidnapped and murdered, even as they tried to bring aid and comfort to their people in this war torn country, while others are still missing, taken captive by rebel forces.<\/p>\n

We fervently beseech you to immediately call for and actively work towards the immediate release of Archbishops Paul Yazigi and Yohanna Ibrahim, especially as Orthodox Christians around the globe are preparing to celebrate the Resurrection of OurLord and Savior Jesus Christ on May 5th. We would further hope that the United States government, which has always been a champion of civil rights and religious freedom and defends the dignity and safety of every individual, would exert pressure on all parties in Syria to stop the killing of innocent people and restore freedom of religion and respect for all religious minorities.<\/p>\n

We are indebted to you and others within the administration for your tireless efforts. As Orthodox Christians, the most appropriate way to express this appreciation is to continue to pray for all our civil authorities. May the Lord bless and keep you: The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. (OT Book of Numbers 6:24-26).<\/p>\n

Archbishop Demetrios, Chairman of the Assembly of Bishops
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Philip, 1st Vice Chairman of the Assembly of Bishops
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of New York and all North America<\/p>\n

Archbishop Justinian, 2nd Vice Chairman of the Assembly of Bishops
Russian Orthodox Church in the USA<\/p>\n

Bishop Basil, Secretary of the Assembly of Bishops
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Antony, Treasurer of the Assembly of Bishops
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA Eastern Eparchy<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Iakovos
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Methodios
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Isaiah
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Denver<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Alexios
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Nicholas
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Detroit<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Savas
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Gerasimos
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Evangelos
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey<\/p>\n

Bishop Andonios
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America<\/p>\n

Bishop Demetrios
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago<\/p>\n

Bishop Sevastianos
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Athenagoras
Holy Metropolis of Mexico<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Nikitas
Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkley, CA<\/p>\n

Bishop Gregory
American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of the USA<\/p>\n

Bishop Daniel
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA Western Eparchy<\/p>\n

Bishop Ilia
Albanian Orthodox Diocese<\/p>\n

Archbishop Joseph
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Diocese of Los Angeles and the West<\/p>\n

Bishop Antoun
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Diocese of Miami and the Southeast<\/p>\n

Bishop Thomas
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Diocese of Charleston, Oakland and the Mid-Atlantic<\/p>\n

Bishop Alexander
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Diocese of Ottawa, Eastern Canada & Upstate New York<\/p>\n

Bishop John
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Diocese of Worcester and New England<\/p>\n

Bishop Anthony
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest<\/p>\n

Bishop Nicholas
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, Bishop of Brooklyn and Assistant to the Metropolitan<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Hilarion
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Eastern America and New York Diocese<\/p>\n

Archbishop Alypy
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Chicago and Mid-America Diocese<\/p>\n

Archbishop Kyrill
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, San Francisco and Western America Diocese<\/p>\n

Bishop Peter
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Administrator of Chicago and Mid-America
Diocese<\/p>\n

Bishop Theodosy
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Vicar – San Francisco and Western America Diocese<\/p>\n

Bishop George
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Vicar – Eastern America Diocese<\/p>\n

Bishop Jerome
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia<\/p>\n

Bishop John
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Bishop-in-Charge of Old Ritualist Parishes<\/p>\n

Bishop Longin
Serbian Orthodox Church, Chicago and Mid-America Diocese<\/p>\n

Bishop Mitrophan
Serbian Orthodox Church, Eastern American Diocese<\/p>\n

Bishop Maxim
Serbian Orthodox Church, Western American Diocese<\/p>\n

Archbishop Nicolae
Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas<\/p>\n

Bishop Ioan Casian
Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Joseph
Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church of the USA, Canada, and Australia<\/p>\n

Bishop Daniil
Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church of the USA, Canada, and Australia<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Dimitri
Georgian Orthodox Church, Dioceses of Batumi & Lazeti and America<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Tikhon
Orthodox Church in America, Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Nathaniel
Orthodox Church in America, Romanian Orthodox Episcopate<\/p>\n

Archbishop Nikon
Orthodox Church in America, Diocese of New England and Albanian Archdiocese<\/p>\n

Archbishop Benjamin
Orthodox Church in America, Diocese of San Francisco and the West<\/p>\n

Bishop Melchisedek
Orthodox Church in America, Diocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Bishop Michael
Orthodox Church in America, Diocese of New York and New Jersey<\/p>\n

Bishop Alexander
Orthodox Church in America, Bulgarian Diocese<\/p>\n

Bishop Irineu
Orthodox Church in America, Romanian Orthodox Episcopate<\/p>\n

Bishop Mark
Orthodox Church in America<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Sotirios
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto<\/p>\n

Bishop Christoforos
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Yurij
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada<\/p>\n

Bishop Ilarion
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada<\/p>\n

Bishop Andriy
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Canada<\/p>\n

Archbishop Gabriel
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia<\/p>\n

Bishop Iov
Russian Orthodox Church<\/p>\n

Bishop Georgije
Serbian Orthodox Church<\/p>\n

Bishop Ir\u00e9n\u00e9e
Orthodox Church in America, Archdiocese of Ottawa and Canada<\/p>\n

Bishop Pankratij
Holy Metropolis of Mexico<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Antonio
Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Mexico, Venezuela, Central America & the Caribbean<\/p>\n

Bishop Ignatius
Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Mexico, Venezuela, Central America & the Caribbean<\/p>\n

Archbishop Alejo
Exarchate of Mexico Orthodox Church in America<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– Source: Assembly of Bishops The Honorable John KerryUnited States Secretary of State Dear Secretary Kerry, We, the Members of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, kindly bring to your attention the urgent and very serious plight of the Greek Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo, Paul Yazigi and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1784],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12679"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12679"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12681,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12679\/revisions\/12681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aoiusa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}