Original letter (PDF, 2 pages, 76K) [Please click Donate above to use a credit card.]
Rabweh, August 10, 2020
To the faithful and friends of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Greetings in our Lord Jesus Christ!
Dear all,
The fourth of August 2020 was a catastrophic day in Lebanon due to the criminal explosion that occurred in the port of Beirut, impacting and shocking the capital and the entire country, which we are all still trying to wake up from. The explosion left behind, as the whole world has witnessed, hundreds of victims and more than five thousand wounded, many of whom are in critical condition. The deadly blast destroyed a large number of buildings (70,000 homes estimated so far), leaving thousands of people in the city with a shattered house or no house at all. All of this came amidst an unprecedented and extreme political, economic and health crisis. On Saturday, the eighth of August, we visited our brother, Metropolitan George Baconi, and we inspected together the damage that affected our children and their properties, as well as the damage to the churches and institutions. We saw with our own eyes the horror of the disaster and heard with our own ears people's screams of pain.
Thanks to God Almighty, many individuals and institutions took the initiate to contact the Patriarchate or the Archdiocese of Beirut to express their solidarity and desire to provide moral and material support. From the first day, the Patriarchate, eparchies, and monastic orders placed all their institutions and monasteries at the service of those affected. But this is not enough. The people of Beirut are going through an extremely difficult period psychologically, physically an financially, and this requires us to offer them everything within our power. Thus, we appeal to all of you to take the initiative of extending helping hand in order to show, during these difficulty times, the unity and strength of our Church in the face of this calamity and to stand with the weak who were victims of the tragic explosion.
We ask that everyone who would like to contribute to contact the Chancellery of our Patriarch in Rabweh at this email Patriarcat@melkitepat.org or to call the following numbers: +96176658803; +96179194306.
We pray to the Lord Jesus that the victims may rest in His peace, and be welcomed into His kingdom. We ask that, by His mercy, He heals the wounded, calms hearts. and comforts all those who are sad with His everlasting joy. We also ask Him to reward everyone who gives of their time or their money a hundredfold in return.
With our prayers and love!
Melkite Greek catholic Patriarch
Of Antioch and All the East