“Our mission in the Middle East is to be servants and not masters. Christians and Muslims in the region must work for peace “, was the focus of the message that Ignatius Ephrem II, new Syrian Orthodox patriarch, launched on his first official visit to Lebanon,  reports.

He concluded his visit with a solemn Mass in the Church of St. Ephrem in Beirut in the presence of Lebanese authorities and figures.

“The region of the Middle East – he said – is dear to our hearts. Here is where we have taken root and where we grew, and we will stay until the end of time. ”

Praying that ” human rights and dignity are respected”, he added. “How can we live without seeing the presence of God in every human face? Why are we working to eliminate each other, instead of educating and helping each other to grow to maturity? “.

The patriarch celebrated Mass in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Pauland and blessed one of the two stelae erected to commemorate the genocide of 1915, whose victims are Armenians, but also Syrians, Chaldeans and Assyrians. The other pillar was erected in the church of St. Ephrem.