This interview was conducted by Frédéric Pichon, associate researcher at the team "Arab Mediterranean World" of François Rabelais University (Tours). Author, among other publications, from Syria. Why the West is mistaken, Editions du Rocher, 2014.
His Beatitude Gregory III Laham is the patriarch of the Greek Catholic Church. The Greek Catholics (or Melkite) represent the second largest Catholic community in the East after the Maronites with about 700,000 faithful spread between Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan. The patriarchal headquarters in Damascus. Born Loufti Laham December 15, 1932 in Daraya, near the Syrian capital, the future Patriarch made his religious studies in Rome from 1956. In 1961, he received the title of Doctor of Oriental Ecclesiastical Sciences at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. In 1974, after the arrest by the Israeli authorities of the archbishop of Jerusalem Hilarion Capucci (accused of using his diplomatic status to transport weapons on behalf of the PLO), Patriarch Maximos V Hakim appointed him Patriarchal Administrator, then Patriarchal Vicar in Jerusalem. He spent nearly 26 years in the Holy City. Known for his outspokenness, his energy and his many spiritual and temporal initiatives, he was elected to the episcopal dignity as titular Archbishop of Tarsus and spent in Damascus November 27, 1981.
In November 2000, he became patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Alexandria and Jerusalem and took the name Gregorios III. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to remind Christians, whatever their allegiance, have their place in Arab society and strives to curb their emigration - a phenomenon clearly increasing since the destabilization of Iraq in 2003 and the beginning of the civil war in Syria in 2011.
This very dynamic spiritual leader despite its venerable age has worked hard to promote dialogue with Islam and ecumenism with other Christian denominations. When his fellow Jews were systematically targeted by the jihadists of the Islamic State of Front and al-Nosra - and often suspected of collusion with the regime in Damascus by opponents of Bashar Assad - it launches in this exceptional service held at the Patriarchate in Bab Sharqi, in a district of the old city of Damascus which preserves the remains of early Christianity, a clarion call for a negotiated solution to the terrible crisis that puts Syria with fire and blood.
FP
Frederic Pichon - Your Beatitude, you live today in a country at war and you have the difficult task of providing for the spiritual needs but also material of your faithful scattered throughout the region. For if there is indeed a specificity that must be remembered is that you, the Christians do not have reduced, of its own territory, and that you have not taken up arms ...
His Beatitude Gregory III Laham - Christians are a component of the tragedy of Syria. They were referred to Maaloula in Sadad, in Old Homs (1). They served as human shields and were accused of collaborating with the government. But we do not represent any danger to anyone. We have no militia, no weapons, and you said, no territory to defend. On the contrary, Muslims need us. We are people of trust. Everybody knows it ! Today, although the situation is difficult, Christians must not think of fear, but rather how they can serve the country ...
FP - Do you consider that the current crisis has religious motivations?
GL - Some argue that we are witnessing a war between Sunnis and Shiites, a war for the faith, or at least a community conflict. I do not think so. In Syria, contrary to what is believed, the Sunnis have much more influence than the Shiites. They form the majority of the population still living in areas controlled by the government. And the Syrian economy largely depends on them. These community divisions have no sense politically.
FP - In this case, how do you explain the conflict?
GL - I honestly do not see what are the reasons for the war that is tearing at Syria as we speak.
Is it a war for democracy? But what kind of democracy is it to set in place of the existing system? That of the Muslim Brotherhood or Qatar? Is it a war to establish a secular state? But Syria, should I just remembered, is a secular state ... It is even the most secular state in the region! Lebanon is not a secular state, not Israel, our other neighbors much more ...
Among the rebels, many are not Syrians, who do not have a Syrian vision of society; this is the real reason that held all the killings of persons on the basis of their religious affiliation. This is something profoundly alien to the Syrian tradition. Here in Syria, one never speaks of his confession the regime, for all its faults, managed to bring out a true national sentiment. That is the Syrian exception!
One may want to change things, I admit, but not war! Corruption, common reason to fight the regime? Lebanon and Egypt are worse than us. Syria did not deserve this war. She did not need this war. We must stop the war because there will be no winner. It was a so-called armed opposition "moderate", but moderation exists only on paper. What for? To kill people. The President will remain;us, we are dead!
FP - Sometimes you blame complacency towards the regime ...
GL - I tell you frankly: I am not beholden to President Assad. We Christians, this is not the Baath who created us. We have somehow created the Baath (2)! It is often said: "Christians defend the regime because it protects them. "We would be the henchmen of the regime.
Throughout this crisis, we maintained our freedom in our positions as in the assertion of our principles.No one, from the beginning of the conflict, has tried to force me to do this or that statement. Neither the President nor the army. Nobody blew me what I had to say. Do me any instructions given.Incidentally, in France the appointment of a bishop must be approved by the Ministry of Interior. Here in Syria, the State never has thought of wanting to control the appointment of bishops or priests!When accused of collusion with the regime, they make us a false trial.
A word, finally, on the regime itself: it is true that the regime is strong and it does not meet your Western standards; but you had to give it time! Reforms since 2000 are huge: in recent years, between 2005 and 2010, no fewer than five foreign universities that have settled in the country. This shows that the government was prepared to hear a different story. This opening was also reflected in economic matters: all banks in Lebanon had begun to open branches here.
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(1) In September 2013, the Al-Nusra Front invests Maaloula, killing several villagers and desecrating churches and monasteries. In November 2013, the jihadists are the Christian town of Sadad, 15,000 inhabitants: those who could not flee, mostly the elderly and children, were massacred. 1500 families are used as human shields to deter the loyalist army to retake the city. There will be 45 people. In Homs, the Christians of the old city found themselves in the crossfire.
(2) Michel Aflaq, a Christian Greek othodoxe, was the thinker and one of the founders of the Resurrection Party (Baath) Arabic founded in 1947 in Damascus. At first, the secular party attracted many Christians of the middle class.
(3) In February 2012, in civil war, the government had approved by referendum a new constitution that recognizes the multiparty system and abolished the monopoly of the Baath party.
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