Despite all-night searches, the two archbishops Greek Orthodox Paul Yazigi and Syrian Jacobite Yohanna Ibrahim abducted in Syria have not yet been located.
The two bishops were abducted late on Monday near the Syrian-Turkish border, according to a dramatic text message sent from the phone of Archbishop Paul. According to Yohanna Ibrahim’s Diocese, Archbishop Ibrahim was accompanying Archbishop Paul back to Aleppo, when they were stopped outside the village of Kafar Dael.
The Christian group L’Oeuvre d’ Orient reported that the two men were released on Tuesday, however no contact has confirmed the news. The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Patriarchate of Antioch refuted the news of their release.
The Patriarch of Moscow Cyril has sent letters to US President Barrack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Secretary General of UN Ban Ki-moon, requesting that initiatives be taken for the safe release of the two archbishops.
Turkey is also assisting in the search, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Davutoglu assuring Syrian Orthodox Christians in Turkey that they “are closely monitoring the issue”.
According to members of the Patriarchate of Antioch, the abductors are unrelated to Syria, where Christians and Muslims have cohabitated peacefully for centuries. The Syrian Jacobites claim the abductors are Chechens who have been operating unopposed in the area for months.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, five clerics have been abducted, three of whom have been killed, while the other two were to be picked up by the two missing Archbishops Paul and Ibrahim.
