The Primate of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church spoke about the threats to the Christian presence in Jerusalem and throughout the Holy Land, the website of the DECR ROC reports.

“Today we face a clear danger. Christians everywhere need to worry about their brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. The threat of our exile is real. Over the past decades, we have, unfortunately, become accustomed to Israeli extremist groups that seize the property of Christian families and church institutions in dishonorable ways. Now their offensive threatens to spread further.

If these radical groups seize strategic sites on the Christian pilgrimage route at the Jaffa Gate, then more Christians will leave Jerusalem, and millions of pilgrims from all over the world will not be able to go on a full spiritual journey. In addition, the loss of the Christian community, a community that provides education, health care, humanitarian support to people of all faiths in the region, will have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable part of the population. It will also tragically denigrate the reputation of Jerusalem as the religious capital of the world,” said the head of the Jerusalem Church.