2 bishops from an obscure church, are kidnapped far away, abroad.
What does it have to do with us, here in the UK?
Actually, quite a lot!
There are people in Cambridgeshire, South
Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, as well as elsewhere in Britain, who personally know one of these two men.
The congregation of the Orthodox
Christian Parish of St Aethelheard, Louth, Lincolnshire have received this
upsetting email from local priest, Father Michael
Harry.
“Syrian Kidnap
to you and 42 others
Brothers and
Sisters,
Your prayers please. One of the bishops kidnapped in Syria is
Metropolitan Paul Yazigi, the Patriarch's brother. Many of us know him from when he consecrated
our church in Doncaster. When I served
with him as a deacon at Cambridge, I remember him as very helpful to us
beginners.
In Christ,
Father Michael.”
The
Orthodox Church in Britain is attended mainly by converts from other churches
and immigrants from the EU, other Eastern European countries and Russia.
Muslim terrorists have an appalling history,
recent history too, of horrifyingly cruel ill-treatment of victims whether Christian, or from other minorities. What will happen to
these 2 bishops? They could die? Horribly! How long might they be held?
Do you remember John McCarthy, Brian Keenan, Terry A. Anderson and Anglican
Terry Waite, and the many others who have suffered appallingly at these brutal monsters’
hands?