Announcement on the killings in El Paso and Dayton, USA : Ecumenical Patriarch: Show spiritual resistance to violence and hatred
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew expresses his disgust and outrage at the murderous attack in El Paso, Texas, USA, in which twenty of our fellow citizens were killed and twenty-six others were injured, as well as the bloodshed in Dayton, Ohio, in which several of our fellow citizens were reportedly killed and injured.
His All-Holiness strongly condemns every act of hatred – racial, religious or social, and also any form of violence and fundamentalism, wherever they come from. Hate and violence, he points out, cause a great deal of pain and fear, and are sometimes the cause of further acts of violence in the form of revenge. In the face of this soaring, dangerous and bloody phenomenon, he notes, every good-natured person must display strong spiritual resistance. He calls on everyone to work, through dialogue and in a spirit of mutual respect, to preserve the good of peaceful coexistence and cooperation, against practices that reinforce fear and the division of society. The Holy Great Church of Christ, in fidelity to the teaching of our Lord, is making tireless efforts in this direction. She prays for the repose of the souls of the victims, expressing her heartfelt condolences to their families, and prays for courage and speedy recovery to the injured. At the same time, our Church expresses sympathy and support to the local community of El Paso as well as that of Dayton, and to the government and the people of the United States. The Ecumenical Patriarch has asked His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America to convey the above message of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to local and national authorities and to the people of the United States as a whole.
