April 23, 2013 UPDATED: Archdiocese confirms false reports; Joint Communique issued

Well placed reports in the world’s leading news media on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 with regard to the release of two abducted Syrian hierarchs turned out to be false, according to a statement posted on the web site of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese.



“There have appeared many reports in both the Eastern and Western press that the two hierarchs who were abducted yesterday by terrorists in Syria, Metropolitan Boulos Yazge, Antiochian Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo, and Archbishop Youhanna Ibrahim, Syriac Archbishop of Aleppo, have been released,” the April 23 Archdiocesan statement reads. “His Eminence Metropolitan Philip spoke by phone this morning to His Beatitude John X, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, who said that these reports are false, and that the release of these two hierarchs has NOT taken place. We ask you to continue to pray for their safety, and eventual release. Confirmed updates will be published as soon as they are known.”



The original text appears here.

In related news, a “Joint Communique on the Abduction of Bishop Paul and Bishop John” issued by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East and the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East has been posted on the web site of the Antiochian Archdiocese. The Communique is also posted in PDF format.