The Portal August 2017 | Page 18

THE
P RTAL
August 2017
Page 18
Syria and the Middle East ... continued from page 8
they were asked to tell the story; asked to convert to
Islam. They were told Christians are pigs don’t deserve
to live. But they refused to convert and they refused to
say they would leave. So they had to watch icons being
smashed in front of them.
“This was done in an effort to get them to change
their thinking. The kidnappers asked for a huge
ransom to be paid and Elias asked all their relatives
and friends and neighbours to fund what they could.
Everyone exhausted all the funds they could and they
were released.
“Elias and his nephew were able to make their way
to Lebanon where they were able to tell their story.
They said if it weren’t for ACN they would be in an
unimaginable state. One of Elias’ daughters was so The desecrated chapel of the St Wharton Jesuit Centre, in
traumatised by her father’s disappearance and the Midan district, for much of the war on the front line between
threat of his execution that her diabetes suddenly government and rebel forces
© Aid to the Church in Need
worsened. She had to have an insulin pump provided.
ACN funded the pump and she and all the family are Daesh control and fighting continues. ISIS snipers are
in the area and the place is still very unsafe.”
very grateful to the charity.
We thanked John for his candour and his warm
“ACN provides other help too. Christian refugees in
Zahle receive emergency food, medicine, clothes and welcome. ACN are doing a most wonderful job. We
other urgent items from Aid to the Church in Need. must all pray for them, for the people they serve, and
The charity is supporting ‘St John the Merciful Table’, a for their benefactors.
free café which has opened in Zahle, where the refugee
families can go for a warm, nutritious meal, free of
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
charge.”
Grateful, as they are, for ACN’s help, they are also
worried about their future.
“The concern is that persecution and exodus cou