2023-12-10

FUNERAL AND MEMORIAL PRAYERS FOR VICTIMS OF GAZA MONASTERY BLAST

Gaza, October 23, 2023

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr

The funeral for 18 Orthodox Christians who were killed in a blast at St. Porphyrios Monastery in Gaza on Thursday was served the next day at the monastery that is doubling as a refuge.

The monastery has been sheltering hundreds since the present conflict began on October 7, but two church halls where they were being housed collapsed when the monastery was hit on Thursday night.

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr

9 of the 18 victims were children. Many more were injured.

The funeral was served in the monastery courtyard by His Eminence Archbishop Alexios of Tiberias, who has promised to remain with his flock and to die with them if that be his fate. The bodies of the victims were not placed in coffins, but simply covered, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.

Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr

“Why did they kill innocent people—children, babies, the elderly, sick people who came to the church to protect themselves?” the Archbishop said in media comments.

His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem has also served several memorial services for the victims (see here and here).

“We appeal to you to awaken the longing for a peaceful life in all those who are filled with hatred for their neighbors, especially those now at war or preparing for war,” the Patriarch said during the memorial service on Sunday morning.

Pat. Theophilos and other religious leaders in the Holy Land also issued another statement on Saturday, calling for restraint, the de-escalation of violence, and the protection of civilians:

Photo: jerusalem-patriarchate.b-cdn.net