Life and ministry in war-torn Syria

Two Armenian Christian leaders from Syria have been in the UK this month (May 2016) to remind people of the often stark realities facing a country where half the population are either refugees or have been internally displaced.

Bishop Armash Nalbandian, the Armenian Orthodox Bishop of Damascus, and the Rev Harout Selimian, a pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church in Aleppo, met with Church leaders in England, Scotland and Wales – including the chair of the International Affairs department of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales (CBCEW), Bishop Declan Lang.

Ekklesia asociate and regional expert and commentator Dr Harry Hagopian has recorded a short AudioBoom podcast describing the visit, its significance and impact, which you can access here: https://audioboom.com/boos/4556312-armenian-clerics-in-uk-to-discuss-life-and-ministry-in-war-torn-syria

Dr Hagopian is an international lawyer, ecumenist and EU political consultant. He also acts as a MENA and inter-faith advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. He is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/HarryHagopian). Formerly Executive Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches, he is now an international fellow, Sorbonne III University, Paris, and author of The Armenian Church in the Holy Land. Dr Hagopian’s own website is www.epektasis.net - follow him on Twitter here: @harryhagopian and on Facebook here: https://m.facebook.com/MENA.analysis/