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ACNS 2628 - MIDDLE EAST - 11 September 2001

Statement from the Bishop in Jerusalem

The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and The Middle East

The Diocese of Jerusalem

11 September 2001

The Most Revd Frank Griswold
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church Centre
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017
USA

Dear Frank,

Salaam and Grace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Like many in the world, I am awfully shocked at what I witness and hear from
Jerusalem the troubled city. I find myself unable to comprehend or even to
begin to understand the horrors of this divided and broken world. There are
no available answers for our questions. Instead I am silenced.

We forcefully denounce this unjustified action, and we join our sufferings
with yours. On behalf of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, ordained and
lay, I assure you of our ceaseless prayers for you and all your people,
calling upon Almighty God to comfort the hearts of the bereaved for the loss
of their dear ones and beseeching him to heal all the injured in body, mind
or spirit.

We as the Church are called upon to struggle against evil in the world,
provided that our struggling does not resort to the means of the evildoers.
We struggle with the weapons of God. Our struggle first must be in prayer.
We cannot trace the footsteps or understand the working of God; but may he
give us grace to trust him with an undoubting faith, so that when his time
comes he may reveal that new heaven and new earth where there is
righteousness, and where the prince of peace rules. God be with you at this
time.

Until we meet again, know that you, your grace, your dear family and all on
your side, are in our thoughts and prayers.

In Christ,

+Rt Revd Riah Abu al-Assal

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