NNA - Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the Antioch and all the East, Yuhanna Yazegi, on Thursday leveled a heartfelt cry for the world community to mobilize efforts to free Saint Taqla's nuns and orphans detained since yesterday in the historic Christian town of Maaloula in the beleaguered Syria.



"We no longer need denunciation or condemnation... We greatly need nowadays tangible, concrete actions rather than words," Patriarch Yazegi said in a press conference Thursday at the Patriarchal headquarters in Balamand, in the presence of scores of bishops and clerics.



Yazegi reiterated pleas for the need to halt the existing struggle in Syria, swapping it with the logic of dialogue whilst refusing attempts to use procrastination for the resumption of such a dialogue to score points on the ground.



The Patriarch concluded by underlining that despite the complexity and intricacy of the present times, this shall not alter our steadfastness to our amicable land.


------------------ L.Y