The Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, His Beatitude John X, on Tuesday toured the under-reconstruction church of St. George in the Syrian city of Arbin, which lies just north of Damascus.
The cathedral, the only Greek Orthodox place of worship in the municipality, was destroyed by Islamist rebels and terrorists during the Syrian civil war — before the area was retaken by the government’s forces.
Some 3,000 Christians lived in the district before the civil war.
His Beatitude expressed a hope that the Christians will soon return to the area.
A day earlier, the Patriarch of Antioch toured the Dormition of the Theotokos cathedral in the small Syrian city of Zabadani, where major reconstruction works are also underway.
