Cardinal Dolan asks for prayers for kidnapped Orthodox clergy in Syria
May 2, 2013 | 9:46 pm | InternationalNEW YORK (CNS) — Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan challenged Massgoers to hold onto hope and to pray for the safety and well-being of two Orthodox archbishops kidnapped in Syria in late April while carrying out a humanitarian mission. “Our prayers are singularly fervent this spring morning as I invite all of us to unite in supplication,” Cardinal Dolan said during Mass May 2 in St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo and Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan Gregorios Yohanna of Aleppo. Both prelates were kidnapped April 22 in northern Syria while on a humanitarian mission to secure the release of two priests — an Armenian Catholic and a Greek Orthodox — kidnapped in February.














