Following is the text of Maronite Archbishop Samir Nassar of Damascus’ Lenten letter dated February 1, 2042:

Forced Lent. The Syrian people did not have to wait for Lent to arrive, their lives are already filled with austerity and daily sacrifices.

For 13 years now, our families are living a forced Fasting which is becoming heavier each day, that seems like an endless Calvary.

No heat for the elders, already made fragile by the cold winter, no baby milk for the newborns, a shortage of many medicines aggravating sicknesses and illnesses, extreme poverty. Those are the conditions leading to the death of many.

Once viewed as the hope of the future, the young generation is suffocating and desperate. Poverty, lack of jobs, impossibility to start new families, impossibility to apply for visas and leave the country as consulates are shutting down, eliminating thus their last hope. A total blockade with devastating sanctions.

Facing all the above, many are desperately searching to leave, even at the risk of losing their life by drowning on one of those refugee boats.

Isn't all of the above a form of forced euthanasia that is slowly and surely being imposed on that poor and deprived population.

Let us entrust our concerns to Our Lady of the Resurrection.

Lent 2024

+ Samir Nassar
Maronite Archbishop of Damascus