Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai during a homily, July 9, 2023, in Dimane. (Credit: Patriarchate's Facebook page)
Patriarch of the Maronite Church Bechara al-Rai on Sunday condemned the daily crossfire between Hezbollah and Israel along the border since Oct. 8, saying it could not be "heroism," as the party claims.
"Heroism does not consist of waging war with developed and destructive weapons, but rather in the reason, the will and the heart that call and seek to make peace, establish justice and make love prevail," said Rai in his Sunday homily, according to remarks reported by the official National News Agency (NNA). Heroism consists of "avoiding war, not waging it," he said.
His comments come at a time when Hezbollah recently announced the use of a new type of missile in its battles against Israel, in support of Hamas in Gaza, and regularly publishes videos of its strikes, taken with the aid of cameras mounted on its rockets.
"We cannot continue in this state of distancing and lack of mutual trust, which is blocking the life of the state," the prelate stated, calling for everyone to "place above all else the objective of building national unity."
'Weakened army'
The Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut, Elias Audi, implicitly criticized Hezbollah's involvement in hostilities on the Lebanese-Israeli border and the weakening of the Lebanese Army.
"How can you build a country with a weakened army? How can a country enjoy stability and prosperity when weapons are spread, its border is unregulated, its judicial system is oppressed, its administrations emptied of competent people, and when the state's decision is confiscated and war imposed on the state and its citizens?" he questioned.
He also asked, "How can a country develop and prosper without a president who leads it per the Constitution?"
Lebanon has been without a president since October of 2022, due to a lack of consensus on a candidate.
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour.