Responses to newspaper’s accusations against Orthodox Church in sexual harassment case

In response to an earlier feature in Al Akhbar daily on December 13 regarding to the sexual harassment of underage children by Orthodox Church priest which was published coincidentally on December 14, the date of the Appellate Greek Orthodox Court hearing against Archimandrite Farah (http://lkdg.org/ar/node/15891), the Greek Orthodox archimandrite of Tripoli, Father Ibrahim Sruji, wrote an article on December 16th , expounding his stand on the subject. Sruji maintained that he is not after “protecting anyone, but rather is concerned that his brothers are alarmed at instances of harassment while totally disregarding acts of rape engulfing our church since 1972.” Sruji was insinuating to the illegitimate alteration of the statute of the Church’s Constitution issued in 1955, which requires bishops to conduct accountability and disciplinary boards, contrary to the “uncontrollable” conduct overlooked by the distorted law. On the subject of sexual harassment, Sruji stated that no indictment or condemnation was issued against Farah, hence he is “considered innocent until proven guilty.” He cited St. Paul the Apostle’s words on kindness in reference to priest Farah’s human erring. Meanwhile, the chief of the Gathering of Beirut Families, Nicolas Jean Tueini, considered in a statement on December 14, that the title of Al Akhbar’s article gives a final verdict ahead of the hearing, pointing out that Farah’s way of life does not suggest or imply any disgraceful acts. Tueini clarified that the Parish has taken a set of precautionary measures in anticipation of the ruling. Besides, the Parish of Orthodox Church group who signed a petition entitled “a priest is not above the law”, clarified that they are only responsible about the statement of the petition but not about Al-Akbar article. (Al Akhbar, December 14 and 16, 2016)