Metropolitan Elias Audi, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut and its dependencies, received MP Sajih Attieh, who explained that the purpose of the visit was “to offer congratulations on the holidays, to check on him, and to receive his blessing,” considering Metropolitan Audi “a great national figure, as well as a religious figure whom we emulate in his integrity of opinion and good conduct, especially in his vision for building the state.”
Attieh added: “We discussed many topics, especially at the national, sectarian, and institutional levels, and I listened to his useful observations. It is our duty to be closer to Metropolitan Audi, both at the parliamentary and sectarian levels, because the great experience and treasure he possesses guides and helps a lot in good performance.” He concluded: “I thank him for his welcome, and I am very happy with my visit, and God willing, we will remain in constant contact.”
In a related context, Metropolitan Audi received MP Nadim Gemayel at the head of a delegation from the Lebanese Kataeb Party.
Following the meeting, Gemayel stated: “Today, we visited His Eminence Metropolitan Elias Audi as a Kataeb delegation of members of the political bureau and the four Beirut regions, to offer congratulations on the holidays, and we wished him a blessed year, a year of peace, health, and well-being.”
He continued: “It was an opportunity to discuss all the situations the country is going through, especially the challenges we face in this political stage,” stressing that “there is absolutely no need to carry illegal weapons, and we can no longer balance civil peace with any other issue, not civil peace in exchange for sovereignty, nor civil peace in exchange for justice, nor civil peace in exchange for the reconstruction process, etc.”
Gemayel stressed from the Patriarchate that “any reconstruction process or any payment of funds by citizens who pay taxes to the state can only take place if it is conditional on the complete disarmament, so that the crisis does not recur, and the destruction, killing, and all the tragedy we went through in the past do not recur, and so that we can build a future in which we are all partners, without any Lebanese team paying the bill every time.”
