Title: Return on Palm Sunday: Officials Push the People to Despair and Deviation

Metropolitan of Beirut and its suburbs for the Greek Orthodox, Bishop Elias Audi, presided over the Palm Sunday liturgy at St. George’s Cathedral, with a large gathering of believers present. After the Gospel, he delivered a sermon in which he stated: "Today, on Palm Sunday, we officially enter the time in which the Lord judges the roots of sin and its effects by His death, and fills the participants in His life with the joy of His resurrection. He entered Jerusalem as a meek and humble King riding on a donkey, while the Jews were waiting for a King surrounded by all the manifestations of power, heavily armed, leading a great army to save them from Roman occupation. They faced Christ's meekness by siding with the stronger humanly, in order to enjoy the fleeting earthly glory. They condemned the Savior to death, losing the salvation of their souls. Isn’t this what the children of this age do when they stand with the stronger, even at the expense of their principles and dignity? Do the nations not align with the strongest, leaving the weak to their fate, the oppressed without hope, the hungry dying of hunger, and the wronged perishing in oppression, because truth, justice, humanity, brotherhood, and morals have become obsolete concepts in a materialistic, consumerist, and opportunistic world driven by the desire for money and control? Isn’t this what we witness in this country whose capital has been destroyed, whose free men and thinkers have been assassinated, whose sons have been oppressed and their funds stolen? Yet, its officials, due to their mismanagement, failure to implement the constitution, neglect of constitutional deadlines, foremost of which is the election of a president for the republic, and their reluctance to carry out necessary reforms, are driving their homeland’s children to despair and deviation, and the intellectuals among them to emigrate, those capable of rescuing their country from the quagmire of ignorance and degradation it has reached." He added: "We pray today that the Lord preserves Lebanon from north to south, frees it from its prolonged pains, resurrects it from the death of ignorance, hatred, and pride, and from the quagmire of blood, and protects its people from all those who seek harm against it. We ask God to plant His love and peace in the hearts of the leaders so that their thoughts may be purified, their behavior changed, and they may govern with truth and justice."