The Metropolitan of Beirut and its dependencies for the Greek Orthodox Church, Bishop Elias Aoudah, led a mass at Saint George’s Cathedral in Beirut. After the Gospel reading, he delivered a sermon in which he said: "Our hope is that the minds of politicians and officials will be illuminated so that they can comprehend the suffering of citizens and the injustice inflicted upon them due to their neglect and the swallowing of their rights, and the concealment of the truth behind the greatest catastrophe that has befallen them, which claimed the lives of over two hundred of Beirut's residents, whose departure concerned only their families, and injured thousands physically and materially, who are still waiting for justice first and accountability for the perpetrators, which they have not yet received, along with the promised aid to restore their homes, further intensifying their physical and psychological pain, bitterness, and disappointment. The officials responsible for the disaster continue to roam free and may even be planning another heinous act, while leaders and officials remain unable to take any rescuing step for the country that could lead to the election of a president followed by the formation of a government that prevents politicians from interfering in the judiciary, in order to release the investigation and allow the investigator to uncover the truth and achieve justice by punishing those responsible for the Beirut blast and oppressing its people."
He asked: "Was this explosion a murder of Beirut and its people, or an assassination of the judiciary aimed at spreading chaos and tightening control over the country? Is it reasonable for the families of the victims, alongside the people of Beirut and all Lebanese, to wait three years without results? Three years of pain, patience, and demands, while the truth remains obscured despite the horror of the explosion and the magnitude of its consequences. Is this indifference or belittlement of human lives who loved Lebanon and did not emigrate in search of a decent life, or is it a deliberate concealment of a truth they do not wish to reveal out of fear? Otherwise, why the obstruction of the investigator’s work? And how long will criminals go unpunished; all the criminals who assassinated Beirut, and all those who assassinated individuals whose only sin was wanting to express their opinions freely, and all those who brought this beautiful country to collapse? How do murderers, speculators, monopolizers, child rapists, and those who threaten the lives of innocents with their stray bullets escape punishment?"
Aoudah deemed that "justice is necessary for the continuation of secure life and the feeling of equality among citizens, and the declaration of the truth in the tragedy of Beirut is a duty of the judiciary, while punishing the perpetrators is essential to serve as a lesson to anyone with intentions to commit similar crimes."
