The Archbishop of the Syrian city of Aleppo has written a letter thanking Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Hungary for the aid provided to persecuted Christians, the Prime Minister’s’ Press Chief, Bertalan Havasi informed Hungarian news agency MTI.

“I was gladdened by my warm welcome and by your interest in and concern for my suffering people. I will never forget your hospitality and the enduring assistance, the two million euros in aid, that you have given to help my people. This will all be entered into the history book of the Christians of Aleppo, Christians who are struggling to survive and maintain a presence in Syria, the land where Christianity was born”, the letter reads.

The Archbishop also mentioned that in the New Year’s greeting he sent to his friends, he highlighted: I received from Viktor Orbán “the most wonderful gift I ever could have imagined. God bless the people of Hungary and their Prime Minister, may they enjoy peace and freedom devoid of attacks!”

Viktor Orbán received the Church leader for a working lunch on 20 December. At the meeting, it was stated that Hungary is providing financial aid towards the reconstruction of a destroyed school and is helping the Christian community by providing scholarship places for students from the city to study in Hungary.

In late December, it was announced in the Hungarian Bulletin that Hungary is providing two million euros in aid to the Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Aleppo’s education and development programme in Syria.

(MTI)