On Tuesday, October 24, 2017, His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East, and His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph, Primate of the Antiochian Archdiocese, were the guests of the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C. Video of their 70-minute discussion regarding the future of Orthodox Christianity in Syria and America is now available. The hierarchs addressed questions about the place of Christians and the Antiochian Church in the future of war-torn Syria, the role the Church has played in humanitarian assistance to the millions of people in need, and why Orthodoxy is finding renewed appeal in Western countries.
Hudson Senior Fellow Samuel Tadros moderated the conversation. Very Rev. Joseph Antypas, pastor of St. George Church of Troy, Michigan served as interpreter for His Beatitude. The Hudson Institute presented the conversation with the hierarchs in the context of the ongoing war that has flamed sectarian tensions that threaten the existence of Christianity in one of its earliest locations. Though suffering at home, the Church of Antioch is flourishing abroad with a growing congregation in the United States and Canada.