The President of Lebanon Michel Aoun gave Greek-Orthodox Metropolitan
Georges Khodr of Mount Lebanon the National Order of the Cedar, the
honor for great services rendered to Lebanon, for acts of courage and
devotion of great moral value, as for years in public service. The medal was given on Tuesday, January 31 in the presence of Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Yohanna X.
During the celebratory occasion, quoting the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke ("For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted"), 93-year-old Georges Khodr spoke of old age as a privileged condition to savor the gift of humility, in turn defined as "the door of every virtue".
Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Georges Khodr is known worldwide as teacher of Christian spirituality.
In October 2015 he intervened with regard to the political paralysis that from May 2014 prevented to identify the new Lebanese Head of State (institutional crisis was resolved only at the end of last October with the election of Michel Aoun).
The 90-year-old Bishop expressed illuminating judgments also around the plight of Christians in the Middle East, stressing that "the dangers that threaten Christians in the Middle East threaten all the inhabitants of this region, without exception", and that "from Christians principles point of view, there cannot be anything similar to what we might call 'Holy' War".