Michel Aoun Honors Patriarch Elias Hoyek as a Heroic Shepherd of Christian Virtues

Former President Michel Aoun wrote on "X" that with the beatification of Patriarch Elias Hoyek, the church honors a shepherd who lived Christian virtues heroically, deserving this blessed moment. At the same time, it honors a leader who viewed the homeland as an inseparable part of his faith, mission, and struggle.

He believed in Greater Lebanon when the country was divided into entities and borders, and he fought for it until it became a reality. In Patriarch Hoyek’s vision, "Greater Lebanon" was never a project of expansion or dominance but a nation inclusive of all its citizens, where every individual finds their place, dignity, and freedom. It is a country that protects liberty, preserves pluralism, and is based on partnership and coexistence.

Perhaps the greatest tribute to the beatified patriarch is loyalty to the vision he believed in and to the Lebanon he struggled for: the "Greater Lebanon" that was never a historical coincidence but the result of will and sacrifices, a "Greater Lebanon" that remains "too large to be swallowed and too small to be divided."