ADDRESS OF H. B. PATRIARCH THEOPHILOS TO HIS EMINENCE ARCHBISHOP LEO OF KARELIA AND ALL FINLAND ON THE OCCASION OF HIS OFFICIAL VISIT DURING THE DOXOLOGY

JERUSALEM, APRIL 29 2014.

Your Eminence Archbishop Leo of Karelia and all Finland,

beloved brother and concelebrant in Christ,

Our most good Lord granted the Church of Jerusalem, the Mother of all Churches, worthy to complete its official visit to the autonomous sister of Church of Finland, piously shepherded by Your most beloved and profound Eminence. In His wise providence, He has now made the Church of Finland worthy to reciprocate its official visit, receiving the proper honors within the framework of this ecclesiastical institution.

On the occasion of this historical and ecclesiastical event, the official reception of Your Eminence at the Tower of David with the honorable full participation of our Orthodox flock, the local authorities and the representatives of the Christian Churches in the Holy Land. Now we are venerating in the glory of our Christian faith, i.e. the Most Venerable the Church of the Anastasis, the Holy Apokathelosis, Fearful Golgotha, the place of redemption due to the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross, and the All-Holy Tomb, in which death was trampled upon by death and we, His creation, with the Risen Christ are raised.

We thank and glorify Christ our God from the depths of our soul, who made Us worthy to realize this meeting and We ask of Him, as He sends Us His heavenly strength for the completion of the pastoral work of Our Churches and His peace, a peace only given by Him and not by the world. We ask that His peace be given to the entire world, to those plagued by phenomena of violence and of the economic crisis and to each non-peaceful region of the Middle East, especially the blood-trodden country of Syria and Our neighboring sister Orthodox Church of Antioch.

Having within us the knowledge concerning the various gifts of God in our life and bringing with us now the strength of the Holy Cross after venerating at Fearful Golgotha, and the joy and exultation of the joyous Resurrection after venerating the All-Holy and Life-Giving Tomb, come let us ascend to the Patriarchate so that we can further enjoy the company of Your most beloved Eminence, and so that we can spiritually rejoice together and collaborate toward the progress and good care of the flocks entrusted to Us and glory to our Triune God.

His Beatitude

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem