HIS BEATITUDE THEOPHILOS III PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM PASCHAL GREETINGS TO THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY.

15 April 2015

 

Your Beatitude, Patriarch Nourhan,

Your Eminences,

Your Graces,

Reverend Fathers,

Beloved Members of our Respective Brotherhoods,

 

Christ is risen!

 

We are pleased to be able to greet you today in this Bright Week, as we celebrate the joy of the Easter Feast. We bring greetings to you, Your Beatitude, to the Brotherhood, and to all the people of your community in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and we assure you of our prayers for you in your arch pastoral ministry.

As we greet you this Easter, we are deeply conscious that we do so on the eve of the centenary of the Armenian genocide. This celebration of Easter will have a special meaning for all Armenians in the light of this commemoration, and we pray that the Light that shines from the Holy Tomb of Our Lord Jesus Christ may bring comfort and encouragement to the Armenian people as you remember the horrors of this terrible chapter in human history.

Sadly, the world remains an intimate witness to persecution and terror, in our own day, Christians and others are still persecuted for their faith. The innocent continue to be the victims of unscrupulous and amoral leaders and gangs of terrorists. In our own region we see almost daily unspeakable acts of cruelty that stains further a land that is already marked with the blood of martyrs.

In the face of this reality the Light of the Resurrection remains a beacon of hope and inspiration to millions. We who are the guardians and servants of the Holy Places know the power and the possibility of the Holy Places to transform the human heart and renew the human spirit.  In a world of darkness this Light is our only hope.

May God give us the grace always to keep before us the mission of the Holy Places to be a beacon of hope to all, and may this celebration of Easter strengthen our resolve to do all in our power to deepen our common witness to the truth of the Resurrection.

 

Christ is risen!

Thank you.

 

His Beatitude

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem