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HIS BEATITUDE THE PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM ADDRESSES THE NEW ANGLICAN BISHOP IN JERUSALEM

On Sunday evening, June 1/14, 2020, the current Secretary of the Meetings of the Heads of the Christian Churches in Jerusalem, Hosam Elias Naoum was ordained a Bishop, in order to succeed the current Archbishop Suheil Dawani as Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Jerusalem.

H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos was the first among the distinguished guests, Anglican Bishops, and representatives of the Christian Churches in Jerusalem, in this ordination, and He delivered the following address:

“Your Grace, dear Bishop Hosam,

Your Grace, dear Archbishop Suheil,

Mr. Consul General

Your Eminences,

Your Graces,

Respected Members of the Clergy,

Beloved Faithful,

We are deeply honoured, dear Bishop Hosam, to be present on this blessed day of your ordination and consecration as a bishop. This celebration is the culmination of years of dedication to education, pastoral service, and leadership in your diocese and in the wider Church. You have proved yourself worthy of many responsibilities and today the greatest responsibility that the Church can bestow is now laid on your shoulders.

A Bishop is first and foremost a pastor after the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Good Shepherd of his people. For the Lord says:

“I am the good shepherd I know my own and my own know me”.

You are called to the diakonia of the Church, of the sacraments, and of the clergy and the laity of your community without distinction, and you are called further to the diakonia even of those outside your flock, who may at any time turn to you for help.

Dear Bishop Hosam, you are known for your strong commitments. For you have been serving as the Secretary to the Council of the Jerusalem Church Committees, where you have demonstrated devotion to our ecumenical and interfaith work on behalf of all the communities of our beloved Holy Land. Your ability to work with in our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious society is a crucial skill that you bring, and you remind us of the role of the bishop as “bridge-builder”, for many are the bridges for peace, justice, and reconciliation that you have already built. We have every confidence that your experience and gifts will be of genuine usefulness as you take your place among us as a bishop.

Allow us to honour His Grace, Archbishop Suheil, who has exercised oversight over the diocese for so many years in difficult circumstances with clarity, devotion, energy, and faithfulness, and who has exercised respected leadership in our region. Furthermore, we recognise the presence with us of the distinguished Consul General of Great Britain.

We are also pleased to welcome to the Holy City His Grace Archbishop Michael and His Grace Bishop Peter, who are well known to us and committed advocates of the Christian presence in the Holy Land and in the Middle East, and who have both travelled here during this pandemic that has brought confusion around the world in order to ensure that his crucial ordination could take place. We wish to express our collective gratitude to you both, dear Bishops, for the sacrifice that you have made to be here.

Just as no one could have foreseen the pandemic, nobody knows what the future will bring yet. By God’s grace, we look to the future in hope, for as Saint Paul says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer”(Romans 12:12).

In affirmatio of our joint commitment to the Church of Christ, and most specifically to the Jerusalem Church, allow to present to you this engolpion of the Theotokos, that you MAY be under her protection and that you MAY be a martyria of Christ’s love and of our Christian ministry here in the Holy Land.

Congratulations, and MAY the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ guide your steps in the work of His commandments.

Thank you.”

From Secretariat-General