CHRISTMAS DAY VISITS OF THE WESTERN AND PRE-CHALCEDONIAN CHURCHES

On Tuesday, December 27/ the feast day of Saint Stephen the First Martyr (Old Calendar: January 9, 2024) the following Churches visited our Patriarchate for the celebration of our Christmas to relay modest holiday greetings:

1. The Franciscan Brotherhood – Custody of the Holy Land
2. The Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem
3. The Coptic Church in Jerusalem
4. The Syrian Church in Jerusalem
5. The Ethiopian Church in Jerusalem
6. The Anglican Church in Jerusalem
7. The Lutheran Church
8. The Brotherhood of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem.

All these representatives of our churches, around one hundred, were received by H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos, Who thanked them for their visit on our Christmas Feast, saying that this visit is also held in memory of the very important event of the meeting of Pope Paul VI with the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, in Jerusalem in 1964. Continuing in the spirit of the beginning of this Theological Dialogue, we, the local churches in Jerusalem, give a common witness against the various challenges and especially against the victims of the Christian flock and every suffering soul from the ongoing war in Gaza.

From Secretariat-General