Amman, 24 April 2012.

 The Reverend Dr. Paul Rohana

Your Royal Highness Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad,

Your Beatitudes,

Your Eminences,

Your Excellencies,

Brothers and Sisters,

Distinguished Guests,

Christ is risen!

Under the Patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, today we celebrate the inauguration of this office and we welcome the new Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches, the Reverend Dr. Paul Rohana.

We thank you, Your Highness, for the support and vote of confidence that your presence here today represents. We are constantly reminded of your wise words at the United Nations for <World Interfaith Harmony week>, when you said:<The misuse or abuse of religions can be… a cause of world strife, whereas religions should be a great foundation for facilitating world peace. The remedy for this problem can only come from the world’s religions themselves. Religions must be part of the solution, not part of the problem>. Unity shall be our strongest weapon.

Your Highness leads by example, and in this same spirit you have recantly made an historic visit to Jerusalem. It was indeed a pleasure to welcome you to our patriarchate. Your Highness is well known throughout the world for your efforts in support of interreligious dialogue. We are encouraged by this support, especially of the work of the Middle East council of Churches, and we applaud Your Highness for this witness to the cause of peace and justice.

We also wish to pay tribute to the role of His Majesty KingAbdullah II. May God bless him in everything that he does. His leadership in a time of Challenges remains a source of encouragement to so many.

Join us, please, in acknowledging Father Paul. We welcome him in his new capacity, and welcome him also to Jordan, the birth-place of many peace initiatives, among them principally the <Amman Massage>, the <Common Word>, and the <Interfaith Harmony Week>.

Father Paul and his team have a considerable responsibility and a huge challenge in their work for the unity of the Christian voice in our beloved region. Their task is not only to make our voice better heard, but also to encourage us all to fulfill our role and mission in the fabric of our society.

The Middle East Council of Churches must realise its ecumenical destiny of being the instrument to mobilize the Churches of the region and to provide, indeed, the right grounding for our relationships with our fellow citizens and the rest of the world.

We take pride in the initiative of this new office which will serve the work of the Middle East Council of Churches as well both the patriarchate of Jesuralem, the mother of all the Churches, and the member Orthodox Church family. This new office is a clear demonstration of our commitmment to the fundamental purposes of the Council, which we have made in our efforts in the re-organisation of the Council.

This is more than timely, not least because of the rapid and unexpected developments in our region. And we understand the chief purposes of this office to be three-fold:

1)to work to remove the obstacles to our common witness.

2)to encourage genuine respect and understanding between Churches and Christian communities, and between Christians and members of other faiths; and

3)to serve the needs of the Orthodox Family of Churches within the Council.

Amman has been chosen as the home for this office for very specific reasons.

The Orthodox Church is the oldest continuous religious institution in the region, so we have grown up in a unique cultural context of symbiosis, and therefore we understand the complexities of the multi-cultural and multi-faith inheritance that is ours. And here in our beloved Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan we have a true example in our region of freedom of expession and freedom of worship.

Last but not least, we would like to thank Miss Wafa Goussous for her commitment to the Council. She has been instrumental in the implementation of the work of this office. Without her careful attention and management, this office would not exist.

May God bless this effort, and strengthen us in our mission.

Thank you!

His Beatitude

THEOPHILOS III,

Patriarch of Jerusalem

On Wendsday the 5^th / 18^th of March 2012, His Highness Prince Ghazi of Jordan escorted by Sheikh Ali Gomaa the Grand Mufti of Egypt and by other religious and political personalities of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and of the Palestinian Authority, in the presence of the Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel Mr. Cesar Marzie visited the Patriarchate.

His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III received His Highness Prince Ghazi of Jordan along with Fathers members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. Welcoming the Prince His Beatitude said that Jerusalem is an example of religious symbiosis of Jews, Christians and Muslims.

On occasion of this visit His Beatitude presented to the Emir a replica of the Nativity Church made from mother of pearl and a book of the Koran also decorated with mother of pearl. His Beatitude presented to the Grand Mufti of Egypt a plaque with inscripted passages from the Koran.

After this visit to the Patriarchate, the Prince with His Beatitude escorted by Fathers -members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre descended from the Central Monastery via the Cathedral of St. James to the Church of Resurrection and the Holy Shrines therein.

Chief Secretary’s Office.

ngg_shortcode_0_placeholder

Holy City of Jerusalem, 18 April 2012

Your Eminence Archbishop Nourhan,

Your Eminences, Dear Reverend Fathers,

Christ is risen!

We have come to greet you and rejoice with you in our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our living hope.

For we read in the First Letter of Peter: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable.” (I Peter 1:3)-

By Divine Providence we have been made the guardians and servants of this “imperishable inheritance, for we are the guardians and servants of the Holy Sites, which themselves bear witness to our crucified Lord. This has always been, and continues now to be, our mission, and the Holy Sites are a focus of devotion and attention not only to our fellow Christians, but indeed to the whole world.

“If Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and your faith is in vain”. So declares the Apostle Saint Paul in the First Letter to the Corinthian (I Cor. 15:14). Just as we know that if the resurrection has not taken place, our faith is futile, so it is that should Jerusalem ever be left without our presence here, then the living witness of the resurrection -that is, the Tomb of Christ – would disappear. Jerusalem would lose its vibrant Christian character.

It is, therefore, our moral responsibility to maintain the precious Christian character of Jerusalem, for is so doing Jerusalem remains a sign of hope – a hope that shines brightly from the Tomb of our risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us, then, overcome our shortcomings and weaknesses, and join our efforts in proclaiming the message of hope, consolation, and, above all, new and eternal life.

Your Eminence, Archbishop Nourhan, we assure you that we are ready in the name of our common Lord and in the spirit of the resurrection to heal any wounds that have been caused by human frailty.

Once again, on behalf of our Brotherhood and ourselves personally, we extend to you our prayers for His Beatitude Patriarch Tarkoom. Please accept our Paschal greetings to your Brotherhood and to the whole Armenian community of the Holy Land.

 Christ is risen!

 Thank you.

His Beatitude

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem

Holy City of Jerusalem, Tuesday of Pascha, the 17th of April 2012.

“This is the Holy and chosen day, the first of Sabbaths, the Mistress and Queen, the Feast of feasts and the Festival of festivals, and on it Christ is glorified unto all ages”. Says the hymnographer of the Church.

Your Beatitudes

Your Eminences

Reverend Fathers

Dear Sisters and brothers

The Holy Jerusalem Church together with the Christian Community celebrates the life-bearing resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is central to our faith for, as  Saint Paul says in his epistle to Corinthians, if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins (1 Cor 15, 16-17).

The Risen Christ is alive for ever in the presence of the Father, sovereign over the power of death, and so pars beyond hat death can do to us. We have nothing to fear: the death that is a punishment for sin in fallen humanity is overcome as we accept the ‘death’ of baptism, identifying ourselves with Christ’s obedient and self giving death. Once this has been done, new life is ours which physical death cannot touch. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord says Paul (Rom 6, 23)

Our Paschal gathering today here is a visible and tangible witness to the living reality of our faith to the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Christian presence in Jerusalem is precisely the physical testimony to the undeniable fact of the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The death of corruption i.e. of sin has no longer any power on us, despite his aggressive and destructive power on man and ofcourse on our Church Community. For the risen Christ is the incarnate and unfailing hope. It is the hope of Christ’s anastasis that has encouraged and strengthened us throughout the ages to keep our lamps going on with the life-giving light that has come out from the empty tomb of Christ.

Our diverse expression of our faith should not be considered as an obstacle to our common Christian proclamation that Christ is the Incarnate and risen divine Logos of love, justice truth and living light.

Ours is the ministry and mission to be the light of the world. This is Our Lord’s commandment to His servants: “Let your light to shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father” (Mat 5, 14-15).

We pray our risen Lord to enlighten the minds and warm the hearts of those who exercise authority throughout the world to work for peace and justice on earth and especially on our beloved Jerusalem and Holy Land, where the destructive power of Hades was conquered by the divine and salvation authority of the Lord of Justice and peace.

Christos Anesti.

His Beatitude

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem

On Holy Tuesday, the 28^th of March / 10^th of April 2012, the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre – whose superior is His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III visited on occasion of their  Easter the Fransciscan Brotherhood  and the Latin Patriarchate, following the years-long established order of exchanging visits during the feasts.

After these first two visits, His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III escorted by the Chief Secretary His Eminence Aristarchos Archbishop of Constantina visited the Apostolic Delegate who is the Representative of the Pope to Jerusalem and the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem Suheil Dawani while His Eminence Timotheos Metropolitan of Vostra visited the Lutheran Bishop in Jerusalem Mounib Yiounan and the Propts of the German-speaking Community in the Holy Land Rev Uew.

His Beatitude reciprocated properly according to the circumstance all the addressees and below is the address of His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem to the Custo, in the English language (please see the link https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/2012/04/10/1960/)

Chief Secretary’s Office.

ngg_shortcode_1_placeholder

Jerusalem, Holy Tuesday the 10th of April 2012.

Easter Greetings

to the Custos of the Holy Land

 and Superior of the Franciscans

Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa

Your Paternity,

Dear Brothers,

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

We are here today to give you our greetings on this great feast, the Feast of the Resurrection – the Anastasis – of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which took place here in Jerusalem. We have been blessed to be the guardians and servants of the Holy Places and the Holy Land, and at the same time to bear  living witness to his saving passion and death and his glorious resurrection.

This Paschal celebration is of particular importance not only for our brotherhoods and our communities, but for the whole Christian world. Even as we experience in this life the battlle of darkness against light, of falsehood against truth, and of death against life, we proclaim Christ himself to be our light, our truth, our life and our way. Ours is the mission to show Christ’s way to a world that longs for the salvation of God.

Having been entrusted by Divine Providence with this sacred trust and responsibility, our care of the Holy Places that constitute the earthly Jerusalem is a reminder to us all of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is our common longing.

As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we recall also the mystery of his incarnation, the eternal Logos made flesh, and his nativity in Bethlehem. Just as we are to maintain the Christian character of Jerusalem, we have an equal moral obligation to safeguard the Christian character of Bethlehem.

There the Grotto of the Nativity was ennobled by the Church of the Nativity by great and pious emperors, and there countless faithful over the centuries have unceasingly venerated the mystery of the incarnation. This testifies to our sacred and ecumenical heritage, and it falls to us to ensure that this original testimony is maintained clear and unadulterated.

Now more than ever before we are called to work together as fraternities in the name of our risen Lord Jesus Christ, as we have done for years now, to uphold all the Holy Sites as places of pilgrimage and worship. In our day the Holy Places have become the focus in international and regional affairs of unpredictable developments. However, we are confident that by safe-guarding the spiritual and worshipful integrity of the Holy Places, they will remain beacons of hope and reconciliation, and effective means of promoting peaceful co-existence among all peoples.

We wish you, Your Paternity, and the Franciscan brotherhood and your community, a blessed and joyous Pasha. May our shared and firm witness show that we proclaim to our region and to the world the life -giving message of our Lord Jesus Christ, who assumed our common humanity and delivered us from the power of death and the tomb, that our human nature might be restored and glorified in and through his resurrection.

Christ is risen!

Thank you.

His Beatitude

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem

On Tuesday, the 17^th / 4^th of April 2012, the visits of the Western and Eastern Churches to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem took place on occasion of our Easter. This is followed by the years-long established order of exchanging visits during the feasts.

Firstly the Brotherhood of the Franciscans visited the Patriarchate followed by the Churches namely the Latin, Lutheran, Anglican, Coptic Syrian, Ethiopian, Maronite and finally the Armenian.

His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III addressed the representatives of the Latin, Lutheran, Anglican, Syrian, Maronite and Ethiopian Churches at 10:00 o’clock at the Throne Hall as follows, in the English Language, (please see the following link: https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/2012/04/17/1972/)

Chief Secretary’s Office.

ngg_shortcode_2_placeholder

His Beatitude Theophilos III  address at the inauguration of the new wing of the Orthodox School in Taybe, Tuesday the 3th of April 2012.

Your Excellency Mr Basam Rifai,

The U.S. Aid Commissioner,

Dr. Leila Ganam, Mohafez of Ramallah and Bireh,

Your Eminences,

Dear Friends of the Taybe Rum Orthodox School

It is a great honour for Us to inaugurate the new section of this educational institution.

Knowledge is the key to freedom and truth. This is precisely what the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate has been promoting throughout the ages, despite the many difficulties and complexities through which it exercises its ministry and mission here in the Holy Land and the broader area of the Middle East.

The cooperation and mutual understanding between the Patriarchate and the US. Aid Organization has been fruitful and productive in helping the Palestinian youth without any discrimination communal or religious, to attain to its aspirations of a national and independent identity within a democratic social and political context.

The Rum Orthodox Patriarchate and its Taybe Community takes pride of the fact that all pupils and students enjoy the fruits of a shared common cultural heritage and a diverse religious affiliation.

We are looking forward to further Our cooperation with the U.S. Aid building new institutions that will encourage such initiatives that bring about progress in social, national and even economic flourish.

We would like to express Our deep gratitude to the USA administration and its U.S. Aid organizations for their support and confidence to Our Patriarchate.

 Last but Not least We would like to thank all those who participated in this aspiration becoming a reality.

Thank You.

His Beatutide

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem

On Thursday, the 9^th / 22^nd of March 2012, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem celebrated according to the order of the rite and the Status Quo, the Feast of the Fourty Martyrs and in this context celebrated particularly the Name Day of His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, named after one of these glorious  Martyrs.

On the eve of this Feast, the 9^th Hour was read at the Monastic Church of Saints Constantine and Helen, followed by the solemn descent via the Christian Road to the Church of Resurrection.

In front of the Shrine of the Stone of the Anointing our Father His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III venerated. His Beatitude was then received in front of the Holy Sepulchre by priests and deacons, members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, dressed in full vestment and offered thymiama-insense. His Beatitude venerated the Holy Sepulchre followed by the Archbishops and Hieromonks.

The entrance to the Catholicon took place and then the veneration of the Holy Calvary by the Archbishops and the hieromonks, members of the Holy Synod. The Vespers then initiated with the ceremony of the Blessing of the Bread presided over by His Beatitude, whilst the deacons offered thymiama  to the surrounding Holy Shrines.

After the Vespers where concluded the solemn ascent of the Brotherhood to their Central Monastery took place.

The morning of the Feast Day started with the solemn descent to the Church of Resurrection where the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts was initiated, presided  according to the order, only by His Beatitude, whilst the Archbishops of the Brotherhood were praying in the Holy Altar of the Catholicon. His Eminence Anthimos Metropolitan of Alexandroupoleos was also present as the representative of the Church of Greece. Present at the celebration were: the General Consul of Greece in Jerusalem His Excellency Sotirios Athanasiou, the Ambassador of Greece in Amman of Jordan His Excellency Heracles Asteriadis and the Ambassador of Belarus to Israel. Numerous hieromonks, members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, participated devoutly along with married Priests of our local community, pilgrims and local faithful.

When the Holy Liturgy was completed it was followed by the Doxology – Te Deum,  presided by His Beatitude, concelebrating with Hierarchs dressed with Epitrahilio & Omoforio.

After these ceremonial events at the Church of Resurrection, an official and panegyric ascent took place to the Patriarchate, where at the Throne Hall; the Elder Chief Secretary His Eminence Aristarchos Archbishop of Constantina addressed His Beatitude, in the name of the Holy and Sacred Synod and the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre.

Address of the Elder Chief Secretary His Eminence Aristarchos Archbishop of Constantina on the occasion of the Name Day of His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III at The Throne Hall:

“Your Beatitude,

Today on the 9^th of March, in the middle of the Lenten period, the Orthodox Church is spiritually rejoicing and solemnly exalts on the Feast day of the Fourty Saint Martyrs; in memory of their martyrdom death at the lake of Sevasteia in Pontos. In addition, the Church of Jerusalem is celebrating the Name Day of its Father and Shepherd,  worthy to bear the name of one of these crowned martyrs.

This double Jerusalemite feast was celebrated with the sacrifice of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts and the Doxology-Te Deum taken place at the Church of  Resurrection. Participating were pious priests and believers of our Lord’s people from nearby areas, but also from those afar areas of the Church of Jerusalem. Present was the whole of the August Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre whose superior  – Your Beatitude – was elected with the canonical and unanimous votes of the Holy and Sacred Synod six years ago.

We manifest our joy at this historic hall of the Patriarchate and congratulate Your Beatitude adding ‘whatsoever things are true and just, lovely and of good report’ (Phil.4,8). This is declared by Your works with the cooperation and assistance of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre and that of the Holy and Sacred Synod.

From this cooperation, and despite the imperfections and deficiencies that accompany all human works, resulted in good deeds, liturgical, sanctifying, heraldic, pastoral, philanthropic and social.

Your Beatitude responded positively to the invitations received from the numerous churches of Our flock and willingly visited them in addition to the ones Your Beatitude deemed necessary to, or the ones that imposed Your guidance for the resolution of a problem and for providing aid morally or materially, where needed. Likewise Your Beatitude advocated to representatives of state Organisations and to those of Non Governmental Organisations for the needs of the flock of our Sion Church and for the presence of the Christians in the Middle East in general. Your Beatitude advocated for their education and the protection of their rights; in favour of their survival in conditions of prosperity and dignity at their respective countries of birth. This support of the Middle East Christians is rendered at present stronger through the Middle East Council of Churches. The Patriarchate played a paramount role in the reorganization and upgrade of the Council. For this purpose, of collectively supporting the rights of the Christians as a minority in their birthplace, the Holy Land, Your Beatitude directed properly and with agility numerous meetings of the Leaders of the Christian Churches of the Middle East realised at the Patriarchate under Your Beatitude’s auspices. These rights of the Christians Your Beatitude properly presented them, during last December’s meeting in Fhues to the King of Jordan and at the Presidential Palace during Your address to the President of the State of Israel, on behalf of the Christian Communities on occasion of the new secular year of 2012.

Regarding the section of the inter-Orthodox Ecclesiastical Cooperation there was considerable improvement. Between others, the recent visit to the sister Autocephalous Church of Cyprus, was marked from the laying of the foundation stone for the restoration of the Exarchate of the Holy Sepulchre, nearby the Archbishopric of Cyprus. Fruit of this cooperation is also the enrollment of five members of our Arab-speaking flock at the Religious Seminary of the Church of Cyprus.

Our historic rights on the Holy Shrines stipulated by the prevailing Status Quo where safeguarded and where exercised entirely. This was demonstrated by successfully protecting these rights from the provocation of the Armenians which caused problems during the yearly cleaning of the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. With the cooperation of the Franciscans and the support of the Palestinian Authority, the damage caused by the Armenians on the floor of the Holy Grotto in Bethlehem, was restored.

There was also success in the efforts to staff the Holy Shrines and due to the creation of a climate of trust and security, new students arrived at the Patriarchal School of Holy Sion as well as new members were admitted to the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre.

These are mentioned as the fruits of the common efforts of Your Beatitude and of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, not for the boast and not for repose, but for the just praise which deservedly accounts for whoever demonstrates good deeds. Thus the members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre be encouraged to advance creatively in performing and fulfilling our duties for the years to come, reinforced by the grace of God.

Your Beatitude in the name of the Holy and Sacred Synod and of our Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, we wish You from our heart many healthy years to come, power, peace and constancy with joy in the view of the good deeds for the glory of the Trinity, our God and praise of our blessed genus. Amen.

With these, the Church of Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of the Fourty Martyrs and the Name Day of His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III.

httpv://youtu.be/4dYFrd-1-Vk

ngg_shortcode_3_placeholder

Chief Secretary’s Office.

Jerusalem,  19 March 2012

“Long ago, (O, God), you laid the foundation of the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you will endure;

they will all wear out tike a garment.

You change them like clothing,

and they pass away;

but you are the same,

and your years have no end”. (P5 101: 25-27).

Respect for creation and effective sustainability depend on the necessary differentiation that we must make between Creator and the creation. They are not the same. And in our concern to ensure the stewardship of the creation and the proper and just use of our natural resources, we function in a kind of priesthood. Priests live on the border. This does not mean that we must be distant. On the contrary this implies a deep and divine intimacy, and we respond to this intimacy as to a commandment.

The care of the environment begins with our own purification and stillness. How many deserts have been turned into both spiritual and physical oases, where in the restored relationship between human beings and creation we see the harmony that we are seeking, in this respect, our proper treatment of the environment, which means harmony with creation, is also a reflection of our equally necessary commitment to the harmony of the human community.

Thank you.

His Beatitude,

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem