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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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Love is stronger than death: whosoever loves does not die
Love is stronger than death. Whosoever loves does not die!
That is the cry of the feast of the glorious Resurrection! That is the real meaning of the immortal Resurrection hymn, “Christ is risen!” Christ whose glorious Resurrection we are celebrating and who is the object of our faith. “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15: 17) He it is of whom John the Evangelist, the beloved, said, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3: 16)It is he who said: “He who believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” (John 11: 25)He it is who said: “He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”(John 7 : 38)
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the sign of the victory of his love, the triumph of life over death. That is what Saint John Chrysostom said in his Paschal Sermon, that we read aloud: “Let no one fear death, for the Saviour's death has set us free. O death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory? Christ is risen and thou art overthrown! Christ is risen and life reigns.”
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On 26 March 2012, Patriarch Gregorios III presided at the funeral of the former Superior General of the Basilian Salvatorian Order (1989-95), former Patriarchal Vicar for Tyre (1985-8) and long-time parish priest of Beit Sahour in Palestine, Archimandrite Boulos (Paul) Samaha BS.
Patriarch Gregorios then went to Bkerkeh for a meeting of the Eastern Catholic Patriarchs.
Later the same day, he met with Italian Minister for International Co-operation and Integration Andrea Riccardi and the Italian Ambassador to Lebanon Giuseppe Morabito in Rabweh.
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Bkerkeh, Lebanon - A Muslim-Christian summit was held on 25 March 2012, the Feast of the Annunciation and coincidentally the name-day and election anniversary of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai at Bkerkeh, the Maronite Patriarchal headquarters, in the presence of all religious leaders of the country and members of the Muslim-Christian steering committee for dialogue.
Patriarch Gregorios III attended, representing the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. He had marked the Feast of the Annunciation by celebrating the Divine Liturgy in the morning with the superior general of the Aleppine Fathers and priests in the monastery of the Aleppine Sisters at Zeraya.
The holding of the summit was of considerable significance for Lebanon and the region, as it brought together Muslims, Druze and Christians.
The spiritual leaders emphasised the importance of coexistence among Lebanese, a coexistence which should serve as a model for the region’s countries.
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An ecumenical service was held on Wednesday, 21 March in St. Cyril’s Church in al-Qassa neighbourhood in Damascus for the souls of Syria's victims of conflict, including those killed in the bombings in Damascus last Saturday.
Patriarch Gregorios III of Antioch and All the East, in a brief address, expressed the hope that this cycle of violence would not persist and called all Syrians to resort to dialogue, reconciliation, repentance and calm to preserve unity and vanquish enmity. He also exhorted Syrians to pray for the preservation of Syria and its people, stressing the importance of dialogue to promote the process of renewal and change and emerge from violence.
His Beatitude also stressed the importance of heeding the calls for reforms, noting that this has already begun as the new constitution is a step forward. He voiced confidence in Syrians' ability to lead reform on their own and achieve their own democracy, freedom and dignity with the participation of all groups.
Patriarch Gregorios noted that during his recent European Peace Pilgrimage, he informed the Pope, and heads of episcopal conferences in Europe and government officials of ways in which they could help to eliminate violence, informing them that Syrian Christians are affected by whatever happens to other Syrians.
He stressed that the role of Christians in Syria and the region during these difficult circumstances is to be peace-makers and bridge-builders, working diligently to preserve the peace and unity of Syria and the Arab world.
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CP/nhc/2012/07
Gregorios III: Shenouda III or the spiritual strength and pastoral outreach of Coptic monasticism
“We have lost a friend with whom we have been linked for very many years. As early as the 1960s, before his election to head his Church in 1971, the future Shenouda III was collaborating with our ecumenical review Al Wahdat fil Iman (Unity in Faith), bringing to it his ever lucid and deep vision.”
Just back from a fortnight’s round-trip of episcopal conferences and European seats of government, Gregorios III, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem left Beirut on Monday 19 March 2012 for Cairo to take part in the national funeral of Shenouda III thus expressing the attachment for and closeness of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church to the Coptic Orthodox Church.
“Shenouda III was the Patriarch of the biggest Orthodox Church of the Middle East, incarnating in his person all the history of his Church,” Gregorios III declared before hailing “the presence of the Coptic Church in the Arab world, its spiritual strength, its monasticism and its pastoral outreach that Shenouda III so perfectly incarnated. This Church, as Mgr Elias Zoghby, for a long time patriarchal vicar in Cairo, once said, is the only non-Catholic Church that has understood how to renew itself without ever losing sight of consistency with itself. We are very keen especially to welcome the various moves towards closer understanding especially in formulating the tricky but vital areas of doctrine to do with the Council of Chalcedon or indeed the Incarnation. A tangible sign of this increasing closeness between the Holy See and the Coptic Orthodox Church was the signing in Rome on 10 May 1973 of the Common Declaration of Faith in the Incarnation of the Son of God and the participation of Pope Paul VI in the building of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo.
“Shenouda III was a Patriarch who was a very deep spiritual thinker but who knew how to make his thoughts accessible to everyone, through his memorable sermons and homilies, aided by a wit and sense of humour that were quite Pharaonic and Egyptian.”
Patriarch Gregorios III then recalled the celebrations of the Nativity of our Lord in Cairo according to the Coptic tradition, which he had never missed since his election to the Melkite Greek Catholic See of Antioch in 2000 and which had enabled him to be alongside Shenouda III, before joining his “prayer to that of the whole Coptic Orthodox Church for the repose of the soul of its late lamented shepherd and for the Holy Spirit to illumine hearts so that the designated successor might allow the Coptic Church to pursue its very special mission.”
Rabweh, 19 March 2012
Note: His Beatitude was accompanied on his visit to Cairo for Pope Shenouda’s funeral, by Archbishops Elias Shakour and George Bakar, and by the Patriarchal Chancellor, Archimandrite Tony Dib. On his first day in Cairo, Patriarch Gregorios III gave an interview of an hour’s duration to CTV on the subject of his friend and fellow-pastor, the late, great Pope Shenouda III.
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CP/2012/nhc/05
Gregorios III: Pilgrim for Peace and Reconciliation
On 7 and 8 March 2012, in the context of a European round-trip to the main episcopal conferences and seats of government, H. B. Gregorios III, Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem held significant conversations with Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris and Ordinary of France’s Eastern Catholics, with Mr Henri de Raincourt, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs responsible for Cooperation, and with the Vice-Presidents of the National Assembly and Senate. The Patriarch was accompanied by Mgr Georges Bacouni, Archbishop of Tyre.
A pilgrim for peace and reconciliation, Gregorios III had come to talk about his continuing concern to see peace and reconciliation reign in the Arab world and Syria in particular.
Furthermore, His Beatitude was received by Rev Charbel Maalouf B.C., priest of Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, Paris’s Melkite Greek Catholic parish, and representative of His Beatitude in Paris, flanked by members of his Parish Council and community, for an overview of parish life and to see how far advanced were the preparations for the European Melkite Convention on 1, 2 and 3 November 2012 at Aubazine.
Rabweh, 8 March 2012