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12.05.2008, [14:18] // UGCC // RISU.ORG.UA

Lviv - 20080512 - On May 1-2, 2008 in Lviv-Briukhovychi, the Thirty-ninth Session of the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv and Halych Major Archbishopric of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church took place. After the introductory procedures, the status of implementing the decisions of the last session of the Metropolitan Synod was assessed. Consequently His Beatitude Lubomyr talked about the planned visits to Ukraine of Cardinal Tarcissio Bertone and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, presented the status of preparation for the Meeting of Bishops of Eastern Catholic Churches in Mariapoch (Hungary), and told of the status of the campaign "For sobriety of life." Also, the Head of the UGCC shared his opinions regarding the meeting of the All Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations with Ukrainian Prime-minister Yulia Tymoshenko on April 11, 2008.

Among the greater themes the Metropolitan Synod reviewed were the following questions: the status of implementation of decision № 7 of the Extraordinary (16.01.06) Session of the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv and Halych Metropolitan of the UGCC about the prohibition for priests to be engaged in financial operations and trading and financial activity in the industry of the insurance business; the first reading of the project of the position "About the status of the medical chaplain in the UGCC," and about the position of the Church in relation to the study of religion.

In addition, questions of the celebration of the 1020th anniversary of the baptism of Rus’-Ukraine were discussed. The report of the organizing committee for the pilgrimage to Lourdes and the interim report of the Commission on the Restitution of Church Property was heard. Bishop Bohdan (Dzyurakh), auxiliary bishop of the Kyiv Archeparchy and head of the Supervisory Council on the Building of the Patriarchal Cathedral, told about the status of building the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv, and Bishop Dionisiy (Lyakhovych), curial bishop and head of the Patriarchal Administration, told about his visit to the Holy Land. At the same time, the situation with monk-priests from the Pidhoretskyi monastery who on their own proclaimed themselves bishops was discussed. For the improvement of spiritual care of faithful of the UGCC in post-Soviet countries it was decided to conduct on July 2, 2008, a meeting of clergy of the eastern diaspora ( the Baltics, Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Romania) with the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv and Halych Major Archbishopric of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.

At the completion of the synod the presentation of all 14 church commissions, which was prepared by the Department of Church Commissions of the Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC, was held. Heads of the commissions or their authorized representatives were in a position to present before the synod the fruits of their work, to tell about future plans and to communicate with the bishops.
It was decided to conduct the next, Fortieth Session of the Synod of the Kyiv and Halych Major Archbishopric of the UGCC, in July 2008.

Secretariate of the Synod of Bishops

of the Kyiv and Halych Major Archbishopric of the UGCC

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Parma, Ohio (2008-05-12) - The weekend of May 9-11, 2008 has been described as a weekend of a spiritual joy and renewal not only more than 500 people who gathered at St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Parma, OH but for the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, as the hierarchs, clergy and faithful of the Church witnessed the consecration of a new bishop of the UOC of the USA in the person of Archimandrite Daniel (Zelinsky).

Seven Orthodox Hierarchs from around the world have arrived to participate in the historical and joyful event of the Church. Metropolitan Constantine and Archbishop Antony, the hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA were joined in the consecration services by Hs Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of the American Carpatho-Rusyn Orthodox Church, His Eminence Archbishop Yurij of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, His Grace Bishop Jeremiah of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of South America, His Grace Bishop Demetrios, the assistant Bishop of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago and a representative of the Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the US – His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, and His Grace Bishop Andrij of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Western Europe.

Also and participating in the consecration services were 60 priests and deacons of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and other Orthodox Churches, along with 400 faithful who traveled to Parma, OH from around the country, from California to Maine and from Canada to Florida and everywhere in between. In attendance were also three hierarchs of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA: His Eminence Metropolitan Stefan Soroka, Bishop Robert Moskal, Bishop-emeritus Basil Losten, as well as Bishop John Kudryk of Byzantine Catholic Church of America.

Click here for the full story (including photos) at the Urainian Orthodox Church of the USA website.

Source: Office of Public Relations, www.uocofusa.org

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May 12, 2008                         

New York, NY (April 30) – At the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Jewish Committee in Washington, DC, Archbishop Demetrios of America joined the ranks of a select few, including Billy Graham and Edward Cardinal Cassidy, by being the recipient of the ISAIAH AWARD for interreligious understanding. This award follows close on the Archbishop’s reception of the inaugural “Damaskinos Award” that was bestowed by the American Sephardi Federation and the American Friends of the Jewish Museum of Greece.

The citation on the Award reads, in full: Through your ceaseless efforts as a champion of interreligious understanding and human rights, outspoken opposition to bigotry and anti-Semitism, and unwavering defense of mankind’s most noble values, you have raised high the sacredness and dignity of faith.

The Archbishop was presented to the assembly by Rabbi David Rosen, International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the AJC. In his introduction, which was followed by a standing ovation in honor of the Archbishop, Rabbi Rosen said:

It is an honor and a privilege to present the American Jewish Committee's prestigious Isaiah Award to His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of America for his great achievements in Interreligious Leadership.

Archbishop Demetrios has been a good friend of the Jewish People since his childhood in Thessaloniki before the Second World War when the local Jewish community was thriving and played a major part in the life of the city. In an event held by the American Sephardi Federation and the American Friends of the Jewish Museum of Greece last December, Archbishop Demetrios of America received the inaugural “Damaskinos Award” for “his important work in constructive interfaith endeavors.”

In his unscripted remarks, Archbishop Demetrios spoke of the humbling nature of such an award, named after the Holy Prophet Isaiah. He thanked the assembly and shared with them, both in Hebrew and in English, verses from the Prophet Isaiah that speak to the contemporary human condition of suffering and injustice, yet always tinged with hope for “waters in the desert.”

In his remarks, the Archbishop spoke of the emotional power that this award had for him, noting that in his first year studying Theology at the University of Athens, Archbishop Damaskinos was on the throne of the Church of Greece. He also spoke at length of his personal experience in Thessaloniki during WWII, and how his Jewish fellow students disappeared without warning. This very point was made in the keynote address of the evening by the distinguished lawyer, Richard Ben-Veniste. The Archbishop concluded his remarks by emphasizing the important work of the Jewish Museum of Greece which keeps alive the memory of those whose lives were so unjustly taken from them.

Among the honorees, the Consul General of Greece in New York, the Hon. Catherine Boura, was cited “for her extraordinary work in promoting Greek Jewish history in the United States.” Throughout the evening, hosted by Alexis Christoforous of CBS News, the enthusiasm of the Greek-Jewish community was evident, from the singing of the National Anthems of the United States and Greece by everyone in attendance, to the musical presentation of Nadia Weinberg in Greek, Ladino and Hebrew that concluded the evening.

Of special note was a congratulatory message received from and signed by the entire Holy Eparchial Synod, who wrote to the Archbishop: “We are proud that Your Eminence is the recipient of the Damaskinos Award presented by the American Friends of the Jewish Museum of Greece and the American Sephardi Federation, and we offer our warmest congratulations. The award recognizes your lifelong dedication to fostering good relations between our Greek Orthodox community and the Jewish community throughout the world, especially in Greece and the United States.”

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
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New York, May 8, 2008

The Holy Eparchial Synod of the Holy Archdiocese of America convened in its regular Spring Session in the Synodal Chamber of the Holy Archdiocese in New York on May 7 and 8.
       
His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios presided. Present were the following Synodal Hierarchs: Their Eminences Metropolitans Iakovos of Chicago, Maximos of Pittsburgh, Methodios of Boston, Isaiah of Denver, Alexios of Atlanta, Nicholas of Detroit, Gerasimos of San Francisco and Evangelos of New Jersey. Present also was the Chief Secretary of the Synod, the V. Rev. Archimandrite Sebastian Skordallos.
       
The Holy Eparchial Synod deliberated on issues pertaining to the life of the Church. Among them, the following were discussed:
       
1. Liturgical Issues. A discussion took place and a decision was made regarding the submission of the text of the Divine Liturgy along with Liturgical Guidelines for their approval by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Said text will be translated into English following its approval. Additionally, the Synod assigned to the Synodal Committee in charge of Liturgical Issues the responsibility to prepare similar texts for Sacred Services,  Orthros and Vespers Services.
       
2. Canonical Issues. The Holy Eparchial Synod discussed canonical issues pertaining to the clergy and made relevant decisions with regard to issues of pastoral and disciplinary nature. Moreover, it discussed the text regarding Regulations of the Holy Eparchial Synod that is in the making, as well as issues of Inter-Orthodox relations and Ecclesiastical presences in America.  
       
3. Educational Issues.
a. Greek Education.  There was a discussion with positive comments  expressed, in regard to the new instruction manual for the Greek language designed for kindergarten children, which was published recently by the Department of Greek Education of the Holy Archdiocese. The Hierarchs were briefed and exchanged ideas with respect to the new instruction manuals for the Greek language that are in preparatory stages by the relevant Committee with the collaboration of the well known linguist Professor George Babiniotis. It was also announced that the number of teachers who will attend the 15 day educational seminars in Cyprus in July of this year increased from twenty to thirty compared to last year.
b. Religious Education. A new type of reference book planned  by the Department of Religious Education of the Holy Archdiocese was presented. During the subsequent exchange of views, the importance of this new type of reference book was emphasized, based on the first published sample with the title Journey Through Holy Week.  
       
4. Clergy-Laity Congress.  In reference to the upcoming Clergy-Laity Congress in Washington DC in July of this year, the importance of its theme Gather My People to My Home was underscored, as well as the need for a wider participation of Parishes. A more direct involvement of the members of the Holy Eparchial Synod in the analysis and application of the theme of the Clergy-Laity Congress was planned by means of special meeting to be convened at its commencement.

5.  In addition to the above, there was discussion and decisions were taken with regard to issues pertaining to Youth, Care for the Clergy, Retired clergymen, SCOBA, Leadership 100 and the Special Educational Program for Deacons.
       
After the conclusion of the Sessions of the Holy Eparchial Synod, her members had the opportunity to participate in the subsequent session of the Executive Committee of the Archdiocesan Council, preside over Committees of the Council and participate in the workings of the plenary session of the Archdiocesan Council on May 8 and 9 of this year.
                                               
From the Office of the Holy Eparchial Synod

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
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Vatican City, at the Apostolic Palace, 8 May 2008

Most Holy Father,

May the Lord be blessed for this day which allows us this long-awaited meeting with Your Holiness, in the company of several Hierarchs, members of the Holy Synod of our patriarchal Melkite Greek Catholic Church, together with Superiors General and Mothers General of our religious Orders, priests from among our secular and regular clergy, and a goodly number of our faithful, including ministers, deputies, businessmen, and also fathers and mothers of families, all glad to be taking part in this pilgrimage, the memory of which will live on in their minds and in the annals of our Patriarchate.

Thanks for your concern

To you, Most Holy Father, is due our gratitude for the expressions of encouragement that you have always given us – from the beginning of your blessed ministry as successor of Peter and Sovereign Pontiff of the Church, this Church of Rome that “presides in love” – together with care for our Eastern Church and the conflicts that torment the Middle East, cradle of Christianity, especially “the Holy Land which is the homeland of every Christian, since it is the homeland of Jesus and Mary,” in the most apt expression of your predecessor of blessed memory, the Servant of God John Paul II, that Pope so beloved by the East.

In your message of 21 December 2006 to the Catholics of our regions, you wrote, “To you, dear brothers and sisters … I express affectionately my personal closeness in the situation of human lack of security, daily suffering, fear and hope that you are currently experiencing. … Your Churches are accompanied along their difficult way by the prayer and charitable support of the particular Churches throughout the world according to the spirit of the nascent Church.”

Your words, Most Holy Father, expressive of your solicitude for all the Churches of God, and your supreme Petrine ministry give us courage, strengthen us in our Patriarchal ministry – Caput et Pater – with our Bishops – Pastores gregis – and help us to continue our pastoral service among the people of God confided to our care, strengthening them, especially families and young people, in their faith, hope and love.

Our Church present in this meeting

Our patriarchal Church is present in nearly all Arab countries of the Middle East, especially in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Besides, our faithful have spread throughout the world.

For those in Europe, (France, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden) we beg Your Holiness to give them a Bishop. We have a very strong presence, particularly in Canada, the United States, several countries of South America, Australia and New Zealand. These countries are represented today before Your Holiness. Our Church has a dual role: living out and preserving its faith, while at the same time sharing our Eastern heritage with our Latin brethren, so that the Church of Christ may continue to breathe with both lungs.

Galloping diaspora

This vast and still growing diaspora is the result of emigration decimating our presence in our countries of origin and continually worsening for a variety of reasons, but chiefly due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with its resultant successive wars and crises over the last sixty years.

Preserving the Christian presence

That incites us to redouble our efforts to preserve the Christian presence in today’s mainly Muslim Middle East: a presence unbroken from the first years of Christianity, or rather from the first days of the event of Pentecost, with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles at Jerusalem, that event which marks the foundation of the Church of the Resurrection and Redemption, hence called “Mother of all Churches,” to quote Saint John of Damascus. And while Your Holiness is getting ready to open the celebrations of the year of the second millennium since the birth of the Apostle to the Gentiles, how could we fail to mention the fact that Damascus, our patriarchal See, was the place of Saint Paul’s conversion?

Our Christian presence, sown in Arab soil, is the leaven in the dough. Though under threat, it appears an increasingly necessary presence, both ad intra and ad extra.

Ad intra mission

Ad intra, we have an obligation given to our Church during our first visit to your dear predecessor of sacred memory on 12 February 2001, two and a half months after my election as Patriarch. He said to us on that day, “You are a strong, united Church.” It was an observation, but also a wish and a programme.

Pastoral concern

As for the internal dimension, our great pastoral concern is to inoculate our patriarchal Church against the dangers that threaten it, basing ourself on love, as indicated by my patriarchal motto, “Watch and walk in love!” And this love was the theme of your first Encyclical Letter, Deus caritas est.

On that basis, I rejoice to tell you, Most Holy Father, I love you! We love you! And I’m sure that you also love us. You love your Church, which loves you in return.

Collegiality: strength and unity

A strong, united Church means, ad intra, effective and affectionate collegiality between the Patriarch and the Hierarchs who are members of the Holy Synod. It means a Church where love is the bond that unites the faithful with their pastors and with each other.

It also means a Church strong in its faith, that precious deposit that we must be capable of transmitting to younger generations. We have invented and popularised a saying in our community, “A Church without young people is a Church without a future. Young people without a Church are young people without a future.”

Satisfactory internal condition

We thank our Saviour Jesus Christ that our Church is alive and fervent. Our churches are full, for example, during the 50 days of Great Lent in preparation for the Feast of Pascha.

Our eparchies and male and female religious congregations are workshops with projects and initiatives on various levels - pastoral, educational, social, health, service to the poor and handicapped and so forth, besides youth groups, brotherhoods, adult religious education centres, evangelical vigils, pastoral home visits, …

Most Holy Father, I am happy to say that I am proud of our Bishops, proud of our religious congregations, proud of our priests, proud of our parishes: in a word, proud of our Melkite Greek Catholic Church (always remembering that “Melkite” means “royal.”) Ad intra, we are – as pastors ? like the watchmen on the ramparts of the Church, ready to defend it, support it by our faithfulness, our loyalty to it and our common involvement in its service.

Ad extra mission

Ad extra, our mission is multi-purpose.

Our ambition is to be, as Jesus asked, the leaven in the dough: to bring Jesus, his Gospel, message and values to our fellow-citizens, especially to those who do not share our holy faith, be they Jews or Muslims.

With that in view, we would like to put into practice what the Servant of God John Paul II wrote in his last Message for World Peace Day in 2005, that is, that the essence of humanity is “being with and for others.”

Presence in the mainly Muslim Arab world

That is the quintessential meaning of the Christian presence in the mainly Muslim Arab world (15 million Christians out of 300 million people.)

It is the leitmotiv of our role as Church in Arab countries, but also in countries of emigration. We have a unique responsibility in and to this Arab world.

I have illustrated that by perhaps over-bold turns of phrase, saying that we are not only an Arab Church, but also “Church of the Arabs,” and even “Church of Islam.” I mean by that that we Arab Eastern Christians, living as we do in a world with a Muslim majority, have with regard to that world, a unique, irreversible, irreplaceable, imperative, almost exclusive mission, since we have been living together for the last 1429 years. We have the same language and culture. Besides, part of our Christian culture has elements derived from Islam, just as part of Islamic culture has a Christian content. This role is ensured through our presence and witness in the Arab world, a role that is especially important in Lebanon and Syria.

Islamic-Christian dialogue

Speaking of this, we must be delighted at your effective and very welcome involvement in a new style of dialogue with Islam, an involvement which provoked at first a shock-wave at the heart of the Islamic world.

Efforts of His Holiness

The outlines of this new dialogue were your meeting with Germany’s Muslim community in Cologne in 2005, your magisterial lecture in Regensburg in September 2006, your visit to Turkey (including the “spiritual” presence of Your Holiness in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque), and the very meaningful reactions that followed.

There were negative reactions, and even acts of violence (that is how a big building, the property of our Patriarchate in Damascus, was firebombed, though our adjoining parish church of Saint John of Damascus was itself spared and even protected.) Then there came other reactions: the letter of 38 sheikhs and ulemas in 2006 and, last year, that very positive one from 138 sheikhs and ulemas of the Muslim world. That letter of 2007 was characterised by an irenic, positive tone, founded on the Word of God amongst Christians and Muslims.

Ecumenical role

The other aspect of the ad extra mission of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church is its role in the ecumenical journey towards Christian unity.

Our Church has always been conscious of this role. The history of our Melkite Greek Catholic Church of Antioch, in full communion for close on three hundred years with the Church of Rome that “presides in love,” has been marked by many vexations. In particular, it has had to live in the catacombs for about one hundred and thirty years. Indeed, we are a Church of martyrs and confessors of the faith, especially in Lebanon and Syria. There are, standing before you, Most Holy Father, descendants of martyrs.

Absolute communion with Rome

These were martyrs for unity, martyrs of communion with Rome, that communion which was, and still is for us, an historic, existential choice for commitment, that is both effectual and emotional, a definitive and irreversible constituent of glory and humility.

Orthodox and Catholic

However, that communion with Rome does not separate us from our Orthodox ecclesial reality. We say this with profound humility, a deep ecumenical awareness and a touch of humour: we are an Orthodox Catholic Church.

Peter III

Nearly nine centuries ago, a Patriarch of Antioch, Peter III, prefigured this role: few are aware of his courageous reaction at the time of the dispute between Patriarch Michael Cerularius and Cardinal Humbert of Silva-Candida, which caused the schism of 1054. His mediatory letter to Patriarch Cerularius closes with a plea, in a very “ecumenical” tone, “With all my strength, I appeal to Your Holiness not to enter upon this business with the spirit of contention. Otherwise, it is to be feared that in wishing to mend the tear you may enlarge it. Think carefully: could not all the current misfortunes, all the troubles which ravage kingdoms, all calamities, plagues and famines that devastate our towns and countryside, all the defeats of our troops, stem from this, I mean this long separation, this misunderstanding of our Church with the Apostolic See? Let the Latins correct their Creed, and I’ll ask for nothing more, even discarding as a matter of indifference the question of unleavened bread.”

Gregorios II

That is the role played by our predecessors, Gregorios II Youssef-Sayyour at the First Vatican Council, and Maximos IV Sayegh at Vatican II, with the pleiad of members of our Hierarchy.

That role is very apparent in several documents and decrees of Vatican II, and in the institutions originating in and promoted by that Council: Episcopal Conferences, the Synod of Bishops, liturgical reform, ecumenism…

Maximos IV at Vatican II

Patriarch Athenagoras, of blessed memory, thanked my predecessor Maximos IV for having spoken in his name at the Council. And Maximos IV replied: “Every time I spoke at the Council, I thought of you.”

Most Holy Father,

The ecumenical role of our Church is founded on this long Antiochian tradition, on our ecclesial experience of communion with the Church of Rome. We feel that it is an imperative duty and an essential part of the reality of our Church that is fully Eastern and in full communion with the See of Peter.

Ecumenical contribution

This role is intended to be a contribution to the ecumenical movement, and to be humbly added to ecumenical efforts in the Roman Dicasteries and in the International Joint Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Our role is always to make ever present the great Absent One: Orthodoxy.

We are indeed rather the Eastern “enfant terrible” in communion with the Church of Rome. That was the goal of the initiative of the late Archbishop Elias Zoghby in 1996: to be in full communion with the Church of Rome and with Orthodoxy. That may be a dream, an Utopian vision, but it is also a prophetic vision.

The great absentee

We would like to live, in the very heart of the Catholic Church, a life that could be accepted by Orthodoxy. Let us do so, Most Holy Father. That is the key to all real progress along the ecumenical way. Accept us, Holy Father, as we are: Eastern Orthodox, who want to live our full and complete Eastern Orthodox tradition in full communion with Rome. That is the really big challenge for the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue, as has been evident at every stage of the ecumenical dialogue since 1980 and especially at Belgrade and Ravenna.

For all that, Most Holy Father, we need your prayer, your approbation and your blessing.

Gratitude to the Church of Rome

We are deeply grateful to the Church of Rome for the continual support given to our Church to enable it to fulfil its mission ad intra and ad extra. This assistance has been constant throughout the history of our communion with Rome.

The Congregation for Eastern Churches and R.O.A.C.O.

That is especially apparent in the domain of formation of future Patriarchs and Bishops, priests and members of male and female religious congregations: many of whom are present in this room, happy to tell you, Most Holy Father, of their gratitude. This help has been – and still is – at the root of a very great number of projects flourishing in our eparchies, religious orders and institutions, whether in the area of religious education of lay-people, or that of schools or of health. All this has made and continues to make possible our commitment and witness to Jesus and the Gospel.

Its direct instruments have been – and still are – the Congregation for Eastern Churches and the main Catholic aid organisations, especially in Europe and the United States.

Good Shepherd, Father and Head

Most Holy Father,

We are really happy to be able to lay before you, the Good Shepherd, Father and Head, in this speech and visit, the situation of our Church, that you love and which you hold in your heart and at the heart of your care.

We place before you too, all our cares, and projects that are the expression of our pastoral concern, my own and that of my brother Bishops, members of our Holy Synod. Together we try to be, as a hymn of Pentecost says, “a lyre mystically moved by a divine plectrum, ” that of the Holy Spirit.

Invitation to visit us

We invite you to visit us, as pilgrim and pastor, to see close up the life of our Eastern Churches. I would like especially, as President of the Assembly of Catholic Hierarchs in Syria, to invite you to visit the Church of this country, particularly Damascus, place of the conversion and baptism of Saint Paul. We invite you to travel round our Churches also in Lebanon, the Holy Land and Egypt.

Thank you

Most Holy Father,

We would like to thank you for the welcome that has awaited us. We declare with enthusiasm that we shall stay faithful to the faith of our forebears, as watchful guardians, courageous witnesses and bearers of the Gospel message of our Lord Jesus Christ in our Arab world, cradle of Christianity.

Your blessing

We entrust ourselves to your prayers and ask your blessing as Father and Shepherd, but also as friend and elder brother, together with your guidance and advice for the future of our Church. That is the instruction given by Our Lord and Saviour to Peter: “And …thou.., strengthen thy brethren .”

+ Gregorios III, Patriarch

Translation from the French: V. Chamberlain

Source: www.pgc-lb.org/english/News2_Visite_Rome_English.html

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ASKING THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR UNITY OF THE CHURCH

VATICAN CITY, 9 MAY 2008 (VIS).- This morning the Pope received His Holiness Karekin II Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians. He then met with the bishops in the patriarch's delegation who were from many diverse countries.

At noon in the Clementine Hall, the Holy Father presided over the celebration of the Middle Hour (hora media), which was attended by Karekin II, the Armenian bishops, and a group of faithful apostolic Armenians from a number of countries in the East and West.

After the Patriarch's greeting, the Pope addressed the assembly. Referring to tomorrow's solemnity of Pentecost, Benedict XVI affirmed that, on this day, "we will pray in a particular way for the unity of the Church. (...) If our hearts and minds are open to the Spirit of communion, God can work miracles again in the Church, restoring the bonds of unity. Striving for Christian unity is an act of obedient trust in the work of the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church to the full realization of the Father's plan, in conformity with the will of Christ".

Continuing, the Holy Father pointed out that "the recent history of the Armenian Apostolic Church has been written in the contrasting colors of persecution and martyrdom, darkness and hope, humiliation and spiritual re- birth". However, he added, "the restoration of freedom to the Church in Armenia has been a source of great joy for us all. An immense task of rebuilding the Church has been laid on your shoulders," mentioning the "remarkable pastoral results that have been achieved in such a short time".

"Thanks to your pastoral leadership," the Pope assured, "the glorious light of Christ shines again in Armenia and the saving words of the Gospel can be heard once more. Of course, you are still facing many challenges on social, cultural, and spiritual levels. In this regard," he added, "I must mention the recent difficulties suffered by the people of Armenia, and I express the prayerful support of the Catholic Church in their search for justice and peace and the promotion of the common good".

Benedict XVI emphasized that in ecumenical dialogue "important progress has been made in clarifying the doctrinal controversies that have traditionally divided us, particularly over questions of Christology. During the last five years, much has been achieved by the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, of which the Catholicosate of All Armenians is a full member".

In conclusion, the Holy Father added that "we pray that its activity will bring us closer to full and visible communion, and that the day will come when our unity in faith makes possible a common celebration of the Eucharist. (...) Only when sustained by prayer and supported by effective cooperation, can theological dialogue lead to the unity that the Lord wishes for his disciples".

AC/UNITY/KAREKIN II VIS 080509 (470)