CONSTANTINE AN. TASSOULAS: Your Beatitude,
It is with great honor and the deepest respect that we welcome you to Greece, you and your distinguished and revered Delegation, which is inextricably and timelessly linked to the Ancient Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem through spiritual, historical and national bonds.
Your presence is a blessing for the Greek people and, at the same time, a reminder of the important mission accomplished by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in the Holy Land, as the guardian of the Christian faith, peaceful coexistence and the preservation of humanity’s cultural and religious heritage.
Your visit also signals the common will of the Patriarchate and the Greek State to upgrade their relations. And proof of this common will is the Memorandum signed yesterday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and the Patriarchate for the protection and preservation of the Patriarchate’s relics and monuments.
In a time, fraught with challenges and uncertainties, the message of peace, dialogue and solidarity conveyed by the Church assumes great significance. The Holy Land must, by all means, remain a place of prayer, peace and love for the entire world.
Consequently, Orthodoxy must, from its very origins, convey a powerful message of reconciliation and peace by preserving unity, harmonious cooperation and good-faith dialogue among our Ancient Patriarchates.
Your Beatitude,
Our country has consistently recognized and supported the work of the Patriarchate and the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre in preserving the Christian presence and heritage in the Holy Land, as well as in protecting the Holy Places of Pilgrimage.
In particular, the Greek State recognizes the care and protection you provided during the period of the great crisis in Gaza to the Christian populations. For this reason, the Greek State has decided to rightfully bestow honorary distinctions upon Archbishop Tiberias and Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Porphyrios in Gaza and upon Archimandrite Sila, who serves alongside him, for their immeasurable contribution to the Christian world during times of profound adversity.
In this context, further opportunities to strengthen our cooperation are being explored, to promote issues of mutual interest concerning the Patriarchate’s multifaceted and historic presence in the Holy Land, and above all, we are concerned with and care for the preservation of the Special Status (Status Quo) in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Your Beatitude, with these few thoughts, allow me to welcome you and your distinguished Delegation and to wish you health, strength and every success in Your high and nationally beneficial pastoral and spiritual work.
PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM, His Beatitude THEOPHILOS III: I am at a loss for words to thank you, Mr. President.
The words you have spoken correspond precisely to the great mission that the Divine Providence has entrusted to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the preservation of the of the Most Holy Pilgrimage Sites as places of liturgy and worship. And I say this because if it were not for the Patriarchate of Jerusalem with the Order of the Spoudaioi, the present-day Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, the Most Holy Pilgrimage Sites would have fallen into ruin, and whatever would have remained would have been left as archaeological sites. Thanks to the presence of the Order of the Spoudaioi, the present-day Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, as I mentioned, are functional places of liturgy, places of worship and are accessible to everyone without discrimination, and it is precisely there that our lineage and our nation hold sovereign, proprietary and inalienable rights and privileges, and the Holy Sepulchre is “flesh of our flesh” and represents, in a broader sense, all of humanity, Christians and, more specifically, our pious nation of the “Romans”, which includes our own nation.
The presence of the Patriarchate today, more than ever before, as you so aptly emphasized in your thoughtful speech, plays a role that is not only spiritual and moral, but also one that extends into the realm of diplomacy and, fortunately or unfortunately, into the realm of politics as well. And I say this because the Patriarchate of Jerusalem is an institution that is purely spiritual, and its mission is to minister, serve and proclaim the moral values of the Holy Scriptures. All these values are summed up and culminate in the love of God, for God is love, and in philanthropy and full respect for the human person, who, for us and for the Holy Scriptures, is considered the image of God. And therefore, every human being has the right to be treated with absolute respect.
Today, the Patriarchate’s contribution is widely recognized because it contributes greatly to promoting balance, understanding and coexistence among peoples. As is well known, Jerusalem is a city that embodies Sacred History. Very few people comprehend and recognize that, and I say that because, when I say that Jerusalem embodies Sacred History, I mean that the Jewish people, the Christian people and the Muslim people are all part of Sacred History.
I am referring to the Muslim people, because in the 7th century, when the Muslims arrived, the Arabs in that region did not have pilgrimage sites, so they adopted the Judeo-Christian pilgrimage sites, thus, you can understand the deeper role and significance of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. And indeed, today the Patriarchate contributes to the promotion of interfaith and inter-Christian dialogue and, of course, to harmonious coexistence with the Orthodox and Homodox Churches, not only the Ancient Patriarchates but the whole of Orthodoxy. And I say that because the Holy Sepulchre at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem offers a unique privilege: the Church is founded upon the redemptive blood of Christ, that is, upon Golgotha and the site of the Resurrection. The Holy Sepulchre is the pinnacle of all pilgrimage sites. It is the point of reference for the unity of all Christians and all doctrines. It is the only place where Christians of all faiths come together. And this is the strength of the Patriarchate, but it is also the point of unity for all Christians.
And thanks to the presence of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which is distinguished for its liturgical practice, the unity of all the Orthodox Churches has been preserved to this day. For if the Patriarchate of Jerusalem had not existed, with the stance it maintained on certain issues and ecclesiastical crises, Orthodoxy would have been fragmented today.
This is the contribution of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and we are particularly grateful for the warm welcome and hospitality. I wish to thank all the officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Greek Government and the Consul General of Greece, with whom we have excellent relations, for their contribution to making this meeting possible, which I do not view as a mere upgrade, but rather judge and regard it as a rebirth. For our relations remain, we are “flesh of the flesh,” and we in the Holy City of Jerusalem do not represent ourselves, but rather represent the Christian world in general and all the Orthodox Churches, but in particular, we represent our own people and nation.
More broadly, we thank you very much, and we are particularly moved by the initiative you have taken to recognize the contribution of our representative in Gaza. Indeed, the contribution there was very significant. We encountered many problems and faced intense pressure from political and military officials to evacuate the Monastery of Saint Porphyrios in Gaza. We resisted and said, “This is not a matter for us, it is a matter for you.” For us, even if the Monastery of Saint Porphyrios were to be evacuated, it would remain a place of pilgrimage, just as we have other places of pilgrimage in the desert of Jordan. And thankfully, the Divine Providence intervened and the Monastery was ultimately protected and continues to be protected. And today we are facing a problem, if Archbishop Alexios of Tiberias leaves Gaza, or the Archimandrite, they will not be able to return. And what you are doing brings special honor to you personally, to the Greek Government, to the Prime Minister and to the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but it also brings honor to our Patriarchate and to our brotherhood, because it is a moral encouragement to our mission.
We thank you very much.
CONSTANTINE AN. TASSOULAS: You are most welcome. I just wanted to add to my initial remarks that this honor and distinction, which was granted at the recommendation of the Greek Government, is related to the protection that these officials of the Patriarchate provided to Christian populations. For one of the Patriarchate’s missions, a long-standing mission, is precisely the protection of Christian populations in the broader Middle East region.
Thus, with this tremendous crisis in Gaza, and despite the difficulties and challenges you mentioned and the calls for the Monastery to be evacuated, the Monastery instead, offered refuge and protection. And this could not but be recognized in the persons of these two collaborators of yours.
