Archbishop gives Vespers address during pilgrimage to Cappadocia, On the final day of his pilgrimage to Cappadocia in Turkey, the
Archbishop gave this address during Vespers in the former church of St
Constantine and St Helena in Sinasos.
All-Holiness, Beloved Brother in Christ,
Christos aneste!
It
is with great joy I greet you, and all those gathered here in this
Orthodox paschal season, in the peace of our risen Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. I thank you most cordially for inviting me to join this
pilgrimage to Cappadocia. I bring the greetings of the whole Anglican
Communion.
I have fond memories of my first visit to
you in January 2014 at the Phanar. This was the beginning of a
friendship that I cherish. The warmth of your welcome at our first
meeting, the significance of the city Istanbul, in which you hold your
seat as Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch,
impressed themselves on me as a moving experience.
Since
then, over a number of significant milestones, our bond has grown.
Through the brief Common Statement we had agreed on at the Phanar in
January 2014, we established a basis and vision for witnessing to the
Gospel of Jesus Christ in today’s troubled world. Then during your
reciprocal visit to Lambeth Palace, we displayed greater unity and
closer fellowship by our presence at ecumenical services filled with
symbolic significance, by our participation together at formal functions
organised by the Nikaean Club and the Greek Community, as well as our
shared private conversations. It was a delight to congratulate you at a
service held in Lambeth Palace Chapel on the twenty-fourth anniversary
of your enthronement.
With great pain in our hearts
we prayed for those affected by conflict, persecution, climate change
and the refugee crisis. In the face of such great concerns, we agreed to
undertake the joint organisation of an international conference in
Istanbul on overcoming modern slavery and human trafficking, a
conference taking place next year.
Finally, at a
choral evensong in Westminster Abbey, a copy of the latest Agreed
Statement, entitled In The Image and Likeness of God: A Hope-Filled
Anthropology was presented to us by the Co-Chairmen of the International
Commission for the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue. We were able
to celebrate what Anglicans and Orthodox affirm together about the
human person. This milestone provides the theological foundation for
forthcoming discussions on the practical consequences of our shared
theology to address the key themes, including the protection of the
environment, ethical questions around medical interventions, and family
life, and our call to reconciliation in the world around us. You
yourself have been an untiring advocate for peace and reconciliation -
politically, with the natural world and in your historic visit at the
installation of His Holiness Pope Francis.
Historically
I see these achievements as signs of a further deepening of the
deep-rooted friendship between our two churches. As noted by Your All
Holiness during the visit to Lambeth Palace, as early as the 17th
century Cyril Lukaris, Patriarch first of Alexandria and then of
Constantinople, had many contacts with the English Church and State. The
Anglican and Eastern Churches Association and the Fellowship of St
Alban and St Sergius have both fostered and continue to strengthen
ecumenical friendships.
In a time when, for the first
time, surveys show that those in the UK who say they have no faith
outnumber those who say they are Christians, the importance of our
visible expression of love and support is inestimable. Each day the
Community of St Anselm at Lambeth Palace prays that “we may experience
the suffering caused by division, may see our sin and hope beyond all
hope.” This pilgrimage draws us closer to Christ and thus to each other.
We
have seen today the signs of churches and monasteries emptied by the
shock of war. We know also the long term decline caused by secularism
and churches consequently giving in to individualism, to a lack of
holiness, to fear, yet together we know hope. I am grateful and humbled
for this ecumenical love, extended to myself and my wife, to Bishop
Jonathan and his wife.
Today, at this gathering for
Vespers in the former church of St Constantine and St Helena in Sinasos,
we continue to be moved by history. And we commemorate the greatest
Christian teacher from this region, St Basil the Great, Archbishop of
Caesarea in Cappadocia, “belongs not to the Church of Caesarea alone,
nor merely to his own time, nor was he of benefit only to his own
kinsmen, but rather to all lands and cities worldwide, and to all people
he brought and still brings benefit, and for Christians he always was
and will be a most salvific teacher.” Thus spoke St Basil’s
contemporary, St Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium. St Athanasius the
Great had a high regard for St Basil, for his reverence, his deep
knowledge of Holy Scripture, his great learning, and his efforts for the
welfare of Church peace and unity.
Your All
Holiness, as I have mentioned once before to you, the history of the
Orthodox Church has demonstrated over the centuries the martyrdom to
which we are called in scripture, the call to witness in word and life, a
call more important than life itself. The cost of that martyrdom is
witnessed in so many places today. Close to this place we continue to
seek the mercy of Christ and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, Mother of the Lord, on Syria and the Middle East as a whole, in
particular for His Eminence Metropolitan Yohanna Ibrahim of Aleppo of
the Syrian Patriarchate of Antioch, and His Eminence Metropolitan Boulos
Yazigi of Aleppo and Alexandrette of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of
Antioch.
Finally, the whole Christian world is aware
that you are meeting later this month for the Holy and Great Council of
the Orthodox Church. You have been in all our prayers, in particular
during the last months as you and your co-workers have coordinated the
final preparatory phases of the Council, looking also to find ways to
enable the Council to be an event experienced by all the Orthodox
Faithful.
The proposal after so many centuries to
hold a Council concerns the whole Church. All other churches and
Christian bodies can only be encouraged and strengthened by a renewed
and more visibly unified Orthodox Church in our midst. From you we find
great blessing and strength of faith and purpose. So we pray that the
Council will be greatly blessed by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and
prove to be as you have said not only a first but also ‘a most decisive
step’ that, by God's grace, will give Orthodox witness the authoritative
seal of unity and conciliarity.
Your All Holiness,
dear Brother, our experience as Anglicans this year, in far simpler
meetings, has taught me more of the complexities of convening and
presiding at such global gatherings; and it leads me, with a deep sense
of fraternal love, to assure you of my prayers as you now look to the
inauguration of this great gathering. May the Holy Spirit be ever
present during your deliberations and may it be a Council of hope and
love. I look forward to our continuing pilgrimage together. In a world
crying out for redemption and reconciliation may we be strengthened to
point together to the only eternal hope and lasting treasure as we
confess and witness to Christ, our risen Lord and Saviour.