By the Grace of God
John X
Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Antioch
John X
Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Antioch
To My brothers, the hierarchs and Shepherds of the Holy Church of Antioch
My spiritual children throughout the Apostolic See My brethren and beloved spiritual children:
It gives me a great pleasure as we are on the Threshold of these holy
days; I add my voice to the voices of your hearts. I also pray for the
peace of the world and for the welfare of all men. We are entering into
this blessed season. We offer our prayer for those who have departed
from us and offer our intercessions to our Lord and Creator to bless our
lives by His holy name.
Lent is the queen of virtues. This is what we pray in the Orthros of
the Meat Fare Sunday; we invite the faithful to receive Lent as queen
over our souls, leading them to the shores of salvation:
“Let us go before, O brethren and cleanse ourselves for the queen of
virtues; for behold she hath come bringing to us a fortune of good
deeds; quenching the uprisings of passion and reconciling the wicked to
the Master. Let us welcome her, therefore, shouting to Christ God, O
thou who rose from the dead, keep us uncondemned, who glorify thee, O
thou who alone art sinless.”(Doxastikon of the Praises).
Lent is a means to surrender the hardness of the body to God’s
abundant mercies. Through fasting passions are extricated from the soul,
so we may experience the warmth of love. Lent is the queen of virtues
in as much as we eradicate the evils from our souls and wash them with
pure waters of repentance, so we may bring peace and love to others.
Love is the summit of all treasures. Fasting is a true expression of
love, and the best tool that enables us to remove the passions of
animosity and pride, and sharpen the soul with charity and giving, and
wash it with repentance and humility, so that the light of the
resurrection of Christ may transfigure in it.
The Great Lent season is a journey of reconciliation with the
Creator, with yourself, and with the other as well; it is a journey of
forgiveness. Today, the human person in the world seeks reconciliation
and forgiveness. The holy church seeks repentance as reconciliation with
the Creator, and forgiveness with the other fellowmen; it is an
oblation of offering thanks and glory to the Lord of heavens, who will
be pleased to see us as real brothers in humanity.
The Great Lent is the baptismal font which leads us to resurrection
with Christ; this journey begins with the pre-Lenten season, in the
humility of the publican and in the return of the prodigal son, as a
symbol of man’s return to the heavenly bosom. Lent is abstinence from
food so we may feed the poor and the needy. Fasting focuses on the realm
of the soul, represented in the holy icon as the icon of the divine
glory. The soul seeks the grace divine without which she cannot enter
the bridegroom chamber of the Master. She can bypass all difficulties by
the power of the cross, climbing the ladder of virtues by the tears of
her repentance, and focusing on the haven of the divine mercy. True
fasting prepares the inner being of the soul, so the Lord may reside in
its innermost depth and move forward, fastened on her Master who
destroyed death and bestowed the shining robe of the resurrection on
her.
We have come during these blessed days while the East is under the
burden of its own cross. We have come while the world is seeking lost
peace and is confused in much fear. We have come while we are drowned in
the concerns of life and existential despair. However, all that will
not prevent us from penetrating our predicaments and from falling down
before God, so He may grant us peace, consolation, and heavenly joy.
It is about time that the Golgotha of the East be buried under the footstep of the resurrection. Since the dawn of history, our region has paid blood and souls of its children as a ransom of war and destruction. We call on all peoples of this region and in all countries to meet together and reject anti- religious Takfirism, which is condemned by words and by culture, and keep the inner unity. We, as Christians, have been and continue to be indigenous elements of this region and of our social structures which we belong to; we have a basic role in building bridges of interaction with the other and together carry the burdens of all.
It is about time that the Golgotha of the East be buried under the footstep of the resurrection. Since the dawn of history, our region has paid blood and souls of its children as a ransom of war and destruction. We call on all peoples of this region and in all countries to meet together and reject anti- religious Takfirism, which is condemned by words and by culture, and keep the inner unity. We, as Christians, have been and continue to be indigenous elements of this region and of our social structures which we belong to; we have a basic role in building bridges of interaction with the other and together carry the burdens of all.
We pray for the peace in Syria, and for the stability of Lebanon; we
pray for Iraq and Egypt, Palestine and Jordan, and for the whole world.
We pray that peace will triumph over aggression, and that peace will
reach into people’s hearts, as conferences are being held for that
purpose. As Christians, we are rooted in the East, in the land where
Christ was born and whose face will not disappear. The face of Christ is
rooted in His birthplace: Palestine. The status and destiny of
Jerusalem will not be subject to politics, as it continues to be the
goal of all people, especially Christians and Muslims.
Again, we must focus on the status of the two Archbishops of the city
of Aleppo, which is reduced as an example of oppression against human
beings in this part of the world. Their kidnapping has become a product
and an issue in the midst of the market of interests. The two
Archbishops Paul and Youhanna were kidnapped in April 2013, and we
continue waiting with all those of goodwill, until their file is
resolved. What is painful and saddening is that kind of international
ignoring or pretending of inability of resolve this issue, in the utmost
silence of the world community towards their issue summarizing that of
all those who are kidnapped. We pray for them: for all kidnapped,
sufferers, martyrs, and those who are forced to leave their homes, as a
result of war, terrorism, religious Takfirism.
We represent this genuine continuation of the East, its being and
long history. From the East, our Antiochian children immigrated to all
countries in the world, carrying their gospel and their church, against
all odds. In the East, we stand immovable despite all circumstances,
with nostalgia to the remains of our fathers, and the memories of our
childhood. In the East, we have been fed our love to our homeland with
milk from the breasts of our mothers. Nothing will separate us from our
land, for in ‘her’ we dedicate our hearts and beings.
I appeal to you in God’s peace and love, asking Him to bestow His mercies on your hearts and fill your being with His heavenly joy; for He is blessed forever. Amen.
Issued from our Patriarchal HeadquartersI appeal to you in God’s peace and love, asking Him to bestow His mercies on your hearts and fill your being with His heavenly joy; for He is blessed forever. Amen.
Damascus, February 11th, 2018