Your Excellency, Archbishop of Malta, Charles Jude Sciculuna,

Your Eminence Metropolitan Kyrillos of Krini, Patriarchal Exarch of Malta,

Your Eminences,

Your Excellencies, Representatives of the civil authorities,

Reverend Fathers,

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

We thank the Merciful God, the Founder of the Church, who has enabled us to travel for the first time to this beautiful island, who two thousand years ago was blessed by the arrival of the Holy Apostle Paul, the Apostle of the nations, and to undertake our first pastoral visit since the creation of the Holy Patriarchal Exarchate of Malta in 2021. The reason of this synodal decision was to ensure a better pastoral ministry to the Orthodox faithful living on this blessed island and a more effective common Christian witness. We are glad and thankful to the civil authorities of Malta for having legally acknowledged the existence of our Exarchate and look forward for a harmonious collaboration with them in all spheres where our contribution will be needed and useful.

We are confident that the presence among you of our Patriarchal Exarch, His Eminence Metropolitan Kyrillos of Krini, will be fruitful, since he is a tireless worker in the vineyard of the Lord. First of all, as a world-renowned theologian, he is the author of plethora of books and articles related to Christian doctrine, ecclesiastical history, canon law and theology of religions. As a professor of theology at the University of Athens, he is greatly appreciated and is now serving for a second mandate as president of the department of social theology and religious studies of the Faculty of theology. Presently, he also teaches and serves as rector of our Institute of Post-graduated studies in Orthodox Theology at our Orthodox Center in Chambésy-Geneva, in Switzerland. As an international academic authority, he has been in the past the president of the Society for the Law of Eastern Churches, of which our Modesty has been a founding member, and recently he has been appointed by the Mother Church as the Orthodox Co-Chair of the Joint International Commission on Theological Dialogue between Orthodox Church and Lutheran World Federation and as member of the Synodal commission for the dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church. As you can see, the Holy and Great Church of Christ has given you a recognized and experienced theologian and pastor, and for this reason we are convinced that his witness and pastoral work will be fruitful and God pleasing.

Throughout its whole history, our Ecumenical Patriarchate has been fulfilling the command of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who sent his apostles to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth, by saying: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19). Indeed, the Lord wants “all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2, 4). For this reason, the Gospel message has a universal scope, and therefore the Church does not identify herself with any particular nation, but embraces all the peoples of the earth. In this spirit, the Holy and Great Church of Christ fulfils the commandment of her Founder, and for this reason, she has never been limited by any national character. As Elder Metropolitan John of Pergamon rightly emphasized, the Ecumenical Patriarchate “never at all felt into the temptation of nationalism, it always was and still is acting beyond national parameters, in other words, it was and is truly ecumenical”[1]. Throughout the centuries, it has served all Orthodox Christians, regardless of their race, their ethnic origin or their language. The Great Synod in Constantinople of 1872 vehemently condemned religious nationalism and ecclesiastical racism, which is commonly called “ethnophyletism”, by stating: “We renounce, censure and condemn phyletism, that is racial discrimination, ethnic feuds, hatreds and dissensions within the Church of Christ, as contrary to the teaching of the Gospel and the holy canons of our blessed fathers which support the holy Church and the entire Christian world, embellish it and lead it to divine godliness.”

It is with this spirit of ecumenicity and openness that our Patriarchal Exarchate was established here. We are particularly grateful to the local Roman Catholic Church for providing us this magnificent and historical church of Saint Nicholas in Valetta, whose panegyric vespers we celebrate this afternoon. This church will enable us to better serve the pastoral needs of all the Orthodox present in Malta. We take this opportunity to thank wholeheartedly His Excelleny the Archbishop of Malta Charles Jude Sciculuna for his fraternal and generous gesture.

We Christians must practice daily a “dialogue of life”, that is, a practical ecumenism. Already, a century ago, the famous encyclical of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of 1920 “to the Churches of Christ” which rang the bell for the establishment of a fellowship of churches, had proposed to Christians to allow each other the use of chapels and cemeteries, to strive to celebrate major Christian feasts at the same time together, to assist one another in their witness and acts of charity and to confront all tendencies injuring human dignity and Christian values. Indeed, the purpose of the Ecumenical Movement was from its origins to ensure a more effective witness of the Gospel in the world, which requires to be reconciled among ourselves and united so that we can speak with one voice and with one heart.

Unfortunately, we see how the message of the Gospel of Christ can be manipulated to justify war and the use of violence. The disastrous ongoing war in Ukraine between Christian brother peoples deeply saddens us. In response to these unacceptable and tragic events, we shall quote the document on The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, which was gathered in Crete in 2016, and which stated: “The Church of Christ condemns war in general, recognizing it as the result of the presence of evil and sin in the world” (D1, D3). Seeing the bloodshed unfolding before our eyes, we pray for the rest of the thousands of dead people and for the consolation and salvation of all who suffer from its consequences, calling once again for an immediate ceasefire and for a peaceful resolution of this conflict through sincere dialogue.

Since many centuries, the Holy and Great Church of Christ has always fostered and encouraged a culture of dialogue. Dialogue can only take place in a spirit of respect, responsibility and solidarity. The purpose of dialogue is mutual understanding with the aim of seeking justice and truth. Dialogue involves both parties: it cannot take place if there is no genuine desire to listen to the other. The starting point is the desire to clarify misunderstandings that may have developed over the centuries. Dialogue manifests true Christian love and mercy.

Dear brothers and sisters,

With these thoughts, we look forward to sharing these days with you, praying for the strengthening of the witness of the Gospel on this blessed island. Concluding this short address, we once again express the satisfaction of our Modesty for the development of our Patriarchal Exarchate in Malta and we convey the blessing of the Holy and Great Church of Christ to all of you, encouraging you to witness in words and deeds the Incarnated Truth who redeemed us through the Cross from the “slavery and alienation”, opening through His Resurrection the way to the eternal life in His Heavenly Kingdom. May the Lord of glory bless us and give strength to all of us to continue the good fight as his worthy disciples and giving “an accounting for the hope that is in us” (cf. 1 Pet. 3:15).

Christ is in our midst!

__________

[1]  John Zizioulas, Κόσμου λύτρον, Megara, 2014, p. 278.