“The
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of
the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” (cf. II Corinthians 13:13)
With this Pauline greeting, by which priest, bishop and Patriarch salute the
faithful at the beginning of the anaphora during the Divine Liturgy, we greet
you, reverend brothers and dear sons and daughters, in Arab countries and
throughout the diaspora. At the beginning of this Year of the Holy Apostle Paul,
we greet you from our patriarchal residence in Damascus and from the quarter of
Saint Paul, spiritual son of Damascus by baptism.
I shall write a special letter for this year, but I believe I have to send this
foreword to enable us thereby to begin together the Year of Saint Paul in
spiritual and ecclesial fellowship that will give us joy for this blessed
jubilee. I am writing this especially to my brother, his Excellency Joseph Absi,
Patriarchal Vicar in Damascus, and to all my sons, the priests and monks, as
well as to the nuns and lay-people of our Patriarchal Eparchy of Damascus. I am
entrusting this year to our Vicar, priests and committees of that eparchy, to
work together as a commission under the presidency of our son, Archimandrite
Antonios Mousleh, so as to make the celebration of this Pauline Year special in
all our parishes in Damascus.
Celebration in
Rome
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will open this jubilee year on Saturday 28 June
2008 in Rome. I shall take part, by special invitation, in the opening on
Saturday and on Sunday 29, Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, will concelebrate
with His Holiness in the Pontifical Mass in the Basilica of Saint Peter.
I shall be representing our Patriarchal Church, during this opening, in Eternal
Rome, place of the martyrdom of Saint Paul; together with the Assembly of the
Catholic Hierarchy in Syria, as its president, and our Patriarchal Eparchy in
Damascus where the Patriarchal Throne of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church is
geographically situated. I shall pray at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul as
we did with my brothers, their Excellencies the Hierarchs, the Superiors General
and Mothers General and the groups that accompanied us last May, during our
historic visit to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI who welcomed us with their
Eminences the Cardinals, his collaborators in the Roman Curia, with an abundance
of love and appreciation.
My Beloved,
I believe that the two most important places for the celebration of the Year of
Saint Paul are Damascus and Rome. Damascus was his spiritual birthplace through
the baptism bestowed by the Holy Apostle Ananias, our predecessor and first
Bishop of Damascus. The second is Rome, place where ended Paul’s “good
fight” as he calls it, with his martyrdom wherein the Apostle shed his blood
as a libation for love of Christ. In fact, he says, “For me to live is Christ
and to die is gain,” (Philippians 1:21) “and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
(Galatians 2:20)
The Importance
of the Celebration in Damascus
I would like to emphasize
especially the importance of the celebration of the Year of Saint Paul to
Damascus, capital of Syria, which has been chosen this year as capital of Arab
culture for the year 2008. During the reception of the late Pope John Paul II in
May 2001, President Bashar Al-Assad said that Syria is the “cradle of
Christianity.” Saint Paul embodies the history of Christianity in Syria and in
this very city constitutes one of the distinguishing symbols of culture,
civilization, heritage and especially religion, for faith is the source and
foundation of civilizations. Damascus is the place of our splendid Antiochian
Patriarchal Throne. Antioch, called the Great City of God, capital of the
Eastern Roman Empire and capital of the Umayyad caliphs, is also the capital of
the Christian East, and the most senior bishopric after Jerusalem, the City of
the Resurrection. In Antioch, the disciples of Christ were called Christians for
the first time. That is the name which preceded every national or communal kind
of name for Christians. May this beautiful, blessed, universal name again refer
to Christians of all rites, confessions, nationalities, countries and peoples!
Damascus Heir
of Antioch
Damascus, today, is the headquarters of three Eastern Patriarchs that are heirs
of the Antiochian See: Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic and Syrian Orthodox. To
them may be added the two Patriarchs who bear the title of Antioch but are in
Lebanon (at Bkerkeh and Sharfeh): that of the Maronite Church and that of the
Syriac Catholic Church.
On this occasion, we wish that Antioch and its five heirs in Damascus and
Beirut, in Syria and Lebanon, representing the Christians most involved in the
Arab East, its culture, civilization and religious and civil history of faith,
and in the multiplicity of its confessions and Christian and Muslim millets, may
find the place that is their due! May the Church of the Arab East again play a
guiding role in the spiritual, faith, pastoral, civil, cultural, economic,
sociological and even political domains!
The Year of
Saint Paul and the Role of Christians in the Arab World
May the celebration of
the Year of Saint Paul be a stimulus for the Church of the Middle East to play
its dynamic role in the Arab Christian and Muslim context, unique in Christian
dialogue, of fostering peace in that region, supporting human rights whose basis
is in faith in God, such as is found in Christianity and Islam. These rights are
capable of opening up in the Arab world new horizons onto that prosperity and
flourishing of civilization expected by the young generation of Arabs.
Moreover, very dear reverend brothers, I would like to inform you that His
Holiness the Pope will send a representative at the end of the year to Syria,
Lebanon and other countries of the region where Saint Paul traveled to proclaim
the Gospel of peace and love.
Opening of the
Jubilee Year in Syria and Lebanon
Several special events will take place in Syria and the Lebanon. In the latter
country, the opening of the year will be celebrated on Saturday 28 June with
ecumenical prayer in which all denominations will participate – Catholic,
Orthodox and Evangelical.
In Damascus itself, for three days, there will take place a series of events
shared by all the different Christian communities, with the participation of the
Syrian Ministry of Tourism (details of the program are available in Damascus.)
These celebrations are related to the places which witnessed the main stages of
the conversion and calling of Paul:
- monastery of
the vision of Saint Paul at Tel Kawkab (an important site of the Greek Orthodox
Church) where the official opening of the Year of Saint Paul will take place;
- Church of Saint
Ananias, in the care of the Franciscan Fathers;
- monastery of
Saint Paul on the Wall or at the Kisan Gate, whence Saint Paul fled to Hauran
(this important site belongs to the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate);
- cave where
Saint Paul took refuge after his flight (in the care of the Franciscan Fathers,
Bab Sharqi quarter.)
The
program includes a pilgrimage along Straight Street and visits to the
great Umayyad Mosque, the citadel of Damascus, the Greek Orthodox, Greek
Catholic and Syriac Orthodox Patriarchates, besides the important sites
mentioned above.
The
celebration also includes a pilgrimage to the Church of Saint Paul at Daraya (an
Arab word meaning monastery of the vision, the place where it is thought that
the Lord appeared to Saint Paul), as well as in other churches of the capital
dedicated to Saint Paul, amongst which is the church shared by Greek Catholics
and Orthodox at Dummar, and the cathedral of the Syriac Catholics.
General
Program in Damascus
Concerning our Damascene
eparchy and Syria in general, we should like to mention the creation of a
special committee to work out the details of different programs in the light of
the celebrations anticipated this year. Amongst these are being arranged talks,
an exhibition on Saint Paul, the publication of a monthly bulletin under the
title, “Letter of Saint Paul to the Damascenes,” pilgrimages to Damascus
itself and the parishes and places in the city that recall Saint Paul, to Turkey
(visit to Tarsus, birth city of the Apostle, Cappadocia, Antioch), as well as to
Malta, Athens and Italy.
Still on the theme of our Damascene eparchy, we should like to express our
gratitude to his Excellency President Bashar Al-Assad, whom we met in company
with our brother, Vicar General Joseph Absi, and to whom we explained the whole
importance of this anniversary of the second millennium of the birth of the holy
Apostle Paul, spiritual son of Damascus. For this jubilee confirms the remark of
the President, that we recalled with pride, namely that, “Syria is the cradle
of Christianity and the meeting-place of civilizations.” His Excellency
showed a keen interest in the matter and asked the Ministries of Tourism and
Information to undertake substantive measures to co-operate in ensuring the
success of this anniversary. For that purpose, the Syrian Ministry of Tourism
published three large posters. The patriarchal committee in its turn has created
a poster on which Saint Paul is seen looking out from the walls of Damascus at
the whole world, both East and West. After his conversion, it was from Damascus
that he would carry the light of the Holy Gospel to the four corners of the
earth.
We have sent out to several episcopal conferences across the world invitations
to come and visit the holy places of the Pauline adventure in Damascus.
Brethren and
Beloved Children,
We believe this jubilee
year to be a special opportunity to renew holy faith in the hearts of our
faithful. That is what His Holiness the Pope recommended when we visited him
last May. For that purpose, every bishop in his eparchy ought to find
appropriate ways to mark this jubilee year. We hope to remain in contact to
exchange services and talks with a view to the success of this jubilee, and that
it may bear fruit in our parishes. We pray especially for the Year of Saint Paul
to be a year of just, lasting and general peace in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and
Iraq as throughout all our dear East.
We close this letter in peace and love, after the manner of Saint Paul whose own
would conclude in an outpouring of love, kindness, brotherliness and tenderness.
We would like these feelings to reach in our name, all those who read and
publish this letter. So we wish that all to whom these feelings extend may share
them with family, relatives, friends, acquaintances, colleagues and
fellow-citizens.
We greet you, brethren, with the words of the Apostle himself, “Finally,
brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in
peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with an
holy kiss. All the saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all! Amen.”
(II Corinthians 13: 11-13)
With my apostolic
blessing
+
Gregorios III
Patriarch of
Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
Translated from
the French by V. Chamberlain
