Patriarch Gregory III's 2000 Christmas Message(2/01)

 Gregory III, By the Grace of God, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East

To: All our brothers the Bishops, our sons the Priests and Monks, our daughters the Nuns and all the faithful who constitute our Greek Melkite Catholic Church in the Patriarchates of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem, in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Egypt, Sudan, the other Arab countries and in the Diaspora:

Peace to you from Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ:

Like the shepherds of Beit Sahoor, staying up and watching, we too are staying up and watching the historical Night in order to “hear what ear has not heard and what has not entered the human heart” ( 1 Cor 2: 9). Today, in the Great Jubilee Year, we listen to the Hymn of the Angels and the Symphony of Generations that was revealed in Palestine, the Land of Inspiration, the Cradle of the Prophets and their visions, bringing to us, as it has already brought to our predecessors the good shepherds, Patriarchs and Bishops, as swell as to all sincere faithful, the Good Tidings of Heaven to Earth: “Do not be afraid; for behold I proclaim to you Good News of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David, a Savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.” (Lk 2: 10-11). In harmony and unison with the Choir of Angels it brings us the immortal Christmas Hymn: “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will to men” (Lk 2: 14)

In this Feast of the Nativity of the second millennium Great Jubilee, I too, the new Patriarch Gregory, remain - like you and for you - staying up and watching, which is precisely the meaning of my name, in order to bring to you the Good News and to convey to you my sincere love as a father, a brother, a friend and a pastor. To all of you I say: I love you!

My first message to you is a Christmas message by which I open a dialog of the spirit with the children of my Church everywhere. The dialog had already been initiated by Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who although being God before all ages, “when the fullness of time had come, was sent by the Father to be born of a woman” Our Mother the Virgin Mary (Gal 4:4). He was sent as an Incarnate Word, as a Man,  “who made his dwelling among us and with us, a Light that enlightens every one” (Jn 1: 9, 14). By His birth in the very heart of history he gave us grace in place of grace, broke down the dividing wall of enmity between people, restoring unity, making a new man from the old man, love from hostility, peace from war, reconciling men with their common Father, making them one spirit and exhorting them to seek their Creator as loving children, each one in one’s own country, language, civilization and culture, crying out: Abba, Father! (cf. Eph 2:13-18 & Gal 4:6)

In this message I would like to express the permanent, basic principles of my life and of my activity, along with my expectations and preoccupations, in the hope that we would cooperate following the inspiration of the Spirit and trying to understand the signs of the times and the needs of our Church and our society.

With my brothers the Bishops, with our Father Patriarch Maximos who is a blessing and a crown for our Church, with all our faithful - Clergy and people - we form an Eastern Catholic Church. We are also an Arab Church which has historical roots and institutions in all our Eastern homelands and is, at the same time, spread all over the world. In spite of its large Diaspora, it faithfully remains attached to its genuine Arab heritage. It is also in full and firm communion with the Church of Rome which detains the primacy of love, with the sister Catholic Churches and with all the other Christian Churches. Our Church wants also to maintain a spiritual relationship and a distinctive fraternal dialog with its sister the Orthodox Church, especially the Antiochian one. This dialog has already been started by our dignified predecessors and we shall do our utmost in order to pursue our march into the 3^rd Christian millennium.

We all, Patriarch, Bishops, priests, monks, nuns and laity, form the Greek Melkite Catholic Church. We shall stay united, side by side, hand in hand, shoulder by shoulder, so that with one mouth and one heart we may glorify and extol the name of the One God (Anaphora of the Divine Liturgy), serve our brothers in humanity and be an ever-present, witnessing, serving and loving Community and Church.

The crop is abundant! That is what I have experienced during the first few days of my service as Patriarch, while I was receiving congratulations from people of all social strata. They have all expressed the expectations and the hopes they anticipate from the new Patriarch. They want him to be watchful, to keep his eyes, his heart and his ears open, to work hard and to use the gifts bestowed upon him by the Holy Spirit, in such a way that the Patriarchate with all its capabilities may become a huge building-yard in all domains, on all levels, where every member of the Church – especially the youths - could find a share, a duty, a role and a responsibility. The projects of the Church are the projects of the country where it lives, the projects of the people with whom we share our daily bread and our working opportunities and with whom we are called to build a world dominated by fraternity, love, cooperation and solidarity. Yes, together we are called to build the world of God on the earth of man.

Our homelands need us all, no matter to what religion, confession, party or category of people we belong. That is why we appeal to our children not to emigrate, but to remain attached to their country, their homeland, their language and their heritage. For 2000 years, the Christian presence in the Near and Middle East has never ceased. It is an integral part of the Arab society. Flight is forbidden! Isolationism is fatal! And emigrating is betrayal! We have to stay together and to avoid emigrating as well as causing others to emigrate. This means we should not be a danger for them, but accept them as they are and always see in them co-citizens, brethren and associates having the full rights and duties entailed by citizenship.

That is what makes us stay together, build together, serve together, love together and be happy together. No matter the stand taken by other people: as father, shepherd and Patriarch I appeal to my spiritual brothers and children within my Patriarchal jurisdiction for staying together, remaining watchful along with all our other citizens at the threshold of the Third Millennium, keeping our lamps alight, so that we may be like a beam of light shining from the lamp stand, like salt in food, like leaven in the dough of the societies and the homelands from which we come, for which we live, and with which we form one single and undivided entity.

GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Someone came up to me and congratulated me saying: “You are the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church!” What a lovely good wish! I thank him and promise not only him, but all our people, to do my best in order to really be that gift, opening my own sails and those of my Patriarchate to the breeze of the Holy Spirit, so as to initiate a new Pentecost in our Church or rather in our world, delimiting the various domains and forming spiritual communities on all levels from the summit to the base.

Speaking of the Holy Spirit, Jesus says: “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always” (Jn 14: 15-16).  To all my spiritual brothers and children in all parts of my jurisdiction, within the Arab dioceses and in the immigration countries, i.e. the parishes, the religious orders, the monasteries, the organizations, the fraternities and all the other apostolic movements, my promise is: I shall be with you! May the Spirit help me to be a comforter, an advocate, an always-ready assistant, understanding, listening, encouraging, loving and serving. I shall do all this for you and for every one in order to achieve what Jesus said: “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10: 10)

In this message I particularly direct my thoughts to Jerusalem, to the Cradle city of Bethlehem and its neighborhood, indeed to all the Holy Land where I have lived and served for 26 years: its holiness accompanies me and beams its sweet light upon my Patriarchal mission. Jerusalem is the capital of our common faith. It is now grieving, suffering, under blockade. With all the other areas of our beloved Palestine, it is submitted to a severe ordeal. We appeal to all of you to join us in showing our solidarity with the people of Jerusalem, or rather with all the inhabitants of the Holy Land, imploring Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the Divine Infant of the Cave, to fulfil the true mission of Jerusalem, which is to be the city of peace, the city of God, the city of man, of every human being. I invite you all to pray so that this peace may reign all over our Arab countries, especially Syria, Lebanon and Irak and that every country may recover its land, its holy places, its dignity, its freedom, its sovereignty, its full rights, its joy, its happiness, its prosperity, its security and its stability. 

CONCLUSION

I conclude by asking all of you to pray for me and to love me, as I love you. I say it in particular to our young people who constitute the future of our Church and our homelands.

Our prayers and good wishes go to all rulers of these countries, where our children live, especially in the Arab Near East, asking the Lord to grant them a rule of peace and progress “so that we too in their tranquillity may lead a quiet life in all devotion and dignity”(1 Tim 2: 2)

We convey our paternal greetings and apostolic blessing especially to our spiritual children who live in the immigration countries and whose circumstances greatly differ from those of their brethren in the motherlands. We implore the Divine Savior to bless them and their families, especially the children, the youths, the elderly and the sick, so that they may carry the sweet fragrance of the Near East in their respective new homelands and everywhere. May they contribute to building up the countries of their adoption and enrich them with their genuine spiritual heritage, while they remain attached to their countries of origin. This way we shall become one Church glorifying God and singing all together: Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will to men.

To all we wish a Glorious Christmas Day and a blessed first year of the New Millennium.

May the blessing of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God, be upon you all. Amen

Issued at our Patriarchal Residence of Rabweh, Lebanon

December 24, 2000

 + Patriarch Gregory III

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