On the morning of Tuesday, December 27, 2022, the long-established visits of the Hagiotaphite Brotherhood occurred to the native Church buildings, celebrating their Christmas vacation, in accordance with the Gregorian Calendar.
First, the go to to the Franciscan Brotherhood occurred. In it, Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem addressed the Custodian Fr. Francis Paton with the next deal with in English:
“Your Paternity, Father Francesco,
Your Eminences,
Your Graces,
Beloved Members of our Respective Fraternities,
Pricey Fathers,
We greet you with pleasure at the moment as you and your communities rejoice the good Feast of the Nativity of the Incarnate Logos, the Phrase made flesh.
Because the hymnographer tells us:
“Behold, the Most Holy Phrase comes unto his personal
in a holy physique that isn’t his.
By a wondrous start he makes his personal
the world that was estranged” .
(Irmos for the Forefeast of the Nativity)
On this festive Christmas season, it have to be our particular care to articulate a message of hope, particularly for our communities right here within the Holy Land. As all of us so absolutely acknowledge, we live by way of challenges and risks unprecedented in our lifetime, and our Christian communities within the Holy Land are bearing a horrible burden. The mixture of the implications of the pandemic, world financial volatility, political uncertainty within the area, and the strain to to migrate all weigh closely on our folks, particularly on our youth.
What hope can we present our personal folks? Can this hope, the Incarnate Logos, our Lord Jesus Christ, attain our personal folks with life-sustaining pressure within the face of a lot that appears to rob them of life?
The hope that involves us at Christmas is exactly the expectation that we are able to dwell absolutely within the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious panorama during which Divine Windfall has positioned us, the place there can and have to be peace, justice, reconciliation, and mutual respect of those that know themselves to be the little kids of the Creator and Father of all.
Hope is the conviction of those that are assured in God, even within the face of essentially the most horrible of circumstances. For, as Saint Paul says, we all know that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope doesn’t disappoint us, as a result of God’s love has been poured into our hearts by way of the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (Rom. 5:3-5). Hope is the resolve that our Lord Jesus Christ has made his personal a world that was as soon as estranged, however has now been redeemed by his life, ardour, dying, and resurrection.
Pricey Father Francesco, our unity of objective in our frequent mission to protect and serve the Holy Locations and to make sure the Christian integrity of the Holy Metropolis of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, is itself one other signal of hope, for this has produced actual fruits. We want to specific as soon as once more our appreciation for all that you’ve executed, and proceed to do, on this regard, particularly in your agency resolve within the face of provocative behaviour from radical teams. We’re stronger and simpler on this alliance.
ΜΑΥ our partnership ever deepen, that collectively we and our fraternities could also be brokers of hope to these entrusted to our pastoral care within the Christian communities of the Holy Land. On this manner, the world might even see hope born once more within the Holy Land, and the Holy Land might shine as a beacon of hope to the world.
We want you, the members of your Brotherhood, and all of the trustworthy dedicated to your care, the blessings and the enjoyment of this Christmas Feast.
Thanks”.
Then the go to to the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem occurred. There, the Patriarch addressed the Latin Patriarch Pierre Battista Pizzaballa with the next deal with in English:
“Your Beatitude, pricey Patriarch Pizzaballa,
Your Eminences,
Your Graces,
Pricey Fathers,
Beloved in Christ,
We want to prolong to you, Your Beatitude, the greetings and the blessings of this holy season as you and your communities rejoice the Christmas Feast. As we hear within the hymns at the moment of the yr:
A Mild shall spring forth from the basis of Jesse,
because the prophet full of sunshine foretold…
O ye folks, allow us to say:
Blessed are you, our God who has come amongst us:
Glory to you.
(Canticle 9, Mattins, the Forefeast of the Nativity)
The Mild that has come is the Incarnate Logos, the Phrase made Flesh, the Solar of Righteousness who has introduced therapeutic in his wings (Malachi 4:2). By uniting heaven and earth, divinity and humanity in himself, he has introduced hope to the world, so that every one might know that in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, (2 Cor. 5:19).
As all of us nicely know, we’re celebrating this Christmas season at a tough time for our world and our area. In each facet of our life, persons are beneath strain. So well-known are the circumstances of our current life that we want not quantity all of them, however their cumulative impact on our communities is extraordinarily critical. Maybe most critically, we see creeping despair, particularly amongst our younger folks, who don’t see a way forward for chance for themselves in our area.
We’ve a message of hope within the Gospel of Christ in order that hope could also be made manifest in our life at the moment. Our mission is exactly this, to bear witness to the manifestation of hope.
We want to take this chance to acknowledge your dedication, Your Beatitude, to making a tradition of hope in our area, even within the face of great problem and problem. For hope is the one mild that may pierce the darkness of despair and futility, and hope have to be our fixed message in addition to our tireless resolve. The frequent mission that we share in defending the Christian character of Jerusalem and the Holy Land and in pastoring the communities entrusted to us is nothing lower than a mission of hope. Μay we all the time maintain this hope earlier than us in all that we do.
Might God bless you and your communities on this holy season of sunshine and hope, as we rejoice the start of the dwelling Hope whose mild and life shine from the collapse Bethlehem for us all.
Thanks”.
Lastly, the Patriarch, accompanied by the Patriarchal Commissioner Metropolitan Isychios of Capitolias and the Geronda Chief Secretary Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina, visited the Apostolic Delegate (Nuncio), that’s, the consultant of the Vatican in Jerusalem.
Following these, was the go to to the Anglican Archbishop Naum Hossam, who, on the event of Christmas and the go to, supplied the Patriarch a embellished porcelain plate.
Supply: Patriarchate of Jerusalem
