ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE

Exarchate of Parishes of Russian
Tradition in Western Europe

Meeting between His Beatitude Gregorios III,
Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, of Alexandria,
of Jerusalem and All the East
and H. E. Gregorios, Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Thyateira
and Great Britain,
together with His Grace, Bishop Basil of Amphipolis
London, 16 September, 2006

Patriarch Gregorios, who was accompanied on this visit by Father Shafiq AbouZayd, expressed himself delighted by the brotherly welcome given by Archbishop Gregorios and Bishop Basil of Amphipolis and immediately opened by outlining the purpose of his visit, to highlight the plight of the Middle East’s Christian communities after the war in Lebanon.

Patriarch Gregorios characterised the thirty-three day war as deeply inhuman and cynical, a war of wanton destruction of the country’s infrastructure. Fifty-eight bridges had been destroyed, most roads and most industries. During those days, Lebanon became an archipelago, lacking means of communication, electricity and even drinking water. Hezbollah was not the only target: Muslims and Christians had suffered from blind bombs.

People in the south suffered the most serious consequences. The south’s population is 75% Shi’ite Muslim, 25% Christian, comprising Maronites, Greek Catholic and Greek Orthodox. Among the southern dioceses fifteen to twenty churches had been either destroyed or seriously damaged. (Mosques suffered in equal measure.) Centres for pastoral work, bishops’ residences, and charitable institutions had not been spared. Some 130 Christian homes were destroyed, representing some $700,000 worth of damage, without counting devastated fields and olive groves and the continuing danger to life from unexploded fragmentation bombs. During the conflict a million people fled their homes of whom 300,000 went to Syria on the first day of the war.

On 14 July, Patriarch Gregorios made an appeal for all his churches, monasteries and charitable institutions to open their doors to refugees of whatever background. Syria opened its borders. In the facilities of the Patriarchate alone, some six thousand people were lodged. The Archbishop of Athens delivered tons of food for the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Ignatius IV Hazim’s institutions. This was very needful, as three meals a day were being served to refugees. There were many other instances of remarkable generosity and solidarity in Syria, both from institutions: banks, government ministries and the like; and from individuals.

The Patriarch was touched by the gratitude with which his efforts were greeted by Muslims as well as Christians. On 5 August, all joined in a procession behind the cross, singing Marian hymns. This was an opportunity for Muslims and Christians to meet and express their love for each other. On 14 August, hours after the fighting ceased, people were already making their way back to their homes, before the Lebanese army had arrived and while Israeli troops were still in the country. Help is still needed, from non-governmental organizations and from European and other countries.

Archbishop Gregorios observed that he had been in Cyprus on 19 and 20 August and had seen people still arriving from the Lebanon in their thousands.

Patriarch Gregorios pointed out that during the conflict, there was an embargo on the Lebanese coast, but that once sea travel was permitted, emigrants, including growing numbers of people from the Eastern Churches, poured out of the country. Soon, he feared, the Middle East would be void of Christians as their favoured destinations were Canada, the Americas and Australia.

The Patriarch feared that without a Christian presence in the Middle East, the world would be polarised between East and West, the Middle East would soon be entirely Muslim as would the Holy Land, which Muslims are now claiming as their own. Currently, there are only 8,000 Christians of all denominations left in Jerusalem.

Patriarch Gregorios assured Archbishop Gergorios that peace would enable Christians to continue their witness to Christ and bring hope for the future. Without peace, emigration would continue apace. During the last decade alone, 10,000 Christians left the Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala area.

His Beatitude said that it was very unlikely that Hezbollah, the heroes of the conflict, would be persuaded to lay down their arms. The recently arrived peace-keeping troops appear to be taking their places for the defence of Israel’s borders, since they are staying behind those of Lebanon. In these conditions, it is impractical to tell Hezbollah’s forces to give up their weapons and go away. The presence of these foreign troops is really a palliative.

Prompted to state clearly what he wished to obtain from this ecumenical and brotherly encounter, His Beatitude stated that he sought support in prayer from fellow Christians of the Eastern tradition and signs, gestures symbolic of solidarity – even little ones. His Beatitude thanked His Grace, Bishop Basil for the recent gift of money sent to his Patriarchal Charity in Lebanon by the Russian Orthodox Parish of the Annunciation, Oxford.

His Beatitude’s greatest fear was that the churches of the Holy Land would become museums. Already there were few Christian shops left in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem, where the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate is built and just a handful in Bethlehem. Christian pilgrims are shown around by Jewish and Muslim guides who pay little attention to the many Christian holy places. Since the year 2000, pilgrims who dared to make the journey were few and the recent war has deterred them further. Cypriots still arrive for Holy Week, but since they are fasting, shops and restaurants do not benefit much from their trade! The Israeli population is about one-fifth Russian Orthodox Christian, but they are reluctant to admit their faith, as they would lose many of the privileges they are accorded as being of Jewish descent. Patriarch Gregorios characterised his twenty-six years as Patriarchal Vicar in Jerusalem as the happiest of his life, living as he did within earshot of the bells of the Church of the Resurrection.

Archbishop Gregorios expressed his admiration for Arab Christians living in their native lands, but at the same time his regret that the meeting with Patriarch Gregorios had been about sad things. He expressed himself pleased and honoured by the visit.

Thanking him, Patriarch Gregorios reminded Archbishop Gregorios that the Holy Land is the land of Christians, as it is filled with places sanctified by the Lord. He admitted to being sad, but not pessimistic.