MELKITE - GREEK
CATHOLIC PATRIARCHATE

 

Letter of His Beatitude Gregorios III,
Patriarch of Antioch and of All the Orient,
of Alexandria and of Jerusalem,
on the occasion of the Closure of the Year of Saint Paul
 

The Collaborators of Saint Paul

 
“I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace.”
(Acts of the Apostles 20: 32)
 

From Gregorios III, servant of Jesus Christ,
by the grace of God Patriarch of Antioch and All the East,
of Alexandria and of Jerusalem,
to their most Reverend Excellencies the Hierarchs,
members of our venerable Holy Synod,
and to all the sons and daughters in Christ of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, clergy and people, who are “called to be saints,
with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord…,
grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
(I Corinthians 1: 2-3)
 

On the occasion of the closure of this jubilee year celebrating two thousand years since the Apostle Paul’s birth, a year dedicated to knowing and venerating him, he is not bidding us farewell, because he is always among us while we hear his voice, especially on Sundays and indeed during every Divine Liturgy.

“I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace.” Saint Paul is not saying good-bye, but thanking us for having venerated him over the course of this year. He commends his call and Gospel and God’s word of grace, that our faith be not shallow or vain, nor this jubilee year without fruit in our Church.

What Saint Paul said to his collaborators and to the first Christian community, I am passing on to you, sons and daughters of our Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and to all those who will read this letter, to all who have been celebrating this Pauline Year, meditating on his Epistles or presenting them in their sermons to the people. I would like to mention here especially my brother bishops, priests, monks, nuns, catechists, leaders of brotherhoods, scouts, youth and other movements, who really decided to celebrate this year with a great deal of love, renewing their faith and the faith of God’s dear people, who made the spiritual pilgrimage to Damascus and other places which keep the Apostle Paul’s memory alive.
 

The Year of Saint Paul

The Holy Father wanted the Year of Saint Paul to be a celebration that would make our faith live. Yet this celebration is an event in itself. We celebrated this event in a splendid way in Damascus.

I would like to include here, among the collaborators of Saint Paul, those who worked to animate this jubilee especially in Syria, and to mention here in first place His Excellency the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Doctor Bashar al-Assad, who, with several of his ministers, decided to give this year a special impetus. Also meriting thanks are all the various commissions, which went into action here during this Year of Saint Paul. To all, Paul’s blessing and love.     

This jubilee is a departure point for Saint Paul and his mission in the third millennium. He has left us his Epistles as a reliquary and he wishes to count us among his collaborators in bearing the Gospel message, just like those who worked with and alongside him. We all – or an elite among us - wish to be numbered with those who have deserved to be called by the beautiful names that Saint Paul gave to his collaborators.

In this fourth letter on Saint Paul in this Pauline Year, I would like to show how Saint Paul enabled the new faithful, whether Jews or Gentiles, to share in the Gospel’s message. Although Saint Paul likes to speak of himself always as an “Apostle, called” by Christ Jesus himself, he nevertheless calls the faithful to work with him, at his side and following his guidance.

That is what we shall see in the Acts of the Apostles, which recount the life of Saint Paul in detail, and later in his Epistles.

 

The Collaborators of Saint Paul in the Acts of the Apostles

The first Christians of Damascus saved Saint Paul from death and enabled him to flee from the walls (Bab Kisan) of their city (Acts 9:25) and escape the King of the Nabateans, Aretas IV, on whom the city’s governor depended. (II Corinthians 11:32-33)

In Tarsus, Paul and Barnabas met and both went to Antioch and there collected relief offerings for the new faithful of Jerusalem. (Acts 11:30)

Barnabas remained at Paul’s side, thereafter, in many of his missionary journeys. Together, they founded the first Christian communities and “ordained elders in every church.” (Acts 14: 23)

Among the Apostle’s early collaborators, we find the names of Judas and Silas. (Acts 15: 27) After a while, Paul and Barnabas went their separate ways. (ibid. 15: 39) Later, Paul chose Silas to accompany him. (ibid. 15: 40) Then, in Derbe and Lystra, Paul took Timothy with him. (ibid. 16:1-3)

Near the city of Philippi, Paul and Silas were invited to the home of the seller of purple, Lydia, “whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us saying, ‘If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there.’ And she constrained us.” (Acts 16: 14-15 and 40)

In Corinth, Saint Paul met Aquila and his wife, Priscilla. “And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.” (Acts 18:1-3) Still in Corinth, Paul “entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue…. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” (ibid. 18: 7, 11)

From Corinth, Paul “sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila,” (Acts 18: 18) then stopped at Ephesus. There, Priscilla and Aquila took Apollos with them, “an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures,” who “was instructed in the way of the Lord” to some degree, “and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.” (ibid. 18:24-26) Then, Apollos went into Achaia, where he “helped them much which had believed through grace.” (ibid. 18: 27)

Then in Ephesus, Saint Paul taught for two years in the school of one Tyrannus. (Acts 19: 9-10) A little later, from Ephesus, Paul “sent into Macedonia, two of them that ministered unto him, Timothy and Erastus” to preach there. (ibid. 19: 22)

Still in Ephesus we find “Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel.” (Acts 19: 29)

It is noteworthy that many of Saint Paul’s collaborators have been counted by the Church as disciples and Saints. (For their Feasts and Commemorations according to the Synaxarion of the Churches of Byzantine tradition and according to the Roman Martyrology, see the Appendix.)

In Paul’s journey from Ephesus to Macedonia, “there accompanied him into Asia Sopater of Berea; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.” (Acts 20: 4)

Before leaving again for Jerusalem, “from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church,” (Acts 20: 17) and after their arrival, bade them adieu in a very moving speech. (ibid. 20: 18-35) In it we read, “And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.” (ibid. 20: 25) “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” (ibid. 20: 28) “Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” (ibid. 20: 31-32)

“And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.” (Acts 20:36-38)

The Acts of the Apostles gives us another picture of that profound, spiritual friendship during the crossing of Paul and his companions to Tyre. (Acts 21: 3-5)

In Ptolemais (the present day city of Acre, see of our Melkite Greek Catholic eparchy of Galilee in Palestine), there took place another meeting of Paul with the first Christians of that town: “We…saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day.” (Acts 21: 7) At Caesarea of Palestine, we find a new companion of Paul: “We entered into the house of Philip, the evangelist, which was one of the seven (first deacons).” (Acts 21: 8) On the way from Caesarea to Jerusalem, Paul and his companions lodge with a disciple called Mnason, of Cyprus. (Acts 21: 16)

In the life of Paul there appears just one of his relatives, whose name is not given: his nephew, his sister’s son, who saves him from the hands of the Jews in Jerusalem. (Acts 23: 16-22)

In his journey to Rome to be judged by Caesar, his companions are Aristarchus, a Macedonian, and Luke. At the first stop, in Sidon (Saida), Paul meets friends of his from that city and obtains refreshment from them. (Acts 27: 3)

On his arrival in Rome, the brethren welcome Paul at the entrance to the city, which encourages the Apostle in his last trial. (Acts 28: 15)       

 

The Collaborators of Paul in the Epistles
 

Epistle to the Romans

In this Epistle, Paul is speaking “to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” (Romans 1: 7)

He tells them that he is praying, “if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.” (Romans 1:10-12) Here Paul’s friendship is expressed, primarily as a friendship in shared faith, expressed in very human yet sublime terms.

Saint Paul alludes, in this Epistle, to a commission of faithful from Macedonia and Achaia who have collected money for distribution to “the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.” (Romans 15: 26-27) In chapter sixteen, the last of this Epistle, there is a long string of greetings and recommendations to do with this group of collaborators dear to Paul, whom he describes in glowing terms:
“I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: that ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the first-fruits of Achaia unto Christ.
Greet Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Greet Amplias my beloved in the Lord. Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. Salute Apelles approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus' household. Salute Herodion my kinsman. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord.
Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which laboured much in the Lord. Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine. Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren which are with them. Salute Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them. Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.” (Romans 16: 1-16)
Then Saint Paul passes on the greetings of his collaborators who are with him,
“Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you. I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord. Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, saluteth you, and Quartus, a brother.” (Romans 16: 21-23)



First Epistle to the Corinthians

This Epistle begins with the greeting of “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God” and of a disciple, Sosthenes, of whom we know only the name. (I Corinthians 1: 1)

Further on, we find the names of those whom Paul himself baptised: Crispus, Gaius and “the household of Stephanas.” (I Corinthians 1: 14, 16)

We find again the name of Barnabas. (I Corinthians 9: 6) Then there is a whole group of collaborators: Timotheus, who “worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do,” (I Corinthians 16:10) Apollos, (ibid. 16: 12) the house of Stephanas, which is “the first-fruits of Achaia, and that (whose members) have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.…Submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboureth.” (ibid. 15-17)

Paul then mentions Fortunatus and Achaicus (I Corinthians 16: 17) and adds, “The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.” (ibid. 16: 19) He concludes in these affectionate terms, “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.” (ibid. 16: 24)   
      

Second Epistle to the Corinthians

The beginning of this Epistle alludes to the very close collaboration between Paul and his “brother” Timotheus. (II Corinthians 1: 1) Later, we read, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus …” (ibid. 1: 19) Then he mentions several times his “brother” Titus. (ibid. 2:13; 7: 6-7; 8: 6, 16-20 and 23: 12, 18)

In chapter eight, there are very plain allusions to a group from the Church of Macedonia who form, apparently, a committee to collect support for the Christians of
Jerusalem. (II Corinthians 8: 1-5) In Corinth itself, there is a similar committee, about which Paul says, “And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.” (ibid. 8:10-11)
It seems that the co-ordinator of this committee for the task of collecting the gifts ear-marked for the faithful of Jerusalem, was Titus. (II Corinthians 8: 16, 23)
There is another record of Titus with two other collaborators, which clearly shows that there were committees at work, with or without Paul. In fact, Saint Paul was of course busy preaching the Gospel, but also taking care of material assistance to the poor of Jerusalem.
“But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you. And we have sent with him the brother [perhaps Luke], whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches; and not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind: avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us: providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, upon the great confidence which I have in you. Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow-helper concerning you: or our brethren be enquired of, they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ. Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.” (II Corinthians 8: 16-24)
Saint Paul speaks again of these committees in the following chapter,
“For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many. Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.” (II Corinthians 9: 1-5)
Later, Saint Paul observes that he and his collaborators have been trustworthy in the distribution of the gifts,
“But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? Walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?” (II Corinthians 12: 16-18)    
  


Epistle to the Galatians

At the start of this Epistle, Saint Paul writes, “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) and all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia.” (Galatians 1: 1-2)



Epistle to the Ephesians

In this Epistle we find mention of another fellow-worker, “But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things: whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.” (Ephesians 6: 21-22)



Epistle to the Philippians

In this Epistle, which begins with the greeting from “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi,” (Philippians 1:1) there is the mention of a group of faithful, “with bishops and deacons,” who are Saint Paul’s collaborators,
“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1: 3-11)
Again, Saint Paul recalls the work of Timotheus,
“But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.” (Philippians 2: 19-23)
Then Saint Paul mentions his “brother” Epaphroditus, with details about his life and health,
“Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation: because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.” (Philippians 2: 25-30)
Saint Paul then expresses his wishes concerning certain collaborators of his,
“I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book of life.” (Philippians 4: 2-3)
At the end of the Epistle, there is a sign of the presence of a committee helping the “saints” and Paul himself,
“But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4: 18-19)
The Epistle ends with greetings from the Apostle’s fellow-labourers,
“Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.” (Philippians 4: 21-22)


Epistle to the Colossians
Like the Epistle to the Philippians, this letter starts with the greeting of Paul and his “brother” Timotheus. (Colossians 1: 1) A little further on, Paul mentions another fellow-worker who taught the Colossians, “Epaphras, our dear fellow-servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.” (Colossians 1: 7-8)
The Epistle ends with greetings and mentions of those working alongside the Apostle, with praise and Paul’s testimony on behalf of each of them,

“All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord: whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts; with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.

Aristarchus my fellow-prisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;) and Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you. Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.” (Colossians 4: 7-17)



First Epistle to the Thessalonians

This Epistle starts with greetings, not only from Paul and Timothy, but also from Silvanus, another fellow-worker of the Apostle’s. (I Thessalonians 1: 1) Timothy, however, receives special mention in chapter three, when Paul sends him from Athens to Thessalonica,
“Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone; and sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellow-labourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith: that no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto…But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you.” (I Thessalonians 3:1-3, 6)      
In this Epistle, there is another mention of a committee working in Thessalonica for material concerns and for spiritual guidance, “And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.” (I Thessalonians 5: 12-13)
 

Second Epistle to the Thessalonians

This Epistle starts, like the First to the Thessalonians, with a greeting from “Paul, and Silvanus and Timotheus.”
 

First Epistle to Timothy

This Epistle, which Saint Paul addresses to the one he calls “my own son in the faith,” (I Timothy 1: 1), contains a whole series of pieces of guidance and advice. Saint Paul has complete trust in Timothy and gives him various responsibilities for the service of the community with its different groups.
 

Second Epistle to Timothy

In this Epistle, which he addresses to the one he calls “my dearly beloved son” (II Timothy 1: 1) and “my son” (ibid. 2:1), Saint Paul praises Timothy for his faith, transmitted from that of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. (ibid. 1: 5) He expresses his longing to see him (ibid. 1: 4) and assures him of his prayers (ibid. 1: 3)
Further on, Saint Paul mentions with deep gratitude his disciple Onesiphorus,
“The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: but, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.” (II Timothy 1: 16-18)
Saint Paul asks Timothy to organise the co-ordination of apostolic work,
“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” (II Timothy 2: 1-2)
In chapter four, Saint Paul mentions several of his fellow-workers, describing their situations and making new recommendations,
“Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.” (II Timothy 4: 9-13)
Finally, Saint Paul sends his personal greetings, 
“Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. Do thy diligence to come before winter. Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren.” (II Timothy 4: 19-21)   


Epistle to Titus

In this Epistle, Saint Paul calls his addressee, “Titus, mine own son after the common faith.” (Titus 1: 4)

At the end of the Epistle, Saint Paul mentions some of his collaborators,
“When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter. Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.” (Titus 3: 12-13) 

Epistle to Philemon

 In this Epistle, there is a whole group of names of Saint Paul’s collaborators (Philemon 1: 1-7):
“Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow-labourer, and to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the church in thy house: grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.”
Saint Paul then asks Philemon to receive Onesimus (Philemon 1: 10-19):
“I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me: whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels: whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel: but without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.
For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever; not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord? If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.
If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account; I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.”
At the close, Saint Paul passes on the greetings of his co-workers (Philemon 1: 23-24): “There salute thee Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus; Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow-labourers.”



Epistle to the Hebrews

At the end of this Epistle, Saint Paul mentions the leaders of the Hebrew Christians (Hebrews 13: 7,  17) and gives them notice of Timothy’s being freed (Hebrews 13: 23-24):
“Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you. Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.”



Attributes and Responsibilities of Saint Paul’s Co-workers

Saint Paul describes his co-workers in glowing terms, using touching and affectionate expressions, but assigns them well-defined responsibilities, with precise guidance that is often harsh and demanding.

In his Epistles, his fellow-workers are “brethren,” “dear,” “sisters,” “parents,” “fellow-labourers in Christ Jesus,” “beloved,” “first-fruits” of those risen in Christ and elect of Christ, especially in the Epistle to the Romans. (16: 1-16) They give hospitality, scribe the Apostle’s letters, share in preaching the Gospel and are collaborators of grace.

They are the Apostle’s joy and crown, being sent by him, as faithful servants, slaves of God with Paul, striving for the Gospel, labourers in preaching the Kingdom, zealous in service.

They are given apostolic, spiritual and material responsibilities, to do with founding, organising and guiding new communities. Some also offer hospitality to Paul and his companions, putting a school at his disposal; others preach, explaining the new way founded on the teachings of the Gospel; guide new groups of faithful; preside at liturgical celebrations; co-ordinate the work of committees for collecting and distributing aid to the faithful of Jerusalem; choose presbyters; carry letters, messages and news of the Church’s life; and are asked by Paul to console and strengthen the faith of those who are suffering or persecuted.

So, Saint Paul has recourse to his collaborators; he asks even those who are new in the way of the Gospel, to help him carry the message.  This is due to Paul’s ardour, as he writes, “Woe to me if I preach not the Gospel,” (I Corinthians 9:16) and tells his disciple Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season.” (II Timothy 4: 2) Paul wants every baptised person to be a bearer of the message with him, giving him or her the same recommendation as he had to his disciple Timothy. That explains why we find such a large number of co-workers with Paul on his apostolic missions and travels, so that no Epistle is without mention of the Apostle’s co-workers; there is not a single town where Paul preached that he did not leave fellow-workers or found committees designed to continue the work of Jesus and the Gospel. (Cf. The Catecheses of His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI on Paul and His Collaborators in the general audiences of 31 January and 7 and 14 February, 2007.)

It is really amazing to see how many co-workers are gathered around Paul, receiving from him very specific apostolic, sacramental and organisational responsibilities.
 

The Laity according to Vatican II

In the Decree Apostolicam actuositatem on the Apostolate of the Laity, of 18 November 1965, the Second Vatican Council alludes several times to the collaborators of Saint Paul mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles and points out that the mission of lay-people in the Church is based on their Christian vocation and baptism. That mission relates to various aspects of life, Saint Paul had already described in his Epistles, as we have seen above.

That was emphasised in the decree of Vatican II. In fact, there is not one of the sixteen conciliar documents which, in one way or another, does not allude to the importance of the lay vocation in the Church and in society.

The Conciliar decree on the laity says verbatim (numbers 2 and 3):

In the Church there is a diversity of ministry but a oneness of mission. Christ conferred on the Apostles and their successors the duty of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling in His name and power. But the laity likewise share in the priestly, prophetic, and royal office of Christ and therefore have their own share in the mission of the whole people of God in the Church and in the world.
They exercise the apostolate in fact by their activity directed to the evangelization and sanctification of men and to the penetrating and perfecting of the temporal order through the spirit of the Gospel. In this way, their temporal activity openly bears witness to Christ and promotes the salvation of men. Since the laity, in accordance with their state of life, live in the midst of the world and its concerns, they are called by God to exercise their apostolate in the world like leaven, with the ardour of the spirit of Christ….
One engages in the apostolate through the faith, hope, and charity which the Holy Spirit diffuses in the hearts of all members of the Church.

 Furthermore, the Conciliar decree speaks of the family in these terms:
“Christian husbands and wives are co-operators in grace and witnesses of faith for each other, their children, and all others in their household. They are the first to communicate the faith to their children and to educate them by word and example for the Christian and apostolic life. They prudently help them in the choice of their vocation and carefully promote any sacred vocation which they may discern in them….This mission - to be the first and vital cell of society - the family has received from God. It will fulfil this mission if it appears as the domestic sanctuary of the Church.” (number11)
So lay-persons, especially in the context of the believing family, become witnesses of the Gospel and Christ. Hence, every faithful person is an apostle.

Let us also note the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope John Paul II Christifideles Laici (30 December 1988) which contains the charter of the vocation and mission of the faithful in the Church in the steps of Saint Paul.

In fact faithful lay-persons are in a continuous relationship with the world, society and the daily social, political, moral, economic and ecological reality. They are the ones who are putting into practice Jesus’ mission and true Gospel values and living them out in the everyday reality of their society.

Canon law underlines the importance of the apostolate of the laity in canon 381 § 3 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches(CCEC):

“Clerics are to recognize and promote the dignity of the laity and the particular part that they have in the mission of the Church, especially by testing the multiform gifts of the laity, and also by channelling the experience of these lay-people for the good of the Church, especially in ways provided by the law.”
 

The Mission of Lay-people in our Church

After Vatican II, the mission of lay-people was developed and many apostolic movements were renewed, which had to do with different aspects of the Church’s life. Such was the case with the former brotherhoods, which had existed for a long time in our Church, especially those of Our Lady of the Annunciation, founded by Patriarch Maximos III (Mazloum) and by Patriarch Gregorios II (Youssef-Sayyour) and movements of young workers and students, originating in the West, but adapted to Eastern, especially liturgical, spirituality. Thank God, there is a goodly number of these activities in the context of our eparchies, parishes and male and female religious congregations.

These movements are real schools of faith and spiritual life for young people; they are the pillars of parish life and of all liturgical, spiritual, pastoral, social and charitable activities. It should be noted that, among those involved in these movements, are persons called to the consecrated religious life and to the priesthood. We have mentioned several of these movements in the Assembly of the Patriarchal Eparchy in Damascus in 2003, and in the Patriarchal Assembly held in Rabweh in 2007; we noted about a hundred such movements.    

We would like here to recommend and encourage most enthusiastically the different activities of these brotherhoods and movements in our eparchies and parishes.

Thus imitating the great Apostle Paul as far as the mission of the laity in the Church is concerned, we call upon the lay-people of our parishes to help us in our pastoral work, alongside priests and consecrated persons, monastic and other, to direct our concern to the needs of all the faithful

It is very important to train in every parish, lay leaders capable of carrying the Church’s values into our society, and of being the leaven and the salt in the dough of that society.
 

Collaborators and Colleagues

A word now to the bishops and priests who pastor our churches and whose experience of collaborating in pastoral service would fill volumes! We exhort them to intensify their relations with all the faithful in their respective communities, to gather around them keen and enthusiastic collaborators who bear with them and under their guidance the burden of the apostolate and message, and who can organise different services needed by the pastoral ministry.

We ask God, at the intercession of Saint Paul, for there to be in our Church between priest and all the faithful, such relations as obtained between the Apostle and his collaborators.  

Following Saint Paul’s example, the pastor must not only be father, guide, educator and counsellor, but also vigilant brother and close friend, whilst maintaining the distance that enables him to fulfil his spiritual and pastoral role. The pastor must rely on the lay-people, giving them well-defined roles, remaining always the guide and leader, adjusting the pace and being the watchful companion. He must have the mind of Christ, his teachings and his love for the sons and daughters of his community, especially for his collaborators and colleagues.

May this relationship be also inspired by the liturgical greeting which is exchanged by the concelebrants (and by the faithful among themselves), “Christ is among us. He is and always will be!” Let us be inspired by this final petition from the litany, “Let us entrust ourselves and each other and our whole life unto Christ our God.”

Such pastoral guidance is given in Paul’s two Epistles to Timothy and in the one to Titus.
 

Call

We are speaking to our children, in all eparchies and parishes of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church to invite them to listen to the call of Jesus, of Saint Paul, of their pastors and spiritual fathers and to be generous in voluntary service and work alongside the priest and under his direction and guidance.    

We tell them, Jesus needs you! Paul is calling you, as he called the faithful of the first Christian communities. The Church is calling you. Your Patriarch, bishops and all your pastors need you.

Today more than ever, we need collaborators, lay-people who are faithful, keen, courageous, active, strong, who are highly capable, be it in business, politics or higher education, who are influential, prudent, wise, loving and selfless, experienced and, as the Psalmist says, “as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man.” (Psalm 127: 4)

We pastors need you faithful lay-people. You are our apostles and the apostles of Jesus for the world. You really make up the community, you carry the teachings, guidance and preaching of Jesus, the apostles, saints and monastics out into the world, into your society, among your work-mates and your fellow-citizens (whether or not of your religion.)   

Saint Paul said, “We are the ambassadors of Christ.” And we say to you, that you are the ambassadors of Christ, our ambassadors as servants of Christ: we entrust you with the mission of carrying the Gospel into your society.    

In writing this letter, I remembered a story about the costly struggle over the Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino, south of Rome, during the Second World War. The Allies had to overcome prolonged resistance following the aerial bombardment that reduced the abbey to rubble. A writer summed up this furious combat in these terms, “Great battles are won by little soldiers.” We too need each Christian, every believer, every convinced, courageous and enthusiastic person; the world needs children of faith.

I also remembered another story. In July 1987, I took part in the great, biennial festival of German Catholics (Katholikentag) in Dresden, a city that had been completely destroyed towards the end of the Second World War. After a big celebration on the banks of the Elbe, that had lasted till midnight, I was going back alone to my hotel; on the way, I came across a group of young people, sitting on the ground, singing at the tops of their voices, “The Jesus business needs enthusiasm!”

We need young people, those who are ever young in their love of Christ and their zeal to spread the sacred teachings and show the love of God for mankind.    
  

“Ye shall be my witnesses ”

Jesus entrusts his apostolate, his mission, to us. Saint Paul calls us today, at this closure of the celebration of his birth in Tarsus, as he once called his numerous fellow-workers, to continue the mission of Jesus risen from the dead. Jesus calls us, entrusting to each one of us the same mission that he confided to Paul on the road to Damascus, ordaining Saint Ananias, first Bishop of Damascus, to baptise Saul the persecutor, who would change into Paul and be the chosen vessel of God.“He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.” (Acts 9: 15-16)
Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends, Saint Paul recommends his Epistles to us, as he did to the hearts, souls and minds of the faithful of the first Christian communities, so that his teaching may remain in your hearts. He speaks to us as he did to the faithful of Corinth when he wrote,

“Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” (II Corinthians 3: 2-3)
With the Apostle, we speak to you, at the end of this Year of Saint Paul as we conclude our spiritual letters, in which we set out the theology of Saint Paul, who had Jesus’ heart, as Saint John Chrysostom said. Again with the Apostle, we say to you, (Philippians 4: 7-9)
“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”     
And also:
“Greet one another with an holy kiss. All the saints salute you.” (II Corinthians 13: 12-13)

 And finally,
“The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Maranatha. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.” (I Corinthians 16: 21-24)    

With my affection and blessing,

 Acts 1:8
 

                                       + Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East,
of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
Damascus, 29 June 2009

Translation from the French V. Chamberlain

 

 



Sermon of His Beatitude, Patriarch Gregorios III
29 June 2009
On the Closure of the Year of Saint Paul
At the Melkite Greek Catholic Cathedral of the Dormition
Damascus

 

 

Your Eminence Cardinal Antonio Mar?a Rouco Varela,
Personal Delegate of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop of Madrid, President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference,
Your Eminences, Your Beatitudes, Right Reverend Bishops,
Your Grace, Archbishop Mario Zenari, Apostolic Nuncio to Syria,
Dear concelebrant bishops, priests and deacons
of our Patriarchal Eparchy of Damascus,
Dear priests, monks and nuns,
Your Excellencies the Ambassadors,
Dear brothers and sisters,
To all of you:
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Romans 1: 7)

At the end of this Year of Saint Paul dedicated to the Bimillennium of his birth, we are meeting in the context of a celebration of the Divine Liturgy to pray together - faithful of East and West, Church Pastors coming from eparchies of about twenty countries and Pastors of Damascus’ Churches with their faithful from Catholic and Orthodox parishes.

We thank the Holy Saviour for the grace of this jubilee. We thank the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI who decided that this jubilee should be celebrated throughout the world. For his part, he decided to delegate our dear brother, His Eminence Cardinal Antonio Mar?a Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid, President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, to take part in the Closure of this Pauline Year. We say to you, Ahlan wa sahlan, welcome, with our affection and gratitude.

In connection with your visit, His Holiness, Pope Benedict wrote, and I quote,

As the Year dedicated to Saint Paul is drawing to an end, we are pleased to send Cardinals to those places where that admirable herald of the Gospel of Christ lived and worked and which rightly deserve to be called Pauline Places. Among them, Syria has a special importance, since the Apostle, being near Damascus, saw the Lord, and then in that same city, preached Jesus for some days. (cf. Acts 9:5 and 19-20)

We thought of you, Venerable Brother, who head the Metropolitan Church of Madrid, and by these letters we appoint you Our Envoy Extraordinary to the celebrations of the Closure of the Year of Saint Paul which are to take place in Syria on 29 June next, during the solemn celebrations for the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. …

When in the presence of religious and civil authorities, you will take care to show them both the importance of the person and teaching of the Apostle to the Gentiles and his concern for the salvation of the whole human race.

In our name, you will greet all the Pastors of Syria and the other Hierarchs gathered there, the priests, monks and nuns and faithful lay-persons, encouraging them towards greater spiritual unity and convey to them our kind thoughts.

We thank their Eminences, Beatitudes, Right Reverend Bishops and reverend clergy who have kindly accepted our invitation. They represent the Episcopal Conferences of the following countries: Austria, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, India, Italy, the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara), Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Spain and Ukraine.

 

We thank our brothers, their Excellencies the Pastors and bishops who head the Church in Damascus and Syria, in the unity of faith and the plurality of communities, languages and traditions: His Excellency, representative of His Beatitude Ignatius IV (Hazim), Greek Orthodox Patriarch, His Excellency, representative of His Holiness Zakka I (Iwas) Syriac Orthodox Patriarch and Their Excellencies, representatives of the Maronite, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Chaldean, and Latin Churches; their Excellencies from the Armenian Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church – the latter representing our brothers and sisters from Iraq, numbering about one and a half million, whom Syria has welcomed, as have Churches in Damascus and Syria, which have done much to assist them in their tragic circumstances.

Thanks to all their Excellencies, their countries’ Ambassadors present amongst us!

Our great gratitude goes to His Excellency, Doctor Bashar al-Assad, President of the Syrian Arab Republic. Thanks to his guidance this Jubilee of Saint Paul became a most remarkable, unique celebration for State and Church. I can say with great pride that the Syrian State has done more than any other to contribute to the success of this jubilee. Thanks to His Excellency, our beloved President and to his collaborators, especially from the Ministry of Tourism.

All that is but a part of the debt we owe to Saint Paul, spiritual son of Damascus. In fact there are three cities which are among the most important for keeping the memory of Saint Paul: Tarsus, Rome and Damascus.

Tarsus was his birthplace two thousand years ago, Rome the place of his martyrdom or blood baptism and Damascus the place of his encounter with Christ, risen from the dead, place of his conversion, baptism and election for his unique mission.

The Church sings this hymn in honour of Saints Peter and Paul: “What prison did not hold thee as prisoner? What Church does not have thee as preacher? Damascus takes pride in thee, Paul, for it saw thee cast to earth by light, Rome received thy blood and it too is filled with pride; but Tarsus rejoices more than all for it honours thy swaddling clothes. O Peter, rock of faith and thou, Paul, glory of the whole world, come forth together from Rome and strengthen us.” (Hypakoë, Tone 8, of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, 29 June)

From Damascus, Paul went out into the world and preached his “gospel,” that is to say, his letters (fourteen of them) through which he illustrated the richness of the proclamation of the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory. So Saint Paul became the Apostle to the Nations, the Apostle to the whole world.

Today the world is coming to Damascus to venerate Saint Paul in Damascus, which is the only place outside Palestine that the risen Lord appeared after his resurrection. In Damascus the first sizeable community was founded as early as the year 36 A.D. That is what enabled our Syrian President, Doctor Bashar al-Assad, to declare during the visit of His Holiness John Paul II to Syria in 2001, “Syria is the cradle of Christianity and the meeting place of civilisations.” Saint Paul is the character who best integrated in himself those civilisations and cultures of the East.

Dear brothers and sisters!
Today the Church of Damascus welcomes you. Today your hosts are the descendants of Saint Paul’s godparents at his baptism by Saint Ananias, first Bishop of Damascus! You are welcomed today by the descendants of the first Christian community. Today, you are hosted by the Church of Antioch, Eastern capital of the Roman Empire and heir of the great riches of the Church, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, Armenian and Arab. In fact we have present here today, pastors and faithful who still today in part pray and speak in various languages: Greek, Syriac, Aramean, Assyrian, Armenian and especially Arabic, which is the language of our Christian and Muslim culture and civilisation in Arab countries. That is the language and culture of approximately three hundred and forty million Christians and Muslims who together largely make up our countries in which they have been living together for fourteen hundred and thirty years – and that despite wars, invasions, tensions, crises and even persecutions.

You heard the faithful sing and pray their faith in different languages (some of them Saint Paul’s) on the evening of the twenty-seventh at the Opera. Those choirs are participating in our Closure Liturgy today, as we celebrate together our common faith that has been our ancestral possession from the time of Saint Paul, Apostle to the Nations!

I would like to mention especially the Hauran and the village of Mismiyeh where Saint Paul stayed, not just for some days but for three years, as he tells us himself. (See Acts p.1450 note d and Epistle to the Galatians 1:17-18 p.1537 of the Jerusalem Bible.)

Those three years were Saint Paul’s monastic novitiate of ascesis, meditation and prayer, like that of the prophets who preceded him and the monks who founded after him in Syria many monasteries, of which the remains still exist to this day.

During those three years of solitude in the Hauran, Paul succeeded, by the grace of the Lord Jesus who appeared to him on the road, in unifying everything in Christ: he unified both Testaments, the Old and the New, making them one, breaking down the “wall of partition 1.” Saint Paul enabled Christianity to breathe with both lungs – the Old and the New Testaments which form the great heritage of Christianity and of humanity unified in Jesus Christ.

Today the Eastern and Western Church is breathing together in these holy celebrations. Yes, indeed, the Church breathes with both Eastern and Western lungs, because of your presence with us, dear brothers representing the different Episcopal Conferences of the Christian world, alongside the Pastors of the Church of Damascus and Syria, Church of the Christian East.

Dear brothers!
Allow me to show you the following points forming a fragrant bouquet of Damascus jasmine for the Closure of the Year of Saint Paul:

   1. Paul loved Jesus more than any lover could. Jesus became the centre of his whole life and teaching. May we love the Lord as Paul did!
   2. Paul changed from Saul the persecutor to the chosen Apostle. He accomplished the passing over (Pesach or Pascha) from the Old to the New. Am I, a contemporary Christian from Damascus, capable of accomplishing this passing over? Am I capable of putting off the old garment of sin, so as to clothe myself in the new garment of baptism? Can I lay aside the old man, to put on the new man, created in the image and likeness of God, in righteousness and holiness?
   3. The world needs Paul, so as to become that beautiful world of Paul’s thought, which is the mind of Christ. May everyone in the world tread the road to Damascus, so that the world may change and people move from shadows to light, from night to day, sin to righteousness, persecution to love, violence to kindness, selfishness to altruism, terrorism to solidarity, fundamentalism to openness, the spirit of vengeance to such feelings as Saint Paul expresses when he exhorts the faithful to have among themselves the thoughts and manners that are in Christ Jesus, and reminds them that the fruits of the Spirit are “love.. gentleness, temperance.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
   4.
   5. Paul boasts of the cross of Christ, “I am crucified with Christ.” (Galatians 2:20) The cross is the symbol of Christianity and is to be found everywhere in our churches and homes. The symbol of the cross is a call to solidarity with our brothers and sisters in humanity, to lighten the suffering of the cross. The cross is everywhere present, reminding us that there is a fellowman or woman, a brother or sister somewhere, nailed to the cross. It is up to me as a Christian to take that person down from the cross.
   6.  Paul is the great apostle of the resurrection. He saw the risen Christ on the Damascus road and then the living Christ gave him the mission of the resurrection and life to the world, after the example of his Master, who said, “I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly,” (John 10:10) and without distinction. Christianity is the religion of the cross and resurrection, of solidarity and life. Hence, the name for the first Christians in Syria, children of the resurrection. There is a strong link between love and resurrection. That is what we explained in our Paschal Letter of 2007. That is why resurrection is central to the life and faith of the Christian community. The goal of Christian love is participation in Jesus’ resurrection. Paul’s desire is to participate in Jesus through his resurrection. Similarly, the goal of every believer’s life is to participate, especially through baptism, in Jesus’ resurrection.
   7. Paul, the great Apostle needs collaborators to spread the gospel message. In the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of Paul can be found a hundred names of men and women who were with Paul preaching. Paul described them in glowing terms: in his Epistles, his fellow-workers are “brethren,” “dear,” “sisters,” “parents,” “fellow-labourers in Christ Jesus,” “beloved,” “first-fruits” of those risen in Christ and elect of Christ, especially in the Epistle to the Romans. (16: 1-16) Today more than ever, we need collaborators, lay-people who are faithful, keen, courageous, active, strong, who are highly capable, be it in business, politics or higher education, who are influential, prudent, wise, loving and selfless, experienced and, as the Psalmist says, “as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man.” (Psalm 127: 4)
   8. Christians, children of the resurrection, who follow the “new way,” the Damascus road, Paul’s way, the way of Christ who said, “I am the way,” must be united so as to help one another to carry Jesus’ message to the world, so that Jesus may be “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14: 6) and the “light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1: 9) United, Christians are capable of bearing Jesus’ message to the world in the language of people today. We need a new Pentecost, a new epiclesis in the Church. That is what we sing in the kontakion of Pentecost, “When the Most High …dispensed the tongues of fire, He called all to unity.”
   9. We Arab Eastern Christians have a special role, excellent for bearing the message of Christ in the world. However, two great dangers threaten that presence and mission: emigration and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which has lasted for more than sixty years. We ask you brothers coming from all over the world to pray and work for peace in Palestine and in the Middle East. Palestine’s and Jerusalem’s peace is peace for the Middle East, for Arabs and for the whole world. Pray for us to remain here where Jesus, the Apostles, Paul and the saints lived and for us to continue to be “a sweet savour of Christ.” (II Corinthians 2:15)
  10. Yes! Let us stay together, Christians of East and West, of all Churches, sons and daughters of the one Church of Christ! Let us stay together to bring about the Kingdom of Jesus Christ upon earth.
  11. Yes! Let us stay together, all Children of Faith, Christians and Muslims, faithful believers of East and West, to work together and build together the civilisation of Peace, Love and Life in our world. Damascus will remain faithful to Saint Paul: Syria will always maintain the broad outlook of Saint Paul’s teachings. All we Syrian citizens, both Christian and Muslim, will continue together along the Damascus road in the steps of Saint Paul towards our encounter with Jesus. Damascus will continue to speak to the world, as does Saint Paul from Damascus.

Conclusion

Dear brothers and sisters,
Jesus entrusts his apostolate, his mission, to us. Saint Paul calls us today, at this closure of the celebration of his birth in Tarsus, as he once called his numerous fellow-workers, to continue the mission of Jesus risen from the dead. Jesus calls us, entrusting to each one of us the same mission that he confided to Paul on the road to Damascus, ordaining Saint Ananias, first Bishop of Damascus, to baptise Saul the persecutor, who would change into Paul and be the chosen vessel of God. “He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.” (Acts 9: 15-16)

Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends,
Saint Paul recommends his Epistles to us, as he did to the hearts, souls and minds of the faithful of the first Christian communities, so that his teaching may remain in your hearts. He speaks to us as he did to the faithful of Corinth when he wrote,

“Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” (II Corinthians 3: 2-3)
With the Apostle, we speak to you, at the end of this Year of Saint Paul …, who had Jesus’ heart, as Saint John Chrysostom said. Again with the Apostle, we say to you, (Philippians 4: 7-9)
“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”      
And also:
“Greet one another with an holy kiss. All the saints salute you.” (II Corinthians 13: 12-13)

 And finally,
“The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema. Maranatha. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.” (I Corinthians 16: 21-24)   

1 Ephesians 2:17

Gregorios III,
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East,
of Alexandria and of Jerusalem

Translation from the French: V. Chamberlain

 






Saint Paul and Damascus
Lecture given by His Beatitude Patriarch Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and of All the East,
of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
on the occasion of the Closure of the Year of Saint Paul
(27 June 2009)



I am pleased to open this course of lectures on the occasion of the Closure of the Year of Saint Paul at our Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchal Seat located in St. Paul's Quarter, very close to Straight Street (Via Recta), and the Eastern Gate (Bab Sharqi), not far from St. Ananias' house and Bab Kisan, whence the disciples helped the newly converted Paul to escape from Damascus.

I would like to add other reasons for my being glad as a result of my personal relationship with St. Paul:

    * I was born in Daraya, which can be considered one of the sites associated with Paul’s conversion.
    * My mother was born in Khabab near Masmiyeh, where Paul stayed for three years (36-38) and where today can be found the ruins of a great old church dedicated to Saint Paul.
    * I was in Jerusalem Titular Archbishop of Tarsus, Saint Paul’s birth-place, for over nineteen years, from1981 to 2000.
    * I stayed for three years from1956 to1959, at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Paul-without-the-Walls in Rome and celebrated the Divine Liturgy for the first time on 16 February 1959 in the basilica next to the abbey.
    * I am grateful to Paul who has accompanied me throughout my life. For the Year of Saint Paul which we have just finished celebrating, I wrote four pastoral letters: for Christmas, “For to me to live is Christ,” for Lent, “I am crucified with Christ,” for Pascha, “Paul, Apostle of the Resurrection,” and for the closure of this jubilee year, “Paul and his collaborators.”

 
Damascus and Paul are inseparable

Damascus has played a very significant role both in St. Paul’s life and in the history of Christianity, particularly, in the worldwide spread of the message of our Lord Jesus Christ (to whom be glory) since it was from Damascus that Paul’s “Gospel,” as he calls it, started out.

As Damascus was a most important city in Paul’s life, it has taken a leading role in the jubilee anniversary of his second millennium, opened in Rome and presided over by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, with our participation. We are grateful to His Holiness for his initiative to hold this jubilee celebration.

Saint Paul is the spiritual son of Damascus. He was born in the flesh in Tarsus, born spiritually through sacred baptism in Damascus, whence he went out into the world, where in due course he would be born to eternal life through his martyrdom in Rome.

Physical birth in Tarsus
Spiritual birth in Damascus
Birth of Martyrdom in Rome

That means that Saint Paul was baptized by Ananias around the years 36 or 37, as Saint Luke tells us in the Acts of the Apostles, writing of Paul’s missionary activity in Damascus: -

Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said; ‘Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?’ But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him: but their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. (Acts 9: 19-25)

We don’t know exactly the details of Saint Paul’s stay during those years spent in the region. When did he start preaching in the synagogues, proclaiming courageously Jesus’ name? (Acts 9:22) And when the disciples helped him to escape at night, whither did he go and where did he stay? When he returned to Damascus, how much of that three-year period, mentioned in Galatians, did he spend there?

 

Thus we understand how Saul-Paul discovered Christ and his teachings without the Gospel (for at that time no Gospel had yet been written) or any other books or papers, and without meeting or establishing a relationship with any of the apostles who preceded him. As he tells us, “..nor did I go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles who preceded me,” (Galatians 1:16, 17). In fact, “they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.” (Acts 9:26) Paul shows us how he discovered the teachings of the Holy Gospel: “For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:12)

In Paul, then, the Old Testament books have, so to speak, embraced their perfection in the Gospel, or New Testament in Christ Jesus. So the visions of the patriarchs and prophets have met and fused with the vision of Paul on the road to Damascus. Both visions - indeed, all visions, revelations and utterances - have intertwined, for the one God is the source of all

Yes, Jesus Christ is God and man. He has destroyed all barriers of history, time, place, geography, ethnicity, past, present and future; barriers between people, Jews and pagans, male and female, slave and free, great and small, to make humanity into the new man, as he is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In him all nations are reconciled, all parties and mind-sets, all trends unite in him

Paul unifies his thoughts, feelings, vision, message and Gospel around Jesus – bringing together all the ways of seeing, Scriptures and languages that he knew and the Roman, Greek, Hebraic, Aramaic, Semitic civilizations with which he was familiar.

What Paul experienced throughout his life as cultural, spiritual, social and human pluralism was transformed into a breadth of teaching in his epistles, which set forth the foundations of a dialogue between man and God, man and his fellow-brothers, a dialogue of civilizations and cultures.

Let us review the main features that establish a dialogue of civilizations and cultures, a dialogue among human beings according to Paul's teachings.
The solidarity of the body’s members: a symbol of the Church

Indeed, how beautiful is the dialogue described by Paul between the body and its members! First, the dialogue starts inside humanity, within man himself, among his members working together in harmony and unity. Paul then moves from that human body and the importance of unity among its members, to the Church, which he likens to the body and the faithful to its members. Here also, the life of the Church will not be sound unless there is dialogue, collaboration and solidarity. This

applies to human society as well and to the presence of Christians in society, in the country to which they belong, and to their collaboration and solidarity with all their fellow-citizens.
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?  If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: and those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked. That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.  (I Corinthians 12:12-30)
Charity: the basis of all dialogue

Paul continues setting out the law of dialogue in the body, the Church and society, as being founded on charity which is the “bond of perfection,” the bond for all gifts, and the basis of any relation between faithful and citizens.

Thus, Paul writes one of the most beautiful canticles ever sung by humans, to describe that most splendid attribute of God which reveals His essence and the nature of all religions and beliefs, namely, the Hymn to Charity (Love), which is the basis and characteristic of all dialogues and the foundation for all relations among humans whatever their religion or beliefs, even were they atheists rejecting every religion.

“But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”
(I Corinthians 12: 31)
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,  doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (I Corinthians 13: 1-10, 13)
Abolishing the wall of enmity between people

Paul is a realistic person and knows very well human frailty. He himself experienced this weakness in his body, and Jesus addressed him saying, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Moreover, Paul knows quite well that charity (love) is not a simple, easy commandment, and that living according to love requires great effort. Therefore, he explained that the primary task of Jesus is abolishing enmity among men, spreading trust and making peace. These all together form the basis of dialogue and solidarity among men.
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:11-19)
Solidarity of Rich and Poor Countries

Based on the principles mentioned above, we can establish solidarity between rich and poor countries. Annually, we witness different meetings at various levels: such as the January meeting of the G20 (Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors) in the Davos Resort, besides that of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN) due to take place soon in Rome. The year 2008 witnessed a major economic crisis due to covetousness, greed and man’s exploitation of his brethren, the poor and the weak.

Hence the Apostle Paul lays down in his Epistles the law of solidarity between rich and poor countries, based on the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: as it is written, “He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.” (II Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13 -15)
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (as it is written, “He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. ” (II Corinthians 9:6-9)
Damascus, Antioch and Baghdad: meeting-place of civilizations

Paul, in his epistles, laid down the foundations for dialogue, thus, transforming the Gospel into a civilization. He paved the way for a conversation of cultures and civilizations based on faith, for without faith in God, or in human dignity, there will be no dialogue, no meeting, no living together, no co-existence, no tolerance, no forgiveness, no reconciliation and no peace…

In this context His Excellency, Doctor Bashar al-Assad, President of the Syrian Arabic Republic, during his reception of the late lamented Servant of God, John Paul II, declared that, “Syria is the cradle of civilization.” The President also said to us in private conversation, afterwards publicly repeated, “Palestine is the cradle of Jesus (peace be upon him) – but Syria is the cradle of Christianity.”

Actually, the Church of Antioch has a territory corresponding to the former Roman civic Diocese, of which the capital was Antioch (hence the title of the Patriarch of Antioch “and All the East”), and which comprised the south of present-day Turkey, and stretching mostly across present-day Arab countries - Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq; its great cities, besides Antioch, were Damascus and Baghdad.

Indeed, this region is the meeting-place of civilizations, languages and cultures: Latin (the official language of the Roman Empire), Greek (the cultural language in the Eastern Roman Empire) received by the Romans from Alexander the Great, and Syriac (the language of the people) with all its variety of Hebraic-Aramaic languages, besides the Arabic language, the language of Arabs, Muslims and Christians and the language of the Holy Qur’an.
In this region, the holy fathers, our ancestors in faith, had dedicated their lives to translating Greek culture and civilization into Syriac and later into Arabic, with the emergence of Islam.

Thus, the Church of Antioch embodies the plurality and diversity of Christianity as a whole. This richness of this Church reflects a double, then triple heritage, Greek and Syriac, then Arabic. In the one Church of Antioch and in each of its eparchies there coexisted two, then three languages, Greek, Syriac and Arabic, with their heritages and their influences. It is through the Fathers and those knowledgeable in Greek and Syriac that the Arabic language and civilisation emerged in the Church, in Antioch and its dependent regions. Saint Paul himself, besides Greek and Aramaic, spoke Latin and Hebrew and perhaps Arabic.

It is remarkable that our Melkite Greek Church, whether Catholic or Orthodox, has for centuries used simultaneously both Greek (mainly spoken by city-dwellers), Syriac (mother-tongue of the rural population) and later Arabic (which spread with Islam,) in liturgical services and often also in everyday life.
Our ancestors lived the dialogue of cultures and faith

Our ancestors lived the dialogue of cultures, civilisations and faith in the context of the linguistic and cultural diversity of the countries of the Mediterranean Basin.

Since Greek had spread into all those countries, the holy fathers had to study it, learn it thoroughly and then use it. Then they had to switch to Syriac (the language of the countryside, where Greek was practically unknown) and then to Arabic, the language of Muslims and Islam, and also of several Christian tribes. In their turn the Arabs in Spain contributed to translating many works by Greek authors into Latin: it is largely thanks to Muslim Arabs of Andalusia that Greek culture filtered into Europe during the Middle Ages, from translations of Greek into Syriac and Arabic produced by Christians from Syria and other countries of the Middle East.

Thus, Antioch was the centre of a cultural and religious dialogue, which made possible the creation of a Christian-Muslim civilization across all the countries of the Arab Middle East.

Today still, in the twenty-first century and this third millennium, in the steps of Saint Paul and of our Greek- and Syriac-speaking Fathers, we are responsible for continuing this dialogue, meeting, solidarity, collaboration and reciprocal enrichment, in our Arab society with its vast Muslim majority (It is estimated that there are in our countries about 340 million Muslims, 15 million Christians and 5 million Jews.)

I have explained this unique role in four Pastoral Christmas Letters, particularly that of 2004, entitled “Emmanuel, God with us:”

Mankind in the School of Jesus Emmanuel

So Christmas becomes a call to all mankind to learn in the school of Jesus Emmanuel, God with mankind, so that all mankind becomes one with God, so that people acquire solidarity with one another in this life, loving each other, being concerned, united, helping each other, meeting each other for good, justice, truth, peace, virtue, good morals, noble purpose, mutual respect, mutual reverence, valuing, understanding, together building a better world. He himself came and took as the goal of his life “that they should have life and have it in abundance.” (John 10:10)

The Meeting Centre

We founded in 2003 a centre which we called The Encounter Centre. It has a branch in Syria, another in the Lebanon and there will soon be a third one in Egypt. The symbol of this centre is two hands greeting each other, despite tall, thick ramparts raised to prevent them. This encounter unites and acquires all its strength, firmness and effectiveness thanks to divine revelation, the basis of our holy faith, which breaks down and even removes any possible barriers between people, allowing each to discover the other, his dignity, role and mission and helping instead to build relationships based entirely on profound, humane faith convictions, spiritual convictions. This unity is symbolized by a church and a mosque to be found in the logo of this Encounter Centre.

Church of the Arabs

The expression “Church of the Arabs” means in a unique manner the Church of Jesus Christ, living in an Arab milieu and in a deep and intimate relationship with this Arab world, with its sufferings and hopes, its joys and pains, its problems and crises. The Church is Emmanuel, Church with and for this Arab society and in this Arab society, without forgetting its Arab roots and Arab nature, due to history and geography. The most important thing is not to affirm that the Church is Arab, but rather that the Church has a mission in the Arab world and society. In fact, this Arab world in which the Church lives, in which it is planted as in its own soil, sealed into the depths of its history and geography, is in its vast majority the world of Islam The Church constitutes fifteen million out of two hundred and seventy million people. This Church of the Arabs, this Church of the Arab world and society is a Church of Islam, of Muslim society, a Church that lives with the Arab and Islamic world It is the Church that lives in this Arab, Islamic world, which is in interaction with it, suffers and rejoices with it, builds with it, hopes and grows with it, loves and serves with it: it is truly the Emmanuel Church, a Church with and for this world.

Church with Mankind

The Christian must go beyond himself and his church, his own person and become really catholic, in the general meaning, “of all and for all.” The expression “Church of the Arabs and of Islam” is a cultural or incultural expression for the one Church of our creed, “I believe in one, holy catholic Church” that is, that unites in itself all cultures, civilizations, languages and ethnicities.

This expression “Church of Islam” lies in the depths of my thought, personality and consciousness and comes from a very deep analysis far from any proselytism, or wishing to win over Muslims. This expression is, in my conscience, synonymous with love, (charity), respect, mutual help, fellowship, understanding, dialogue, affection, ardour for others, as it is said in the Qur’an, working together in our Arab homelands to build a better world, the civilization of love.

Let us say to everyone in the Arab world that the solution to our problems lies in our faith as Muslims and Christians. If we succeed in facing up to this challenge in a positive and decisive way, we shall bring about a unique victory and surely be an example to the whole world as agents of peace and salvation in our world, both Eastern and Western.

Faced with these truths and challenges, we realize more than ever the importance of our union and our solidarity in the Arab world. Besides, I would say that among the priorities of our Church is working for unity and service of the Arab world. We are from this world and for it and its development, for its service, to defend its role and for interaction and solidarity with it and all related causes. We are obliged, as a Church, as individuals and a community, each one in his position, in his eparchy, in his parish, each according to his professional, social and political commitment to listen to all its thoughts, to its whole vision.

The fruits of the unifying incarnation also touch all the nations of the whole world and it is as Jesus said, or rather as is said about Jesus, that he will “die for the nation,” but not only for the (Jewish) nation, but also to unify all the scattered children of this world. That is why it is the duty of Christians to be the initiators, the heralds of unity for the entire world. (Christmas Letter 2004)

In my Christmas Letter (2006) entitled, “Peace, Living Together and the Christian Presence in the Arab Middle East,” I reported some passages from the Letter of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs indicating that the Catholic hierarchies (and others in general) have the same orientation with regard to identifying the role of Christians in the Dialogue of Cultures:

Living together is the future of these Arab countries and is valuable for both Christians and Muslims. It means accepting the other as he is, respecting him and venerating him, recognizing him as fellow-citizen, with all concomitant human rights, those of every one on earth and especially in the East.

Christians are an important element in that living together. There is no living together without pluralism, meaning that our society comprises Christians in all communities, Muslims in all their groups, Druzes and Jews.

This living together is threatened by emigration, whose most important and dangerous reasons are the wars, calamities and crises whose origin is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the injustice that flows from that. In the same way, products of this conflict are extremism, fundamentalism, violence, the ideology of terrorism and feelings of enmity and hatred in society and lack of equality in rights and job opportunities. There is also a lack of opportunity for participating in different posts in the country, its governance and parliament, ministries and other services.

If the haemorrhage of emigration continues, it means the East will be void of its pluralism. There will be a collapse of what we call living together. In those circumstances, Christians would not able to resist the series of calamities, crises, wars, clashes and conflicts.

But what may yet help Christians to resist in the face of all these difficulties and not emigrate is the faith conviction that remaining in Arab countries, where Christianity was born and where God has planted them, is in itself an apostolate, vocation and mission. This mission stems from the fact that the Antiochian Christian Church here, as I always repeat, is an Arab Church from its roots and ethnicity. Moreover it is Church of the Arabs and Church of Islam and Emmanuel Church, God with us and for us. It is also the Church with and for the other: the other is the Muslim citizen in our Arab society which is in the majority Muslim, in which Christians are responsible for bearing the Gospel message, and proclaiming its values in society, so that the Church may be present and witnessing in society, participating and interacting with it.

The atmosphere suitable for all these elements cited above - pluralism and living together with all that goes with that - is an atmosphere suitable for peace in the region; peace that is lasting, complete and firm, that may be the warranty for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

On the other hand, if Arab countries and Muslim citizens really care about pluralism and living together and if they feel the Christian presence is important in the region, then Christians have to be able to enjoy full fellow-citizenship with all the rights that go with it. It is absolutely indispensable that Arab countries unite their voices and words, to bring about a civilising, just and peaceable solution for the Palestinian cause.

If that does not happen in the near future, the haemorrhage of emigration will grow as will Islamic fundamentalist movements, violence and terrorism and young Muslims will very simply fall victim into their net. That means that we should pass on to our young up and coming Arab generations a sombre inheritance and a black future. Then Arab Muslim society would lose the components of its pluralism and living together and there would be realised, unfortunately, the prophecy about the clash of civilizations, religions and cultures.

Word of God: Words of Mankind

Pentecost was a prodigious event: the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and many of the Jewish pilgrims who had gone up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, who, when they realised what had happened, ran up towards the upper room at Sion, where the apostles had been gathered after the ascension of Jesus Christ whilst awaiting the Father’s promise, that is, the descent of the Holy Spirit. And the tongue or language of the apostles was empowered after the Holy Spirit had descended on them in the form of tongues of fire to indicate the importance of speech, pronunciation, language and words in bearing the message of Jesus. “Their voice is gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 18 (19): 4, LXX)

The apostles addressed the crowds around them, announcing the Word of God, but in just one language. However, though those present were of different nationalities and countries, speaking different languages, as Saint Luke tells us, yet they heard the apostles speak, each one in his own native language. So the Word of God is one, though for all people, reaching all, each in his own civilisation, with its language, culture and characteristics.

It is truly the Word of God, because it really can reach all mankind and become a Word for people. That is the great challenge for preaching with conviction, for pastoral writing and in all documents issued by church authorities. The challenge is how to make the Word of God understood and bring it to people in such a way that it remains really his Word (without trickery, confusion or alteration) while meeting with people’s words and with their understanding, mindset and way of thinking. Yet it must elevate their thoughts and change their mentality, so that their own words really enter into harmony and contact with the Word of God. Then may be realised what Saint Paul said, “We have the mind of Christ.” (I Corinthians 2:16)

The Word of God: Dialogue of Religions and Faiths

The Council of Vatican II gave us the golden rule for religious dialogue, by showing us the importance of discovering the good things or the wealth of others. Here is what the Second Vatican Council said in Nostra Aetate (1965):

It is of very great importance for people to love their religion and the Word of God for mankind, and know it in ever greater depth, preserving and defending it. But one must be open to the other person, to his convictions and faith. If not, we fall into relativism, which is the greatest enemy of faith.

There is no monopoly on the Word of God. It is just as much the other person’s as it is mine. Our Muslim world is afraid of our preaching, but does not cease preaching Islam. That is an unreasonable position. We require our Muslim fellow-citizens to acknowledge our freedom to bring the good news to others, with love and respect for their faith, but we do not require anyone else to embrace our faith. It is enough if people can find out about it and come to esteem and love it. Conversion is the work of God. Do not attempt to convert a friend, or loved one. God converts whom he will.

The Word of God is for me and its revelation is to me, but not to me alone. I must allow others to share in it. We must have, as we say in the Arabic proverb, bread and salt.

But it is not bread or salt that enables us to live together. What matters is rather how we can share together in the Word of God in Christianity, Islam and Judaism. How can we feed each other by the Word of God? How can the Word of God become an essential food? As we say in the Our Father, “Give us this day our daily (epiousion) bread.” The Our Father is really a call to share together in the Word of God.

We thank God for the many, beautiful relationships between Christians and Muslims that occur especially in everyday living. However, I would like us to share together in the Word of God, since that is what unites us, draws us together and gives us strength, reinforcing our faith. Let us not be afraid to love the Word of God in our brothers and sisters. Let us not be afraid of verses from the Qur’an and let them not be afraid of verses from the Gospel or from the Torah. These are the Word of God for us all, every one according to his own calling. I would like to tell our Muslim brethren not to fear our faith. Let us all rather be afraid of using words of vengeance, criticism, pride and haughtiness. The Word of God does not despise anyone. It is not proud, boastful or puffed up. It does not engage in bad behaviour or enjoy retaliation. It does not rejoice in evil, but in good. It rejoices in love and believes all things. (cf. I Corinthians 13)

Words of God and Words of Men

Let us love the Word of God, for the Word of God is for us all. Let us share these words, proclaiming them in song and loving them. Let these words of God be for our friendship, living together and mutual relationship. Instead of using empty, lying flatteries, let us nourish ourselves with earth’s most beautiful words and feed each other with these same heavenly words that God addresses to the children of men, for God is bountiful and bestows his life-giving words on us all. Let us not be afraid of the words of God, but rather let us fear the words of men. Let us so act that our human words be changed into words divine.

I propose founding a forum to be called “The Forum of the Word of God,” so that Christians and Muslims can meet together and together discuss and meditate upon the Word of God.

Our zeal for the Word of God should be a means of sanctification for us and for deepening our faith. We must not allow our zeal for the Word to become a weapon to exploit others, judging, persecuting and compelling them to embrace our faith, any more than we can allow the Word of God to become the cause of conflicts, disputes and confrontations between our faithful and those holding different religious convictions. Nor should it become an instrument of terrorism and a pretext for one group to claim superiority over another. The Word of God (not we ourselves) is the true judge between us and those who are not of our faith.
Christian Unity

Let us not forget the importance of Unity among Christians, because it is the foundation of success in their unique mission: the Dialogue of Cultures. Our Christian faith is a constant vocation of unity, as Jesus said: “that they may all be one; Father, that the world may believe” (John 17:21). This last prayer of Jesus is not just a persistent call for unity; rather it is Jesus’ last commandment.

The Word of God becomes incarnate so that the world may be one, that mankind be one, in harmony, unified, beautiful, illuminated, keeping the imprint of its Creator, his charismata and above all, his unity. As the Qur’an says, “One God alone, without peer,” did not wish man to be lost in the multitude, through being scattered, torn apart, in loss, estrangement, alienation from God, division, discord, hatred, war, killing, destruction, vengeance and confusion. He wanted to enable humanity to participate in his divine unity: that’s why he became human in the person of Jesus Christ, in order to “gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” (John 11:52)

The Prayer of Jesus for Unity

Incarnation and monotheism (or oneness) are two expressions which are mutually attractive. We see them as signs of the will of God to unify all his creatures, unifying them amongst themselves in the depths of divine revelation.

So we see throughout the whole life of Jesus, a leitmotiv linking all the events in it, a divine concern, that does not wish to see man lost, isolated, scattered, divided against himself in his mind and heart, aspirations and personal life, employment, family and social life. God created human beings after his image and likeness and wishes to gather them into a single fold, like the good shepherd that he is, leaving the ninety-nine sheep inside, to go in search of the one that has gone astray, and bring it back on his shoulders, returning inside the fold with it. So there will be a single community and a single shepherd, a single fold and a single pastor and he will be the vine and all humans will be the vine-shoots, united by the tendrils of love. So they will be able to yield fruit, fruit both abundant and permanent.

On the day of Pentecost, the disciples received the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire and saw that among the crowds listening to the sermon of St. Peter, faith in Jesus Christ burst forth. They returned home edified by the one faith and subsequently, the apostles left to go out into the whole world and in whatever corner of the earth people listened to the message of Pentecost, there the apostles were able to spread faith in Jesus Christ among different languages, cultures and peoples.

The Church: Place of Unity

The event of Pentecost is the feast of unity and diversity. Moreover, it is the basis of the signs of the Church, as the Church Fathers have formulated it in the Creed of the Council of Nicaea, “We believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.”

These signs are the realization of the goals of the incarnation, redemption and salvation of the whole world: in fact the Church is the place of unity, salvation and redemption.

We need the Damascus road. May everyone in the world tread the road to Damascus, so that the world may change and people move from shadows to light, from night to day, sin to righteousness, persecution to love, violence to kindness, selfishness to altruism, terrorism to solidarity, fundamentalism to openness, the spirit of vengeance to such feelings as Saint Paul expresses when he exhorts the faithful to have among themselves the thoughts and manners that are in Christ Jesus, and reminds them that the fruits of the Spirit are “love.. gentleness, temperance.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

And with Saint Paul, we say to all those who will read this Pauline Christmas Letter, “…now it is high time to awake out of sleep: … The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly... But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” (Romans 13:11-14)

What a beautiful world is Paul’s! May the world of Saint Paul’s Epistles invade our suffering world today that lies in darkness, in revolt, hateful, vindictive, combative, exploitative, materialistic, carnal, obsessed with sex, superficial, egotistic, vacillating, erring, disorientated, without reference points, aimless: our world has such need of Paul! Beyond Paul, it needs Christ, the Gospel, the Good News. It needs God. It is really athirst and ahungered for God, but the tragedy is that the world is unaware of the fact that it is athirst and ahungered, for its cares, passions, depravation, futility and lifestyle stifle the Word of God planted in the human heart and hence it cannot bear fruit. This world does not hear the voice of the living and risen Jesus, who is waiting for each one of us on the road to our Damascus, on the Via Recta, and calling us by name, begging, challenging, chiding, awakening us from sleep, stupor, insensibility, hardness of heart, to tell us this, “Thou art mine; I have loved thee; I love thee; I know thee by name; thou art a chosen vessel for me.”
Conclusion

This year the Agape Company produced a film entitled, “Damascus speaks: St. Paul.”

Yes, that’s true! Damascus speaks of the great event of Paul’s conversion at its outskirts.

Damascus speaks or rather Jesus Christ has spoken in Damascus. In Damascus, Paul saw Jesus risen and alive; in Damascus Paul was chosen to bear the Message of Jesus to the world through its different languages and cultures.

Paul saw Jesus in Damascus
Paul listened to Jesus in Damascus
Paul talked with Jesus in Damascus
Paul spoke of Jesus in Damascus

It is from Damascus, that Paul addressed the world in all languages and cultures. He spoke to them of the Christian Faith, through the Gospel: in Athens, in the civilization and culture of Greeks and in Rome, in the civilization and culture of Romans, while speaking to Nabateans and Arabs in Hebraic-Aramaic and Syriac languages.

In Paul, the Psalmist’s saying was fulfilled, “Their voice is gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 18 (19): 4, LXX)

God still speaks in Damascus, to the Damascenes, to the children of Syria and to the children of the Arab world: the cradle of revelation and faith. Damascus is and will ever remain, with all its faithful - Christians and Muslims – speaking of faith-related matters and thereby safeguarding the faith committed to their trust by their parents and ancestors. Damascus speaks and will always be speaking, through Church, mosque, country, President, people or government, so as to carry to the world Paul’s message, the message of our faith and religious values, as Christians and Muslims, and as Paul did, we will remain loyal to his mission as teacher of cultural dialogue.

As Paul says: “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,” (II Corinthians 10:5) so that every human being will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord for the Glory of God. Amen.

Psalm 112:9

Patriarch Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and of All the East,
of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church

Paul and the Dialogue of Cultures in the Middle East
Lecture of His Beatitude Patriarch Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and of All the East,
of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church,
delivered at the Damascus Conference -
Reading Paul from the East (23-25 April 2009)
 
 
The International Conference on the second millennium of Saint Paul’s birth was held at al-Zaitouna Church in Damascus under the title of "Reading Paul from the East."   The three-day Conference was hosted by the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate in co-operation with Syriaca, University of Padua, Italy, the Franciscan Centre of Christian Oriental Studies in Cairo and Memorial St. Paul in Damascus.
 
 
Introduction

We thank the Franciscan Fathers for organising this conference and further congratulate them for choosing a successful conference theme entitled "Reading Paul from the East."

We are very pleased to host this conference at our Patriarchal Seat located in St. Paul's Street in the Eastern Gate (Bab Sharqi) Quarter along Straight Street (Via Recta); just a stone’s throw from St. Ananias' house on one side and Bab Kisan on the other, whence the disciples helped the newly converted Paul to escape from Damascus. We are all in the Pauline quarter!

I would like to add other reasons for my being glad as a result of my personal relationship with St. Paul:

    * I was born in Daraya, which can be considered one of the sites associated with Paul’s conversion.
    * My mother was from Khabab in the Hauran near Masmiyeh, where Paul stayed for three years (35-38) and where today can be found the ruins of a big church called after Paul.
    * I was Titular Archbishop of Tarsus, Saul’s birth-place, for over nineteen years (1981-2000.)
    * I stayed for three years at the monastery of St. Paul outside the Walls in Rome (1956-1959) and celebrated my first Mass on 16 February 1959 at St. Paul's Basilica next to the monastery.
    * I am grateful to Paul who has accompanied me throughout my life and have written the following four letters about the Apostle Paul in his jubilee year:

Christmas letter: “For to me to live is Christ.”

Lent letter: “I am crucified with Christ.”

Paschal letter: “Ye be risen with Christ.”

Closing letter marking the end of the Pauline year “Paul and his collaborators.”
Damascus and Paul are inseparable

Damascus has played a very significant role both in St. Paul’s life and in the history of Christianity, particularly, in the worldwide spread of the message of our Lord Jesus Christ (to whom be glory) since it was from Damascus that Paul’s “Gospel,” as he calls it, started out.

As Damascus was a most important city in Paul’s life, it has taken a leading role in the jubilee anniversary of his second millennium, opened in Rome and presided over by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, with our participation. We are grateful to His Holiness for having proclaimed this jubilee celebration.

Damascus is the spiritual mother of Paul and Paul is the spiritual son of Damascus. He was born in the flesh in Tarsus, born spiritually through sacred baptism in Damascus, whence he went out into the world, where in due course he would be born through blood by his martyrdom in Rome.

Physical birth in Tarsus
Spiritual birth in Damascus
Birth of Martyrdom in Rome

That means that Saint Paul was baptized by Ananias around the years 36 or 37, as Saint Luke tells us in the Acts of the Apostles, writing of Paul’s missionary activity in Damascus: -

Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said; ‘Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?’ But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him: but their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. (Acts 9: 19-25)

We don’t know exactly the details of Saint Paul’s stay during those years spent in the region. When did he start preaching in the synagogues, proclaiming courageously Jesus’ name? (Acts 9:22) And when the disciples helped him to escape at night, whither did he go and where did he stay? When he returned to Damascus, how much of that three-year period, mentioned in Galatians, did he spend there?

Thus we understand how Saul-Paul discovered Christ and his teachings without the Gospel (for at that time no Gospel had yet been written) or any other books or papers, and without meeting or establishing a relationship with any of the apostles who preceded him. As he tells us, “..nor did I go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles who preceded me,” (Galatians 1:16, 17). In fact, “they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.” (Acts 9:26) Paul shows us how he discovered the teachings of the Holy Gospel: “For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:12)

In Paul, then, the Old Testament books have, so to speak, embraced their perfection in the Gospel, or New Testament in Christ Jesus. So the visions of the patriarchs and prophets have met and fused with the vision of Paul on the road to Damascus. Both visions - indeed, all visions, revelations and utterances - have intertwined, for the one God is the source of all

Yes, Jesus Christ is God and man. He has destroyed all barriers of history, time, place, geography, ethnicity, past, present and future; barriers between people, Jews and pagans, male and female, slave and free, great and small, to make humanity into the new man, as he is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In him all nations are reconciled, all parties and mind-sets, all trends unite in him

Paul unifies his thoughts, feelings, vision, message and Gospel around Jesus – bringing together all the ways of seeing, Scriptures and languages that he knew and the Roman, Greek, Hebraic, Aramaic, Semitic civilizations with which he was familiar.

What Paul experienced throughout his life as cultural, spiritual, social and human pluralism was transformed into a breadth of teaching in his epistles, which set forth the foundations of a dialogue between man and God, man and his fellow-brothers, a dialogue of civilizations and cultures.

Let us review the main features that establish a dialogue of civilizations and cultures, a dialogue among human beings according to Paul's teachings.
The solidarity of the body’s members: a symbol of the Church

Indeed, how beautiful is the dialogue described by Paul between the body and its members! First, the dialogue starts inside humanity, within man himself, among his members working together in harmony and unity. Paul then moves from that human body and the importance of unity among its members, to the Church, which he likens to the body and the faithful to its members. Here also, the life of the Church will not be sound unless there is dialogue, collaboration and solidarity. This applies to human society as well and to the presence of Christians in society, in the country to which they belong, and to their collaboration and solidarity with all their fellow-citizens.
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?  If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: and those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked. That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.  (I Corinthians 12:12-30)
Charity: the basis of all dialogue

Paul continues setting out the law of dialogue in the body, the Church and society, as being founded on charity which is the “bond of perfection,” the bond for all gifts, and the basis of any relation between faithful and citizens.

Thus, Paul writes one of the most beautiful canticles ever sung by humans, to describe that most splendid attribute of God which reveals His essence and the nature of all religions and beliefs, namely, the Hymn to Charity (Love), which is the basis and characteristic of all dialogues and the foundation for all relations among humans whatever their religion or beliefs, even were they atheists rejecting every religion.

“But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”
(I Corinthians 12: 31)
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,  doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (I Corinthians 13: 1-10, 13)
Abolishing the wall of enmity between people

Paul is a realistic person and knows very well human frailty. He himself experienced this weakness in his body, and Jesus addressed him saying, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Moreover, Paul knows quite well that charity (love) is not a simple, easy commandment, and that living according to love requires great effort. Therefore, he explained that the primary task of Jesus is abolishing enmity among men, spreading trust and making peace. These all together form the basis of dialogue and solidarity among men.
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:11-19)
Solidarity of Rich and Poor Countries

Based on the principles mentioned above, we can establish solidarity between rich and poor countries. Annually, we witness different meetings at various levels: such as the January meeting of the G20 (Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors) in the Davos Resort, besides that of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN) due to take place soon in Rome. The year 2008 witnessed a major economic crisis due to covetousness, greed and man’s exploitation of his brethren, the poor and the weak.

Hence the Apostle Paul lays down in his Epistles the law of solidarity between rich and poor countries, based on the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: as it is written, “He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.” (II Corinthians 8:7, 9,13 -15)
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (as it is written, “He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.” (II Corinthians 9:6-9)
Damascus, Antioch and Baghdad: meeting-place of civilizations

Paul, in his epistles, laid down the foundations for dialogue, thus, transforming the Gospel into a civilization. He paved the way for a conversation of cultures and civilizations based on faith, for without faith in God, or in human dignity, there will be no dialogue, no meeting, no living together, no co-existence, no tolerance, no forgiveness, no reconciliation and no peace…

In this context His Excellency, President Bashar al-Assad of the Syrian Arabic Republic, during his reception of the late Pope, Blessed John-Paul II, declared that, “Syria is the cradle of civilization.” The President also said to us in private conversation, afterwards publicly repeated, “Palestine is the cradle of Jesus (peace be upon him) – but Syria is the cradle of Christianity.”

Actually, the Church of Antioch is the heir of the Roman Region called “Antioch and All the East” starting from Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) stretching across much of the Arab World (present-day Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq) and crossing even further towards the East, thereby including such major ancient capitals, as Constantinople, Antioch, Damascus and Baghdad.

Indeed, this region is the meeting-place of civilizations, languages and cultures: Latin (the official language of the Roman Empire), Greek (the cultural language in the Eastern Roman Empire) received by the Romans from Alexander the Great, and Syriac (the language of the people) with all its variety of Hebraic-Aramaic languages, besides the Arabic language, the language of Arabs, Muslims and Christians and the language of the Holy Qur’an.

In this region, the holy fathers, our ancestors in faith, had dedicated their lives to translating Greek culture and civilization into Syriac and later into Arabic, with the emergence of Islam.

Thus, the Church of Antioch embodies plurality and diversity in Christianity as a whole. This rich Church reflects two heritages that existed concomitantly, namely, the Greek and Syriac, followed later by the Arabic civilization.

Consequently, in the one Church of Antioch and one eparchy, two heritages in two languages existed, the Greek heritage and language together with the Syriac heritage and language, and later under their influence and through the scholars of these two heritages, the Arabic language and civilization emerged in the Church.

Hence, in Antioch and in this blessed region the languages that were known by Paul (Greek, Latin, Syriac, Aramaic, and probably Arabic) fused together, through our holy fathers, who translated these languages and civilizations into Arabic.

What is remarkable in our Greek Church, whether Catholic or Orthodox, is that it used concurrently and for consecutive decades, Greek (endemic in cities), Syriac (native to rural areas) and later Arabic, which emerged with Islam. These three languages were used together in many areas, in liturgical prayers and sometimes even in daily life, as we still find today.
Our ancestors lived the dialogue of cultures and faith

Our ancestors experienced the dialogue of cultures, civilizations and faith in the circuit of Mediterranean cultures and languages.

As the Greek language and civilization penetrated the Mediterranean Basin, the holy fathers had to study it, learn it thoroughly and then convey it into Syriac (the language of the countryside) and later Arabic (the language of Muslims and Islam). The Arabs in their turn translated Greek civilization and language into Latin across Andalusia. Through Andalusia and Arabic, Greek culture gained access to Spain and Western Europe.

Muslim Arabs contributed to transferring Greek civilization to the West during the Middle Ages, through the translations made by Christians (Syrian and Greek- Syriac).

Thus, Antioch was the bearer of a cultural and civil Christians-Muslim interfaith dialogue, contributing to a Christian-Muslim civilization, fused together in the Arab East.

Today, this is our mission too, in the steps of Paul and the Greek and Syriac fathers. Today, in the twenty-first century and this third millennium, we too, like Paul and our holy fathers and ancestors are responsible for continuing this dialogue, meeting, solidarity, collaboration and reciprocal enrichment, in our Arab society with its vast Muslim majority.

It is a truly unique responsibility for Christians to handle, and it springs out of the need for their presence and witness in the Arab world with its vast Muslim majority (constituting 300 million Muslim inhabitants and 5 million Jews, to 15 million Arab Christians.)

I have explained this unique role in certain of my Christmas Letters, particularly the fourth, entitled “Emmanuel, God with us:”
Mankind in the School of Jesus Emmanuel

So Christmas becomes a call to all mankind to learn in the school of Jesus Emmanuel, God with mankind, so that all mankind becomes one with God, so that people acquire solidarity with one another in this life, loving each other, being concerned, united, helping each other, meeting each other for good, justice, truth, peace, virtue, good morals, noble purpose, mutual respect, mutual reverence, valuing, understanding, together building a better world. He himself came and took as the goal of his life “that they should have life and have it in abundance.” (John 10:10)
The Meeting Centre

We founded in 2003 a centre which we called The Encounter Centre. It has a branch in Syria, another in the Lebanon and there will soon be a third one in Egypt. The symbol of this centre is two hands greeting each other, despite tall, thick ramparts raised to prevent them. This encounter unites and acquires all its strength, firmness and effectiveness thanks to divine revelation, the basis of our holy faith, which breaks down and even removes any possible barriers between people, allowing each to discover the other, his dignity, role and mission and helping instead to build relationships based entirely on profound, humane faith convictions, spiritual convictions. This unity is symbolized by a church and a mosque to be found in the logo of this Encounter Centre.
Church of the Arabs

The expression “Church of the Arabs” means in a unique manner the Church of Jesus Christ, living in an Arab milieu and in a deep and intimate relationship with this Arab world, with its sufferings and hopes, its joys and pains, its problems and crises. The Church is Emmanuel, Church with and for this Arab society and in this Arab society, without forgetting its Arab roots and Arab nature, due to history and geography. The most important thing is not to affirm that the Church is Arab, but rather that the Church has a mission in the Arab world and society. In fact, this Arab world in which the Church lives, in which it is planted as in its own soil, sealed into the depths of its history and geography, is in its vast majority the world of Islam The Church constitutes fifteen million out of two hundred and seventy million people. This Church of the Arabs, this Church of the Arab world and society is a Church of Islam, of Muslim society, a Church that lives with the Arab and Islamic world It is the Church that lives in this Arab, Islamic world, which is in interaction with it, suffers and rejoices with it, builds with it, hopes and grows with it, loves and serves with it: it is truly the Emmanuel Church, a Church with and for this world.
Church with Mankind

The Christian must go beyond himself and his church, his own person and become really catholic, in the general meaning, “of all and for all.” The expression “Church of the Arabs and of Islam” is a cultural or incultural expression for the one Church of our creed, “I believe in one, holy catholic Church” that is, that unites in itself all cultures, civilizations, languages and ethnicities.

This expression “Church of Islam” lies in the depths of my thought, personality and consciousness and comes from a very deep analysis far from any proselytism, or wishing to win over Muslims. This expression is, in my conscience, synonymous with love, (charity), respect, mutual help, fellowship, understanding, dialogue, affection, ardour for others, as it is said in the Qur’an, working together in our Arab homelands to build a better world, the civilization of love.

Let us say to everyone in the Arab world that the solution to our problems lies in our faith as Muslims and Christians. If we succeed in facing up to this challenge in a positive and decisive way, we shall bring about a unique victory and surely be an example to the whole world as agents of peace and salvation in our world, both Eastern and Western.

Faced with these truths and challenges, we realize more than ever the importance of our union and our solidarity in the Arab world. Besides, I would say that among the priorities of our Church is working for unity and service of the Arab world. We are from this world and for it and its development, for its service, to defend its role and for interaction and solidarity with it and all related causes. We are obliged, as a Church, as individuals and a community, each one in his position, in his eparchy, in his parish, each according to his professional, social and political commitment to listen to all its thoughts, to its whole vision.

The fruits of the unifying incarnation also touch all the nations of the whole world and it is as Jesus said, or rather as is said about Jesus, that he will “die for the nation,” but not only for the (Jewish) nation, but also to unify all the scattered children of this world. That is why it is the duty of Christians to be the initiators, the heralds of unity for the entire world. (Christmas Letter 2004)

In my Christmas Letter (2006) entitled, “Peace, Living Together and the Christian Presence in the Arab Middle East,” I reported some passages from the Letter of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs indicating that the Catholic hierarchies (and others in general) have the same orientation with regard to identifying the role of Christians in the Dialogue of Cultures:

Living together is the future of these Arab countries and is valuable for both Christians and Muslims. It means accepting the other as he is, respecting him and venerating him, recognizing him as fellow-citizen, with all concomitant human rights, those of every one on earth and especially in the East.

Christians are an important element in that living together. There is no living together without pluralism, meaning that our society comprises Christians in all communities, Muslims in all their groups, Druzes and Jews.

This living together is threatened by emigration, whose most important and dangerous reasons are the wars, calamities and crises whose origin is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the injustice that flows from that. In the same way, products of this conflict are extremism, fundamentalism, violence, the ideology of terrorism and feelings of enmity and hatred in society and lack of equality in rights and job opportunities. There is also a lack of opportunity for participating in different posts in the country, its governance and parliament, ministries and other services.

If the haemorrhage of emigration continues, it means the East will be void of its pluralism. There will be a collapse of what we call living together. In those circumstances, Christians would not able to resist the series of calamities, crises, wars, clashes and conflicts.

But what may yet help Christians to resist in the face of all these difficulties and not emigrate is the faith conviction that remaining in Arab countries, where Christianity was born and where God has planted them, is in itself an apostolate, vocation and mission. This mission stems from the fact that the Antiochian Christian Church here, as I always repeat, is an Arab Church from its roots and ethnicity. Moreover it is Church of the Arabs and Church of Islam and Emmanuel Church, God with us and for us. It is also the Church with and for the other: the other is the Muslim citizen in our Arab society which is in the majority Muslim, in which Christians are responsible for bearing the Gospel message, and proclaiming its values in society, so that the Church may be present and witnessing in society, participating and interacting with it.

The atmosphere suitable for all these elements cited above - pluralism and living together with all that goes with that - is an atmosphere suitable for peace in the region; peace that is lasting, complete and firm, that may be the warranty for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

On the other hand, if Arab countries and Muslim citizens really care about pluralism and living together and if they feel the Christian presence is important in the region, then Christians have to be able to enjoy full fellow-citizenship with all the rights that go with it. It is absolutely indispensable that Arab countries unite their voices and words, to bring about a civilising, just and peaceable solution for the Palestinian cause.

If that does not happen in the near future, the haemorrhage of emigration will grow as will Islamic fundamentalist movements, violence and terrorism and young Muslims will very simply fall victim into their net. That means that we should pass on to our young up and coming Arab generations a sombre inheritance and a black future. Then Arab Muslim society would lose the components of its pluralism and living together and there would be realised, unfortunately, the prophecy about the clash of civilizations, religions and cultures.
Word of God: Words of Mankind (Christmas letter 2007)

Pentecost was a prodigious event: the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and many of the Jewish pilgrims who had gone up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost, who, when they realised what had happened, ran up towards the upper room at Sion, where the apostles had been gathered after the ascension of Jesus Christ whilst awaiting the Father’s promise, that is, the descent of the Holy Spirit. And the tongue or language of the apostles was empowered after the Holy Spirit had descended on them in the form of tongues of fire to indicate the importance of speech, pronunciation, language and words in bearing the message of Jesus. “Their voice is gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 18 (19): 4, LXX)

The apostles addressed the crowds around them, announcing the Word of God, but in just one language. However, though those present were of different nationalities and countries, speaking different languages, as Saint Luke tells us, yet they heard the apostles speak, each one in his own native language. So the Word of God is one, though for all people, reaching all, each in his own civilisation, with its language, culture and characteristics.

It is truly the Word of God, because it really can reach all mankind and become a Word for people. That is the great challenge for preaching with conviction, for pastoral writing and in all documents issued by church authorities. The challenge is how to make the Word of God understood and bring it to people in such a way that it remains really his Word (without trickery, confusion or alteration) while meeting with people’s words and with their understanding, mindset and way of thinking. Yet it must elevate their thoughts and change their mentality, so that their own words really enter into harmony and contact with the Word of God. Then may be realised what Saint Paul said, “We have the mind of Christ.” (I Corinthians 2:16)
The Word of God: Dialogue of Religions and Faiths

The Council of Vatican II gave us the golden rule for religious dialogue, by showing us the importance of discovering the good things or the wealth of others. Here is what the Second Vatican Council said in Nostra Aetate (1965):

It is of very great importance for people to love their religion and the Word of God for mankind, and know it in ever greater depth, preserving and defending it. But one must be open to the other person, to his convictions and faith. If not, we fall into relativism, which is the greatest enemy of faith.

There is no monopoly on the Word of God. It is just as much the other person’s as it is mine. Our Muslim world is afraid of our preaching, but does not cease preaching Islam. That is an unreasonable position. We require our Muslim fellow-citizens to acknowledge our freedom to bring the good news to others, with love and respect for their faith, but we do not require anyone else to embrace our faith. It is enough if people can find out about it and come to esteem and love it. Conversion is the work of God. Do not attempt to convert a friend, or loved one. God converts whom he will.

The Word of God is for me and its revelation is to me, but not to me alone. I must allow others to share in it. We must have, as we say in the Arabic proverb, bread and salt.

But it is not bread or salt that enables us to live together. What matters is rather how we can share together in the Word of God in Christianity, Islam and Judaism. How can we feed each other by the Word of God? How can the Word of God become an essential food? As we say in the Our Father, “Give us this day our daily (epiousion) bread.” The Our Father is really a call to share together in the Word of God.

We thank God for the many, beautiful relationships between Christians and Muslims that occur especially in everyday living. However, I would like us to share together in the Word of God, since that is what unites us, draws us together and gives us strength, reinforcing our faith. Let us not be afraid to love the Word of God in our brothers and sisters. Let us not be afraid of verses from the Qur’an and let them not be afraid of verses from the Gospel or from the Torah. These are the Word of God for us all, every one according to his own calling. I would like to tell our Muslim brethren not to fear our faith. Let us all rather be afraid of using words of vengeance, criticism, pride and haughtiness. The Word of God does not despise anyone. It is not proud, boastful or puffed up. It does not engage in bad behaviour or enjoy retaliation. It does not rejoice in evil, but in good. It rejoices in love and believes all things. (cf. I Corinthians 13)
Words of God and Words of Men

Let us love the Word of God, for the Word of God is for us all. Let us share these words, proclaiming them in song and loving them. Let these words of God be for our friendship, living together and mutual relationship. Instead of using empty, lying flatteries, let us nourish ourselves with earth’s most beautiful words and feed each other with these same heavenly words that God addresses to the children of men, for God is bountiful and bestows his life-giving words on us all. Let us not be afraid of the words of God, but rather let us fear the words of men. Let us so act that our human words be changed into words divine.

I propose founding a forum to be called “The Forum of the Word of God,” so that Christians and Muslims can meet together and together discuss and meditate upon the Word of God.

Our zeal for the Word of God should be a means of sanctification for us and for deepening our faith. We must not allow our zeal for the Word to become a weapon to exploit others, judging, persecuting and compelling them to embrace our faith, any more than we can allow the Word of God to become the cause of conflicts, disputes and confrontations between our faithful and those holding different religious convictions. Nor should it become an instrument of terrorism and a pretext for one group to claim superiority over another. The Word of God (not we ourselves) is the true judge between us and those who are not of our faith.
Christian Unity

Let us not forget the importance of Unity among Christians, because it is the foundation of success in their unique mission: the Dialogue of Cultures. Our Christian faith is a constant vocation of unity, as Jesus said: “that they may all be one; Father, that the world may believe” (John 17:21). This last prayer of Jesus is not just a persistent call for unity; rather it is Jesus’ last commandment.

The Word of God becomes incarnate so that the world may be one, that mankind be one, in harmony, unified, beautiful, illuminated, keeping the imprint of its Creator, his charismata and above all, his unity. As the Qur’an says, “One God alone, without peer,” did not wish man to be lost in the multitude, through being scattered, torn apart, in loss, estrangement, alienation from God, division, discord, hatred, war, killing, destruction, vengeance and confusion. He wanted to enable humanity to participate in his divine unity: that’s why he became human in the person of Jesus Christ, in order to “gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” (John 11:52)
The Prayer of Jesus for Unity

Incarnation and monotheism (or oneness) are two expressions which are mutually attractive. We see them as signs of the will of God to unify all his creatures, unifying them amongst themselves in the depths of divine revelation.

So we see throughout the whole life of Jesus, a leitmotiv linking all the events in it, a divine concern, that does not wish to see man lost, isolated, scattered, divided against himself in his mind and heart, aspirations and personal life, employment, family and social life. God created human beings after his image and likeness and wishes to gather them into a single fold, like the good shepherd that he is, leaving the ninety-nine sheep inside, to go in search of the one that has gone astray, and bring it back on his shoulders, returning inside the fold with it. So there will be a single community and a single shepherd, a single fold and a single pastor and he will be the vine and all humans will be the vine-shoots, united by the tendrils of love. So they will be able to yield fruit, fruit both abundant and permanent.

On the day of Pentecost, the disciples received the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire and saw that among the crowds listening to the sermon of St. Peter, faith in Jesus Christ burst forth. They returned home edified by the one faith and subsequently, the apostles left to go out into the whole world and in whatever corner of the earth people listened to the message of Pentecost, there the apostles were able to spread faith in Jesus Christ among different languages, cultures and peoples.
The Church: Place of Unity

The event of Pentecost is the feast of unity and diversity. Moreover, it is the basis of the signs of the Church, as the Church Fathers have formulated it in the Creed of the Council of Nicaea, “We believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.”

These signs are the realization of the goals of the incarnation, redemption and salvation of the whole world: in fact the Church is the place of unity, salvation and redemption.

We need the Damascus road. May everyone in the world tread the road to Damascus, so that the world may change and people move from shadows to light, from night to day, sin to righteousness, persecution to love, violence to kindness, selfishness to altruism, terrorism to solidarity, fundamentalism to openness, the spirit of vengeance to such feelings as Saint Paul expresses when he exhorts the faithful to have among themselves the thoughts and manners that are in Christ Jesus, and reminds them that the fruits of the Spirit are “love.. gentleness, temperance.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

And with Saint Paul, we say to all those who will read this Pauline Christmas Letter, “…now it is high time to awake out of sleep: … The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly... But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” (Romans 13:11-14)

What a beautiful world is Paul’s! May the world of Saint Paul’s Epistles invade our suffering world today that lies in darkness, in revolt, hateful, vindictive, combative, exploitative, materialistic, carnal, obsessed with sex, superficial, egotistic, vacillating, erring, disorientated, without reference points, aimless: our world has such need of Paul! Beyond Paul, it needs Christ, the Gospel, the Good News. It needs God. It is really athirst and ahungered for God, but the tragedy is that the world is unaware of the fact that it is athirst and ahungered, for its cares, passions, depravation, futility and lifestyle stifle the Word of God planted in the human heart and hence it cannot bear fruit. This world does not hear the voice of the living and risen Jesus, who is waiting for each one of us on the road to our Damascus, on the Via Recta, and calling us by name, begging, challenging, chiding, awakening us from sleep, stupor, insensibility, hardness of heart, to tell us this, “Thou art mine; I have loved thee; I love thee; I know thee by name; thou art a chosen vessel for me
Conclusion

This year the Agape Company produced a film entitled, “Damascus speaks: St. Paul.”

Yes, that’s true! Damascus speaks of the great event of Paul’s conversion at its outskirts.

Damascus speaks or rather Jesus Christ has spoken in Damascus. In Damascus, Paul saw Jesus risen and alive; in Damascus Paul was chosen to bear the Message of Jesus to the world through its different languages and cultures.

Paul saw Jesus in Damascus
Paul listened to Jesus in Damascus
Paul talked with Jesus in Damascus
Paul spoke of Jesus in Damascus

It is from Damascus, that Paul addressed the world in all languages and cultures. He spoke to them of the Christian Faith, through the Gospel: in Athens, in the civilization and culture of Greeks and in Rome, in the civilization and culture of Romans, while speaking to Nabateans and Arabs in Hebraic-Aramaic and Syriac languages.

In Paul, the Psalmist’s saying was fulfilled, “Their voice is gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 18 (19): 4, LXX)

God still speaks in Damascus, to the Damascenes, to the children of Syria and to the children of the Arab world: the cradle of revelation and faith. Damascus is and will ever remain, with all its faithful - Christians and Muslims – speaking of faith-related matters and thereby safeguarding the faith committed to their trust by their parents and ancestors. Damascus speaks and will always be speaking, through Church, mosque, country, President, people or government, so as to carry to the world Paul’s message, the message of our faith and religious values, as Christians and Muslims, and as Paul did, we will remain loyal to his mission as teacher of cultural dialogue.

As Paul says: “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,” (II Corinthians 10:5) so that every human being will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord for the Glory of God. Amen.

 

Patriarch Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and of All the East,
of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church

 




Some Practical Guidance for Celebrating the Year of Saint Paul

 

   1. Learn by heart some verses of Saint Paul and repeat them in our daily life, in moments of joy, doubt and sadness
   2. Intensify the feeling of love for Jesus, as we read in the Letters of Saint Paul
   3. Consider Saint Paul’s words as addressed to us to strengthen our faith
   4. Be proud of our faith, as Paul was, and like him, be enthusiastic for Jesus’ sake
   5. Proclaim Jesus, as Paul did, in our society

   6. Have broad horizons and hopes, like Paul
   7. Understand the meaning of our life, discovering it from a daily reading of Saint Paul’s Epistles
   8. Priests – concentrate your sermons this year on the Epistles rather than on the Gospel
   9. Organise in parishes a programme of continuous reading of Saint Paul’s Epistles through meetings and vigils in churches
  10. In the narthex of parish churches, place icons of Saint Paul and information on Saint Paul’s life and Epistles

 
Dear brothers and sisters,
I hope that through this guidance,
you will find a new face, the face of Saint Paul, his personality
and more, the face of Jesus.
My wish is for you to be always
in a continual meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus,
the road of conversion, light, life and resurrection:
which is the way of life in Jesus Christ.
Amen.

 

Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
Of Alexandria and of Jerusalem

Letter of His Beatitude Gregorios III
On the Occasion of the Opening of the Year of Saint Paul

Damascus 2008



To their Excellencies,
my beloved brother Bishops, members of the Holy Synod,
most reverend Superiors General and Mothers General,
and all faithful parishioners of our Melkite Greek Catholic Church,
“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 emphasise 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 travelled 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 programme 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 programme 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 Programme 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 programmes 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