Easter Message

23 April 2000

1.  I wish you all, with the Risen Lord, a holy and happy Easter. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed.

Our Easter message this year follows on the message addressed to us by the Holy Father, John-Paul II, when he visited our Churches, our Holy Places and the sufferings of our peoples. In a situation which remains a walk towards more light and more justice for our countries, and towards more awareness of our vocation and of the meaning of our life as Christians in this Holy Land, the message of the Pope is, first of all, a prayer. It  should begin, end and accompany all our actions. That was the meaning for us of his long and deep moments of prayer which isolated him from all those who surrounded him, from their wish to approach him, to greet him, to touch him, or to protect him. In that way, he prayed in the principal Holy Places recording the mystery of  human salvation: on Mount Nebo, his first encounter with the mystery of Revelation in our land, in the grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where he took the time to pray his Office, in the grotto of the Annunciation, in Gethsemane and in the Cenacle in Jerusalem, and last in the Holy Sepulchre, before the Tomb  and on the Calvary. These were moments of prayer and silence with God which continued in his encounters with the crowds, beginning with Madaba, Amman, Jordan Valley, then in Bethlehem, on the Mountain of Beatitudes and in Nazareth.

2. Led by the same deep prayer, and by the same presence of God, he wanted to meet with all. He wanted to meet all Christians at the ecumenical meeting in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, and the visit to the Armenian Patriarchate, and all religions, each one in his own place of prayer, at the synagogue, the Wailing Wall, and the esplanade of the Mosque of Omar, and then together in the interreligious meeting.

Led always by the same deep prayer, and by the same divine presence, he wanted to meet the sufferings of both peoples living in the land of his pilgrimage, the Palestinian and the Jewish people. He wanted also to meet with the political leaders in Jordan, Palestine and Israel, since these too, with all their responsibilities, were part of his prayer.

3.  The message he left for us all is the message of a man filled with the spirit of God. A message first to the Church of Jerusalem, to all this Church, in other words to all Christians. All, indeed, faithful, and very often their hierarchies, have accompanied the pilgrimage of the Pope: they saw, listened and were impressed. His message to the small flock was simple: be courageous, accept your vocation and accomplish your mission in your different societies in the land of Jesus. He confirmed the Catholic Churches in their synodal journey, and urged us to continue in this path by the application of the pastoral plan, fruit of the synod. He confirmed the walk of our Churches towards unity, a walk already begun, though still hesitant, surrounded by fears and sensitivities.

4.  His was also a message to the Universal Church inviting her to return to her roots. Indeed as successor of St Peter, he brought with him to this pilgrimage the whole Church. Seen in this light, his pilgrimage is an invitation to the Church to remain, somehow in a physical way, closer to the Calvary and the Resurrection, in her walk towards the future. It is an invitation also to look at, to know and to better love the mother Church of Jerusalem.

5.  To the religious leaders, Jews and Moslems, who have welcomed him and  listened to him, he reaffirmed the openness, the disposition of the Catholic Church to listen, and to collaborate for the good of humankind. In our countries, which are still in  quest of peace and justice, he invited them to act for a just peace. The interreligious meeting which took place in Jerusalem, which could have appeared to some as a failure, was rather a success, because it revealed the deepness of the human wound and tearing in Jerusalem and in the Holy Land. The basis and the conditions of interreligious dialogue in Jerusalem were revealed: in order to bear fruits, it must begin by acknowledging this reality and these conditions. An interreligious dialogue in Jerusalem cannot make abstraction of the human suffering which goes on in the Holy Land, and of the process of healing of which religious leaders are in part responsible. It is in a frank and courageous vision of this common suffering that religious leaders can accomplish their mission and help political leaders in finding their way for a just and definitive peace.

 6.  For us, Churches, the complexity of our ecclesial reality has been uncovered also, and hence the need for a serious reflection, based on the same deep and silent prayer of the Holy Father, in order to have better understanding of the identity and mission of our Church of Jerusalem towards our own faithful as well as towards the whole Church.

 This identity is presently manifested in diversity within the Catholic Churches, which necessitates a better comprehension  and efficiency in the unity of hearts, a mutual acceptance and a common action which leads us to express one same word, the word of the Spirit of God, to our faithful, to the concrete situations of our countries and to the Churches of the world.

This identity is also manifested  in the divisions which should be overcome, as we wait meanwhile the time of God when he will restore unity in his Church. Already a great fraternal cordiality exists among the heads of the Churches in Jerusalem. It should be communicated  to all our clergies and our faithful.

This identity implies also communion with all the Churches of the world.  Jerusalem is the mother Church for her own children living with her in this land. This applies also to all her children wherever they are, in whatever situation they be, as history has done and featured them.

7. This is our message on the occasion of the Holy Week, which is a time to pray, to make penitence, to purify oneself and to return to God. May the Risen Lord fill us with His peace and send us His Spirit in order to remain faithful to the mission entrusted to us.

Holy and Happy Easter to all.

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed.

                                    +Michel Sabbah

                                                     Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem

“Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive?”  (Lk 24:5)

EASTER MESSAGE

for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000

From Their Beatitudes the Patriarchs and Heads of the Christian Communities in Jerusalem

to

Our Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ in the Holy Land and the World

The last few months have been encouraging to us all in view of the manifestations of solidarity from our Christian family. We inaugurated the celebrations of the third millennium together on 4 December 1999 when the Heads of all the traditional Churches in Jerusalem joined thousands of people from our land and other parts of the world at Manger Square in Bethlehem in a Common Celebration. This special event helped encourage large numbers of pilgrims to travel to the Holy land in order to witness to Christ and renew their faith in those places from where our Christian faith spread forth to the whole world. 

Shortly thereafter, we were richly blessed with the visit of many Heads of Churches. In early January 2000, a great many of the Patriarchs and Archbishops of the Greek Orthodox Church world-wide came to the Holy Land to celebrate Christmas together in Bethlehem. Later that month, in mid-January, the spiritual leader of the Armenian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, visited us as well.  And it was only a few weeks ago that we welcomed in our midst His Holiness Pope John Paul II and tens of thousands of pilgrims from around the world who accompanied him on his spiritual pilgrimage to our land.

All these events have given witness to the life and presence of the local Christian Church in our land and strengthened hope for our future despite the arduous journey along the pathway of peace.

The reason for the Millennium is the anniversary of the birth of the Holy Child in Bethlehem. Now, as we approach the commemoration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to focus attention on the basic tenets of our Christian faith.

We remember today St Paul affirming to us, “All I want is to know Christ and to experience the power of his Resurrection, to share in his sufferings and become like him in his death, in the hope that I myself will be raised from death to life” (Phil 3:10-11). The world might disappoint human beings. It might disillusion them at times when it attempts to denigrate the eternal values that Jesus exemplified to us throughout his ministry. But we are called to be witnesses of the Risen Christ. We need to demonstrate our commitment to Christ in clear and meaningful words. 

Like Pontius Pilate in front of Jesus, many people ask today, “And what is truth?” (Jn 18:38).  As witnesses to our faith, we have to spell out our conviction that God’s truth is vital to our daily life.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6).  By following the truth, we must emphasise the importance of sincerity and the need for compassion amongst human beings. As such, we ask all of you, clergy and laity alike, individuals or organisations, to love one another, to understand each other and to work together in order to preserve Jesus’ teachings and to uphold those principles for which he gave his life. Then, we will indeed prove that his death on the Cross was not in vain, nor was the power of his glorious Resurrection diluted over the centuries.

All these events took place in the Holy City of Jerusalem which is at the heart of our Holy Land. We hope that all religious and secular authorities will work unstintingly to remove those obstacles that come in the way of a comprehensive and just peace for our region.  And no matter how difficult the times ahead, we encourage you to remain steeped in your faith so that you can “have the righteousness that is given through faith in Christ (Phil 3:9) and that you can truly proclaim Jesus’ statement to his disciples, “Be brave, I have defeated the world!” (Jn 16:33).  Then, you can truly cry out aloud in jubilation Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Hallelujah!

Their Beatitudes the Patriarchs and Heads of the Christian Communities in Jerusalem

+ Diodoros I, Greek Orthodox Patriarch

+ Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch

+ Torkom II, Armenian Orthodox Patriarch

Fr Giovanni Batistelli, Custos of the Holy Land

+ Anba Abraham, Coptic Orthodox Archbishop

+ Swerios Malki Mourad, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchal Vicar

+ Gabriel, Ethiopian Orthodox Archbishop

+ Riah Abu El-Assal, Anglican Bishop

+ Mounib Younan, Lutheran Bishop

+ Lutfi Lahham, Greek Catholic Patriarchal Vicar

+ Boulos Sayyah, Maronite Patriarchal Vicar

+ Gregorios Boutros Abdul Ahhad, Syrian Catholic Patriarchal Vicar