His Beatitude Petros VII, Patriarch and Pope of Alexandria and All Africa

Patriarchal Christmas Proclamation 1999

PETROS VII, BY THE GRACE OF GOD

POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA AND ALL AFRICA

TO ALL THE FAITHFUL OF THE CHURCH GRACE, PEACE AND MERCY FROM OUR SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, WHO BECAME MAN.

Brethren concelebrants and beloved children in Christ, Christ is born, let us glorify Him.

      Christ came from Heaven, let us meet with Him.

      Christ came to earth, let us be lifted up to heaven.

      With these oratory and poetic words the Church sings the great event of Christ's Birth, the miracle which astonished all human logic, the miracle which was hidden from all generations, and which is revealed today.

      Christ is born, let us glorify Him.

      The Savior Christ came from Heaven, let us meet Him.

      Christ came to earth, let us be lifted up to Heaven.

      In a world which is continuously changing and bears the scars of evil and guilt, due to the contemporary wars and the social divisions the world struggles to rebuild the spiritual values, our Holy Church looks upon the celebration of this great feast of Christ's Birth with hope and proclaims, that: "Today a Savior has been born for us". This event gives Us the opportunity to communicate with Our spiritual children, who are in all Africa, and address them with the festival greeting CHRIST IS BORN, and grant them Our paternal blessing.

      May the joy, which was evangelized by the Angel to the shepherds and the peace, which was sung by the angelic hosts above the Manger of Bethlehem, be with you, My beloved children. To the parents, as prosperity of their family. To the workers, as strength in their labours. To the sick, as patience during their difficult moments. To those who mourn, as consolation. To those who are in prison, as hope.

      To those who suffered from injustice, as refuge. To all, as Divine Blessing and Grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who was born in Bethlehem and was baptized in Jordan.

      God became man, to deliver the whole human race, creation and history from sin and its results, which are expressed in social injustice, misfortune and poverty. Man and the social groups, the nations and the whole world look upon the God man, His mercy and love.

      Let us, therefore, recall our lives and direct it in accordance with God's Will, either as social groups all together entrusting ourselves to Christ's love, which is expressed from our part as the denial of sin and egocentric evil, as goodwill to do good towards all, as constructive work, as realization of our responsibilities.

      May the Grace and Truth, which became reality by the Birth of the God man, be with you.

PETROS VII

Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa

In the Great City of Alexandria

CHRISTMAS 1999.

Speech of His Beatitude

PETROS VII

Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa

On the occasion of His meeting with the students of the Theological Academy
Monday 26^th April 1999.

Your Beatitude Holy Brother,

Your Eminences,

Honourable Dean,

Professors,

My beloved students,

CHRIST IS RISEN!

With great joy and hearty feelings I am with you, because you will be tomorrow’s ministers of our Church and the stewards of God’s Holy Sacraments, our concelebrants and cooperators.

      Here you study the sacred science of Theology. Theology is the true and living nourishment and the final purpose of every human being. Theology is the acme of the monastic life and especially the life of prayer and the love towards God. It is not only prayer and love, but all other evangelic virtues of Christ, which constitute the spiritual life of an Orthodox Christian and which are essential for the true Orthodox Theology. Therefore our Lord says in the Gospel of St. John: "If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will learn the truth" (John 14:15-21).

      The real Orthodox Christian Theology is the result of God’s revelation. The knowledge about God and Theology is the result of the direct meeting between man and God, the One Who reveals Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ, to Whom God has founded His personal relationship and communion with man and all mankind.

      Without Christ there can be neither theology nor knowledge about God. Thus many Fathers of our Church call Christ the First and True Theologian, Who reveals and offers us the true theology. The God-man Christ is not only the starting point and the source of theology and the knowledge about God, but He is Himself as the "Way, the Truth and the Life" (John 14:16) is at the same time the mediator and finally the fulfillment of all knowledge about God, the life according to God and within God.

      This means, that Orthodox Theology is all about Christ, the Holy Trinity and the Holy Spirit. Because, as the Holy fathers say, only the name of Christ includes the Father, Who anointed Him and the Holy Spirit by Whom He was anointed.

      Theology therefore is not only to speak about God, but, according to St. Gregory Palamas, "to become related to God".

      I have heard once, that Mr. Gorbatshov said to the Greek Prime Minister, that Orthodoxy is what unites us. And this is what unites East and West. Orthodoxy is what unites man. Orthodoxy is what every man is seeking for. You must know that God did not leave any time without giving witness of His presence. In every period He has presented the true theologians, His saints. God never left man without His witness and without visiting each and everyone. It is essential to have our ears opened to hear His calling. He respects us more than we are worthy of. In the Book of Revelation Christ says: "Behold I am standing before the door and knock. If anyone opens for me, I shall enter". If we want, we can say: My God, I am deaf and dumb. I cannot hear anything, therefore I beseech You, when You come and knock on my door, brake it down. And if we ask Him, He will brake it and He will establish Himself within our hearts and then we will begin a new life. The importance is to experience this way of life and to leave it as the yeast to leaven the whole bread. St. Symeon the New Theologian says: When someone hears the Logos, then he can understand the reason and the purpose of all creatures. Then he can feel, that although He is unmoveable. He makes everything and although He is somewhere He is everywhere.

      My beloved children,

      I paternally pray that you will listen always to the voice of God and to say yes to this voice. Become, by the Grace of God, men of love and God-bearing, true Theologians.

      May the God of peace and wisdom be with you always.

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Speech of His Beatitude

PETROS VII

Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa

During the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Church of All the Saints,

the Alexandrian Exarchate in Russia.

Saturday, 24^th April 1999.

Your Beatitude and Holiness Alexy, Patriarch of Moscow,

Today, in the joy of the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit has gathered us to experience the godly mystery of the Church, the life of the Resurrected Christ, and it brought us in the yard of this Temple, which is full of the glory of God.

      The Church is Heaven on earth and in Her God lives and walks. Therefore our entrance herein is not simply an act of man’s free will. It is something even greater. It is an act of God’s mercy. When we enter God’s Temple, we enter into the presence of the Lord and we have communion with His Holiness, Glory and Love.

      With the incarnation of the Word of God reconciliation has been established. With the creation of the Church we have God dwelling amongst men.

      The Church’s mission is to give witness about unity, because God is known as a perfect communion of Three Persons. The Word of God took up flesh, in order to reveal the true divine unity and freedom which reigns within the bosom of the Deity. He became man, in order to raise up the fallen nature of man and to renew the human nature.

      Today, we have the privilege to celebrate the sacred inauguration of this holy and historical Church, which dedicated to All the Saints, who through the canonical order and ecclesiastical solidarity has been offered by Your Beatitude to the Apostolic Church of Alexandria, with the occasion of the transit of the Exarchate from Odysseus to Moscow, the city of martyrs. The offering of this Holy Temple, whose sacred history begins in the year 1380, when it was built by St. Demetrios Ntanskoy, and our presence celebrating the inauguration and the divine sacrifice, without the shedding of blood, witness the close relationship of the two Churches, a relationship of love throughout the history of both Churches.

      Let us recall the Patriarch of Alexandria Gerasimos I, Spartaliotes, who lived during the year 1625. This Patriarch addressed a letter to Patriarch Philaretos and the Czar Michael, offering special ecclesiastical rights, which were given to the Patriarch of the Russian Church, rights which only the Apostolic Throne of Alexandria had, and holy relics were given to the Czar.

      He wrote, "My humbleness decided, according to the authority, which belongs to me, honors His All Holiness Philaretos, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and all His successors, to have the patriarchal cloak similar to mine decorated with red stripes".

      The struggle of Cyril Loukaris, Patriarch of Alexandria, for the rights of the Church of Russia, the report of the Orthodox people to the Czar Peter the Great in 1714, at the time of Patriarch Samuel of Alexandria, concerning the peace of the Alexandrian Church, prove the truth of our words.

      For this reason our meeting, today, under the reality of the Resurrection, is a common witness of the Resurrection, our history and confirmation of our good will to fulfill our mission. The starting point and aim is common: the salvation of man. The path which we should follow is well known: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Matth. 28:19).

      We live in times where nothing is self-evident. The Church is called to continue Her mission in a world which is blind by the technological progress and at the same time faces a deep spiritual crisis concerning the family. She is called embrace and transform a world which has nothing to do with the world which She knew, and which world provokes Her to be restrained only to moral principals, philosophical and worldly theories which have nothing to do with Her ontological preconditions. Today, more than any other time the Church is called to show the Way, the Truth and the Life. To proclaim the Lord, Who Is and Who will come.

      The hosts of the Saints, Martyrs and Ascetics of the Church assure that the Church of Christ has the power and the authority to free man, to cure the wounds of the world and to bring the hope of salvation.

      CHRIST IS RISEN! Your Holiness and beloved children!