Your Beatitude,

On behalf of the fellowship of the member churches of the World Council of Churches, and with gratitude to our Triune God, I congratulate you on your election to the Throne of St James as the 97th Patriarch of the Armenian Church in Jerusalem, and the Superior of the Brotherhood of Saint James.

We are confident that your spiritual leadership in these critical moments, which the whole region is going through, will contribute to the peace building efforts of the Christian Churches worldwide. We believe that the role of the Armenian Church in Jerusalem will remain strong under your guidance; and, your witness to the Lord will bring new breath to the long and honorable history of the Patriarchate and the Brotherhood.

Our long history of cooperation makes us hopeful that, under your leadership, the Armenian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem will continue its active involvement in the ecumenical life in Jerusalem, strengthening the bonds of love and unity among Christians in the land of the Holy One, and also in the life of the World Council of Churches, and the global ecumenical family.

Your Beatitude has been chosen to lead your people in the way of the Crucified and Resurrected One. May He multiply the fruits of love entrusted to you. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).

In Christ our Lord,

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit
WCC general secretary