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My dear brethren,
Christ is Risen!
It is with feelings of joy and brotherly love that we welcome you to our homeland and the Autocephalous Church of Greece, which is a founding member of the World Council of Churches already since the first Assembly of 1948 in Amsterdam.
We welcome you warmly during what should normally be a joyful Resurrection period of time, when the light of the Risen Christ dispels all darkness of despair, violence and division, and grants hope, peace and renewal to the entire creation.
In our tormented times, when “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5,19), and when war, refugee, social inequality and spiritual bleakness plague the peoples, the Church is called upon to be “the light of the world” and “a city that is set on an hill” (Matth. 5,14), an agent of love, reconciliation and hope. The peace which Christ left us as divine legacy ─“peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (John 14,27)─ remains the ultimate good and the main precondition for the reconstruction of a world of justice, social cohesion and respect for the value of each and every human being.
We welcome you to a European country with deep Christian roots and principles, where faith in the Gospel, and the living tradition of the Church still inspire and guide the hearts of its citizens. We welcome you to an Autocephalous (i.e., literally “self-headed”, in Greek) Orthodox Church, which, amidst numerous challenges, modern impasses, and a secularised reality, strives to remain a beacon of faith and love, to minister to the suffering human being, to preserve unity “in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4,3), and to preach “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2,15).
Against this background, our care for the suffering and uprooted fellow human being is of particular importance. Within this framework, we would like to express our gratitude to all the Member Churches of WCC for their active interest in and contribution to the migration issue. Please allow me particularly to extol the work of our own relevant Synodal Service and of Synyparxis (i.e. “existing together”, in Greek), the non-profit organisation (Civil Law partnership) of our Church with its Ecumenical Refugee Programme, which, under the arduous self-offering of the dear brother Metropolitan Athenagoras of Ilion and his select associates, untiringly ministers to our fellow human beings in the area of hospitality and the protection of refugees and of unaccompanied minors, in particular, in accommodation facilities which operate both in Athens and in Northern Greece.
I am certain that, during your visit there you will be able to witness with your own eyes our concern, our care as well as the application of the word of the Gospel in practice : “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in” (Matth. 25,35).
On the occasion of your presence, please allow me to urge you as members of the Central Committee of WCC and especially as members of the Commission of WCC on International Affairs to step up even further your attachment to the issue of migration not as a mere humanitarian problem but as an evangelical challenge. For us Christians there is no stranger to the love of Christ.
There should be no discrimination in love among fellow human beings. Everyone has the right to a better future and to our protection in terms of major, fundamental human rights. We the Churches must work with zeal on this matter. We must love “in deed and in truth” (1 John 3,18), and refrain from judging. Let us open up our hearts and embrace each and every one of our brothers and sisters in need.
With these thoughts, therefore, and with the prayer that the proceedings of your Conference in our hospitable Athens be crowned with success, may I address to you once more the greeting of Resurrection : “Christ is Risen ! ”.
Welcome, my dear brothers and sisters.
+ The Archbishop of Athens and all Greece
Ieronymos II
