Document
His Beatitude John X
Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
President
World Council of Churches
Damascus, Syria
Geneva, 17 August 2020
Your Beatitude,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and resurrection.
I write to express my sincere condolences on the passing into life eternal of Archimandrite Alexi Chehadeh, Director-General of the Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development, who has loyally served the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, and was respected and beloved within the ecumenical movement and its development agencies.
Fr Alexi will always be remembered as having devoted his life to implementing Jesus’ teachings in Matthew (Mt 25: 40), serving and healing the poor and the displaced in a situation of armed conflict in Syria, serving Christ in the most vulnerable, and witnessing to God’s love for all people regardless of religious and/or ethnic affiliations. We have known him in the WCC as a peacemaker and peacebuilder in times of war, in his community and beyond. His active role in supporting and accompanying peace and development initiatives will keep his memory eternal in his Church, but also in the ecumenical family at large.
In our Lord’s name, we can confidently repeat St Paul’s words: “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
On behalf of the World Council of Churches, I extend my sympathy to Your Beatitude, to the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and to the family of the late Fr Alexi.
May his memory be eternal !
Yours with filial love and respect,
Fr Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca
Interim General Secretary
World Council of Churches