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A Word from Patriarch John the 10th
For the Opening of the Antiochian Conference
Balamand June 25, 2014

Dear Beatitudes and Holinesses, beloved and brethren,


I am so pleased to begin this conference on Antiochian unity by welcoming all of you, all of our honorable and excellent guests, including our Holy Patriarchs, our distinguished heads of state, ministers and members of parliament, our esteemed metropolitans, bishops, priests, reverend priests, and pastors, as well as our faithful monks and nuns. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to our esteemed professors, our loyal spiritual sons and daughters, and to all of the participants who have joined us from dioceses from all over the Antiochian world. We rejoice that you are immersing yourself in this joyous event whose cause is so dear to our hearts. I am well aware that some of you have traveled from lands that have suffered greatly, and that some have crossed vast distances to join us. Each and every one has undergone significant hardship, all the while being aware that working for the church is a joint endeavor to be shared by its children, clergy and laymen alike.

Antioch rejoices in the memory of the two disciples, Saints Peter and Paul, and the hearts of the faithful join together at the sight of them embracing, in witness to the world that the fragrance of holiness and the scent of Christianity will forever remain ambrosial throughout the entire East. During this commemoration of Saints Peter and Paul, Orthodox Antioch wishes to gather all of its beloved from all Antiochian dioceses scattered throughout all lands of its oikomene, to declare to them that the church would not exist without them, as the church’s foundation is indeed composed of human beings primarily and not of stones. Antioch assembles its beloved today to tell each and every one of them that he or she is invited to become a vehicle for the propagation of the word of truth to the world, following the example of St. Paul, and that each is invited to be a solid stone in the body of the church, in the example of St. Peter. Stones provide support for each other. Stones strengthen and fortify each other. At times, one stone is higher than its counterpart. However, in the presence of Christ our Lord, who is Truth itself and the cornerstone of the Edifice, all other glories fade, pride pales, and human tongues are silenced as the logic of love and unity radiates. In front of Christ our Savior, pure souls transcend and eyes shed tears of longing to fulfill His desire, which He expressed to His father, when He so eloquently said, “that they may be one, as we are one.” (Jn 17:11)

We gather here as Antiochians, surrounding an Antioch that stretches beyond its borders to a boundless world, erasing the ignorance of the past, exposing the silence of the idols, carrying a message taught by the Savior, proclaimed by the Apostles, interpreted by the Fathers, approved by the Holy Synod, experienced by the saints, a message of faith, peace, love, openness and unity. And here we are today, having walked together with the Lord since His resurrection, having carried the cross after Him, in order to spread this message in our beloved East and the entire world as well. Therefore, we are not here merely by coincidence. We are here to conceptualize a pivotal role with the confidence of the faithful and the decisiveness of the movers and shakers of history.
We wanted this conference to target Antiochian unity in the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and the entire East. We wish for it to be a conference that paints an accurate and clear picture of Antiochian unity and not merely analyze it. When we speak of unity, we do not speak of something that eludes us, nor do we proclaim that we are scattered. However, we strive to strengthen the bonds of our unity, and for the sake of the latter, we endeavor to eradicate our weaknesses. Our unity is not a dream. It is a reality that needs to be fostered, cherished and nourished. We do not proclaim that we have accomplished wonders, nor do we claim to end up in possession of a magic wand. We are fully aware that this conference is an effort that has been preceded by many, and God willing, will be followed by many more. Relief work, whether in the form of humanitarian, social or educational services, the use of social media and websites, as well as the preponderance of work in specialized committees in the areas of Antiochian saint canonization, heritage preservation, documentation, media and Christian and youth education, all testify to our journey of renewal, a journey that started long ago and continues to strive to keep the church sensitive to the needs of its parishioners, as a vessel unwavering in the face of adversity. We wished for this conference to be one of the Antiochian faithful and the shepherds, the Patriarch, Metropolitans and bishops, the priests, the monks and the nuns, the elderly and the young. Our goal is to tell ourselves first and the world second, that in our unification and solidarity, despite the distances and the years and the cruelty of time and the present, we have been and still remain, two thousand years after the coming of Christ our God, worthy to pride ourselves in what the author of the ads of the apostles transmitted, namely that “it is at Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians”. (Acts 11:26)

We gather here together with our brethren from fellow churches. We gather to embrace in them every brother we have in Christ our God. Today Orthodox Antioch, in your presence dear brethren, your Holinesses and Beatitudes, embraces its Maronite, Syriac, Armenian, and Melkite siblings, praying with its disciples that God grant us the ability to act as one hand and one heart, a heart that beats with a love toward Christ, the Lord of life and death. Our Antiochian unity, the subject of this conference, is but a green branch, an inspiring first fruit, a strong motivator paving the way toward an Eastern Christian unity that is to be the nucleus of Christian unity in the entire world. The Church of Antioch is the daughter of an empirical theology that was raised by the apostolic conciliarity and is the descendant of the one and unique holiness. It is from its land that the spark of Christianity began to invade the hearts of people, and thus, it behooves us to launch the spark of unity in Christ from here, as this land was baptized in Christ’s name two thousand years ago.
At this point, we will not engage in discussing the axes of this conference, nor will we anticipate or talk about its expected achievements. Nevertheless, a quick clarification of historical reality will elucidate the necessity of organizing this conference. The historical circumstances that we have experienced and the social and demographical changes that we have witnessed since the twentieth century and those we continue to live through have necessitated that the church of Antioch remain significant and relevant to our times. The Orthodox Church of Antioch, as other churches, has known several demographic, social, and political shifts since the beginning of the twentieth century. On the one hand, four dioceses have disappeared off the map, and on the other hand, we have experienced openness toward a new world called a diaspora. Whether we like it or not, states and borders imposed a new reality, and political currents and partisanships have sprung here and there, frequently emanating from our own children. Wars and conflicts are still afflicting us with scars. We are witnessing new means of communication that we could have never imagined. All this is leading us to consider new ways of communication and rapprochement within the same church, ways that were born from the same salvific baptismal font and gathered by the same challis. All of this is leading us to discover new ways to convey to our faithful, whether they are part of our Antiochian diocese here in our nation or members of our diaspora at large, that they are streams breathing life into an Antiochian river that has been flowing for two thousand years, and that they are young but prosperous branches in the ancient Antiochian yard with eyes aimed toward a bright future.

When we speak of unity, we distance ourselves from isolation. Our unity contradicts our isolation. Our unity does not signify separation from others nor distance from the societal spectra, especially concerning our Muslim brothers with whom we share tremendously. Christians and Muslims in this Eastern land, since the beginning of the 20th century, have known a crucible that catalyzed togetherness within the framework of one nation, despite the difference in religion. The latter was never a cause for separation and division. Religion is for God and the nation is for all as our predecessors so aptly stated. As far as the radical ways of thinking that are currently pervading our world, let us allow history to be the judge of them. Our prayer to the Lord and Creator today is that He guides everyone and that He may wipe the mist of radicalism from the eyes of those who consider others as ungodly so that we all may see one another as God’s beautiful creations, because God wants us to live together always and forever. At this point, I would like to address my good wishes to our Muslim brethren in the occasion of the month of Ramadan, which is a month of mercy, tolerance, compassion, and virtue.

We meet here today at this site that is so dear to our hearts, in Balamand. We meet and our hearts beat with a special prayer for peace in Syria. We meet today and our hearts bleed with sorrow for every victim of terrorism and violence, every victim of wrongful judgment and radicalism, and every martyr who has paid an exorbitant price for empty rhetoric that sows evil and destroys peace. We meet today and our hearts bleed with our children in Syria. We meet in order to raise our voices toward the deaf ears of international assemblies who do not seem to realize what is occurring in our countries in terms of imported barbarism, kidnappings, violation of sanctities, and unprecedented violence. We meet to proclaim that the international community has persisted in turning its back on the issue of abductees in Syria, including our brothers Bishops John and Paul. We meet to say, that despite innumerable hardships, we will bury adversity and calamity in this earth of ours and we will remain even though the odds may be stacked against us. The lands of Syria are an area of peace, and peace in Syria is the hope of us all.

At this juncture, we also pray for Lebanon. We pray that God may bless the Lebanese land with peace and security. We ask of those in positions of power and responsibility to keep in their minds and in their hearts that they are entrusted with the lives of those who elected them and with the stability of this country above all. As we speak of unity today, we pray and invite everyone in Lebanon to stand united in the face of those who wish to create discord and instability. We call on all parties to adopt a language of dialogue and consensus in order to fill the current presidential void.

We raise our voices in prayer for peace in the East and the World as a whole, and in the midst of our prayers reside injured Iraq, torn by an abominable conflict, Egypt and Jordan, as well as Palestine, the birthplace of Christ our Lord.

In conclusion, we would like to thank first our Holinesses and Beatitudes and all of our guests and participants in this conference, especially our organizers and all members of the Balamand family, as well as all of the unknown soldiers who tirelessly worked for the Antiochian Church to assemble today. It is with your support that we were able to send our message of peace and brotherhood to all. I also thank all media companies, including radio and television, and those that accompany us in order to cover our event, and may God grant success to this conference.