Address of His Beatitude Petros VII, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa

Beloved children in Christ: With great joy and Paternal love, on the occasion of this SYNDESMOS con-ference in the beautiful country of Fin-land, I greet you all in the Name of
the One and Triune God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ founded His Church for the salvation of all men, and in doing so,
He gave us everything necessary for her maintenance. Under the Holy Fa-thers, the Church professed that Her members are all those who constitute, in true Faith, the People of God, whether living on the earth or trium-phant in Heaven. Hence the distinc-tion between the "Church Militant" and the "Church Triumphant."
The Church is both visible and invisible, divine and human. She is the holy institution formed by the Incarnate Word and Son of God the Father for the salvation and sanctifica-tion of men. She bears Christ's own authority and authentication and is constituted by those professing one faith and sharing the same Holy Sac-raments, and who are divided into lay and clergy. The clergy, who adminis-ter
the Church, trace their beginnings back, through unbroken succession, to the Holy Apostles, and through them to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
This divine and spiritual institu-tion, as one organic and spiritual body, has as her Head, Jesus Christ,
the Son of God; as her Guide, the Holy Spirit, and constitutes the Body of Christ.
The Messiah was to found a uni-versal permanent Kingdom on the earth, and He fulfilled this prophecy
in His Church, against which the gates of hell could not prevail, and for which He shed His Blood [Matthew 16:18; Acts 20:28]. On Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, He gave her actual form and shape, and sent His Holy Apostles to preach faith in Him to the world, and to carry out their commission of extending His Church.
The Church is the centre and organ of His redeeming work, the means and authority for the carrying out of the Mission which she receives from her Founder, He Who endowed the Apostles and their uccessors with His own authority and authen-ticity.
Since the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit, it follows that she can-not fall away from the truth and is in-fallible. But this infallibility is not as-cribed to the members of the Church as such, either in part or as a whole, but to the Saviour, Who dwells within His Church, and to the Holy Spirit, Who guides the Church in all truth. The Church possesses her title to in-fallibility from her Founder's commis-sion, which gave her His authority in the work of salvation. Both Holy Scripture and the Fathers testify to the truth of the doctrine that the Church is the one and only way of salvation.
The Church is One, Holy, Catho-lic and Apostolic. She is the sole guardian and teacher of the Faith, and the one means by which the Di-vine Grace is transmitted. She is the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, the Ark of Salvation. The Church, therefore, is the perpetual extension of Christ throughout all time. Her aim is the sanctification of men and their exal-tation into religious and moral life. Her mission is to promote the repentance and reformation of sinners, and only heretics, schismatics, and those who have been excommunicated, are ex-cluded.
The unity of the Church is one in origin, one in faith and discipline, and one in essence. Our Lord founded only One Church, and this institution.
The necessity of oneness in faith was strongly emphasized by Saint Paul [Ephesians 4:3-15; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Galatians 1:6-8; Titus 3:10], and is shown in the Church's unity of teaching, of which unity in worship is a manifestation. The Church, con-scious of herself as the guardian of unity, has never recognized heresy or schism as constituting parallel orga-nizations dealing with salvation, but
has cut them off from the healthy Body, in order to stimulate them to repentance and to bring them to a
sense of their guilt.
The teaching of Christian theory constitutes a unified and organic whole, one doctrine presupposing
another, the denial of certain doc-trines leading as a consequence to the denial of the bases and hypoth-eses of all. In practice none of the doctrines having the Church's authority can be changed: heterodoxy leads inevitably to heresy.
Beloved brothers and sisters, devoted children of Christ: The Or-thodox Church of Alexandria, the Apostolic and Ancient Patriarchal See of Saint Mark the Apostle and Evan-gelist, has borne witness to the Truth and Unity of the Church for 2000 years. With the Grace of God, during the third millennium, the Universal Orthodox Church will continue to work for the unity of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Body of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Let us all be part of this Church. Let none of us
who love Christ allow the division of His Body. Let us be united with love and within the Truth of His Divine Gospel.
As Primate of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria, I extend to you my paternal and Patriarchal blessing,
and humbly pray that this conference be blessed by Our Lord and Saviour, and that it bring forth fruits of the Holy Spirit for the glory of our living God. Amen.