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Video address of His All-Holiness, Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew
Beloved Children in the Lord: We extend to you our parental prayers
and patriarchal blessings so that, during the XVI General Assembly
of SYNDESMOS, which is being held in the Holy Transfiguration Monastery
in Valamo, Finland, each one of you personally may be strengthened
to perpetuate the work of Christ and His Bride, the Church.
As we reflect on the theme of this General Assembly, "Serve the
Lord in Unity," borrowed from the words of the Prophet Zephaniah,
we recall our joint pilgrimage to Antioch, the glori-ous city of martyrs
and other saintly figures, made late last month with His Beatitude,
Patriarch Ignatius of Anti-och
and of All the East, so that we might relive the days of our forbearers
in the ancient, holy see where,
as we read in the Acts of the Apostles "the disciples were for
the first time called Christians" [Acts 11:26]. Throughout our
sojourn we joyously experienced the unity of the faith in all its
splendour and beauty. During our stay we also inaugurated the festive
Jubilee celebration of the 2000 years since the birth of our Lord
and Saviour. We were thus reminded of things past and, at the same
time, our
mental flight carried us forward to the future and what is to come.
We realised, dear spiritual children, that we are living in crucial
times. This is a sacred moment. It is a moment that is to be seized
and lived to its full, God-given potential. There is a lot that remains
to be ac-complished, for the Lord requires much from us, the Orthodox,
because He has also given us much. As He says in the Gospel of Luke,
"Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required;
and of him to whom men commit, much they will demand the more"
[Luke 12:48]. As
you concentrate on planning and evaluating the activity of SYNDESMOS
over the next week, we exhort
you to deliberate "with patience, for-bearing one another in
love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace"
[Ephesians 4:2-3]. Being united in oneness of mind and judgement,
may we all move forward in harmony and love serving the Lord.
The spiritual gift of unity ulti-mately depends on our willingness,
not only to work together, but to cultivate His love in our hearts,
love that is exemplified in service and sacri-fice, love that our
Lord showed us on the Cross. Our unity was bought at a price. We remind
you of the words of the Holy Apostle Paul, who wrote to the Christians
in Ephesus, "He has brought us together into one body through
the Cross" [Ephesians 2:16]. We believe that this unity is not
static or monolithic, but has vast - and we can even say youthful
- dynamism, just like yours. We must always remember the Cross of
Christ as we patiently endure the temptations and trials set before
us, so that in endur-ing to the end we can proclaim with Christ, "It
is finished!" [John 19:30]. Only then will our troubles, anxieties,
and divisions be finished, put to death together with the enemy who
tries to tear us asunder.
Beloved youth of our Holy Ortho-dox Church, let us remember that our
unity is not something automatic and that our spiritual progress does
not roll in on the wheels of inevitability. These God-given gifts
only come through the tireless efforts, persistent work, and selfless
sacrifice of dedi-cated
people. Without toil even time itself becomes an ally of the primitive
forces of old Adam struggling within
each and every one of us distancing us from our Lord and from each
other. Our unity and our spiritual progress ride on the shoulders
of you the Orthodox youth. We are relying on you, we are praying for
you, and we are there to guide you and assist you. We finally offer
you, as our most power-ful
support and motivation our love, simple and unconditional. May the
grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy
Spirit, together with our paternal and patri-archal blessing, be with
you all.
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