K. Sakellaropoulou to Bartholomew: ‘You touched on the real ecumenical issues, always promoting the message of human rights’

The President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou hosted an official dinner in honor of the Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Bartholomew at the Presidential Palace, in the presence of the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Speaker of Parliament Konstantinos Tassoulas and the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Mr. Ieronymos.

During her address, Mrs. Sakellaropoulou referred to the great contribution of His Holiness Mr. Bartholomew, who honors our seventh Ecumenical Patriarchate and stressed that it is a source of inspiration for all of us, going beyond the place, time, and even the difficult mission he performs, while emphasizing the respect and love that the Greek has for his face people.

“In your face we see the history of centuries, the invaluable heritage of the leaders of the Church, figures who shaped and marked the history of Hellenism, the history of our culture, the history of the nation,” he said and noted:

“The ancient institutions carry over the course of time something from the offer of all those who served them, they are loaded with legacies and works of life, efforts and deposits of soul, sometimes blood. Through the symbols of the Ecumenical Throne you serve, they pass before us as invisible escorts brilliant hierarchs, such as John Chrysostom, Photius the Great, Gennadios Scholarios, the national martyr Gregory V, Athenagoras “.

“In your face we see the work that you personally have been doing all these years, which honors our seventh Ecumenical Patriarchate,” he added.

He also reminded that he has worked tirelessly for sixty years as a priest, of which thirty as Patriarch, often under adverse conditions, for the Mother Church, Orthodoxy and Christianity, Hellenism. “You have held the first Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox, you have instituted the assembly of the leaders of the Churches, you have vigorously promoted interfaith dialogue. There is no doubt that the Patriarchate and Orthodoxy are in a much better situation today “This is ultimately the highest criterion for evaluating your important project,” he added.

Referring to the ecumenical and humanitarian work of the Ecumenical Patriarch, but also his involvement in the great problems facing the modern world, he underlined: , racism and religious fanaticism, you have opened the horizons of the institution today, to issues that concern and test society, beyond borders, nationalities and beliefs, such as the recent epidemic with its catastrophic consequences, by isolating the negative , even within the Church. ”

He also noted that even before climate change intensified and turned into a climate crisis, his environmental concern and sensitivity were characterized by a spirit of reconciliation between man and nature.

“You have conceived our ‘common home’ as part of the total creation of God, which allows the orthodox Christian teaching to be inextricably linked to the environmental movement. The orthodox Church’s timeless interest in man is enriched through your work and approach the interest for the environment, highlighting the spiritual, social and moral dimension of the ecological problem “, added the President of the Republic.

He also made special reference to the inspired, as he characterized them, activities of His Holiness, which as he stressed “were always characterized by many gifts: faith without lack of rationality; vision without lack of sense of reality; patience without lack of determination. I can not distinguish, however, the gift of parsimony, valuable, but rare for those who were destined to make important decisions over the centuries. ”

Finally, Ms. Sakellaropoulou argued that “every thinking person, whether a Christian or a foreigner, or even an agnostic, one day comes into his life reflecting on what the poet says” God’s share “. His contribution to the world edifice of culture “which signifies our fleeting presence in the world. Your contribution is a source of inspiration in this direction for all of us, going beyond the place, the time, and even the difficult mission you are carrying out.”

Concluding her speech, she referred to the respect and love that the Greek people have for the face of the Ecumenical Patriarch, and wished on behalf of all, “health and longevity to you and your guests, good strength on the Ecumenical Throne, as well as strengthening of faith.” in spiritual values ​​for the world being tested today “.

For his part, the Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Bartholomew, after expressing his gratitude to the President of the Republic for the invitation, pointed out, among other things, that the Church is a place of freedom, as a gift of God’s grace, a “true freedom”, according to St. Chrysostom, which is expressed as sacrificial love. to fellow human beings. In the life in Christ and in Christ there is, with communal and social tones and with reference to the eternal destiny of man, the “virtuous life” and the “living life” of the Ancients. The Christian faith is, as “Gregory the Theologian writes,” filling “of speech, not its abolition” stressed the Ecumenical Patriarch.

He also pointed out that this truth is served by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in all its initiatives and actions, in inter-Christian and inter-religious dialogues, in the meeting with the modern world, with its progress and impasses, in the vital struggle for protection. of the natural environment. “We believe that the presence of God is revealed more actively, the more reason there is in people’s lives,” His Holiness remarked.

He also stressed that in our time, when a decline in social cohesion is observed and individual-centered bliss is strengthened, the contribution of the social experience and teaching of the Orthodox Church acquires special relevance.

“The phenomenon of shrinking social conquests is particularly worrying. We believe that the Orthodox Church, which is the pre-eminent social and communal form of Christianity, can make a decisive contribution to the promotion of a culture of solidarity. We believe that the future of humanity is connected with the establishment and development of solidarity “, said the Ecumenical Patriarch Mr. Bartholomew.

Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ