Tweet
POPE'S ADDRESS IN ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CATHEDRAL
Catholic Online, CA
Dec 2 2006
"To Heal the Wounds of Separation"
ISTANBUL, Turkey, DEC. 2, 2006 (Zenit) - Here is Benedict XVI's
address to Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafina, delivered Thursday during
the celebration of the Word in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of
Istanbul. It followed the patriarch's own address.
* * *
Dear Brother in Christ,
I am pleased to have this opportunity to meet Your Beatitude in
this very place where Patriarch Kalustian welcomed my predecessors
Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. With great affection I greet
the entire Armenian Apostolic community over which you preside as
shepherd and spiritual father. My fraternal greeting goes also to
His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of Holy Etchmiadzin, and the
hierarchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. I give thanks to God for
the Christian faith and witness of the Armenian people, transmitted
from one generation to the next, often in very tragic circumstances
such as those experienced in the last century.
Our meeting is more than a simple gesture of ecumenical courtesy
and friendship. It is a sign of our shared hope in God's promises
and our desire to see fulfilled the prayer that Jesus offered for
his disciples on the eve of his suffering and death: "that they may
all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also
be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me"
(Jn 17:21). Jesus gave his life on the Cross to gather into one the
dispersed children of God, to break down the walls of division.
Through the sacrament of Baptism, we have been incorporated into
the Body of Christ, the Church. The tragic divisions which, over
time, have arisen among Christ's followers openly contradict the
Lord's will, give scandal to the world and damage that most holy
cause, the preaching of the Gospel to every creature (cf. "Unitatis
Redintegratio," 1). Precisely by the witness of their faith and love,
Christians are called to offer a radiant sign of hope and consolation
to this world, so marked by conflicts and tensions. We must continue
therefore to do everything possible to heal the wounds of separation
and to hasten the work of rebuilding Christian unity. May we be guided
in this urgent task by the light and strength of the Holy Spirit.
In this respect I can only offer heartfelt thanks to the Lord for the
deeper fraternal relationship that has developed between the Armenian
Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church. In the thirteenth century,
Nerses of Lambron, one of the great Doctors of the Armenian Church,
wrote these words of encouragement: "Now, since we all need peace
with God, let its foundation be harmony among the brethren. We have
prayed to God for peace and continue to do so. Look, he is now giving
it to us as a gift: let us welcome it! We asked the Lord to make
his holy Church solid, and he has willingly heard our plea. Let us
climb therefore the mountain of the Gospel faith!" ("Il Primato della
Carita," Ed. Qiqajon, p. 81). These words of Nerses have lost nothing
of their power. Together let us continue to pray for the unity of
all Christians, so that, by receiving this gift from above with open
hearts, we may be ever more convincing witnesses of the truth of the
Gospel and better servants of the Church's mission.
[Original text: English]
Copyright 2006 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Contact: Catholic Online http://www.catholic.org CA, US Catholic
Online - Publisher, 661-869-1000 Email: [email protected]
http://www.catholic.or g/featured/headline.php?ID=3858
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Catholic Online, CA
Dec 2 2006
"To Heal the Wounds of Separation"
ISTANBUL, Turkey, DEC. 2, 2006 (Zenit) - Here is Benedict XVI's
address to Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafina, delivered Thursday during
the celebration of the Word in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of
Istanbul. It followed the patriarch's own address.
* * *
Dear Brother in Christ,
I am pleased to have this opportunity to meet Your Beatitude in
this very place where Patriarch Kalustian welcomed my predecessors
Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. With great affection I greet
the entire Armenian Apostolic community over which you preside as
shepherd and spiritual father. My fraternal greeting goes also to
His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of Holy Etchmiadzin, and the
hierarchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. I give thanks to God for
the Christian faith and witness of the Armenian people, transmitted
from one generation to the next, often in very tragic circumstances
such as those experienced in the last century.
Our meeting is more than a simple gesture of ecumenical courtesy
and friendship. It is a sign of our shared hope in God's promises
and our desire to see fulfilled the prayer that Jesus offered for
his disciples on the eve of his suffering and death: "that they may
all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also
be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me"
(Jn 17:21). Jesus gave his life on the Cross to gather into one the
dispersed children of God, to break down the walls of division.
Through the sacrament of Baptism, we have been incorporated into
the Body of Christ, the Church. The tragic divisions which, over
time, have arisen among Christ's followers openly contradict the
Lord's will, give scandal to the world and damage that most holy
cause, the preaching of the Gospel to every creature (cf. "Unitatis
Redintegratio," 1). Precisely by the witness of their faith and love,
Christians are called to offer a radiant sign of hope and consolation
to this world, so marked by conflicts and tensions. We must continue
therefore to do everything possible to heal the wounds of separation
and to hasten the work of rebuilding Christian unity. May we be guided
in this urgent task by the light and strength of the Holy Spirit.
In this respect I can only offer heartfelt thanks to the Lord for the
deeper fraternal relationship that has developed between the Armenian
Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church. In the thirteenth century,
Nerses of Lambron, one of the great Doctors of the Armenian Church,
wrote these words of encouragement: "Now, since we all need peace
with God, let its foundation be harmony among the brethren. We have
prayed to God for peace and continue to do so. Look, he is now giving
it to us as a gift: let us welcome it! We asked the Lord to make
his holy Church solid, and he has willingly heard our plea. Let us
climb therefore the mountain of the Gospel faith!" ("Il Primato della
Carita," Ed. Qiqajon, p. 81). These words of Nerses have lost nothing
of their power. Together let us continue to pray for the unity of
all Christians, so that, by receiving this gift from above with open
hearts, we may be ever more convincing witnesses of the truth of the
Gospel and better servants of the Church's mission.
[Original text: English]
Copyright 2006 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Contact: Catholic Online http://www.catholic.org CA, US Catholic
Online - Publisher, 661-869-1000 Email: [email protected]
http://www.catholic.or g/featured/headline.php?ID=3858
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress