Address by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia to the Conference “The Holy Land and Russian-Palestinian Relations: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” (October 11, 2000, Moscow)
25.05.2001 · English, Архив 2000
Address by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia
to the Conference
“The Holy Land and Russian-Palestinian Relations: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”
(October 11, 2000, Moscow)
Distinguished participants in the Conference,
First of all allow me to express satisfaction with the fact that religious leaders, diplomats, scholars and representatives of public organizations have gathered together in Moscow for this forum. At this time so dramatic and fateful for the Holy Land and for the whole Middle East, we again testify to our compassion to those who have found themselves caught in a whirlwind of utterly complex and sometimes tragic events. We again recall the age-old closeness between our people and all people who live in the Middle East region and especially in the land which was touched by the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The close ties between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Holy Land are well known. Jerusalem, the city where the Saviour’s passions on the Cross and Resurrection took place, invariably attracts the mental eye of the hierarchs, pastors and faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church, just as the whole Christendom. Russian pilgrims began to visit the Holy Land already in the first centuries of the historical existence of our Church. Over one and a half century ago, a Russian Ecclesiastical Mission was established in Jerusalem and later Russian monasteries were founded, churches were built and schools and charitable institutions were opened in the Holy Land. Relations between the Russian Church and the Holy Land were maintained even in the hard years of persecution to which the faith of Christ was subjected in our country. Today when the number of pilgrims to the holy places has increased many times over, the presence of the Moscow Patriarchate in the Holy Land has been actively strengthened. We are grateful to the Palestinian National Administration for having returned several plots of land and buildings to the Russian Orthodox Church as their lawful owner.
The historical bonds of our clergy and faithful with the Holy Land condition our strong feeling for what is happening there. We grieve seeing the years-long conflict leading sometimes to bloodshed. What takes place in that land today is an extreme hardening of enmity provoked by totally unjustified defiant actions. It is painful to see blood shed midst holy places, people suffering, houses of prayer and houses of peaceful people destroyed. The danger that the conflict will worsen and broaden remains. And this compels us to make an appeal to the Jewish and Arab population of the Holy Land to make peace and continue the dialogue that in the recent years has finally come to deal with problems which until recently have not been discussed but which are integral to the Middle East settlement.
I mean first of all the status of Jerusalem. This city is of special significance for the followers of the three religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The Psalmist calls: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good” (Ps. 122:6-9). The Holy City has a profound symbolic significance for Christian eschatology. In the fulfillment of times, the Church hopes to see the heavenly Jerusalem as the focus of the eternal Kingdom of God. But we also hope that in the present earthly history too, the significant words of the Prophet Isaiah addressed to Jerusalem will come true: “Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise” (Is. 60:18).
The Russian Orthodox Church, together with the Russian state and society, has traditionally supported the lawful desire of the Arab people of Palestine to acquire statehood, to restore their internationally recognized rights to their native lands, including territories inside Jerusalem. The turning of Jerusalem into the capital city of the two states, Arab and Jewish, appears to be a realistic plan for a fair settlement of the existing disputes. At the same time, our Church believes that Jerusalem should remain an open city, not divided by new dividing walls, but offering an opportunity for the peaceful co-existence of all nations and religions. It is of special importance that local believers and pilgrims should have guaranteed access to their shrines and the freedom of faith and worship should be firmly sealed.
The fate of Jerusalem should be decided by the nations who live in the Holy Land. However, taking into account the increasing difficulties in settlement, it is worthwhile to examine the proposal for placing on the world community a special responsibility for ensuring peace in the holy places and free access to them and the harmonious life in Jerusalem of all the ethnic-religious communities which have co-existed in the city for centuries.
I hope that these wishes will be taken into account in the peace process and call to its intensification with the maximum possible participation of Russia. May the Holy Land and the Holy City, so dear to the heart of the Orthodox Christian, Muslim and Jew, become a place where lasting peace prevails, based on justice and care for the traditions, interests and aspirations of all people inhabiting this land.
May the Lord accompany the work of this conference and crown it with blessed success for the sake of peace in the Holy Land and the development of good relations between the Russian and Palestinian nations.
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