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Предстоятель Русской Православной Церкви поздравил митрополита Киевского и всея Украины Владимира с юбилеем и наградил орденом святителя Алексия, Митрополита Московского (I степени)

23.11.2005 · Архив 2005-2009, Документы, Религиозная ситуация на Украине  

“We went through fire and water;
but You brought us out into a place of refreshment”

(Ps. 65. 12)

We offer thanksgiving to the All-Holy Trinity who truly brought the Apostolic Church of Jerusalem out of a great crisis of fire and water, which shook the entire body of the Orthodox Church.

We offer glory and thanksgiving again to the All-Holy Trinity for raising our modesty to the throne of the glorious Saint and Apostle James the Brother of God and first Hierarch of Jerusalem; for making us on the one hand his successor, and on the other hand a shepherd and steward of the Holy Church of Christ; and also for making us the Hegoumen of the Venerable Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, whose labor and struggle is not “against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of the darkness of the present age” (Eph. 6:12).

The Church of Jerusalem is established upon the place of the martyrdom of crucifixion where the blood of the Incarnate Word of God, our Saviour Jesus Christ was shed. Thus, she continues her sacred mission and focuses on the empty Sepulchre that lies before our eyes; because it is from this Holy Sepulchre that the new light of the Resurrection of Christ shone forth and through it and in it all things became new.

We too bear witness to this sorrowful-joy and experience of crucifixion and resurrection as we undertake in the fear of God the Patriarchal responsibility that was placed upon us by the unanimous decision and vote of the honorable members of the holy and sacred Synod. We fully realize that we are called to respond to this sacred and highest, call in a spirit of humility, reconciliation and also of prayer; to meet the expectations of the chosen and royal people of Rum; that is, of the Orthodox Christians who live here or are dispersed through the world; as well as of our pious nation and its leadership; and also of the relevant, stale-Authorities under whose governance we live, especially of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which constitutionally and legally safeguards the law currently in force of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

We are persuaded that only by being imbued, with the mind of the Godfearing Fathers of the Church and the Ruling power of the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Christ we shall be able to guide the vessel of our Church, through the various and unforeseeable, reefs of.the moral and spiritual sea: of corruption and deceit, and lead it to a safe harbor, the harbor of saving repentance. We say this, not only because we are fully conscious of’ the weight of this lofty ministry which the mercy of our Great God and Saviour has placed upon us; but also because we tremble as we contemplate it and bring to mind that; day of reckoning before the awesome judgement seat.

Venerable and honorable members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre and all brethern and Fathers in Christ here present, clergy and laity, pious pilgrims and all those gathered at this time by the grace of the All-Holy Sepulchre in the All-Sacred Church of the Resurrection – pray for us, Pray to the God of All Mercies and of ineffable love for mankind, that the infinite magnitude of His power may be wondrously revealed even in our own weakness; and that His all-enduring grace may prove our ministry to be a ministry of a faithful and vigiliant servant. For to this God is due all glory, honor and worship, to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.