Address of His Beatitude Patriarch John X at the Antiochian Archdiocese Convention

Phoenix, Arizona, 27 July 2023

Below you can find the Address of His Beatitude Patriarch John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and President of the Middle East Council of Churches for the Orthodox Family, at the Antiochian Archdiocese Convention, on Thursday 27 July 2023.

I come to you from Damascus, a city that, centuries ago, inherited the glory of Antioch. I come with Paschal joy in my heart, a joy that overcomes all sorrow and pain. I carry this joy to you from the light of the Resurrection that I saw on the faces of your brothers and sisters who are struggling to survive in Antioch, the Great City of God. I celebrated the feast of Pascha with them in Antioch, standing upon the ruins of the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral destroyed by the earthquake. However, the earthquake did not destroy the resolve of the Antiochians or their vibrant Church. This Church still defies the cruelty of history and insists on survival by building what was destroyed. This Church bears witness to the sweetness of Christ and to the Antiochian Orthodox heritage.

I come to you from Damascus, from the Street called Straight, where Saul was baptized and after his conversion was named Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. I bring to you the blessings of the Mariamite Cathedral, Our Lady of Saydnaya Convent, and the Protomartyr and Equal-to-the-Apostles Thekla Convent in the town of Maaloula. The people in this town still speak the ancient language of Christ, despite all the tragedies that have afflicted them, and the latest being the terrorist occupation that uprooted them from their homes and destroyed their sanctuaries. Now, they are rebuilding with much determination and resolve, offering prayers with their sisters and brothers for peace in Syria, and for the return of the displaced and kidnapped people. Here I foremostly remember the Archbishops of Aleppo Boulos and Youhanna, whose kidnapping recapitulates the present-day sufferings of Antioch.

I come to you, from Lebanon, this country whose name is frequently mentioned in the Bible, and which Christ visited with His disciples. It is the country where Christ made His signs, the Apostles founded several dioceses, and the faithful still bear witness to the Lord despite many challenges and difficulties. The latest challenge in Lebanon is the economic crisis under which the Lebanese people are suffering. These challenges did not prevent them in wartime from building a university on the hill of Balamand, and this university became one of the most important universities in Lebanon and the Middle East.

I come to you from the snowy Mount Hermon and its lofty peaks that embrace Galilee and Tiberias. From these peaks flow the waters of the river Jordan, irrigating the heart of Palestine, and invigorating the face of Jerusalem. I come to you from the Jordan’s neighborhood, from the goodness of Jordan’s people, from the depths of its love and the loftiness of its Petra. I come to you conveying damascene breezes that flow and mingle with the fragrance of Jaffa's orchards in the cherished Palestine and its noble and steadfast people, while carrying an intense affection towards Jerusalem, which is the destination for both Eastern Christians and Muslims who entreat the mercy of the Most-High, the Holy One.

I come to you, in these blessed days, to celebrate together the centennial of the establishment of this God-protected Archdiocese, which is the boast of Antioch. A few days ago, we celebrated the feast of the Hieromartyr Joseph of Damascus. Saint Joseph founded and taught at the patriarchal school in Damascus, where the ecclesiastical personality of Saint Raphael, Bishop of Brooklyn, was initially formed, before leaving to Halki and later on to Kyiv, furthering his theological education.

As I reflect with you today on the lives of these two saints, where martyrdom and apostolicity embrace, and spiritual labor appears in all its aspects, I see myself delving with you into the Antiochian spirituality that has emerged in the lives of each saint, in different parts of the world. This Antiochian spirituality continues to mark our Antiochian See and your God-protected Archdiocese.

Saint Joseph of Damascus, originally from Beirut and living in Damascus, was canonized by the Holy Synod of Antioch in 1993. He was a man of renaissance in the Church of Antioch in the nineteenth century. His poverty and immersion in work to provide for his family’s living did not prevent him from self-education. He spent nights reading books and studying the Word of God, until the time when the Church decided to summon him to serve as the priest of the Mariamite Cathedral and the director of the patriarchal school. In his era, the school produced a generation of clergy and laity who initiated a renaissance in the See of Antioch at the beginning of the twentieth century. Father Joseph's life culminated in martyrdom in the year 1860, when Christians in Damascus and in other cities and villages of the See of Antioch were subjected to massacres. However, these Christians have surmounted these massacres since they are resurrectional.

Divine providence wished that Saint Raphael Hawaweeny be born in Beirut in the same year that Father Joseph was martyred. The Hawaweeny family took refuge in Beirut. Later on, Saint Raphael joined the patriarchal school founded by Saint Joseph of Damascus, before moving to Constantinople, and then to Russia. From the latter, he moved to this continent in order to shepherd the Arab community. He became the first Orthodox Bishop to be consecrated on American soil and preach in it.

It is true that the credit for laying the solid foundations of the Antiochian presence in America goes to Saint Raphael. He especially cared for the Antiochian immigrants. However, he was a bishop to care not only for the Arabs, but also for all the Orthodox faithful scattered throughout the American continent. He endured the hardships of traveling long distances to gather the flock, construct new churches and provide priests for their care. He also preached to them the Word of God in the language of the land in which they lived, in order for them to remain steadfast in the faith, staying in their church and understanding her teachings.

What Saint Raphael expressed is an incarnation of the uniqueness of Antioch. This uniqueness which is centuries old is the result of the encounter of all civilizations and its respect of all cultures and lifestyles, as exemplified by the different languages used in liturgical worship in the lands within the historic borders of the See of Antioch. Thus, Antioch has relayed this experience to her Archdioceses abroad. These Archdioceses are deeply rooted in the countries where they exist, open to all, and embracing all.

Beloved, at the beginning of my speech, I spoke about the life of the Hieromartyr Joseph of Damascus. Let us remember that we are both witnesses and martyrs. We do not know when the hour will come, or when persecution will strike us, so we always strive to keep our oil lamps burning, awaiting the Bridegroom. Yes, we in the Mother Church have never known a form of Christianity that is either triumphant or imperialistic. In fact, we have been subjected to empires that have made our history difficult and tragic. This experience has distanced us from the "illusions of Rome" or Roman supremacy and made us understand that our only need is for people of the Resurrection, for sanctified humans who bear witness to the Light and work "for the life of the world", its resurrection from sin and death.

Our reality is worsening. It is getting more difficult and complicated by the wars in our lands, life crises and economic hardship, in addition to natural disasters. In the context of this reality, we have become more aware of the other and the sin of neglecting to care for him or her. We are also more aware that we are the church of the poor, a church that daily discovers Christ in every vulnerable person, in all the homeless, in all those who have been neglected and are unable to sustain themselves or obtain medicine and receive education.

However, in the midst of all these present difficulties, we still endeavor to show the world that Orthodoxy is the church of beauty and joy, the Church of the Resurrection and victory over death. We continue to realize, despite all the surrounding challenges, that it is our responsibility to be peacemakers and witnesses of the creative meekness of Christ in the face of the arrogance of the powerful.

We recognize that our responsibility is to remain courageous in the face of whatever challenges we face and to express our originality through initiatives that testify here and now that Christ lives and enlivens. We are called not to worship the past but to move forward because Christ is coming, and He is in our midst, with us, before us, and not just behind us. We persist in bearing witness to Christ naked and raised on the Cross and strive to cleave to Him and anoint His body as did the myrrh-bearers. We stand firm in not allowing anyone or anything to take away our hope from us.

Here I return with you to Saint Raphael, Bishop of Brooklyn, and patron saint of this Archdiocese, who understood the meaning of the apostolic and missionary role of Antioch. Thus, he spent his life traveling on the paths of the Lord throughout this continent in order to construct churches, build up the believers, and transmit to them the faith of their ancestors, which was "once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3) with new frames appropriate for the new life setting in the new lands. Saint Raphael realized that his task was not to dwell on the past but to fill the present with the Spirit of the Lord and His enriching Gospel. In this Antiochian apostolicity, his successor, Bishop Victor Abu Asali, the first bishop elected by the Synod to this Archdiocese after its official establishment in 1923, took care of this diocese with holiness and love. He strove to heal the wounds experienced by the Archdiocese as a result of the political and complex upheavals of World War I, and the changes that accompanied it with the fall of Tsarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire. As for Archbishop Anthony Bashir, he established the Antiochian presence in American and Canadian societies and worked to activate cooperation between the Orthodox in this country in order to unite its witness. He made the ancient Antiochian dream come true by building the Saint John of Damascus Institute of Theology, which gave back to the See of Antioch its theological school. The same Antiochian apostolicity led Archbishop Philip Saliba of thrice-blessed memory, to know how to be open to others, to receive in this Archdiocese our brothers and sisters who have become today witnesses of Orthodoxy and apostles of Antioch in this country. With Metropolitan Philip, this Archdiocese expanded from eighty parishes to include more than 250 parishes…

This Address was originally published on the Facebook Page of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East.