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Last Updated: 22 June 2015

Ain Traz - On Saturday 20 June, at the summer seat of Ain Traz (Lebanon), the Holy Synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church finished the work it had begun on 15 June.

A feature of this synod was the arrival of the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima, on the morning of 15 June just a few hours after the opening. Hundreds of faithful turned up to honour Our Lady and to pray for peace. Patriarch Gregorios III of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, surrounded by the Synod Fathers, confided their meeting to the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima.

The Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, accompanied by bishops of his synod, visited the Synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church for the first time. This visit reciprocated one made by Patriarch Gregorios, accompanied by many of his bishops, to the Synod of the Syriac Orthodox Church, meeting at its headquarters at Maarat Saidnaya (Syria).

In his address at Maarat, Patriarch Gregorios had emphasised that “what unites us is much greater than what divides us” especially nowadays, when “we are experiencing, in Syria and Iraq, the ecumenism of blood.”

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Last Updated: 20 June 2015

CWN - Pope Francis received the head of the Syrian Orthodox Church in audience on June 19 and lamented the “terrible trials” suffered by Christians in the Middle East.

The Syrian Orthodox Church, which is suffering intense persecution in Syria, is headquartered in Damascus and has 1.8 million faithful, two-thirds of them in India. It is among the Oriental Orthodox churches that ceased to be in full communion with the Holy See following the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451.

“Yours, Holiness, is a Church of martyrs from the beginning, and it is so today, too, in the Middle East, where it continues to endure, together with other Christian communities and other minorities, the terrible sufferings caused by war, violence, and persecutions,” Pope Francis told Ignatius Aphrem II. “So much suffering! So many innocent victims. In the face of all this, it seems that the powers of this world are incapable of finding solutions.”

The Pontiff prayed “for the grace of always being ready to forgive and of being workers of reconciliation and peace. This is what animates the witness of the martyrs. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of unity in the Church and the instrument of the building up of the kingdom of God, which is a kingdom of peace and of justice.”

The Pope added:

In this moment of harsh trial and of sorrow, let us strengthen ever more the bonds of friendship and fraternity between the Catholic Church and the Syrian Orthodox Church. Let us hasten our steps along the common path, keeping our gaze fixed on the day when we will be able to celebrate our belonging to the one Church of Christ around the same altar of sacrifice and of praise. Let us exchange the treasures of our traditions as spiritual gifts, because that which unites us is much greater than that which divides us.

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Last Updated: 20 June 2015

Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate
Of Antioch and All the East
Of Alexandria and of Jerusalem

Good wishes from His Beatitude Gregorios III on the occasion of the beginning of Ramadan and the Apostles’ Fast, “May this month be one of blessings and consolations, sowing hope in our hearts, so that we can remain united in fellowship.”

On the occasion of the beginning of the month of Ramadan this Thursday 18 June 2015, His Beatitude Gregorios III, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem, addressed his good wishes to the Muslim community, emphasising that once again, Christians and Muslims are fasting together, since in our Church, the Fast of the Apostles began the day after Pentecost and will end with the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, on 29 June instant.

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Last Updated: 18 June 2015

Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchate
Of Antioch and the All the East
Of Alexandria and of Jerusalem

Monday 15 June 2015 Opening of the Holy Synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church

Gregorios III, “Let’s work unceasingly in our eparchies and parishes to try to stop the haemorrhage of Christian emigration.”

The grace of the Holy Spirit gathers us together in this Holy Synod, symbol of our unity as pastors of our Church and guardians of the deposit of faith ensuring its transmission.

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Last Updated: 17 June 2015

CWN - Ignatius Aphrem II, who became patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox Church in 2014, began a four-day visit to Rome on June 17, L’Osservatore Romano reported.

The 50-year-old patriarch will make a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Peter, visit with officials of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and meet with Pope Francis on June 19.

The Syrian Orthodox Church, which is suffering intense persecution in Syria, is headquartered in Damascus and has 1.8 million faithful, two-thirds of them in India. It is among the Oriental Orthodox churches that ceased to be in full communion with the Holy See following the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451.

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Last Updated: 16 June 2015

CWN - Responding to a statement by Pope Francis that all Christians should celebrate Easter on the same date, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church has said that the proposal would be welcome—as long as the Catholic Church accepts the Orthodox method of setting the date.

Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, deputy director of ecumenical affairs for the Moscow Patriarchate, said that he was waiting to hear details of the Pope’s proposal. “If the Church of Rome intends to abandon Easter according to the Gregorian calendar, introduced in the sixteenth century, and go back to the old one, used at a time when the Church of the East and West were united and used to date by the Orthodox, then this intention is welcome,” he said. But establishing a fixed date for Easter would be “totally unacceptable,” he said.