ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΙΑΤΙΚΗ ΕΚΔΗΛΩΣΙΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΙΟΡΔΑΝΙΑΣ
Τήν Τρίτην, 5ην/18ην μηνός Δεκεμβρίου 2018, ὁ Μακαριώτατος Πατήρ ἡμῶν καί Πατριάρχης Ἱεροσολύμων κ.κ Θεόφιλος προέστη Χριστουγεννιάτικης ἐκδηλώσεως τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τῆς Ἰορδανίας ὑπό τήν αἰγίδα τῆς Α.Μ. τοῦ βασιλέως τῆς Ἰορδανίας Ἀμπντάλλα Ἴμπν Χουσεΐν ΙΙ, προστάτου τῶν Μουσουλμανικῶν καί Χριστιανικῶν προσκυνημάτων εἰς τήν Ἱερουσαλήμ, εἰς τό ἐν Ἀμμάν Πολιτιστικόν Κέντρον τῆς Νομαρχίας πρός ὑπογράμμισιν καί στήριξιν τῆς εἰρηνικῆς συνυπάρξεως Μουσουλμάνων καί Χριστιανῶν καί τῆς πόλεως τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων ὡς ἀναφορᾶς τῆς ταυτότητος αὐτῶν καί πρός τιμήν τῆς ἑορτῆς τῶν Χριστουγέννων.
Εἰς τήν ἐκδήλωσιν ταύτην ὑπῆρξεν ἀθρόα συμμετοχή Κυβερνητικῶν παραγόντων τῆς Ἰορδανίας καί ἰμάμηδων ἐκπροσώπων τῆς θρησκείας τοῦ Ἰσλάμ, τοῦ Προέδρου τοῦ Παλαιστινιακοῦ Κράτους ἐξοχωτάτου κ. Ἀμπάς Ἀμποῦ-Μάζεν καί Χριστιανῶν ἡγετῶν ἐκ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων καί ἐκπροσώπων τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν ἐκ τῆς Ἰορδανίας.
Συνοδοί τοῦ Μακαριωτάτου ἐξ Ἱεροσολύμων ἦτο ὁ Γέρων Ἀρχιγραμματεύς Σεβασμιώτατος Ἀρχιεπίσκοπος Κωνσταντίνης κ. Ἀρίσταρχος καί ὁ ὑπεύθυνος τῶν Μ.Μ.Ε. εἰς τήν Ἀραβικήν π. Ἤσσα Μοῦσλεχ, ἐκ τοῦ Ἀμμάν ὁ Σεβασμιώτατος Μητροπολίτης Φιλαδελφείας κ. Βενέδικτος, ὁ Πατριαρχικός Ἐπίτροπος Ἀμμάν Σεβασμιώτατος Ἀρχιεπίσκοπος Κυριακουπόλεως κ. Χριστοφόρος, ὁ Σεβασμιώτατος Ἀρχιεπίσκοπος Μαδάβων κ. Ἀριστόβουλος, Πατριαρχικός Ἐπίτροπος Μαδηβᾶς, ὁ Ἀρχιμανδρίτης Ἱερώνυμος, ἡγούμενος Φχές, ὁ Πατριαρχικός Ἐπίτροπος Ἴρμπετ Ἀρχιμανδρίτης Ραφαήλ καί πολλοί ἱερεῖς τοῦ ποιμνίου ἡμῶν εἰς Ἰορδανίαν.
Τήν ὁμήγυριν ταύτην προσεφώνησεν ὁ Μακαριώτατος διά στόματος τοῦ Σεβασμιωτάτου Ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κυριακουπόλεως κ. Χριστοφόρου διά τῆς κάτωθι προσφωνήσεως ἀγγλιστί ὡς ἕπεται:
Your Majesty King Abdullah II Bin Al Hussein
Your Excellencies and Honorary guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I have the great honor to present the speech of His Beatitude Theophilos III, Patriarch of the Holy City and all other works of Palestine and Jordan, and convey to your majesty the greetings of the members of the Holy Synod, the members of the Holy Sepulcher, the honored priests of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and our children, the faithful of the Greek Orthodox Church, in the celebration of this glorious Christmas under the patronage of Your Majesty.
For You, your Majesty, the King of the Beloved Jordan, are the Guardian of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, including the Holy Sepulcher and the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. This guardianship that forms a shield of protection and an extension to the Omary Covenant that took place between the Patriarch Sophronius and Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab. We are keeping this covenant with you until God inherits the earth.
Your Majesty,
Christmas is the day of the incarnation of peace and love. This love is the fruit of divine descent mixed with self-sacrifice, utter humility and self-relinquishment, in order for man to reconcile with God and his neighbor. This overwhelming peace descends from above, the heavens, and dwells in the heart of man. For there is no peace on earth without the peace and purity of the heart. We cannot love God without offering this love to our neighbor. For man has to love his fellow man, whoever he may be and from wherever he may be. The glorious Christmas teaches us to see God in the face of every man on earth and to love him.
That is why Christ was born in the flesh, from a virgin woman (Our Lady the Virgin Mary), and has chosen to be born in a manger, in a modest cave, in the small city of Bethlehem. The first who heard the praise of the angels from heaven, the missionaries of His birth, were the simple shepherds of Beit Sahour. Those who gave Him gifts were the wisemen who were strangers, and the first who defended Him were the children martyrs of Bethlehem.
With the birth of Jesus in our Holy Land and His baptism in the Jordan River, we have here in Jordan a new birth for all mankind. This birth founded universal spiritual concepts that changed the course of history henceforth forever.
Today, as we celebrate together this glorious Christmas that reminds us of the importance of peace and the urgent need of human societies to it. We appeal to all those of good will throughout the world to work for the just peace of all people, to solidify the brotherhood of people and their living together. We welcome others especially the needy. We open up to them in the spirit of love. We listen to them, accept them and extend a helping hand to them to contribute to the spirit of brotherhood and love, not to the spirit of isolation. Our celebration of the glorious birth is measured by our ability to love, receive, and be in unity.
Your Majesty the King,
Ladies and gentlemen children of the one Jordanian family,
Our Orthodox church, The Mother of Churches, is the local church in our Holy Land and is represented by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. This is deep-rooted by the Church canons and even by international laws. Hence, out of our spiritual and pastoral responsibility in the body of the universal Church, we raise the warning flags of the dangers that result from the heretic teachings and positions of certain groups that speak in the name of Christianity. Where true Christianity is free and innocent from these teachings. These groups, especially the Christian Radicals, adopt beliefs and teachings that could not be farther from Christ and his teachings. These pseudo-Christians run on interfaith platforms and give a distorted picture of our Christian faith. They exploit interfaith forums to falsify history. In our Orthodox Church, we warn against the distortion of true beliefs in order to achieve the goals of those who hate and conspire. Our Church indeed suffers from attacks on its properties and endowments in Jerusalem and Palestine as a part of a systematic attack on all the churches of Jerusalem. These attacks take several forms: from imposing taxes to trying to confiscate property. In fact, more than fifty churches have been burned and broken by the so-called Jewish price-paying groups since nineteen sixty-seven. Unfortunately, the campaign of targeting churches is continuous till today. This requires the mounting of efforts from all the churches of the world to support the guardianship of your majesty to protect the Holy Sepulcher and our historic churches in the Holy Land. We and all the Churches of the Middle East have expressed our firm position that the basis of peace in Jerusalem is for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to remain for Christians only, as is the Al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims alone.
We would also like to emphasize, on behalf of all the Churches of the Holy Land, that there is no alternative to the two-state solution, and that eastern Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Palestine. These are the most basic rights of the oppressed Palestinian people. If the world continues to ignore them, we will witness more religious conflict, extremism and aggression against the rights of others.
Our beloved king,
In this difficult time of wars and tragedies that occur in the neighboring countries, and in the midst of daily human suffering and the growing fear of the unknown in the hearts of people. We had beautiful overwhelming feelings of trust, love and hope when you received the Templeton Prize for harmony and peace. This added to our pride and love for your majesty. Your authentic Hashemite generosity was your response to this prize. When out of your reverence to the holy sites, your majesty donated a large part of this prize to renovate the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Your stand showed the whole world the true image of Islam and a unique model of coexistence. Your majesty also exhibited the determination of a great leader to preserve the national fabric of his kingdom. Your Majesty, the performance of your duties in your stewardship and guardianship of our Islamic and Christian holy sites is the best example to the world of true jihad, and is a lesson to each one how he should do his best in his duty.
Your Majesty the King,
On the occasion of Christmas and New Year’s Day, we raise our prayers and supplications to the Lord God for the sake of your Majesty’s health and success to continue your blessed journey. We also ask our Lord to perpetuate His gift of security and stability and to preserve our precious Jordan and our sacrificing Arab army, and all those who are keen on the safety and stability of our homeland. We wish all the sons and daughters of the beloved homeland every grace and blessing. May God bless your majesty, and may Jordan be blessed forever.
Ὁμοίως προσεφώνησεν ὁ Πατριάρχης τῶν Λατίνων εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα κ. Pierre Battista Pizzaballa, ὁ ὁποῖος ὑπεγράμμισε τήν χαράν τῆς ἑορτῆς τῶν Χριστουγέννων καί τάς δυσκολίας τῶν ᾽Εκκλησιῶν εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ καί τήν Μέσην Ἀνατολήν καί τήν στήριξιν τοῦ Μεγαλειοτάτου βασιλέως τῆς Ἰορδανίας πρός τάς Ἐκκλησίας καί συνεχάρη τόν βασιλέα διά τό Templeton Prize, τό ὁποῖον ἔλαβε προσφάτως.
Ἐν συνεχείᾳ ὡμίλησε ὁ σεΐχης ὑπεύθυνος τῶν Μουσουλμανικῶν βακουφίων.
Διαρκούσης τῆς ἐκδηλώσεως ἐψάλησαν Ἰορδανικά ᾄσματα καί χριστουγεννιάτικα ᾄσματα, ἡ Καταβασία «Χριστός γεννᾶται, δοξάσατε» ὑπό χορῳδίας καί τό ‘”Ave Maria” ὑπό καλλιφώνου κορασίδος.
Μετά τήν λῆξιν τῶν ἐκδηλώσεων τούτων ὁ μεγαλειότατος βασιλεύς παρέθεσε εἰς πάντας τούς προσκεκλημένους Βασιλικήν τράπεζαν.
Ἐκ τῆς Ἀρχιγραμματείας