ADDRESS OF HIS BEATITUDE MESROB II

ADDRESS OF HIS BEATITUDE MESROB II

ARMENIAN PATRIARCH OF ISTANBUL & ALL TURKEY

ON THE OCCASION OF THE VISIT OF

HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD PATRIARCHAL BASILICA

On Thursday, 30 November 2006

Your Holiness,

It is indeed a spiritual joy to welcome Your Holiness in this Holy Mother of God Patriarchal Basilica, following our short encounters in Cologne, on the occasion of the XX. World Youth Day, and also at the Vatican, following the XXXIX. World Prayer Day of Peace in Assisi, organized by the Saint Egidio Community.

Established in the XV. Century, the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul has had relations with your Holy See which have been at times spiritually most pleasing and rewarding, and at times quite sad.

For example, the very first Armenian Church in this historic city Saint Nicholas in Karagumruk, was first shared by the Armenian newcomers from Crimea and the Roman Catholic community in the 10th Century. Likewise, the Armenian Church of Saint Sergius was also in the Genoese Quarter of Galata. Later, Sultan Mehmed II, having conquered the city, invited the Armenian Bishop Joachim of Broussa, responsible for Western Asia Minor and invested him with the title and prerogatives of Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul, setting off the line of autonomous Armenian Patriarchs in this city, who have recognized the primacy of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, the precious see of the founder of our Church, Saint Gregory the Illuminator. Being presently the 84th Patriarch in that line, we also ask your prayers for the constituents of the 45 Armenian Dioceses which once existed in Thrace and Anatolia. This Patriarchal See has indeed prospered during the Ottoman period and has become the major catalyst in the renaissance of Western Armenian culture and literature.

As our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ remarks in today’s Holy Gospel, the pure, peaceable and loving message of the Gospel may sometimes be misunderstood, simply by its being contrary to the ways of men. In the words of Saint Paul, the Armenian Church, and especially this Patriarchal See can indeed claim the hope, the joy and the “Crown of Exultation” (I Thessalonians 2:19), since it has had the greatest privilege of working for the Lord, along with the other Christian communities in this land, witnessing to the Gospel of Salvation. Our witness to the Lord continues today with one Patriarchal Diocese, two suffragan bishoprics, 46 churches, 17 minority schools, the Holy Saviour Armenian Hospital and 20 lay associations. The Armenian Church has indeed been tested (I Peter 5:12), but to the degree that we have shared the sufferings of Christ, we have learned to keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, we may rejoice with exultation (I Peter 5:13). Having suffered for a while, we are daily perfected, confirmed, strengthened and established by the God of all Grace as we seek a meaningful dialogue between the Turkish and Armenian peoples that could lead to a peaceful and God-pleasing reconciliation.

A champion of faith and ecumenism in the Armenian Church has been Saint Nersess the Graceful (1166-1173), in his spirit of humility, gentleness and prayer, we would like to ask Your Holiness to accept our gift of love, an old handmade chalice, the work of Istanbul Armenian siversmiths, with our fervent prayers for Christian Unity one day, around the Lord’s Supper, as our Lord and Saviour wished during his passion in the Garden of Getsemane: “So that they may be one!” (John 17:11). Amen.

His Beatitude Patriarch Mesrob II then presented His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI the old chalice.

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS
BENEDICT XVI
TO TURKEY
(NOVEMBER 28 – DECEMBER 1, 2006)

VISIT TO THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC PATRIARCHATE AND
MEETING WITH HIS BEATITUDE PATRIARCH MESROB II

GREETING OF THE HOLY FATHER

Armenian Apostolic Cathedral, Istanbul
Thursday, 30 November 2006

Dear Brother in Christ,

I am pleased to have this opportunity to meet Your Beatitude in this very place where Patriarch Kalustian welcomed my predecessors Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. With great affection I greet the entire Armenian Apostolic community over which you preside as shepherd and spiritual father. My fraternal greeting goes also to His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of Holy Etchmiadzin, and the hierarchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. I give thanks to God for the Christian faith and witness of the Armenian people, transmitted from one generation to the next, often in very tragic circumstances such as those experienced in the last century.

Our meeting is more than a simple gesture of ecumenical courtesy and friendship. It is a sign of our shared hope in God’s promises and our desire to see fulfilled the prayer that Jesus offered for his disciples on the eve of his suffering and death: “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn 17:21). Jesus gave his life on the Cross to gather into one the dispersed children of God, to break down the walls of division. Through the sacrament of Baptism, we have been incorporated into the Body of Christ, the Church. The tragic divisions which, over time, have arisen among Christ’s followers openly contradict the Lord’s will, give scandal to the world and damage that most holy cause, the preaching of the Gospel to every creature (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 1). Precisely by the witness of their faith and love, Christians are called to offer a radiant sign of hope and consolation to this world, so marked by conflicts and tensions. We must continue therefore to do everything possible to heal the wounds of separation and to hasten the work of rebuilding Christian unity. May we be guided in this urgent task by the light and strength of the Holy Spirit.

In this respect I can only offer heartfelt thanks to the Lord for the deeper fraternal relationship that has developed between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church. In the thirteenth century, Nerses of Lambron, one of the great Doctors of the Armenian Church, wrote these words of encouragement: “Now, since we all need peace with God, let its foundation be harmony among the brethren. We have prayed to God for peace and continue to do so. Look, he is now giving it to us as a gift: let us welcome it! We asked the Lord to make his holy Church solid, and he has willingly heard our plea. Let us climb therefore the mountain of the Gospel faith!” (Il Primato della Carità, Ed. Qiqajon, p. 81). These words of Nerses have lost nothing of their power. Together let us continue to pray for the unity of all Christians, so that, by receiving this gift from above with open hearts, we may be ever more convincing witnesses of the truth of the Gospel and better servants of the Church’s mission.