التقى غبطة البطريرك كيريوس كيريوس ثيوفيلوس الثالث بعد ظهر يوم الثلاثاء الموافق 5 شباط 2019 مع رئيس أساقفة كانتربي جوستين ويلبي ومساعديه ، ومع رئيس الأساقفة ورئيس الكنيسة الأنجليكانية في القدس المطران سهيل دواني في مقر الكنيسة الأنجليكانية في العاصمة الأردنية عمان.
رافق غبطة البطريرك في هذا اللقاء سيادة رئيس أساقفة قسطنطيني أريسترخوس السكرتير العام للبطيركية, قدس الأب عيسى مصلح, المستشار القانوني للبطريركية السيد رامي مغربي ومديرة مكتب البطريركية في عمان السيدة وفاء كسوس.
خلال اللقاء شدد المطران سهيل دواني على تعاون كنيسته مع الكنيسة الأورشليمية الكنيسة الأم ، وتعاون رؤساء الكنائس المسيحية في القدس في المسائل المتعلقة بمسيحيي الأرض المقدسة ، واستمرارية الوضع الراهن الذي من أجل المحافظة عليه كان هناك قرار بإغلاق كنيسة القبر المقدس قبل عام واحد إحتجاجاً على ممارسات الحكومة الأسرائيلية.
غبطة البطريرك القى كلمة باللغة الأنجليزية خلال اللقاء:
“Your Grace, dear Archbishop Justin,
Your Grace, dear Archbishop Suheil,
Your Eminences,
Your Graces,
Dear Fathers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honour for us to be with you for this important meeting of Regional Primates of the Anglican Communion, and we welcome you to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. As you know, His Majesty King Abdullah II is a stalwart defender of the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious character of the Middle East in general and the Holy Land in particular, and the Kingdom remains a model of religious freedom in this region.
As we welcome you, Your Grace, dear Archbishop Justin, we would like to take this opportunity to express our deep gratitude to you once again for your personal support and the support of your staff and colleagues in the ongoing work of ensuring the freedom and the rights of the Churches and Christian Communities of the Holy Land.
In particular, we are grateful to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales for his public support, and to the Dean of Westminster for his role in opening Westminster Abbey last Δεκέμβριος for a service of witness to the plight of Christians in the Middle East. Such a clear manifestation of solidarity with the Christian communities of the Middle East is a tremendous encouragement to all who labour every day to ensure that our indigenous Christian Communities in the Middle East, some of which go back to the earliest days of the life of the Church, remain alive and vital at a time when the threats against them are real and potentially devastating.
This last year was a particularly difficult one for us. There have been many challenges to the Christian community and to the well-being of our society and the Holy Places, many of which are the result of aspirations for political gain by politicians attempting to strengthen their positions at the expense of our Churches. There have also been further attempts to undermine the Christian presence in the region.
With the ready assistance of our international supporters, including Your Graces, as well as many other governmental and Church leaders, we have managed to keep these threats at bay. But the pressure remains, and some of these threats have not gone away. They are simply dormant for the moment, and they could rise to the surface again at any time. We must not relax our vigilance, nor our influence on those who have the power to protect the Churches from such threats.
In this regard, we see great hope in the in the work of the International Community of the Holy Sepulchre as an advocate on behalf of the Churches in the Holy Land. ICoHS has the firm support of the Heads of the Churches, and we are grateful to you dear Archbishop Justin, for your enthusiasm for this organization and for the help you have given to those who have established it.
We have experienced a significant blessing in the deeper spirit of unity among the Heads of the Churches and Christian Communities of the Holy Land in the course of the work we have done to protect the Church, and we rejoice in this mutual commitment to a common mission. Our unity of resolve and purpose is strong, and in this regard especially, we wish to express our gratitude to His Grace Archbishop Suheil, whose unwavering leadership has been an indispensable part of the success of this joint work so far. Not only have you, dear Archbishop Suheil, been an absolutely reliable colleague, in your own pastoral zeal for the Anglican Church in your diocese, especially in the rebuilding of your communities, but you have also helped to ensure the ongoing Christian presence here. For all this work, you are recognized beyond your own Communion.
As you meet here in Amman to take counsel for the most effective ways in which to oversee the Anglican Communion in this region, we know that you are all deeply aware of the situation in which we find ourselves. We also note the long-standing, close, and mutually beneficial relationship that has always existed between the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Anglican Communion, and this relationship gives us both strength and encouragement both for the relationship between our two Churches, and for our common spiritual mission in this region.
Μάϊος God bless you and guide you in all your deliberations, and may God bless all the peoples of our beloved Holy Land and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Thank you”.
رئيس أساقفة كانتربري قال إنه لنعمة بالنسبة له أن يزور دول الشرق الأوسط مرة أخرى, وأشاد بغبطة البطريرك ثيوفيلوس الثالث الذي كما أضاف ما يميزه هي صفة الشجاعة وحكمته في تسوية الخلافات التي باتت واضحة من خلال القرار التاريخي بإغلاق كنيسة القيامة ثم فتحها مرة أخرى بعد تدخل رئيس وزراء إسرائيل السيد بنيامين نتنياهو الذي أمر بتعليق الإجراءات الضريبية المفروضة من قبل بلدية القدس ضد الكنائس . وعلاوة على ذلك ، قال إن العلاقة بين البطريركية الأورشليمية والكنيسة الأنجليكانية قد أصبحت أقوى في عهد غبطة البطريرك ثيوفيلوس الثالث.
مكتب السكرتارية العام