GREETING

By His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch

Bartholomew at the Consecration of the
Sacred Aedicule of the Holy Sepulcher
(March 22, 2017)
Your Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of the Sacred City of Jerusalem, with
Your venerable surrounding Hierarchy and the entire Brotherhood of the Holy
Sepulcher that guards the most holy sites of this ancient Patriarchate of
Mount Zion, together with His Beatitude the Armenian Patriarch and the Most
Reverend Latin Custodian in attendance to share in this celebration, and all
the pious pilgrims present at this historic moment,

Your Excellency the Prime Minister of Greece,

Your Excellencies the representatives of the Kingdom of Jordan, the State of
Israel and the Palestinian Authority,
Precious people of God and all who dwell here in Jerusalem,

If at a certain moment of human history, the hosts of angels were amazed

when they beheld their Lord and creator, the sustainer and governor of
creation who was thought to be among the dead, then all of us today and
along with us the whole world also stand in awe before the mystery and
witness of the Resurrection, namely the newly restored and reconstructed
Sacred Aedicule of the Holy Sepulcher. We stand in amazement as with one
voice and soul we articulate a song of glory and gratitude to the Savior
Christ, who was crucified and buried here in the flesh on this place of the
skull, Golgotha. We stand in amazement before the Holy Sepulcher that
emanates life and we are astonished by the miracle just like Mary
Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the other Myrrhbearing
women, as well as Peter, the chief of the apostles.

We too have hastened from the City of Constantine, the Ecumenical

Patriarchate, which always supports the Church of Zion in safeguarding these
venerable Holy Sites, the all-holy pilgrimages; and we have hastened to the
tomb of the life-giving Lord albeit surely not in mourning but rejoicing
with Your illustrious Beatitude and all those who lovingly mingle with their
tears the myrrh of prayer and fervent supplication, congratulating one
another on this historic occasion experienced by our militant church over
more than two millennia, proclaiming: Let everyone behold the tomb and
know that the Lord is risen from the dead.

Having responded to Your fraternal and loving invitation with special delight,
sentiment and spiritual elation, Your Beatitude and dear brother, Patriarch
Theophilos of Jerusalem, we are today attending this present ceremony. And
we rejoice with Your Beatitude and the other venerable representatives of the
Christian Churches and presences here, on the completion of this
monumental project, through the diverse contribution of the Hellenic
Republic, represented here by His Excellency its Prime Minister, the honorable
scholars of the National Technical University of Athens headed by the
distinguished Prof. Antonia Moropoulou, and the countless pious pilgrims to
these sacred sites of our Faith. We express to all of you the wholehearted
gratitude of the Holy and Great Church of Christ and the Ecumenical
Patriarchate for the restoration of the Holy Sepulcher in a manner worthy of
the sacredness and importance of this extremely invaluable and unique
monument of life rather than, of course, death for the sake of evangelizing
to those in Zion and to every disciple throughout the world, saying: O life of
all, you have risen and shattered the restraints of death. O Lord, glory to
you.

In our contemporary, ever troubled and divided world, the Holy Sepulcher
before which we stand constitutes the sole source of genuine, substantial and
sacred unity among Christians that is not established upon human interests
and ambitions, but only upon the Cross that is able to unite what was
previously divided, the protection of the universe, the beauty of the Church,
the foundation of authority in this world, the support of the faithful, the glory
of the angels, and the elimination of the forces of darkness, injustice and
turmoil in human affairs.

Dear brothers and sisters,

This moment is the liturgical time of the endless Divine Liturgy always
revealed in the breaking of the bread by Jesus Christ. It is a doxology of
thanksgiving for everything that we do and do not know. It is a ladder that
leads from earth to heaven, the union of mortal voices and angelic voices for
the sake of all that we do and do not know through the Passion, Cross and
Resurrection of Christ. This is a time of absolute silence, a recollection of
things gone by and still to come, an experience of the divine gift of freedom.

On and through this Tomb this minuscule monument that is so vast as to

contain the entire universe inasmuch as it is depicted on the Holy Altar of
every Orthodox Church life continues to this day and the ephemeral present
becomes the eternal future. Therefore, on the unique occasion of the
revelation of the Sacred Aedicule of the Holy Sepulcher, let all mortal flesh
be silent, standing with fear and trembling, without considering anything
earthly at all (Hymn of Holy Saturday). Let every mortal word be silent in
prayer before this moment of historic symphony among the three Christian
communities of this Holy City, which fraternally agreed and collaborated in
this hallowed project.

Those sharing our elation include first and foremost our blessed Nation, the
Greek Orthodox people through the presence and prayer of its Prime Minister,
Your beloved Excellency Alexis Tsipras, who recently celebrated your name-
day on the feast day of Alexios the Man of God, for which we congratulate
you, praying for your support and strength to lead the vessel of Orthodox
Greece toward calm waters, like the Good Harbors of the great Island of
Crete, to the safe haven of godly welfare for our people.

Your Beatitude, our Greek Orthodox Nation and the Fathers of the Holy
Sepulcher have through the ages vigilantly guarded and continue to guard
these Holy Sites with sacrifice in order to transmit them to us breathing life,
peace and resurrection. We honor and thank those who heroically and nobly
preserved the Deposit of our Fathers, the Holy Lands of our faith. For all
these things, we respectfully stand before this splendid Aedicule of the Holy
Sepulcher, offering thanks and glory with one mind and one voice to our
crucified, buried and risen Lord, as we say: We praise You, we bless You, we
give thanks to You, O Lord; and we pray to You, our God. We offer You
thanks with all our soul and all our heart, for You have bestowed everything
upon us. Glory to you, Lord, glory to You.