MELKITE - GREEK
CATHOLIC PATRIARCHATE

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.
 
Gregorios III reminds us that, just as this month of fasting is obligatory for our Muslim fellow-citizens and one of the pillars of their faith, requiring them to devote time to prayer and reading the Qur’an, so Our Lord teaches us that only prayer and fasting can overcome Satanic evil, “Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”(Matthew, 17: 21)
 
His Beatitude is praying for this joint time of prayer and fasting in Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and the Holy Land to be abundant in grace for everyone and for us Christians and Muslims to remain always united. May it be a month of blessings and consolations, sowing hope in our hearts, and so that we remain united in fellowship, ready to serve the poor, dispossessed and refugees, putting into action the love and compassion of God for us and never forgetting the Lord’s saying, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me..” (Matthew 25: 40)
 
Ain Traz, 17 June 2015
 
 
For further information, contact
Névine Toutounji-Hage Chahine
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