Patriarch Youssef
Synod of Bishops XIII Ordinary General Meeting
H. B. Gregorios III LAHAM, B.S., Patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Melkites, Head of the Synod of the Greek-Melkite Church (SYRIA) Sixth General Congregation Thursday October 11 afternoon 2012
New evangelization is synonymous to updating. This Council is an update. The council documents are the prelude to our Synod.
Three points to my intervention
1. Formation or creation of frameworks We, the Christians in the Orient, we bathe in a non-Christian world: we are the small flock, ad extra in relation to Islam, and ad intra because of the decrease of religious practice.
The Realpolitik imposes upon us to work in keeping in mind this dual reality ad extra and ad intra. This means to concentrate our pastoral work of the New Evangelization on this small flock, without excluding the whole of our faithful that practice to a lesser degree.
This small flock must be excellent, to form through it the team of agents of New Evangelization.
Even if the Church grows to huge dimensions, she must maintain the strategy of the small flock.
This is the meaning, the essence, the motivation, the reason for being of the Eastern small flock and everywhere. This is the apostolic strategy: to form the small flock to being with and for the large flock.
2. Vademecum of the Christian faith
Our faith is beautiful. However its content and its statements are very difficult.
The proclamation of the faith in Islam can be summarized by this dual witness: “There is no other god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet”.
For the Jews, the substance of the Faith is expressed by the double commandment: “I am your God! You have no other but me. You will love your God with all your heart, and your neighbour as yourself!”
Our beautiful Christian faith is too complicated: the terms, their content and their explanation. We bathe in an ensemble of dogmas, of mysteries: the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, Redemption, the Sacraments (called mysteries by the Greeks).
These dogmas must be interpreted in a form capable of touching upon daily life, human aspirations, happiness and prosperity, the daily realities of our faithful.
From this, we can see the great importance and need for the New Evangelization to create a concise, precise and clear text on our Faith. This is important for our faithful ad intra, as well as for our fellow non-Christian citizens ad extra.
I hope that this proposition can find its path, and that theologians will be charged with it at the end of our Synod.
3. Practical programme
The New Evangelization is necessarily conditioned by the specificity of the local Church; in time, the context of Tradition, customs, culture, needs. For this reason, I have also presented an essay from an Eastern point of view, Melkite Greek-Catholic, Arabic, of the New Evangelization with practical propositions.
See the list in the complete text of my intervention.
[Original text: English] Source: http://www.vatican.va/news_services/press/sinodo/documents/bollettino_25_xiii-ordinaria-2012/02_inglese/b11_02.html#-_H._B._Grégoire_III_LAHAM,_B.S.,_Patriarch_of_Antiochia_of_the_Greek-Melkites,_Head_of_the_Synod_of_the_Greek-Melkite_Church_(SYRIA)_
ARABIC BECOMES A PART OF THE POPE'S GENERAL AUDIENCE
Vatican City, (VIS) - Beginning on Wednesday 10 October, during the Holy Father's weekly general audience, an Arabic speaker will join the other speakers who provide a summary of the papal catechises in various different languages.
In this way, in the wake of his recent trip to Lebanon and the publication of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "Ecclesia in Medio Oriente", the Holy Father intends to express his perpetual concern and support for Christians in the Middle East, and to remind everyone of their duty to pray and work for peace in the region.
Source: http://www.news.va/en/news/arabic-to-become-a-part-of-the-popes-general-audie
Patriarch Gregorios III speaks during the Episcopal Synod 2012
Tuesday 9 October 2012
The Patriarch of Antioch of the Melkite Greek Catholics, Gregorios III (Laham), Head of the Synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, spoke twice: first to ask for more continuous contact between all the Churches; and then to say that Catholics in the Near and Middle East must have the courage to present their faith even in the most dangerous situations. Referring to the current state of affairs in that part of the world, the Patriarch said that the values expressed in the Gospel can also be an important contribution: "a good programme," he said, for the so-called Arab Spring.
With acknowledgment to L’Osservatore Romano
Italian Translation V. Chamberlain
Patriarch Gregorios III, "May the Year of Faith be the Year of Reconciliation"
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - "That the Year of Faith may be for Syria the Year of Reconciliation is the hope of Christians and all the Syrian people," is what the Melkite Patriarch of Antioch, Gregorios III, now in the Vatican to attend the Synod on the New Evangelization declares in an interview with Fides, on the eve of the opening of the Year of Faith. "We Christians in the Middle East,” explains Gregorios III, head of the Greek Catholic community which in Syria has over 150 thousand faithful – “feel an integral part of the Arab world and in this moment of difficulty, problems and fear, we have greater need to strengthen our faith, to be bearers of the Gospel. The presentation of the values of faith, made in the Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Medio Oriente is very important: it is up to us to make this our heritage – constituted by religious freedom, coexistence, citizenship, rights, solidarity and love. We Christians have always played a key role in the Middle East in culture, art, education and social work, and intend to continue to be leaven in society." The proposal of reconciliation in Syria is a direct expression of faith, for the Patriarch. "Reconciliation,” he warns, “is the only possible way forward: otherwise Syria heads towards death. In the ongoing conflict in Syria, chaos prevails and there are no appropriate answers. No one has any: neither the government nor the opposition, nor even the international community. We are in the dark and, in this situation, faith is the answer and reconciliation is our proposal." In such a state of political stalemate, the Patriarch supports the proposal of a "new diplomatic initiative to implement the Pope's appeals", released yesterday by Fides Agency, by Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim, Metropolitan Syrian Orthodox of Aleppo. "We welcome any initiative that promotes reconciliation: the word reconciliation,” notes Gregorios III, “has been a constant, it has always been present in every even small intervention of the Holy Father in his last trip to Lebanon. Reconciliation is the lifeline for Syria and the future of Christians who, as St. Paul says, are 'all things to all men.’The Church is not for or against the regime, but it is a community that wants to give a testimony of love and wants to save Syria." The Melkite Patriarch refers, finally, his own special initiative: "I asked the President of Lebanon, Michel Suleiman, to send the Holy Father’s speeches, from the recent trip to Lebanon, to the leaders of the Arab world as a message of peace and coexistence that radiates from Lebanon throughout the Middle East. This is the response to the Arab revolutions. And the president has welcomed my proposal." (PA) (Agenzia Fides 09/10/2012)
