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Your Majesties,

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

“Let us pray for the peace of the whole world, the stability of the holy churches of God, and the unity of all.”

This is one of the first petitions in the Divine Liturgies of St. Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom, celebrated in Orthodox Churches for over seventeen centuries. Unity and peace have been the fundamental and distinctive characteristics of the disciples of Jesus Christ from the earliest apostolic times. And if our age will be remembered, it may well be for those who dedicated their lives to the cause of the unifying peace. As convicted and committed Christians, we are called to “pursue the things which make for peace.” (Romans 14.19)

Reconciliation and peace call for a radical reversal of what is increasingly becoming the normative way of survival in our world. Inner peace and global peace are the distinctive way of breaking the cycle of violence and injustice. Indeed, peace and unity are a matter of individual and institutional choices, as well as of individual and institutional change. They are, in the final analysis, the seeds for conversion of the heart and mind, what we call metanoia, which implies an essential transformation of personal practices and political decisions. Peace ultimately requires sacrifice and courage so that we can become communities of transfiguration, whereby “Christ is formed in us” (Galatians 4.19) and we are “conformed to the image of Christ” (Romans 8.29). And there are two ways in which we perceive and practice such peace:

1. First, the peace that comes from above (James 3.17), that is not of this world (John 14.27), that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4.7), emanates from the depth of silence and prayer. In the words of Abba Isaac the Syrian, “if you make peace with yourself, then heaven and earth will make peace with you.” This kind of peace allows and enables us to “love our enemies and do good to those who hate us” (Luke 6.27). Never has the voice of a united Christianity been needed more than today. Peacemaking is integrally and inseparably associated to the coexistence of all people and the survival of our planet. It is reflected in the way we treat one another and the way we treat the natural environment. The way we behave toward and respect each other mirrors and influences the way we treat and respond to the rest of creation. We have it in our power to contribute either to the healing of our world or to its suffering. Dear friends, what will we choose?
2. Second, the peace that is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 13.14), the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22) and the gift of the Comforter (John 14.26), emerges from the breadth of dialogue and fellowship. Ecumenical encounter and dialogue are in the DNA of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, an integral element of our desire to fulfil the Lord’s will that His “disciples may be one” (John 17.21). This openness to union and communion, to unity and community, was also at the heart of the Archbishop of Uppsala, Nathan Söderblom, a visionary and pioneer of the Ecumenical Movement from before its formational period, the “Bishop of Peace,” deeply revered by the Lutheran Church, and Nobel Prize laureate. His times and initiatives were the bedrock and forerunner of the World Council of Churches and the resultant national councils of churches throughout the world.

Dear friends,

This peace that comes through unity is precisely what we are called to commemorate and celebrate this evening. Let us all come with this peace in a world that hungers and thirsts for unity, solidarity, and integrity like never before. This is our fervent prayer and unshakeable hope.