Beloved brothers and sisters,

It is a distinct joy and privilege to address you this evening at the gracious invitation of the Christian Council of Sweden and to celebrate with distinguished representatives of the World Council of Churches the developments and expectations of the Ecumenical Movement in the face of a fractured world that looks to religious leaders for reconciliation and peace. We owe it to our global community to be united in faith and action. We can only offer a credible witness when we stand together in prayerful invocation of God’s peace that surpasses our understanding and achievements.

These are the lessons that we have derived and learned from our participation in the Central and Executive Committees as well as the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches over many years. We still recall with great contentment our commitment and involvement in the creation of the groundbreaking Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry Document, on which the Orthodox presence and influence were unambiguous. We were also honored to participate in three of its General Assemblies in Uppsala (1968), Vancouver (1983), and Canberra (1991).

However, beyond our own precious experience, the commitment of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the vision and mission of the World Council of Churches—from its earliest formative and creative years as one of its founding members through even the most difficult and contentious periods—has always been unwavering and paramount. Because, apart from our dedication and devotion to fulfil the Lord’s prayer and commandment, that His “disciples may be one” (John 17.21), we are convinced that our ongoing efforts toward unity are more necessary and vital than ever before.

Today, we can see unfolding before our eyes an increasingly divided world. History is, of course, replete with examples of violence, cruelty and atrocities, committed by one group of people against another. Never before has it also been possible for one group of human beings to eradicate as many people simultaneously. Moreover, never before has humanity been in a position to destroy so much of the planet’s environmental resources. This predicament presents Christian Churches and us, as Christian leaders, with radically new circumstances, which demand of us a revolutionary commitment to peace—the same commitment expressed and exercised by our visionary forebearers in the Ecumenical Movement, one of whom was the Archbishop of Uppsala, Nathan Söderblom. It is exactly 100 years ago, in 1925, that Archbishop Söderblom organized and convened the unprecedented Ecumenical Congress here in Stockholm, inviting Protestant and Orthodox to pray and work together for the foretaste of God’s kingdom on earth. This milestone is remembered this year along with the 1700^th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, which gathered in the year 325 to unite Christians around the faith in the Son of God who is of one essence with the Father and assumed human nature for us in order, in the words of St. Athanasius the Great, we might become gods by grace.   

As Christians united in our faith and conviction that this is the time for God’s peace, we have an ethical obligation to resist war as a political and national necessity and instead to promote peace as an existential and spiritual demand. The threat to the fabric of human life and the survival of the natural environment render this obligation the overarching priority over all others. In choosing the alternative of global transformation and reconciliation through peace, we should remember that peace always—and ultimately—starts in the heart. Peace also takes time, toil, and tears. Nevertheless, it offers us the only hope of survival as individuals, as nations, and as a species.

“Blessed,” then, “are the peacemakers; for they shall be called children of God” (Matthew 5.9). And to become and to be called children of God is to be fully committed to the will of God. This implies moving away from what we want to what God wants. It means to be faithful to God’s purpose and intention for creation, in spite of the social pressures that may contradict justice and peace. In order to be “peacemakers” and “children of God,” we must move away from what serves our own interests to what embraces the rights of others. We must recognize that all human beings, and not only a few privileged, deserve to share the resources of this world.

Moreover, “making peace” is difficult and painstakingly unrewarding. Still, it is the only hope for the restoration of our broken and fragmented world. By working to remove obstacles for peace, by working to heal human suffering and social injustice, as well as by working to preserve the natural environment, we are assured that “God is with us” (Emmanuel), that we are never alone, that God’s peace will enable us to inherit both “the earth” and the kingdom of heaven. For then, we shall be worthy to hear the words of Christ: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5.5) and “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you from the creation of the world” (Matt. 25.34).

Dear friends,

Such is the unity through peace that we are celebrating this afternoon. Such, too, is the unity through peace that we aspire to as ecumenical partners. Such is, finally, the God’s peace that it is time for us to suggest to the world and for the world to see in us. And it is the prayer and hope that we leave you with, brothers and sisters in the Lord. Christ is in our midst! Ὁ Χριστός ἐν τῷ μέσῳ ἡμῶν!