Message of His Beatitude JOHN X
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
To the Sixth International Symposium of the International
Association of Orthodox Dogmatic Theologians
Read by His Eminence Metropolitan Ephrem of Tripoli, Koura, and Dependencies, representing His Beatitude, Balamand , 2018
Your Eminences, Excellencies, Reverend Fathers, Beloved Participants of the Sixth International Symposium of the International Association of Orthodox Dogmatic Theologians
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We welcome you warmly in the Apostolic See of Antioch, founded by the Holy Glorious and All-Praised Leaders of the Apostles, Peter and Paul. From this Antiochian See the proclamation of the Good News spread to the oikoumenoi, and enlightened the cosmos and all humanity. Our Church of Antioch, in Her missionary spirit of openness and dialogue, welcomes all people.
We are honored to receive at the prestigious University of Balamand your august gathering, beloved fathers and professors, coming from various countries and prominent universities. You meet to talk about the Eschatological Vision of Orthodox Theology. The Church has always had a clear teaching on the last things, the eschata. It is part of the proclamation of the joyful Christian message on the Holy Resurrection, and the trampling down death, and the acquiring of life eternal. The mission of the Church is a mission of joy. This joy is achieved in the coming of the Savior, in the historical becoming of the Church, and is fully completed in the last days, in the Second Coming of Christ and the General Resurrection.
It is important to remind ourselves that our theology is about living daily in Christ. Thus, the Church dogmas are the guiding Truths that preserves the experience of the faithful in living the mystery of the Church, in the Eucharist and in personal spiritual life.
Beloved participants,
Your presence today in this Biblical land of Lebanon, the land of the Cedars, brings much joy to our hearts. Our land has been suffering during a long time in history. However, it insists to carry its mission and fulfill its role of witnessing with strength and steadiness to this evangelical joy, the joy which conquers all darkness and turmoil.
We bless this Symposium and all its participants and works, and those present, and we wish you much success and fruitfulness.
JOHN X
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
Damascus, June 7, 2018
