wfn.org | Heads of Jerusalem's Churches Send Condolences on Patriarch's Death

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Contact: Fr Raed Abusahlia 
Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
P.O. Box 14152, Jerusalem 911412
Telephone 972.2.627.1652

JERUSALEM,  December 21, 2000--Following are the texts of two condolence 
letters sent today to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.  The 
first was sent by the Latin and Armenian Patriarchs and the heads of the 
other Christian communities in Jerusalem.  The second was the personal letter 
of the Latin Patriarch, Michel Sabbah.

^From the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem:

Senior Metropolitan of Petra
Locum Tenens, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate
Jerusalem

Jerusalem, 21 December 2000

You Eminence,

Fratenal greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It is with great sorrow that we learnt yesterday of the death of His 
Beatitude Patriarch Diodoros I.  His demise does not only impact the Greek 
Orthodox Church and community, but also all Churches and Christian 
communities in the Holy Land and further afield in the region.

Ever since his immigration to the region in 1938, his humble beginnings at 
the mail room of the Patriarchate in 1943 and leading up to his assuming the 
highest position within the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in 1981, the late 
Patriarch was a man who strove to strengthen the Christian presence and 
witness in our multi-cultural and pluralist land.  His wisdom and experience 
during many of our Assemblies was a guiding force in the decisions and 
statements that were adopted by all of us. 

We offer our profound condolences to Your Eminence, to the Holy Synod of the 
Greek Orthodox Church, as well as to all its clergy and laity.  In our 
prayers, we remember [and are] ever-mindful of St. Paul's admonition in the 
letter to the Romans. "Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into 
death, so that,  just as Christ was raised from the death by the glory of the 
Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united 
with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a 
resurrection like his" (Romans 6: 4-5).

Yours in Christ,

+ Patriarch Michel Sabbah           + Patriarch Torkum II
   Fr. Giovanni Battistelli             + Archbishop Anba Abraham
+ Mar Sawerios Malki Murad      + Archbishop Abuna Gabriel
+ Bishop Riah Abu El-Asal           + Bishop Munib Younan
   Archimandrite Nabih Safi         + Archbishop Paul Sayyah
+ Bishop Pierre Abdul Ahad          + Bishop Andre' Bedoghlian

Condolence Letter of Patriarch Michel Sabbah

Jerusalem. December 20, 2000

H.E. Metropolitan Cornelius
Senior Metropolitan of Petra
Locum Tenens, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate
Jerusalem

Your Eminence,

We have been deeply saddened this morning when we heard about the passing 
away of our beloved Brother, His Beatitude Diodoros I, the Greek Orthodox 
Patriarch of Jerusalem.

In my personal name and on behalf of the Bishops, the Clergy and all the 
Institutions of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Latin Community 
of the Holy Land, I hasten to present to your Eminence, to the Fraternity of 
the Holy Sepulcher and to all the Clergy and the Community of the Greek 
Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, our sincere sympathy and condolences on 
this occasion.

May the soul of the venerated departed rest in the eternal peace of the Lord.
Asking God to assist in a special way the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in this 
difficult moment, I remain 

Very sincerely Yours in Christ

+ Michel Sabbah,
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem

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