ACCEPTING FORMALLY THE
TITLE OF
"DEFENDER OF THE FAITH"
January 21, 1965
Venerable and Holy Fathers, in listening to the profound
spiritual message conveyed by your closing addresses, and
appreciating the happy outcome of your sustained efforts,
our hearts have been touched by profound gladness. It should
therefore be clear to the whole world from the result of your
work that Your Holiness has been guided and inspired by the
Holy Spirit to accomplish your task in love and unity.
The great common tasks accomplished by this Conference in
unison bestow on the true faith and true order of the Oriental
Orthodox Church the admiration of the whole world.
As Solomon says, physical distance cannot be a barrier to
love. Likewise, the distances among your respective countries
have been abolished by the proximity of your hearts. You have
thus been able to speak a single tongue and think with a single
mind. We thank Almighty God for enabling us to witness the
realization of Our dream in the successful outcome of this
historic Conference.
We are therefore happy to express to you Our readiness, fortified
by the results of this Conference, to invite you and the Eastern
Orthodox Churches, and also other churches at a later date.
We ardently hope that we shall meet once again in the not
too distant future.
As we stated at the inauguration of this Conference, to meet
together, to take council with one another, and to act in
mutual cooperation, have proved a most fruitful method both
in the secular and spiritual fields. Henceforth the way is
open for you to follow this fruitful path, and to this end
Our help and assistance will always be forthcoming, since
we support
your efforts, and ideas out of an unshakable conviction that
it is our spiritual duty to do so.
We are gratified in particular to note that the work of this
Conference has been concerned purely with religious spiritual
matters free from extraneous political considerations. This
is only fine and proper, for the church, as a symbol of peace,
must follow the path of peace in all parts of the world. In
this connection we are glad to note that your evangelistic
mission in the world has received due emphasis in your deliberations,
together with the recognition of the Christian duty to pray
for the rights of man and the peace of the world. For world
peace can only be made abiding by the Grace of God, through
the prayers of the Holy Fathers. The truth of this cardinal
fact is evident to all mankind.
We ardently hope that Almighty God shall bless the implementation
of your important resolutions and decisions, just as He has
made possible the successful convening and conclusion of this
historic Conference.
Holy Fathers, we have welcomed the title you have given us,
Defender of the Faith, with great honour. May Almighty God
grace your name. May God welcome you. We have received this
title given us by you holy fathers, with religious reverence.
May your prayers help us in our effort to fulfill the task
entrusted to us.
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