Protocol No. 379

+  B A R T H O L O M E W,
by the grace of God Archbishop of Constantinople
New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch
To the plentitude of the church,
Grace, peace and mercy
from Christ the Saviour, Risen in Glory

 "O life, how can you die? How can you dwell in a tomb?"

Brother concelebrants and pious, God-loving children of the Church,

All of Nature, the choirs of angels, the multitudes of humankind: all are astonished and amazed.  The entire creation stands in fear and trembling in the presence of the great and unspeakable Mystery of the Holy Passion and the glorious Resurrection of Christ the Savior, and asks: "How is it possible that Life, true Life, Life itself, the source of Life, can die? How can a grave become the dwelling place of Life, of our Lord Jesus Christ Who said of himself, "I am … the life " (John 14:6)?  The answers are revealed to us in the Resurrection.

Many of the questions asked in days of old remain unanswered today. What happened then, once and for all, is repeated without ceasing.  The Mystery continues, as does our wonder. Christ remains for many in our own day "a sign that is spoken against" (Lk 2:34).  He is crucified, but He rises to life.  The Crucified One remains to some a stumbling block; to others, foolishness  (1 Cor 1:23).   Some scoff upon hearing of the Resurrected One (Acts 17:32); others slander Him (Matt 28: 11-15); but He reigns in the hearts of the faithful.

We,  the  faithful,  enjoy a foretaste of the Resurrection.  We live in the Resurrection, not fearing the physical death of the body because we believe in  the  Resurrection  of  Christ  and human beings.  We experience it as a reality  through  our  fellowship  with  the Saints who, although they died according  to  human understanding, in reality live on and communicate with us and help us in our lives.

The  shrill voice of fanaticism, however, which rang out then and which has been  ringing  out  unceasingly ever since, continues to cry: "Crucify him, crucify  him!"   The  powerful  ones of this world, who answered such cries with  cowardice  and denial of responsibility, continue to reply: "Take him yourselves and crucify him" (John, 19:6).

Life  is  risen!  Christ is Risen!  And we bear witness to His Resurrection not only by offering rational arguments and proofs but rather by living our lives  in  accordance  with  the  Resurrection.  Only then does our witness become  credible,  when  the  Resurrected  Christ lives within us, when our entire being radiates the joy, certainty and peace of the Resurrection.

Certainly,  our  lives  and  the  life  of  our  natural environment remain threatened  by  death.   We do not mean here decay and deterioration in the biological  sense,  but rather those types of death and destruction brought about  suddenly,  in  cruel  and  violent  ways;  ways  that  challenge our conscience, trivialize the human person, and mangle the beauty of nature.

We  mean,  among  other  things, that death which puts an end to human life before it even has the chance to see the light of the sun.

We  mean those countless children, who lose their lives because of poverty, hunger,  the lack of even the most basic medicine, the cruelty of those who have  the  power  to  do  but who do not do what is necessary to save these children,  the  impudence  of  the  exploiters and corrupters of children’s innocence.

We mean the victims of daily acts of violence, of religious, nationalistic, and  racial  clashes,  as  well as the victims of fanaticism and war.  Such acts  are  callously and uncaringly carried out by those who turn deaf ears to  humanity’s  call  for  the  end of hostilities and the establishment of peace throughout the world.

Finally,  we mean the plundering of the natural environment by human beings who,  driven  by  greed  and  the  lust for profit, violently and cunningly subordinate  and exploit it.   Such conduct not only distorts the beauty of creation  given  by  its  Creator  but  also undermines the foundations and conditions necessary for the survival of future generations.

We  mean,  in  short, those types of life that bear signs of death, be they spiritual  or  moral,  the  consequences of disordered passions and errors, deprivation or greed, the trivialization and oppression of life.

Beloved brothers and children in the Lord,

We  worship  once  again  this  year  the  Holy Passion of our Savior Jesus Christ.    We  know  that the teaching about His death on the cross remains foolishness  for  those  who  remain  unbelieving  and  who  go  the way of destruction.  It is, however, the power of God for us who walk in faith the way of salvation (1 Cor 1:18) in the brilliant light of the Resurrection.

In this power and joy of the Resurrection of Christ, we respect the life of our fellow human beings.  We call for an end to the killing of one another, and  we  denounce  the  violence  and  fanaticism  that threatens life. The victory  of  the  Resurrection must be experienced as a victory of life, of brotherhood, of the future, of hope.

"Christ is Risen, and life reigns.
To Him be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages."

Holy Pascha 2006
+ Bartholomew of Constantinople
your fervent  intercessor of all
before Risen Christ

To  be  read  in  Church at the Divine Liturgy of the Feast of Holy Pascha, after the reading of the Holy Gospel.

For millennia our societies have recognized the union of a man and a woman in the bond of marriage. Cross-culturally virtually every known human society understands marriage as a union of male and female. As such marriage is a universal, natural, covenantal union of a man and a woman intended for personal love, support and fulfillment, and the bearing and rearing of children.  Sanctioned by and ordained of God, marriage both precedes and sustains civil society.

Marriage is particularly important for the rearing of children as they flourish best under the long term care and nurture of their father and mother.  For this and other reasons, when marriage is entered into and gotten out of lightly, when it is no longer the boundary of sexual activity, or when it is allowed to be radically redefined, a host of personal and civic ills can be expected to follow.  Such a point has always been stressed by the world's great monotheistic religious traditions and is, today, increasingly confirmed by impeccable social science research.

Long concerned with rates of divorce, out-of-wedlock births, and absentee fathers, we have recently watched with extreme alarm the growing trend of some courts to make marriage something it is not: an elastic concept able to accommodate almost any individual preference.  This does not so much modify or even weaken marriage as abolish it. The danger this betokens for family life and a general condition of social justice and ordered liberty is hard to overestimate.

Therefore, we take the unprecedented stand of uniting to call for a constitutional amendment to establish a uniform national definition of marriage as the exclusive union of one man and one woman.  We are convinced that this is the only measure that will adequately protect marriage from those who would circumvent the legislative process and force a redefinition of it on the whole of our society.  We encourage all citizens of good will across the country to step forward boldly and exercise their right to work through our constitutionally established democratic procedures to amend the Constitution to include a national definition of marriage. We hereby announce our support for S.J. Res.1, the Marriage Protection Amendment.

May God bless all marriages and all those who labor to protect the sanctity and promote the goodness of marriage throughout this nation. 

Signed,

The Right Reverend Keith L. Ackerman, SSC
Episcopal Bishop of Quincy, IL

Daniel Akin, Ph.D.
President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

The Right Reverend Peter H. Beckwith
Episcopal Bishop of Springfield, IL

Bishop Charles E. Blake
First Assistant Presiding Bishop, Church of God in Christ (COGIC)

The Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Denver, CO

Charles W. Colson
Founder and Chairman, Prison Fellowship

His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America
Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America

James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
Founder and Chairman, Focus on the Family

David Dockery, Ph.D.
President, Union University, Jackson, Tennessee
Chairman, Board of Directors, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities

The Right Reverend Robert Duncan
Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA
Moderator of the Anglican Communion Network

His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, IL

Timothy George, Th.D.
Dean, Beeson Divinity School of Samford University
Executive Editor of Christianity Today

The Most Reverend Jose H. Gomez
Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Antonio, TX

The Reverend Ted Haggard
President, National Association of Evangelicals

The Reverend Dr. Jack W. Hayford
President, The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
Founder/Chancellor, The King's College and Seminary
Pastor Emeritus, The Church On The Way

The Most Blessed Herman
Archbishop of Washington and New York
Primate, The Orthodox Church in America

The Right Reverend John W. Howe
Episcopal Bishop of Central Florida

Bishop Harry R. Jackson
Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church, Lanham, MD
President, High Impact Leadership Coalition

His Eminence William Cardinal Keeler
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Baltimore, MD

The Reverend Dr. D. James Kennedy
Chancellor, Knox Theological Seminary, Fort Lauderdale, FL

The Reverend Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick
President, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

Dr. Richard Land
President, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Southern Baptist Convention

Rabbi Daniel Lapin
President, Toward Tradition

Steve W. Lemke, Ph.D.
Provost, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

The Reverend Dr. Peter A. Lillback
Senior Pastor, Proclamation Presbyterian Church, Bryn Mawr, PA
President, Westminster Theological Seminary

The Reverend Herbert H. Lusk, II
Senior Pastor, Greater Exodus Baptist Church
President & CEO, People For People, Inc

The Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino
Roman Catholic Bishop of Madison, WI

The Most Reverend John Myers
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Newark, NJ

The Most Reverend Joseph F. Naumann
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kansas City, KS

Elder Russell M. Nelson
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

The Reverend Richard John Neuhaus
Editor in chief of FIRST THINGS

The Most Reverend John C. Nienstedt
Roman Catholic Bishop of New Ulm, MN

Rabbi David Novak
J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies,
Professor of the Study of Religion and Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto
Visiting Professor of Religion, Princeton University (2006)

The Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted
Roman Catholic Bishop of Phoenix, AZ

His Eminence Sean Patrick Cardinal O'Malley, O.F.M., Cap.
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, MA

Dr. Paige Patterson
President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

His Eminence Justin Cardinal Rigali
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia, PA

The Reverend Eugene F. Rivers, III
Founder and President, The Seymour Institute for Advanced Christian Studies

The Reverend Samuel Rodriguez, Jr.
President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
National Hispanic Association of Evangelicals

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik
Associate Rabbi, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun of Manhattan, NY

The Most Reverend John G. Vlazny
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Portland, OR

The Reverend Dr. Rick Warren
Founding Pastor, The Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA
Author, The Purpose-Driven Life

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
Executive Vice President, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America

The Reverend David Welch
Executive Director, U.S. Pastor Council

The Most Reverend John W. Yanta
Roman Catholic Bishop of Amarillo, TX

Malcolm B. Yarnell, III, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Theological Research
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Institutional affiliations are provided for purposes of identification only.