From this sacred courtyard,
we also greet His Holiness the Pope of the elder Rome, John Paul II, with whom
we are in communion of love. We assure him that a most serious concern for us
shall be the realization of the sacred vision of our late predecessors,
Athenagoras and Dimitrios, so that the way of the Lord will be fulfilled on
earth for his holy Church in the reunion of all who believe in Him through the
dialogue of truth. We shall do everything in our power to move in this
direction, in fear of God, sincerity, honesty, and prudence. We are convinced
that our brother in the West will exhaust all the many possibilities at his
disposal and cooperate with us towards this sacred and holy objective.
Out of deep esteem we embrace in the Lord the
venerable Primate of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury George
Carey, and the entire Anglican Communion. Manifesting our intention to continue
with faithfulness the long tradition of fraternal relations with the Anglican
Church, we express our desire to promote our theological dialogue until we
achieve the unity of faith.
In the same spirit we great and embrace the Old
Catholic Church throughout the world in the person of its venerable Primate, Archbishop
Anthony of Utrecht, expressing the sincere wish that the dialogue with his
Church will lead us to the glory of Christ.
With feelings of peace and love we embrace with
the kiss of Christ all the other Christian Churches and Confessions, the Lutheran
and the Reformed with whom we are also in theological dialogue, the Methodists
with whom we are in the preparatory stages of dialogue, and the christian
communities one and all throughout the world, as many as believe and preach,
according to the scriptures, the crucified Christ and bear the good spirit,
that they may partake of the common banquet of the faith in the unity of the
apostolic-patristic tradition.
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