PC(USA) delegation meets with His Beatitude Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox Church’s Patriarch of Jerusalem
He and the Rev. Jihyun Oh discuss what makes for cooperation and companionship during difficult times
JERUSALEM — His Beatitude Theophilos III, Patriarch of Jerusalem in the Greek Orthodox Church, was as generous with his time as he was with his ready smile while meeting for nearly an hour on Tuesday with a six-member delegation from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The PC(USA) delegation, led by the Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of the Unified Agency, also includes:
- Dr. Dianna Wright, director of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations
- Sue Rheem, Representative to the United Nations and director of the Presbyterian Ministry at the UN
- Douglas Dicks, the Regional Global Ecumenical Liaison to Israel, Palestine and Jordan
- Rich Copley, a multimedia producer in the Unified Agency
- Mike Ferguson, editor of Presbyterian News Service.
The PC(USA) group is meeting with individuals and organizations in Jordan and Israel-Palestine who are providing ministry in their context as well as working on human rights and other deep needs in the region. HB Theophilos said he’d hoped to attend Sunday’s installation and consecration of the new Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, as the PC(USA) delegation did, but had to instead bless the marriage of a young man studying theology. “We have high expectations of him,” he said, smiling broadly, “to preach the good news to our community.”
The Patriarch meets frequently with a range of visitors, including recent visits by Reformed rabbis and U.S. Vice President JD Vance. There are up to 500,000 Greek Orthodox faithful in Israel, Palestine and Jordan.
“There are all sorts of challenges here,” he said. “Unfortunately, all problems are emerging from ignorance — people don’t know each other’s religion, values and history. There are all sorts of misunderstandings. It’s important to have meetings to keep informing people.”
He says he tells pilgrims that “what makes Jesus so important for the whole world is this part of the Earth has the unique privilege to be watered by the righteous one, Jesus Christ,” he said. “This is the place of his burial and resurrection. It is a place of divine energy.”
It’s a place of “narrow streets and old buildings.” It’s also “a place that has been blessed. It’s not only for Christians. It’s for Muslims and Jews. It’s for everyone.”
Oh told him that walking the Via Dolorosa “is so different from reading about it.”
“With a tour guide, you hear a lot and then forget it” soon after, HB Theophilos told the visitors. “But you’ll always remember what’s been inculcated into your heart, what you have seen with the eyes of your soul.”
“Thank God, we have been blessed by the Divine Providence to keep these as places of prayer and worship and keep them accessible to all people, especially Christians,” he said. He said the church at Jerusalem, with offices above the Church of the Holy Sepulchure, “was founded at the place of the Cross,” and thus contributes to “the guarantee of unity of all Christians. What keeps uniting all Christians is the tomb.”
“For me, the vast majority of Christians coming here — no matter their background or denomination, they come first of all as Christians. They enter the tomb of crucifixion and the place of burial and resurrection,” places “that have not been historically proven, but it opens their heart.”
HB Theophilos took Vance to the tomb during the vice president’s visit. “He asked us to pray for peace, and we did,” he said. “St. Paul emphasizes the importance of faith, and that’s what Jerusalem is, for people of faith.”
What’s also important to keep in mind is what the Patriarch called “our human predicament.”
“We have to treat people with love, as the fathers said. The very moment you see a person, you accept him with your heart,” no matter his political views, he said. “Everyone has the likeness of God and is entitled to respect. This is what our attitude has to be.”
He noted that while Jesus instructs us to love our neighbor, he also says to “go a step beyond and love your enemy. That’s difficult, but not impossible,” because “God has given us the great gift of forgetfulness. St. Paul says to look forward when you’re plowing and never look back. It’s not easy, but this is what leadership means.”
As the Good Shepherd, Jesus was acquainted with all his “sheep,” and each needed special treatment, HB Theophilos said. “At the end of the day, we are like doctors. We prescribe something different to each one to treat them accordingly.”
Each one, he said, “is entitled to some kind of acceptance and respect.”
“We try to find what unites us, not what disconnects us,” he said. “The Holy Spirit is transforming us, and this is what Jerusalem does. This is the place for everybody. It has enough room to accommodate all of us.”
“It’s the embodiment of sacred history, which unites us as human beings.”
Asked by Oh if there is “a prayer we can pray for you,” HB Theophilos suggested the “Our Father” (the Lord’s Prayer) or Psalm 50, “a favorite psalm of David.”
“We human beings are looking for perfection … but we’re not perfect,” he said. “We are trying our best to attend to the vision of God.”
When Oh told him that “we are grateful for the partnership and the solidarity,” he said that “we appreciate your presence and our partnership.”
“We [all] have to put aside our denominational differences [in order] to be united and declare ourselves as a Christian community,” he said. “This Christian presence is very important.”
Read previous Presbyterian News Service reports from Jerusalem here and here.
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