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Statement of the Secretariat of the Antiochian Holy Synod
Balamand, on the 6^th of June 2016

Decision

In the sequence of its seventh exceptional session still open since the 25^th of May 2016, the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Antioch held a meeting on the 6^th of June 2016 presided by His Beatitude Patriarch John X and in the presence of Their Eminencies the Bishops, to study the positions of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches related to the Holy and Great Pan-Orthodox Council (mentioned hereafter as ”The Great Council”) and the issues listed in its agenda, and in order to take the appropriate Antiochian position in this respect, taking into consideration the decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of 31^st May 2016 about “the formation of a committee of representatives of the Churches of Antioch and Jerusalem, with the Ecumenical Patriarchate as responsible for the coordination, which would meet immediately after the Great and Holy Synod”, to working on a solution to the violation of the Church of Jerusalem of the canonical jurisdictional boundaries of the church of Antioch in the Emirate of Qatar.

On March 9, 2016, Metropolitan Joseph issued this Archpastoral Directive. Please note that the early bird deadline is June 8: rooms are going fast so book soon!

Dear Reverend Pastors of this God-Protected Archdiocese,

Greetings and Blessings during this Holy Triodion Season!

The Department of Sacred Music has been charged to elevate the beauty of our liturgical music in our parishes and missions. The Sacred Music Institute (SMI) provides necessary instruction, education and tools to our choir directors, singers and chanters, without which we cannot properly glorify the Lord with our chanting and singing. With a history of over thirty years, the Sacred Music Institute has a proven track record of helping church musicians of all ages and levels progress in their ministry.

May 1, 2016

Christ is Risen! Indeed he is Risen!

We greet you with great joy and love as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Resurrection of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.  I wish to share with you this beautiful Paschal Oration by St. Gregory the Theologian as my pastoral message for Pascha:

Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him.  
Yesterday I died with Him; Today I am made alive with Him.
Yesterday I was buried with Him; today I am raised up with Him.
Let us offer to Him Who suffered and rose again for us…ourselves, the possession most precious to God and most proper.
Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us.
Let us become divine for His sake, since for us He became man.
He assumed the worse that He might give us the better.
He became poor that by His poverty we might become rich.

On April 21, 2016, a joint statement was issued by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, and the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, marking the three year anniversary of the abduction of Metropolitans Paul and Youhanna.

 

 

Balamand, 21 April, 2016

 

Beloved Spiritual Children, Our Compatriots, Brothers and Sisters in Humanity,

 

On this day, three years ago, the Bishops of Aleppo, Metropolitans Paul Yazigi and Youhanna Ibrahim were kidnapped near Aleppo. This incident occurred while they were in a humanitarian mission to help save others. Since then, we have not heard any official news about them. No governments, associations, or great or small powers have provided us with any information about them. Since three years, their case became a miniature of the great human suffering coming from terrorism: massacres, abductions, deracination, takfir, and explosions. This is done under the pretexts of slogans and clichés. All this was done with no empathy to tearful mothers from Syria and the whole world and the broken hearts of many people who have prayed and worked to end this great human tragedy that has been going on for the last five years under false pretexts.

Thou didst sever with the sword of abstinence the snares of the soul and the passion of the body, O righteous one. And by the silence of asceticism thou didst choke the sins of thought. And by the stream of thy tears thou didst water the whole wilderness, bringing forth for us the fruits of repentance. Wherefore, we celebrate thy memory.

-Vespers of the Feast

On the fifth Sunday of Lent, we commemorate St. Mary of Egypt. By her example, we are reminded of the extraordinary power of repentance and God's mercy, by which even the greatest sinner may be transformed and sanctified.

Read about the life of St. Mary of Egypt
Visit our full section on Great Lent

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His holy ones" (Psalm 116:5).

Memory Eternal! Rose Mousi Yazigi, the mother of His Beatitude Patriarch John X, has reposed in the Lord. In a letter of condolence to His Beatitude, His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph wrote: "It is with a sadness that we have learned of the falling asleep in Christ of your beloved mother, Rosa. On behalf of myself, my brother bishops, the clergy, the members of the Board of Trustees, the heads of the departments and organizations, and all of the faithful of this Archdiocese, we offer our prayers and condolences as you struggle with the departure of your beloved mother, especially at a time when so many events are weighing so heavily on your shoulders."

Service information will be published as it becomes available.

Read Metropolitan Joseph's Letter of Condolence

Pastoral Message for the Feast of the Annunciation

March 25, 2016

"Today is the beginning of our salvation, and the manifestation of the mystery from the ages; for the Son of God becometh the Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel proclaimeth grace. Wherefore, do we shout with him to the Theotokos: Rejoice, O full of grace! The Lord is with thee". (Apolytikion of the Annunciation)

We greet you with love and joy on this Holy Feast of the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to the Most Holy Theotokos.

The Apolytikion quoted above communicates to us the awesome nature of this holy feast, which is the action of a loving God which initiates the events by which humankind is redeemed from the sins of the past. The Archangel announces to the woman who will become the Most Holy Theotokos that she has been chosen to be the tabernacle which will hold the very Son of God.

On March 20, 2016, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph hosted His Eminence Archbishop Michael of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), Diocese of New York and New Jersey, and more than forty priests and deacons, at Brooklyn's St. Nicholas Cathedral. Numerous faithful representing various jurisdictions from throughout the greater New York area attended the Sunday evening service. (View more photos on Facebook.)

A Byzantine choir let by Protopsaltis Rassem El Massih and the "Spirit of Orthodoxy" pan-Orthodox choir, shared in the responses to the Vespers service. Earlier in the day His Eminence and Archbishop Michael concelebrated the Divine Liturgy at Ss. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church (OCA) in South River, NJ. Metropolitan Joseph preached at the Divine Liturgy and Archbishop Michael preached at Vespers service at our Cathedral. After the morning liturgy, Fr. Thomas Zain, Archdiocese Vicar General, assisted His Eminence in giving a talk on the situation of Syrian refugees and the ongoing war in Syria. The group of religious and civic leaders from the South River community was brought together for this occasion by the rector of Ss. Peter and Paul, Fr. David Garretson. It was a day of witness and unity for the entire Orthodox community of the Tri-State area.