Promoting Peaceful Coexistence and Common Citizenship

[ 82 ] — INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE FOR PEACE — counterproductive because the message of love should be disseminated to every level of the religious pyramid includ- ing civil believers. Here, we face a major obstacle. Although we organize a plethora of seminars, lectures and conferences with illumi- nating results, the latter seldom reaches the ears of believers at all ends of the spectrum. This conference should focus on this important issue and attempt to solve it. Allow me to conclude by speaking about the African continent and the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The Alexandrian church extends across the whole African continent and is a multinational institution with 28 arch- bishoprics and five provincial bishoprics. The patriarchate is active in every African country and exercises intellectual jurisdiction over every Orthodox Christian on the continent without discriminating against nationality or ethnicity. For us, the Patriarchate of Alex- andria, the main objective is to satisfy the needs of every human being as they are the complete and perfect image of God. A person’s religion, nationality and skin colour are not taken into consideration in the patriarchate’s work in Africa. Instead, we aim to serve God’s will and the main purpose of the church, which is the salvation of humanity. Therefore we aid everyone with love. Africa is a vast continent with issues that require multiple actions to be taken for development. The Church of Alexan- dria attempts to surpass these difficulties by consolidating human freedom. One of our main goals is to offer everyone the chance to coexist peacefully with every culture, nation, and language. We realize that this is not an easy path, as Africa is home to more than 800 tribes, with more than 700 dialects used across the continent. Furthermore, each coun- try has different systems of education, as well as differences due to the multinational composition. Despite the difficul- ties, we are diligently working towards achieving a peaceful coexistence of the African population, in the name of God. Finally, we are committed to the protection of religious freedom for all Africans. In each of our meetings with secular leaders, we highlight the urgent need for religious freedom for all human beings without discrimination. For example, a few days ago I visited Sudan and during my stay, met the country’s vice president and various ministers. We spoke about the plans for achieving religious peace in Sudan, and the consequent potential for stability and devel- opment. This confirmation of the country’s internal and external policies signals a general acceptance of respect for the right to religious freedom. As a result, the vice president invited my church to organize an International Interreli- gious Conference on Religious Freedom and Peace in the country’s capital, Khartoum. We can conclude that religion and religious leaders have a great responsibility and obligation to promote peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding among people from different cultures and faiths. Today’s forumhas a clear objec- tive; but, in order for it to be achieved — and this should be emphasized — we must share the outcomes with every believer and every nation. If the results of this forum stay exclusively among academics, we cannot say that we have succeeded, despite our honest efforts for peace. I would like to thank you for the invitation to travel from Egypt to join you for this conference. Egypt is a peaceful country and the will of our president is for Muslims and Christians to live together peacefully under the same sky. Because I am a missionary who travels regularly throughout Africa, I will extend your love to all of the African nations. I will also tell them that there are people who believe in peace and God and who want to co-exist. With peace and love, because this is the Will of God. His Beatitude Theodoros II of Alexandria Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa His Beatitude Theodoros II is a graduate of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School of Athens and holds a degree from the Theological Faculty of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki. He also studied History of Art, Literature and Philosophy in Odessa, Russia. Between 1975 and1985, he served as Archdeacon and then as Chancellor of the Holy Metropolis of Lambis and Sfakion. Having been called back to the Ancient Patriarchate of Alexandria by the late Patriarch Nicholas VI, he became Patriarchal Exarch of the Throne in Russia, based in Odessa between 1985 and 1990, where he established the Hellenic Cultural Institution and the Philikis Eterias Museum. In 1990 he was consecrated Bishop of Cyrene and was appointed Patriarchal Representative of Parthenios III in Athens from 1990 to 1997. In 2004 he was unanimously elected by the Hierarchs of the Alexandrian Throne as Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa.