Press Releases29 Jan 08

Statement by Bishop of Clogher on the death of Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens & all Greece

Statement by the Right Reverend Dr Michael Jackson, Bishop of Clogher and member of the Church of Ireland Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue, on the death of Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and all Greece

In company with members of the Christian churches worldwide, we in the Church of Ireland wish to express our sadness at the recent death of Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and all Greece. As a ‘servant of Christ’ he tirelessly served the needs and championed the cause of all God’s people within the Orthodox family both in Greece and throughout the world. He took significant steps in using modern means of communication to give energy to the Church and its people in living out the particular responsibility he carried for them under God. 

Leadership today asks of those whom God calls to fulfil such duty and function a willingness to understand the modern world as the place where Christian disciples live out the life of faith. Vision, urgency, courage and character inform such understanding and such leadership. In living out of these gifts, Archbishop Christodoulos showed particular concern for the contribution which young people can make to the life of the world which will be remembered in history.

To members of the Orthodox Church worldwide, bishops, clergy, monks and nuns along with the people of God entrusted to his care, we express our sympathy at the loss of Archbishop Christodoulos to the world and convey to them our assurance of prayers at this time. We remember particularly members of the Orthodox family who live in Ireland and with whom we share cordial relations.

Recently, in 2006, the Christian world rejoiced to receive The Church of the Triune God, The Cyprus Agreed Statement of the International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue. For one who in his life never shirked the storms of controversy, the following words from that Agreed Statement seem apt: ‘Authentic evangelization requires respect for the culture it seeks to win over. But however much that culture may be respected and affirmed, it must be transformed as well as accepted.’

Revelation 21.1 ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had vanished, and there was no longer any sea.’