On Sunday, September 24, 2023, Pope and Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria and All Africa, who was at the Holy Patriarchal Monastery of St. George of Old Cairo, received a large group of foreign visitors, who, while making a pilgrimage visit to Christian shrines in Nilochora, also visited the aforementioned Holy Monastery, also known as the “Rotunda of the East”.
Speaking to the guests, the Patriarch, after having developed the history of the Alexandrian Church, referred to the need for peace to prevail, saying among other things: “… From the Holy Monastery of St. George the Great Martyr of Old Cairo, we invoke the God of Love and call for world peace, so that we may live peacefully with social solidarity and a just distribution of goods. We pray that the peoples of the Earth may live in peace, as this is God’s will.
Today we feel more strongly our responsibility to live together in harmony while protecting migrants, refugees, and suffering children as our real brothers and sisters.
We call on the leaders of the countries of the world, political and religious, to work in this direction, to work together to stop all war conflicts, so that we can use natural resources, the gifts of God, to eradicate poverty and restore social justice, protecting orphans and destitute children and, in general, all fellow humans who are suffering. This is the best way to underline the importance of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, after the suffering of the Second World War.
Every war is a defeat for humanity since it risks the security of the entire world community. Terrible and contrary to the Divine Will is the use of weapons, which kill populations, spread sorrow, pain, tears, and death, even causing devastating environmental consequences.
Furthermore, pandemics and climate change, population movements, and inequalities in general have only negative consequences for all. The other, the neighbor, is our brother, the living image of God, without distinction. We need peace and active social solidarity without discrimination to address these harsh situations.
Our world, our common home, is one: it has been handed down to us and we must pass it on to future generations intact. Let us redeem it from every war or nuclear nightmare. Let us breathe new life into our dialogue with each other. Honest and sincere dialogue creates the conditions for a new creative and blessed path.
Let us therefore begin this dialogue, which is the most effective medicine for the reconciliation of peoples. Peace is always possible!”
During the visit of the large group to St. George’s Monastery, the Metropolitan Seraphim of Zimbabwe was also present.