ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II
TO THE REPRESENTATIVES
OF THE ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES

Friday, 28 January 2005

Your Eminences, Your Excellencies,
Dear Fathers,
Brothers in Christ,

I am pleased to welcome you all on the occasion of your second plenary meeting and I thank His Grace Anba Bishoy for his kind words. In a special way I greet the representatives of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and through you I extend fraternal best wishes to my Venerable Brothers, the Heads of your Churches.

I join you in praying that the real bonds of communion between us may be further strengthened through a spirituality of communion which contemplates "the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us", and sees "what is positive in others, to welcome it and prize it as a gift from God" (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 43).

With these sentiments, I encourage your efforts to foster mutual understanding and communion between Christians of East and West, and I invoke the blessings of Almighty God upon your deliberations.

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