o russia, how i the lord my russia! love you, · december-january 2018 issue 39 international...

December-January 2018 Issue 39

International MAGAZINE

how I the Lord love you,

how I the Lord love you,

O Russia, My Russia!O Russia, My Russia!

Honouring Russian Orthodoxy

September, 201711th ECUMENICAL PILGRIMAGE

TRUE LIFE IN GODDecember- January 2018 · ISSUE 39 · ISSN 1363 9358

CONTENTS

My Russia, How I the Lord Love you! 3Vassula’s Welcome Speech 2017 4

The 2017 Pilgrimage: A Success! By Jacques Gay 5

Prophecies About Russia - TLIG Messages 8Pilgrimage - Russia 2017 Report 9Short remarks of Mohammed

Mazharul Islam 28Comments on the Pilgrimage to Moscow

2017 By Fr. John Abberton 28Moscow TLIG Prayer Group 29

Russian Letter In English from Metropolitan Hilarion 30

Russian Letter from Metropolitan Hilarion 31A note from Fr. John Abberton 32

Short Report - Meeting at the Russian Department for External Church Relations

by Vassula Ryden 33InterfaIth Panel SPeech

Rabbi Berel Lazar 34Rev. Dimitry Safonov 35Sheikh Islam Valitov 36

Vassula Ryden 37Venerable Dr. Michel Thao Chan 37

Mr. Camel Bechikh 39 how to brIdge our dIvISIonS and brIng Peace to the world

Vassula Ryden 41Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma, S.J. 42

Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto 43Bishop Markos Gebremedhin 45

Archbishop George Abou Zakhm 47 Bishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh 49

Bishop Riah Abo El-Assa 51Sheikh Daneel Abdel Khalek 53

Rev. Fr. Teófilo Rodríguez 54Rev. Mariano Arellano 57

Sheikh Mohamed Ali Mostafa Khalik 58Patriarch Sanghanayaka

Suddhananda Mahathero 59

how to brIdge our dIvISIonS and brIng Peace to the world (Cont’d)

Bishop Isidore Battikha 61Archbishop Antoine Chahda 62

Bishop Simon Atallah, oam 63Sheikh Muhammad Ben Mustafa Valsan 66

Archbishop Martin S. Jumoad 68Sheikh Mohammed Ali El-Hajj Ali Al Amili 70

Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein 72Sheikh Nizam Boukhzam 75

Telesphore P. Cardinal Toppo 76Vassula’s Ending Speech in Russia

The Question of Peace 77letterS of aPPrecIatIon

Words of Appreciation by Vassula Rydén 78Sujit Kumar Barua 79Fr. John Abberton 80

Sheikh Nizam Boukhzam 81Sheikh Daneel Abdel Khalek 81Bishop Oliver Doeme Dashe 81

Abuna Elias Chacour 82Metropolitan George Haddad 82Bishop Markos Gebremedhin 82

Sr. Betty Nakyanzi 83Sheikh Iyad Abdallah 83

Sanghanayaka Suddhananda Mahathero 83Venerable Dr. Michel Thao Chan 83

Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh 84Rev Father Peter Yates CSWG 84

Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein 84Sheikh Mohammed Ali El-Hajj Ali Al Amili 85

Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto, 85Fr. Emilianos Aboumrad 85

Archbishop Antoine Chahda 85Bishop Riah Abo El -Assal 86Bishop Simon Atallah, oam 87

Mr. Camel Bechikh 88Archbishop Chucrallah-Nabil El-Hage 89

Christ’s Agony in Gethsemane 90

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My Russia, How I The Lord Love You!

True Life in God Message, March 11, l988

Glory be to God! (after having read the three prayers I heard from Heaven Celestial Voices saying: Glory be to God; thus it was written.)

Jesus? I am, I am near you, pray beloved for Russia’s conversion; Russia will be resurrected by My Divine Hand and at this peak of Holiness while My Hand will be posed upon her, warming her cold heart, reviving her, she will arise from the stillness of death and her world of darkness into My World of Peace and Light; with a loud cry she will manifest her joy be-holding her Saviour by her side, I will lift her to Me and My Flame of Love will enflame her heart purifying her and leaving her in total rapture for Me her God,O Russia, My Russia! how I the Lord love you,1 how I wept to see you dead, I shed so many bitter and sorrowful tears upon you beloved when I lost you, and all Heaven was mourning for you, why, why My beloved had you re-jected Me, piercing My Heart full of Love and Tenderness... (I felt St. Mary near me) peace upon you My child, I am your Holy Mother; pray for your sister for the Lord is by her side today and soon His Divine Hand will touch her cold and dead heart; O creation! the Lord will revive your Sister-So-Unloved, be alert daughter, for her time of her glory is near; Petro!2 My so beloved Petro?3 yes, Vassula; for years I have been pleading you4 to consecrate Russia, now the Lord and all the Martyr Saints have heard your pleas and cries, all your sacrifices were not in vain beloved, all tears were not shed for nothing, those tears were a balm for Jesus’ Wounded Heart; Praise the Lord, Petro, Jesus is at your very doors, knocking,peace upon you, peace upon you all; I love you all;

1 God was speaking again as no human can speak but God only; with so much love... 2 Suddenly St. Mary turned Her head towards John-Paul II, as if he was present; in pronouncing his name, Her voice was very sweet but sad, full of a special love for him. 3 St. Mary had tried to keep back Her tears, but could not, She said those words breaking into tears, She wept very much, shedding many tears and I started to weep too with her. I felt that Our Holy Mother had a ‘weakness’ for ‘Petro’. 4 Pope John-Paul II.

T R U E L I F E I N G O D4

I’d like to give a warm welcome to all present here; we have among us new distinguished guests who are joining us for the first time to whom we all say to you: El Salaam aleikoum, and Shalom. We, the “True Life in God” people are in search as much as you are, of reconciliation, peace and unity with sincere brotherly love.

We are gathered here for the first time in Russia to join our prayers and pray to the Almighty God to enlighten our path to offer our specific contribution which will be according to God’s Will, on the theme of: “How to bridge our divisions”.

The interreligious dialogue has always been a valuable source in itself because it brings people together from different creeds, different mentalities and traditions, different nationalities, to discover while together, elements that can approach us spiritually, on which we could build a common dialogue on them. Our dialogues that we are going to share in these days should not remain just among us, but we should carry back home what touched most our heart and pass it on to our own people, teaching and educating them.

It is our duty towards God to remind them above all that God is Omnipresent, even now, that God is the Lover of mankind, of His creation. That our God is all forgiving, slow to anger and merciful. We should keep reminding them that we, as children of God should live in peace because God is a God of Peace, not of war. We must keep reminding them as well that we all come from One Source, and that is God who is Our Father.

On earth, we all live under the same sun that God created; we live under God’s Light, and therefore, we are but one big family living on this beautiful planet that He created for us and given it to us as a gift. So it does not matter what creed or what part of the world we may come from. Those who are in different religions are not less creatures made in the Image of God and destined ultimately to live in the House of God. And as human beings, we have basically the same needs; we all look for happiness, we all want

good health, we all need to be loved. Who of us does not appreciate peace? Who of us does not enjoy good health? And who of us rejects to be loved? No one.

Although we are small in number here, when we return home, we should act like the leaven (yeast) to spread peace around the world where there is chaos,

love where there is hatred, unity where there is division thus we will be reflecting the Image of God. We should not remain listless taking care only of our loved ones, but we should extend our love to the others whom we don’t even know and pray that God gives

to all His creation a new heart.

Therefore, our approach in these meetings should be genuine with the aim to promote understanding and respect for each other’s religious traditions and refrain from denigrating them. With this, God will be on our side and we will gain the trophy that is: reconciliation, peace and love.

In our Scriptures it is written: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the dark.” (1 Jn 9)

So let us ask God, to create a clean heart in us, to obtain Wisdom that comes from Him, to lead us into His Light, and into sanctity to be worthy in His Eyes. God asks each one of us to enter in His Holy Path of Righteousness, so that our lives can be transformed and through this transformation we can transform the world. God is asking us to become breach menders, and peacemakers, sowing the seeds which will bear fruit in holiness.

We should be like a city that’s set on a hill that cannot be hidden! We can only be this way if we become like an olive tree growing in the House of God, and putting our trust in God’s love. I pray that the Almighty God of peace, may make us ready to do His Will in any kind of good action; and turn us all into whatever is acceptable to Himself.

Vassula’s Welcome Speech 2017

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The 11th True Life in God pilgrimage to Moscow took place from the 2nd to the 10th of September, and went beautifully. We would like to extend our thanks and express our affection and admiration to the competent and devoted organizing team who prepared it in such a perfect and flexible manner.

Before anything else it would be useful to remember that the goal of the True Life in God pilgrimages is nei-ther tourism nor evangelization.1 Their origin and foundation is found in a request made by Christ to Vassula, followed by an act of faith which is regularly renewed (every 2 years). Their aim is to level the ground and to pave the way to Christian unity as a means to achieve the conversion of the world, i.e. the accomplishment in apotheosis of the ONE Church, which is Christ’s Mystical Body. What is at stake is unique and total. All well considered, it is enormous! It is like a two-stage rocket! Christian unity being the first stage and the conversion of the world the second. Neither stage is conceivable in isolation, without the other. The second stage cannot be ignited before the first one has successfully put Christian unity into orbit! As for us, we are invited to the launch pad of the Divine rocket base, to give the contribution that God asks of us and expects from us. God needs man because that is His wish! “Perhaps it is time to abandon the archaic and naive image of an Almighty God in order to witness instead of a God who is entirely innocent and is the first victim of evil; of a God whose presence is within us and whom we must keep within since He made the infinitely loving and risky decision to appear on earth only when we allow Him to emerge through us. Only this God gives a meaning to the universe and to human life.” (cf. Michel Fromaget / Abbé Zundel, Editions Paroles et Silence).

So, this 11th pilgrimage which we have just completed in happiness and faith is first of all a reunion, a meeting “arm in arm” with God and with other human beings, an experience. It is a celebration of hope. It is an inner celebration, felt on the inside.2 What we are talking about here is indeed a unique event of a familial character. Each pilgrimage is unique and happens at a precise moment in time. We are not dealing with habit, tradition or ritual, but with a march forward. A march forward which is lived inside of us. And in that sense these True Life in God pilgrimages remind us of the beginnings of our history, with Abraham. The words God addressed to Abraham, our father in faith, are the same ones He addresses to us today: Arise and go, and walk to the land which I shall show you. And Abraham went... what an act of faith!

Today we, in turn, have been given the joy and the dignity of experiencing this same act of faith! Get up, un-settle yourself, go and walk towards the land which I shall show to you. And by His grace, Jesus, through His instrument Vassula, has put us on the road towards unity. We should mark with red ink this 11th, 2017 stage of the already long pilgrimage we have shared in together starting in Jerusalem in 1998, in the spirit of the promise of the ONE Church. In addition to the dominant ecumenical dimension present in all True Life in God pilgrimages, this one had a marked inter-religious dimension. In our times, each of these dimensions, when they are linked together, gives the other meaning. This makes us see in a new light the dual aim on which the Spirit invites us to set our sights from now on: Christian unity and the conversion of the world. The two elements of this dual aim, thus illuminated, now become inseparable in our minds. Never again shall we be able to work on the one without taking the other into account. We are at a new stage; a revolution is taking place in our mindsets. It is the Revolution of 2017, coming a hundred years after the Revolution of 1917 which ravaged the dear nation now welcoming us, and the fruits of 2017 will far exceed in glory the well-known fruits 1 Evangelization, in the True Life in God movement, has its special and more appropriate place in retreats organized for young people under the pastoral guidance of priests; or at conferences given by (selected) True Life in God “witnesses”, or during Vassula’s numerous conferences in the various countries of the world to which she is invited; and lastly, through the testimony of readers of True Life in God. 2 We must experience things by living them from the inside to be able to understand them (this is what a child does at every second of its life). The outsider’s view and one’s own personal frame of reference are the preferred tools used from “the observation deck”. All they can hope to do is hinder “Love brought to Life”.

The 2017 Pilgrimage: A Success!


of 1917, which were produced in horror. To many of us, to our way of thinking and of seeing things, this is an entirely new situation, and only realizing this in serenity, will reveal its relevance. If we are attentive to the inspiration given to Vassula by Christ, on the occasion of this 11th stage 2017 of our long pilgrimage, we can declare without doubt that it is right to integrate this inter-religious dimension to our “construction project” towards unity. The obligation we have of dealing with the inter-religious dimension (and not forgetting it) will benefit our efforts to reach Christian unity. For one thing, it will breathe new life into these efforts, which is much needed. Moreover, at this point in the history of ecumenism, marked by the 11th stage in our great pilgrimage, we are faced with an urgent need to seriously re-examine the division of tasks between God and man, especially concerning the construction project towards unity, to bring clarity as to who is to do what! To begin with, let us recognize God’s right to be God, and limit ourselves, us humans, to assuming completely and utterly the role which is ours. God is waiting for us. Saint John Paul II said, “Do not be afraid”. With Jesus as our Master and our Guide we have no reason to fear a slippery slope towards syncretism3 and amalgamation.4

Today everyone can see that the ecumenism practiced by mankind for so many years has been useful and has overall yielded good fruit; notably, it has made the following possible:

• the management of the relationships between Christian Churches• the establishment and the continuing practice of dialogue • the display of mutual respect between Churches

However, this New Era now starting forces us to admit that this is not enough, and that such an ecumenism carried by humans has reached its limits,5 and that we must now, quite concretely, forge the true keys which will open the doors behind which we are confined. Let us take a closer look: even with all the honesty and loyalty to each other of which we humans are capable, we can only manage to continue adding endless details to the long list of our differences, all the while expressing our desire to attain unity! But who can and who will give up what, and for whom, and how? In fact, it is impossible for us to take any real, concrete steps towards unity. To pretend otherwise would be illusion, or ignorance, or plain lying. In truth mankind is stuck in the impossibility of advancing beyond the limits of their historical ecumenism. We may indeed be paralyzed by this avowed powerlessness, made even worse by the unlikelihood of ever attaining the conversion of the world (other religions, non-believers, agnostics...). So could it be that by placing us in front of such an insurmountable obstacle, God, who always comes to our aid, is actually inviting us to go back to the drawing-board? Everything seems to point to that. So, let us all get to work on that project. Made strong by the gift of Faith, let us hold on to the promise received (of Christian unity) and proceed joyfully and with reassurance.

At this stage of our mission, we must leave the territory of men where ecumenism is blinded by itself, and reach up to God’s territory.6 Then we can already start to see more clearly: God has said He will be the one to bring

3 Definition as in the Larousse dictionary: a philosophical or a religious system which tends towards merging together various doctrines.4 Amalgamation: a mix of things or of persons of a very different nature; cf. True Life in God Message of April 27, 2011: “My Heart rejoiced when I heard you say: ‘God is in control of everything, so do not despair! ‘ yes! indeed I am in control of every situation;” 5 True Life in God Message of September 30, 1993: “Vassula, it is not just through words that unity among broth-ers will come, but through the action of the Holy Spirit; I have guided you to look for unity and live the unity I desire; I have preserved you from falling into temptation because I want you to be the living example of what Unity will be like; anyone who will look at you will see Unity according to the designs of My Heart;” True Life in God Message of March 27, 1992: “... the things you think to unite are earthly things and they will not bring you to unity,”6 True Life in God Message of January 27, 1992: “it is I, Jesus who shall give you the directives to Unity;... the hour has come for My Body to be glorified; men shall soon learn in which way I wish them to unite, My Way will not be their way...” Isaias 55, 6 - 9 (Sunday Mass, September 24, 2017, one week after our return from Moscow): “... for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways... for as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways”; True Life in God Message of February 14, 1992: “I have chosen you as a signpost for what unity will be like...;” True Life in God Message of March 4, 1992: “Vassula of My Sacred Heart, I have raised you to drive My Church into Unity.”

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 7

about the unification of the dates of Easter and He and He alone will “make” Christian unity “happen”. So, we should let God be God and thank Him and pray with all our hearts to accompany this miracle. But at the same time let us not forget that God needs us, because of His decision to invite us to work alongside with Him! Our only task, but an indispensable one, one that God expects of us, is to forge the key which will open the door for His Omnipotence. The means to fulfill and to accept this role of lock-smith that exists within each of us. Let us not concern ourselves with any other task but the forging of this one key! That key, as you all know, consists of Humility and of Love. We must pass through Humility to liberate Love. “Forging the key” means fighting a formidable collective war, without restraint, the battlefields of which are personal and individual. We cannot fight these battles for, or on behalf of, anyone else. Only Love can unblock the road to Christian unity, and after that, to the conversion of the world. But Love is locked in a cage in the prison of each one of our selves. In that sense, we could say that Christian unity, and also the conversion of the world, are first and foremost an individual problem, albeit experienced collectively within our faith, within the Church. We find ourselves in the middle of the first and second Commandments. The battle I have to fight incessantly is that of humility against the self, and I have to do it with unfailing willpower, finding the strength I need in Jesus on whom I call for help.7 I shall have to wage a real war of dis-appropriation of my Self, to bring about its dissolution in total transparency into Christ’s will.8

But let us get back to Moscow! Exactly how has the inter-religious dimension been prophetic in this 11th pilgrimage, which has been like a school for the future? It has made us understand, that is realize, that the presence of representative non-Christian guests clearly showed the urgency of

• bringing about Christian unity, and• how this is a pre-condition for the conversion of the world• that these two aims are linked• that these two projects have something in common which has to be emphasized: the need to place in

the forefront the importance and role of individual persons and the fostering of inter-personal relations in a spirit of Truth and Love, while recognizing the other’s dignity and his status as a child of God.

• that the complete realization of the sacerdotal prayer of Jesus to the Father cannot come about because of textual examinations or theoretical expostulations, nor even from exacerbating our certainties, but was the fruit of an experience shared already now, in the spirit of the ONE Church. Here we have the best possible expression of the aim of the True Life in God pilgrimages. Indeed, this is our experience, here is our expertise. Let us proceed on this road and take as our model St. John the Baptist, the greatest “road leveler” of all times.9

7 True Life in God Message of June 18, 1992: “Jesus be my support, without You I am nothing, without You my table is empty, without You I am defeated; be my Inspiration and fill me, be my Refuge and my Strength, I love You and my will is Yours, so be it; Amen.”

8 True Life in God Message of March 1, 2010: “I need, generation your complete detachment and day by day I will increase in you while you will be decreasing in self, and will; thus I will cast you out of this corrupt world to enter in My Heart; be blessed all you who are now willing to obey My precepts;” Cf. also the Guide for Prayer Groups / Consecration to the Sacred Heart ( Jesus has asked us to pray this prayer often): “Sacred Heart of Jesus, come and invade me completely so that my mo-tives will be Your Motives, my desires Your Desires, my Words Your Words, my Thoughts Your Thoughts...”

9 Saint John the Baptist: The Precursor, the one who levels the ways of the Lord, who fills in the gaps and valleys etc. True Life in God Message of May 31, 2006: “I will reinforce you to gather My shepherds around one Altar; this will be My Work; and you will have Saint Michael the Archangel as your support; he is your guardian Angel as he is to all My people; he will assist you as he had done before in each battle; he will banish the strongholds that keep My Church divided, and he will be victorious ... I need to see them gathered around one Altar, celebrating together in one voice: the Liturgy;”


All Christians agree to affirm

1) That God is the Creator of mankind2) That in God’s infinite love we each occupy an equal rank

3) That our quality of being God’s children is entirely independent of our relationship or our non relationship with Him. While the faith we profess certainly influences this filial quality, if it is not observed with the love God nurtures for “all” of his children, it is of little value.

It seems to me therefore that the intelligent thing to do to is to understand that this filial relationship of each human being to God is totally independent of the idea we have of it. The tendency to hold back or to insist upon one’s one moralizing or conditional criteria or to relativize will hinder or contest this principle of filiation to God.Oh how difficult it can be at times to allow God the right to be God. God gave to each man the gift of son-ship. And this gift means that upon each person is bestowed the infinite potentiality to be divinized by Him. It is because of this infinite potentiality, deposited within each man, that we may kneel before our brother. This is the very reason for which Jesus personally knelt in front of mortal humans (the washing of feet). In a recent speech dating from September, Pope Francis teaches us: “... make peace among men and do not listen to the voices of those who spread hatred and division. Human beings, as much as they are different from one another, were created to live together. Love people. Love them one by one. Respect the path of each one.”10

To conclude, let us be endlessly grateful to God for revealing Himself step by step to His people during the pilgrimage, to each according to their capacity to receive Him. More specifically, now that we have come to the end of the 2017 Moscow pilgrimage, let us give thanks to our faithful Jesus who has revealed to us in all delicacy the decisive step we must take towards freeing the Love locked in the cage of our Selves. It is the goal He gives us as we continue on our True Life in God journey all together in the spirit of the ONE church.

Let us not forget: Christian unity and the conversion of the world! I leave you with the following meditation of St. Francis de Sales:

“We must leave the past to God’s Mercy, the future to His Providence

and the present to our fidelity.”Jacques Gay

10 True Life in God Message of March 1, 2010: “I need to see them gathered around one Altar, celebrating together in one voice: the Liturgy… your true destination and that is to Me; it will enable you as well to recognize Me in your neighbour and love him.”

Go to Page Prophecies about Russia3 March 11, 198826 August 30, 199140 December 13, 199348 December 13, 1993 & March 11, 198852 November 13, 198959 October 25, 199261 January 5, 198865 February 1, 1988 & July 21, 199274 September 3, 199191 December 24, 1989

Back Cover January 30, 1992

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Historic and Unique, that’s how we can describe the 11th pilgrimage of True Life in God in Russia, Sep-tember 2-10, 2017. It was a pilgrimage like no other, “the highlight of all other pilgrimages” as one of our bishops expressed. The theme was: “How to Bridge our Divisions.” The Lord has moved all of us with power, with a big step forward breaking down barriers and opening the way to new experiences according to His Divine purpose. For a few, in the beginning, our pilgrimage appeared as though the Lord was putting them to the test, testing whether their heart was open and whether their dialogues of so many years on love, peace, brotherhood and reconciliation, were sincere or not when faced now with the reality in this pilgrim-age, giving them a unique opportunity to prove them-selves. It was clear that God’s intention in this pil-grimage was not only for Christian Unity but it was beyond that, it was a Call for everyone from all sorts of creeds and backgrounds to come together, to share and find ways and remedies of how to bridge our divi-sions. It was to remind us that our Father in Heaven loves us all in the same way. Our Lady who appears in Medjugorje said at the question asked of her about non-Christians the following: “Tell everyone, that it is you who are divided on earth. The Muslims and the Orthodox, for the same reason as Catholics, are equal be-fore my Son and me. You are all my children. Certainly all religions are not equal, but all men are equal before God, as St. Paul says. It does not suffice to belong to the Catholic Church to be saved, but is necessary to respect the commandments of God in following ones [sic] conscience.

True Life in God 11th Ecumenical and Interfaith Pilgrimage

Russia 2017 Report

Honouring Russian OrthodoxyHow to Bridge our Divisions

“you are all My People, no matter what creed or race, remember I am LOVE and I have created you all;” (True Life In God Message, May 1, 1989)

“Russia will be the symbol of God’s Glory of God’s Mercy and Love her hymns and chants that are so sweet in Our ears, with her graceful movements, will rise up to heaven like incense;” (True Life In God Message, February 1, 1988)

Those who are not Catholics are no less creatures made in the image of God, and destined to rejoin someday the House of the Father. Salvation is available to everyone, without exception.” (The Medjugorje Web, Appari-tions of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje, 1984, #2602)

And last, but not least, has not the Lord prophesied to Vassula:

“I welcomed you, and swore an oath: ‘through this flow-er I will gather you together from different nations and different creeds and reveal to all of you My Fatherly Love and Mercy; . . .’ ” (True Life In God Message, February 12, 2000)

This is a prophecy that has been accomplished like many others.

Day 1 – SaturDay, September 2, 2017

The pilgrims from 63 different countries and 16 dif-ferent denominations started to arrive in Moscow on that day. Those who had not seen one another for a long time or who only knew each other from email or social media had the opportunity to meet, chat, and get ready for the program the next day. Some of our guests were not able to attend our pilgrimage because they did not get their visas, or had to undergo last minute health issues, but they nevertheless sent us their speeches.

In the evening, the Moscow TLIG prayer group met


with Vassula. It was a memorable meeting. On the photographs taken during this meeting some people from the Russian prayer group saw Jesus’ Face on Vas-sula’s face, a sign showing that Vassula was transmit-ting Jesus’ Message. [To read the Moscow Prayer Group Report, see page 29].

Day 2 – SunDay, September 3, 2017

After breakfast, we all moved to the conference hall for the opening of the pilgrimage. The ceremony started with the Russian National Hymn. Then, as it is the best way possible, we started our pilgrimage with the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. Right after the prayer, we had the procession of the clergymen from four different religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism) and 21 different denominations.

At the end of the procession, Vassula welcomed ev-eryone with words that outlined the core message be-hind the pilgrimage: Peace, El Salaam aleikoum, Shalom.

She spoke of the value of inter-religious dialogue and insisted that we must be the leaven to go and promote this culture of dialogue in our own countries reminding us that: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the dark.” (1 Jn 9) Also, Telesphore P. Cardinal Top-po said a spon-taneous word of welcome calling every-one pilgrims of peace. Then we had the Greek Orthodox Lit-urgy. The Lit-urgy was con-celebrated by

Above: Izmailovo Market Below: Vassula with Clergy after the Procession

Telesphore P. Cardinal Toppo gives a spontaneous word of welcome

Orthodox clergymen from the United States, Greece, Romania and Lebanon. Archimandrite Nicolas said: “When in Russia do as the Russians do,” so he asked everyone to cross themselves in the Orthodox way using the three fingers and to cross themselves

from right to left. We could see many Catholics trying to cross themselves in that way as a gesture of love to their Or-thodox brothers and sisters. In the afternoon the pilgrims could visit the Izmailovo mar-ket, situated at a walking dis-tance from the hotel. It is a colorful market, a very typical decor of the Russian culture.

Many pilgrims had the chance to shop there. Inside the mar-ket there is a church, and we discovered that many mar-riages are per-formed there due to the fact that the place itself is very beautiful.

Vassula greets everyone with her welcome speech

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Later in the day we started our rotational trips to four different monasteries. Our bus took us the first

The third day marked five speeches presented in the morning from leaders of various religions. First, we saw a video from Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein Founder and Director of the Elijah Interfaith Insti-tute.

In the video the heads of various religions and de-

day, with Vassula, to the Donskoy Monastery. This beautiful Monastery was founded in order to defend the Moscow Kremlin from southern invasions. The beautiful Icon of our Lady of the Don depicts Jesus with both legs on Mary’s arm. A reputable part of this monastery is a cemetery, where many elite people, including the famous writer Aleksandr Slozhenitsyn, are buried. During our visit we had the chance to pray for a while with the monks at Vespers. Some of the sculptures in the garden are the valuable remains from the originals found in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour after it was demolished by the Soviets.

Day 3 – monDay, September 4, 2017

die to ourselves, repent and work with sincerity. She highlighted how in the TLIG pilgrimages Christians

Donskoy Monastery

Our Lady of the Don

Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein

nominations spoke about the importance of friend-ships between people of different creeds. Rabbi Alon then spoke about this question of friendships across religions. He told a story about a noted rabbi who once was asked to teach the entire Torah to someone who was standing on one leg. He summed it up as fol-lows: “Do not do to others what you would not want done to yourself. That’s the whole Torah, the rest is explication.” That Golden Rule is present in all world religions. In addition he called for leaders to focus more on the highest teachings of religion, touching on the importance of compassion and hospitality as a foundation for extending friendship to others.

After Rabbi Alon, Vassula delivered her first speech saying that bridging our divisions is something be-yond human capacity and that it requires an inter-vention from God, a miracle. However, she contin-ued, Jesus says: “Do your best and I shall do the rest.” So to allow this miracle to happen, we need to first

Vassula delivered her first speech


coming from various denominations start to feel One again. So everything is possible for God, but first He needs to hear our cry of repentance. She read a verse from the Holy Koran on prayer and charity and ended by saying that the bridge that unites us is there, right in front of us, but in our darkness we fail to see it.

Sheikh Muhammad Ben Mustafa Valsan

Then, Sheikh Muhammad Ben Mustafa Valsan, Di-rector of the magazine “Sacred Science” from France witnessed about the beautiful relationship between his Sufi community and the Cistercian monks who live nearby. He said the monks have protect-ed his community from the locals who were afraid of them. Friendship between them has resulted in common silent prayer, “the prayer of the heart” and a common invocation chosen from a prayer by Gregory of Nazianz addressed to the One and Su-preme God: O Thou Who art beyond all, what else may we rightly call Thee?... All things, both the speak-ing and the speechless, proclaim Thee... To Thee is the prayer of all... O Most-Named, how then shall I ad-dress Thee? Sheikh Valsan ended by reminding us that people working for peace must be predomi-nantly animated by right intention and goodwill, having in view the interest of God in their work.

them. The carpenter whom one of them had hired for the job, ended-up building a bridge over the riv-er that separated them. That bridge connected the two brothers and reconciled them. We are called to be builders of bridges. Bishop Battikha wished the Muslims present with us a Happy Feast Al Adha, which they were celebrating during the time of the pilgrimage. He told us that his mother used to kiss the hand of a Jewish man in her town in Syria; finally, he became upset about it and asked her why she did this. She answered: “He is a holy Jew.” In extension of this example, the Bishop called everyone to be a good Christian, a good Muslim and a good Jew. He also said: “If the religion you follow does not allow you to love others, leave it!”

The last speech that morning was given by His Grace Archbishop Martin S. Jumoad Archbishop of Oza-mis, Philippines.

Bishop Isidore Battikha

Bishop Isidore Battikha, Archbishop emeritus of Homs, Syriac Bishop of Puerto La Cruz, Venezue-la, from the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church spoke next. He told us a story about two brothers who were divided and wanted to build a wooden wall between

The Archbishop spoke of five areas where we concret-ize the “bridging of our divisions” and attain peace. All five are featured when raising children. In a fam-ily, parents need to teach their children the virtues, the works of charity and kindness, dialogue, forgiveness and mercy, and finally acceptance of others’ differenc-es. He gave an advice from the author Og Mandino:

“Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can mus-ter, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.”

He ended his speech by saying that in order to change the world one must start by changing oneself. It must start within the self.

It is noteworthy to mention that for the first time nine TLIG translators were present at the pilgrimage; they are TLIG readers who volunteered to provide simul-

Archbishop Martin Jumoad

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 13

taneous translation of the speeches and the events. The translation team was prepared beforehand. Pil-grims from all languages and backgrounds were then able to understand the respective message and enjoy the pilgrimage. The Arab delegation was very thank-ful and highly appreciated that gesture.

After the speeches our rotational trips travelled to four different monasteries. Our bus took us this day to Danilov Monastery. This monastery is the official residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia.

Inside the monastery is situated the Cathedral of the

Holy Fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Councils.

During the communist era, the bells of the monastery were saved from being melted by an American in-dustrialist who purchased them and donated them to Harvard University. In 2008, the bells were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.

After that visit, all the pilgrims were taken to Moscow City, the business heart of Moscow with modern high-

rise towers. From there we took a boat cruise on the Moscow River. We also dined on the boats. While on the boats, pilgrims had the chance to mingle; some of them approached the Muslim Sheikhs and asked questions or took pictures. This open-hearted en-counter was actually ongoing throughout the pil-grimage.

In the evening we celebrated the Divine Lit-urgy according to the Coptic Tradition.

Danilov Monastery

Moscow City

Coptic Liturgy - Msgr. Athanasios

After dinner the priests provided Eucharistic Adora-tion and confessions.

Day 4 - tueSDay, September 5, 2017

We departed early morning to see the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius outside Moscow.

Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius

This breathtaking monastery was established by St. Sergius of Radonezh and it is considered one of the three most important monasteries in Russian Orthodoxy.


There are several beautiful churches inside the walls of the monastery. Inside the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the pilgrims were able to visit and be blessed by the relics of St. Sergius; the sound of constant prayer was heard and recited near his relics. Outside, in the main square, we drank the holy water that cured a highly-ranked Japanese politician, even though he was not Christian.

When we returned to Moscow we visited the Cathe-dral of Christ the Saviour.

When this cathedral was being built in the 19th cen-

tury, a nun predicted that the place was cursed, and that instead of a church a pond of water will reside here. Her prophecy came true when the Soviet Re-gime blew-up the cathedral and built a swimming pool in its place.

This cathedral is one of most ma-jestic structures in Moscow. The Trinity is de-picted on the central dome. Inside there are only three seats, one for the Pa-triarch and two for the Tzar and the Tzarine. The icons inside the restored cathedral were completed in one year. The rel-ics of many saints

Christ the Saviour Cathedral

are placed on the altar’s left side. Overall, the TLIG pilgrims were mesmerized by the beauty of this cathe-dral which is not far from the Moscow Kremlin. It is a must-see.

In the evening, four speakers delivered their speech-es on peace and the bridging our divisions. His Grace, Archbishop Anil Couto from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Delhi was the first speaker.

Archbishop Anil Couto

What he mentioned is quoted as follows: “It is a trav-esty of religion when religion becomes a tool to spread hatred and violence in society and worse still when it is politicized to gain votes and win elections in the name of religion. . . . It is only when we recognize the God-given human dignity and equality of one and all and accept each other as brother or sister, then and then only will the reign of justice become universal. Justice

grows out of love and without love justice cannot subsist. This is possible because love is a deci-sion, an act of the will- that mighty power within us, which in part-nership with the Lord, can bring about change.” Quoting from Archbishop An-gelo Fernandes’ book, Vatican Two Revisited, he said, “Peace never means just

the absence of trou-The Holy Trinity inside Christ the Saviour Cathedral

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 15

ble; rather it means total well-being, everything that makes for a person’s highest good. This peace has al-ways got to do with personal relationships: a person’s relationship to self, fellow human beings and to the Lord of all. . . . Only when people can live in peace with their Maker can a durable peace exist in human relations.” The Archbishop also touched on the issues of the economy and poverty in the world.

Subsequently, His Grace Archbishop Antoine Chahda, Syriac Catholic Bishop of Aleppo, Syria spoke about the coexistence in Aleppo between Christians and Muslims.

He said that faith is the common space between all believers of the Almighty God, contrary to the reli-gious frames that differ in form between one religion and another, even between one denomination and an-other. According to him: “If we manage to move our focus from the manifestations of the religion to the essence of faith, then the space of what is in com-mon between the followers of the religions will be widened to its maximum.” Interestingly, he said that “Diversity” is God’s norm in His creation. It is the source of the true value of humans, for creating re-peated and similar copies of a human being doesn’t make sense. Accordingly, we can bridge our divisions through brotherhood, through the fact that we are all the successors of God on earth, through our com-mon belief in the Almighty God and finally through the fact that we all share the same fate (death). He ended by saying that “our meeting is a responsibility.”

Archbishop Antoine Chahda

He said that: “Aleppo, in the context of Christian re-ligion, is an ecumenical city par excellence. It has six Catholic and three Orthodox denominations and two evangelical communities. They live together in mutu-al respect; engage in periodic and monthly meetings, working together for the benefit of Christians regard-less of their denomination. The same with Muslims from the different rites, for the work is to agree on what unites both religions not on what separates them. Christian clergy meet Muslim religious schol-ars never to discuss matters of religion, or to convince one another of their religion, but to work on mutual love and living together in peace, and staying away from all that incites tension or fanaticism, or all that leads to categorizing the followers of other faiths as infidels.”

The second Muslim speaker was Sheikh Mo-hammed Ali El-Hajj Ali Al-Amili, from the Shiite denomination. He is the director of the Seminary of Imam As-Sajjad, Beirut. Sheikh Mohammed spoke about a “Spring of Faith.”

Sheikh Mohamed Ali Al Hajj Ali Al-Amili

Fr. Teófilo Rodríguez

Fr. Teófilo Rodríguez is a Roman Catholic priest in Panama and Founder and Director of the Fraterni-ty of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary’s Divine Mercy.

He was the last speaker that evening. In his opinion, five key points can help us over-come divisions and bring peace to the world:


1. Love and keep the Word of God.2. God wants to make his home in you, in me, in

us.3. The Holy Spirit will teach and remind Christ’s

promises.4. True peace will only come from Christ.5. The prince of this world has no hold on Jesus

Christ.In his speech he reminded us of Pope Francis’ words from October 2, 2016, spoken at an inter-religious meeting in Azerbaijan: “Religions, on the contrary, which help to discern the good and put it into prac-tice through deeds, prayer and diligent cultivation of the inner life, are called to build a culture of encoun-ter and peace, based on patience, understanding, and humble, tangible steps. This is the way a humane so-ciety is best served. For its part, society must always overcome the temptation to take advantage of reli-gious factors: religions must never be instrumental-ised, nor can they ever lend support to, or approve of, conflicts and disagreements.”Later that night we celebrated an Ethiopian Di-vine Liturgy that began with an Indian Evan-gelical Dance performed by an Indian priest who evangelizes through that type of dancing. After dinner, the priests provided Eucharistic Adora-tion and confessions.

Day 5 - WeDneSDay, September 6, 2017

Ethiopian Liturgy His Excellency Bishop Markos Gebremedhin

Right after breakfast, we all went to the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow to celebrate Mass. We were warmly wel-comed by Fr. Vladimir Kabak SDB, the priest respon-sible for the cathedral, who welcomed us in the name of H.E. Msgr. Paolo Pezzi, Archbishop of the Arch-diocese of the Mother of God of Moscow. Cardinal Toppo was the main celebrant. At the end, all the clergy along with the religious leaders of the other re-ligions gathered in front of the altar for the memorial picture. They did the same on the stairs outside the cathedral with many pilgrims who surrounded them. It was divine.

At the time of our departure, all the buses headed to-wards the Kremlin and Red Square. The cardinals, archbishops, bishops, sheikhs and the rabbi took a separate bus because afterwards they visited the Kremlin to attend a meeting at the Russian Patriarch-ate in the Department for External Church Relations.

Inside the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception after Mass

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 17

Outside the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception with many pilgrims

TLIG had received a meeting invitation letter signed by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church. At present he is the Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations and a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow.

It was an honour for our TLIG pilgrimage to have had some contact with the Russian Orthodox Church, especially when the letter said “His Holi-ness (Patriarch Kirill) welcomes the visit.” [To read Vassula’s report about this meeting, turn to page 33.]

Meeting at the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate


While the VIPs were meeting at the Patriarchate, the pilgrims were enjoying Red Square, St. Basil’s magnif-icent Cathedral and Moscow’s elite mall: the GUM.

St. Basil Cathedral - Red Square

After visiting Red Square, we had lunch in downtown Moscow and then headed towards the last of the four monasteries: the Novodevichy Convent for nuns.

Novodevichy Convent for nunsIf you are a female looking for a husband, you can come to this convent and touch the Naprudnaya Tow-er! Yes, this is what Russian girls do, according to our guide. The icon-style inside this convent is a blend of

the Orthodox and the Italian traditions. Interestingly, we saw on the roof of the main church the painting of the Coronation of Mary, very famous in Roman Catholic churches. This convent is famous because it has housed ladies from many Russian royal families.

The Right Reverend Bishop Riah Abo El-Assal

In the evening we listened to three speakers. The Right Reverend Bishop Riah Abo El-Assal, Thirteenth Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East shared with us a story about a meeting with the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr. Tony Blair. He was one of four bishops trying to divert Mr. Blair’s attention from war to peaceful means. Blair’s expla-nation was: “We go to war against Iraq in order to pave the way for peace in the Middle East.” To which Bishop Riah responded: “Mr. Prime Minister: The shortest route to Baghdad goes through Jerusalem. Once peace comes to Jerusalem, peace will come to the whole world.” He added: “Wars never bring gen-uine peace. Genuine peace is not the absence of war, neither the cessation of hostilities, and certainly not the quiet which comes out of subjugation and oppres-sion… What is really this ministry we have been given as believers in God? It is the work of breaking down walls of mistrust and hostility wherever they exist, and particularly as they are constructed around differences of culture, race, nationality, religion and economic sta-tus. To reconcile is to bring into right relationship, to re-order our relationships and restore unity with God and one with another. This is not the task of politi-cians. This is your task and mine… Are we in a posi-tion to relate one to another as brothers and sisters? Are we ready to recognize the otherness of the other the way we wish them do so? Or do we continue to follow in the footsteps of Cain: ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ ’’ Bishop Simon Atallah, Bishop Emeritus

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 19

of Baalbek-Deir El-Ahmar (Maronite), Lebanon and Former President of the Episcopal Committee for Ecumenical Affairs said that the Church calls on all its faithful to actively engage in interreligious dia-logue. He continued by saying: “Those who want to build bridges to engage in communication, or rather, in dialogue with others, must, first of all, have a deep and sincere respect for their interlocutor, whoever they may be. It is absolutely necessary to recognize their right to be different. It is even necessary to be touched by this difference… If one does not make an effort, as much as possible, to understand the religion of others, they cannot truly respect that religion.” He reminded us of the Vatican Document Nostra Aetate: “Every Christian must regard with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones the Church holds and sets forth, none-theless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlight-ens all men.” (Nostra Aetate, 2)

His Excellency Bishop Markos Gebremedhin from Ethiopia also spoke that evening. He is the Vicar Ap-ostolic of Jimma-Bonga Ethiopian Catholic Church, Bishop delegate for Peace and Justice desk in Ethio-

Most Reverend Bishop Simon Atallah, oam

pia, and Bishop delegate for Religious issues in Ethi-opia.

He was very direct in his speech asking firstly the Christians,

“Wasn’t it God’s plan for everybody to live peace-fully? Didn’t Jesus pray for Peace and Unity of His disciples? Didn’t Jesus say ‘when two or three gather together in My Name I will be in their midst?’ Do we think Jesus agrees with our disagreement and dis-unity?” Then addressing every one of all religions, he asked: “Are we not brothers in God? Are we not cre-ated by Him? Are we not descendants of Abraham and one family of God? Are we not trying to reach in our own ways to Him, through faith, prayer and worship? Can’t we forget the past negative experi-ences and make sincere efforts to achieve mutual un-derstanding for the better future of everybody? Can’t we Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Jews together work to preserve and promote peace and justice and moral values? Don’t our Gospel and Qur’an speak often pardon and reconciliation?” He spoke about the ecumenical and interfaith experiences in his country and ended by saying: “Serving God requires convic-tions and self-sacrifice.”

After dinner, the priests provided Eucharistic Adora-tion and confessions.

Day 6 - thurSDay, September 7, 2017

As usual, before the morning speeches we started with the Russian National Hymn and the Our Father in Aramaic.

Our first speaker, denoting a first-time presentation from the Druze denomination, was Sheikh Daneel Abdel Khalek, Druze, Lebanon - President of To-gether for Humanity Association, Sheikh Daneel said: “…the clergyman can read from the book what suits

His Excellency Bishop Markos Gebremedhin Sheikh Daneel Abdel Khalek


his will and intention; if he wishes to get closer to the ‘different other’ he would find what supports his de-sire, and if he wishes exclusion and rejection he would also find what supports him. However, the general constant in all religions is that the commandments of God are Mercy and Charity, not killing and elimi-nation. The proof of God’s abundant Mercy is His saying: ‘Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet Muhammad] - those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve.’ ” (Al-Baqarah: 62)

He continued: “From our point of view as Druze, we see that the world with its diversity, colors and differ-ences, is nothing but the various facets of One Truth. Our Holy Koran guarantees this diversity and differ-ence: ‘O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you.’ (Al-Hujurat: 13) In addition, we maintain that true faith and sincere adoration must be translated into a good treatment to others; that is why our Sheikhs and Scholars repeat a short saying: ‘we can find out whether a person has good religion (or faith) from how good they treat others;’ that simple saying car-ries the spirituality of our noble Prophet’s saying: ‘the Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand the people are safe.’ ”

He ended by saying: “In order to reach salvation we need to wait for a Divine Mercy that is beyond the will of humans, or to start a new human approach that is unlike anything in the past.”

Then the enthusiastic Evangelical Pastor Mariano Arellano from the Spanish Evangelical Church in Spain took the podium.

Pastor Mariano helped us meditate with him on the

passage in the Gospel of Mark 9:33-35, when the apostles were arguing about who is the greatest and who is the most important. The pastor said: “When in our heart we ask that kind of question, we are ad-mitting that some are better than others; that the truth we possess about God is more authentic than that of my brother who does not think or believe exactly as I do... When we fall into this dangerous dynamic we are trying to possess God, conform it ac-cording to our mental or ecclesiological structures ... And the truth is that none of us can take possession of God, no one can think that he possesses the mo-nopoly of His truth, the monopoly of His Person or His love... I believe that all Christian churches have sometimes fallen into this sin, and we must ask the Lord for forgiveness. And we must ask God together that He will teach us more about the nature of His Kingdom, that which Jesus approached in this world, in which there is no place for competition and rivalry, one in which there are no categories or barriers be-tween its citizens, that in which no one pretends to take possession of God, but is God who takes over us, the kingdom that rests on His mercy, justice and love.” The last speaker was His Grace Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh, Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Homs, Hama and Tartus.

Archbishop Selwanos spoke about the fact that coun-tries today are using religion to achieve their goals. Various wars and conflicts are under the pretext of re-ligion, while religion is innocent. He continued: “It

Evangelical Pastor Mariano Arellano

His Grace Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh

is no wonder that we have turned towards interfaith dialogue and have pinned our hopes on reaching a successful solution that puts an end to these tragedies; and the truth is, as the well-known German Catholic theologian Hans Kung said: “There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions.” Archbishop Selwanos quoted many verses from the Bible on peace and how Christians are called to make peace with everyone and that peace is a divine gift given by our Lord Jesus

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 21

Christ before His Ascension. He added: “Peace is fi-nally, as Saint Augustine said, serenity of mind, tran-quility of soul, simplicity of heart, a bond of love, a companion of charity; it is the one that removes hos-tilities, stops wars, represses anger and breaks pride. It loves the rivals, reconciles the enemies and it is de-lightful and accepted by everyone.”

After a coffee break, we all came back to the conference hall for the Maronite Mass. The four Bishops from the Syriac tradition: Maronite and Syriac Catholic, con-celebrated together. The Gospel was read by the bishop from the Syriac Orthodox Church. Fr. Nabil Mouanes delivered the homily focusing on the Holy Spirit as the One who will lead us into Unity and Reconciliation. In the afternoon, we all headed to visit Moscow’s Cathedral Mosque--a beautiful and majestic struc-ture that on its opening was inaugurated by President

Vladimir Putin. We were able to visit the mosque during prayer time. It was a great opportunity to those who had never been inside a mosque or had never seen Muslim prayer live.

It is good to mention here that during our visits we tried to interview our VIP guests asking them to give their opinion about the TLIG interfaith program.

From the mosque we went straight to the Moscow Jewish Community Center for the interfaith meet-ing. It was a first during a TLIG pilgrimage. Many male pilgrims took kippas that were provided at the entrance to the synagogue and placed them on their

Maronite Syriac Liturgy

heads out of respect for the rabbis and Jewish brothers. The panel consisted of several speakers: Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, Rev. Dimitry Safonov, Sheikh Islam Vali-tov, Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Mr. Camel Bechikh, Ven. Michel Tao Chan, and of course, Vas-sula.

Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein

Rabbi Alon opened the meeting by thanking Rabbi Lazar for their hospitality. He also said that the Muf-ti could not be with us but he supports our mission. Then, he started by asking Rabbi Lazar about what we could learn from his testimony on friendship.

After welcoming us, Rabbi Lazar, who moved from Italy to Russia 30 years ago, during the time when re-ligion was not allowed, said that religious people used to hide underground or in some forests outside Mos-cow to try and find out about their religion. He found out that not only Jews were suffering, but people of every other religion also. After Communism, the dif-ferent religious leaders realized that only together can


we open up to society and send a positive message to the people. He said that thanks to the Russian Ortho-dox Church they now have working relationships be-tween the religions. They feel like brothers. They have worked together on many projects, but the most im-portant message is that there cannot be a religion that doesn’t respect the other religions, that if you are a be-liever in God, you have to be able to open your heart to others and understand that there are different ways to reach God and different possibilities to embrace God.

Rev. Dimitry Safonov Representing Metroplitan Hilarion

Rabbi Berel LazarHe continued by saying that people in Russia see that different religious leaders not only sit together, but decide ideas together and actually bring out new ideas in a united effort. He told us that once in a meeting with the Patriarch, His Holiness said that there would never be a vote in their meetings. If the decision was not unanimous, they would not move forward with that idea and until they are all together ready to move on, they won’t do it. He ended his talk with an exam-ple of how Muslims and Jews live together and help each other in Russia.

The second speaker was the Rev. Dimitry Safonov, representing Metroplitan Hilarion. Rev. Safonov is the Secretary for Interreligious Relations at the De-partment for External Church Relations.

Rev. Safonov spoke about the experience of the Rus-sian Orthodox Church in the interfaith dialogue which is conducted on the basis of the Interreligious Council of Russia. The primary tasks of the Council are peacemaking, assertion of moral values in society as well as practical work to improve the situation of religious communities in the legislative, economic and social spheres. According to him, practice has shown that the closeness of the moral values makes it possi-ble for the traditional religions in Russia to engage in constructive cooperation and to come out as a united front with a consolidated position on a number of the socially significant issues. Regarding extremism, the presidium of the council pointed to the special impor-tance that the raising of the level of religious literacy has, for the struggle with extremism to be effective, expressed readiness to make a joint effort to respond to the challenge.

Summing up, he said, differences in religious beliefs are not reason for antagonism or enmity. On the contrary, for truly believing people it’s natural to be in relations of friendship, mutual respect and accord to cooperate in the social sphere in many areas that promote peace and certain traditional moral values in society.

Next, was the representative of the Mufti, Sheikh Islam Valitov. It was interesting to see that while Sheikh Islam Valitov spoke in Russian, his translator into English was a Jewish Rabbi. Islam said that the improvement of the interfaith dia-logue, and the search for unity and mutual understanding between traditional religions play an important role in modern society. Today, we observe an increase of reli-gious tolerance, mutual respect and understanding as well as cooperation of the religions. The level of improvement

Sheihk Islam Valitov Representative of the Mufti of Moscow,

Albir hazrat Kraganov

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 23

of this process is increasing from year to year as well.

Speaking about the Russian experience, he noted that the “progress in this area will not only improve the ex-isting bonds, but will also provide a certain momentum

Vassula at the Interfaith Panel

for the prevention of the religious extremism ideology.” For her part, Vassula said that this was the first time in all the 11 pilgrimages TLIG has been doing, that we have been invited into a Jewish Center. We need prayer, dialogue and action to go forward. This time we opened more and that was an inspiration from God because God leads us into this. So we have heard the calling of God to go forward and open more to other religions to get them together with us. We have with us Muslims, Jews and Buddhists. All this was done with sincere love otherwise we can’t go forward.

Then Venerable Dr. Michel Thao Chan, Presi-dent & Founder “Cercle de Reflexion des Na-tions” (CRN) and Sino-European Development Formation & Culture (SED-FC) said, “My belief

Venerable Dr. Michel Thao Chan

is that only what is beyond us brings us together. ” “Is it the existence of God, his manifestation, his word, his strength and our opening of the heart in relation to all these? ….Yes I trust. And today, it is our sincere smile and joy which is the expression of what surpasses us that brings us together.” He told us a story about how the love of Thomas Edison’s mother turned him into a genius. In response to a question, the Venerable spoke about awareness: to be aware of the value of the person in front of me, of the presence of God in that person.

Mr. Camel Bechikh, Spokesman of Fils de France, and Founding member of La Manif pour Tous Bordeaux spoke about how his country France, has changed dramatically due to the fact that the religions in France have not been sufficiently united to limit

Mr. Camel Bechikhthese evolutions that go against their moral teachings.

He said that beyond our differences there is a set of values that unite us, provided we are aware of the new context of globalization that is destroying us. He con-tinued by saying that: “the one who divides, the one who separates Man from God, who separates hus-band and wife, parents and children... we call him the devil, diabolo ‘the one who divides, Shaytan’ in Arabic has the same root which means division, separation... On the contrary, there is the angel who has the desire for union for Good.”

After the talks, the wife of Rabbi Alon shared with us a beautiful story of friendship with a Palestinian woman. Also, an Orthodox priest, who was with us, shared with us how he was reluctant to enter the mosque as well as the synagogue, but then he decided to go because he trusted Vassula’s discernment and that she is guided by the Lord and he was, therefore, so grateful for those experiences. We saw that some-thing inside him healed. It seems that those visits on that day have opened the hearts of many Christian pilgrims touching them deeply and made them real-ize that those who do not share our faith are still the


children of God and loved in the same way.

After dinner, the priests provided Eucharistic Adora-tion and confessions.

Day 7 - FriDay, September 8, 2017

On this day we had free time in the morning after which those who had not visited Red Square went there and they also visited the Tretyakov Gallery where they saw the original Trinity of Rublev as well as the original icon of Our Lady of Vladimir dis-played inside a church connected to the Gallery. We

Trinity of Rublev

recognize the icon from the turned left foot of Jesus.

In the evening we had a Melkite Liturgy and a heal-ing prayer ceremony. Clergymen from the various denominations as well as Vassula prayed over the pil-grims for healing.

Day 8 – SaturDay, September 9, 2017

The most amazing place was left for us to see on this day: The New Jerusalem Monastery. It is a replica of the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem and in-side it there is also a replica of the Holy Sepulchre. The pilgrims lined up to go inside it--mainly those who have never been to Jerusalem. The atmosphere in that cathedral is that of reverence and awe. The icons from the Old Testament decorate the inside of the cu-pola with vivid heavenly colors. One would want to

Our Lady of Vladimir

The New Jerusalem Monastery

scream: Glory to God in the Highest! Thank God they were able to restore it to the glorious state it is today.

Vassula telling the Muslim Sheikhs that one of her ancestors was the first person to translate the Koran

to the Greek language and that she still has a copy of that old version.

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 25

Vassula gives her farewell speech

Cardinal Toppo delivers his speech

After we returned to the hotel, we had a few hours to reflect on what we saw and heard. After resting we gathered one last time to listen to Vassula delivering her farewell speech. Vassula started with a video of the interreligious steps taken by Pope Francis--a very powerful video that challenges each of us who say that we want to do God’s will. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo7OBzpuKJQ

Then she read the following messages with an inter-religious call:

“you are all My People, no matter what creed or race, remember I am LOVE and I have created you all;” (TLIG Messages, May 1, 1989)

“I welcomed you, and swore an oath: ‘through this flow-er I will gather you together from different nations and different creeds and reveal to all of you My Fatherly Love and Mercy;’ “ (TLIG Messages, February 12, 2000)

“I have asked you to summon everyone, no matter who they were or from what creed they belonged to,” (TLIG Messages, February 5, 2004)

“This gift of hearing Me and having your spirit in My Celestial Courts, near My Throne, is so that I direct you to My people of all nations and creeds . . . you see this is my last warning; I said in the Courts of Heaven: I shall show Myself to My people in this manner, and entire nations will hear Me...” (TLIG Messages, December 8, 2014)

Vassula made it clear that it was God’s Will and that there is no doubt about it that this gathering was in God’s designs, gathering us from different creeds. She said that Jesus taught her never to run in front of Him nor linger behind Him, but that she should walk at the same pace with Him. It was the Lord’s wish to bring us all together as one family to enlighten our minds and understand the Greatness of His Love that has no boundaries. Through all these 32 years that the Lord was giving Vassula messages, multiple times He was announcing that His Love is for every creature

on this earth, no matter to which beliefs they belong. There are many passages like the ones listed above; here is one more: “I will keep stretching My Hand to everyone, even to the rebels, even to those who provoke Me night and day, see? you are all My People, no matter what creed or race, remember I am LOVE and I have created you all;” (TLIG Messages, May 1, 1989)

“Let us learn from the Prophets of old,” she said, “how on their way they learned self-renunciation and self-denial by putting God’s Interests and God Himself first in their life. They learned to strip themselves from their ego, and their will. . . . I will end up by giv-ing you a small example of a tree: All the branches of a tree are holy if the root is holy. No doubt some of the branches have been cut off, and, like shoots of wild olive, you have been grafted among the rest to share with them the rich sap provided by the olive tree it-self, but still, even if you think yourself superior to the other branches, remember that you do not support the root; it is the root that supports you. And the root is God. Therefore, all of us have not only an important role to play in maintaining peace and unity but an ob-ligation. I sincerely hope that the day will come that through our efforts we will achieve the peace that all of us are aiming at and that God expects from us and that we can say sincerely one day to one another: ‘my brother, my sister.’

After her talk, Cardinal Toppo delivered his speech.

He reminded us of the words of Pope Francis on World Peace Day 2014, when he said: “Fraternity is an essential human quality, for we are relational be-ings. A lively awareness of our relatedness helps us to look upon and to treat each person as a true sister or brother; without fraternity it is impossible to build a just society and a solid lasting peace.” He ended by saying: “I am extremely happy that we have gathered from different faiths as brothers and sisters bound to-


gether by the same love of God. In Him we are one and in Him we will remain is the message manifested in and through this august gathering. I pray that our togetherness and the open reflections will make us the real instruments of peace to this world torn apart for various reasons. Peace is a gift as well as a task and re-sponsibility. Peace is not a tranquilizer but the great-est energizer to be always alive, vibrant and passionate to the cause of peace. We are the sons and daughters of God and therefore we are implicitly the peacemak-ers. Once again, welcome to all of you and let us be vibrant peacemakers.”

Then we had a Roman Catholic Mass to celebrate the end of a very blessed and fruitful pilgrimage.

At the end of the pilgrimage, Vassula and the organiz-ing team received several words of appreciation from

various VIPs. (For more details, go to page 79.)

Vassula ends this report by quoting from the Book of Wisdom to reflect on these words (9:13-18): “What man indeed can know the intentions of God? Who can divine the Will of the Lord? The reasonings of the mortals are unsure and our intentions unstable; for a perishable body presses down the soul, and this tent of clay weighs down the teeming mind. It is hard enough for us to work out what is on earth, laborious to know what lies within our reach; who, then, can discover what is in the heavens? As for your inten-tion, who could have learnt it, had you not granted Wisdom and sent your holy spirit from above? Thus have the paths of those on earth been straightened and men been taught what pleases you, and saved, by Wisdom.” (The Jerusalem Bible)

Prepared by the pilgrimage team

Vassula, hear Me: your Holy One is resurrecting Russia to be a noble nation; Russia will be perfected in the Arms of her Spouse; I the Lord shall perfect her; have I not said to you My child, that I have My Hand on her cold heart warm-ing it?1 and the day My bride will open her eyes and see Me her Spouse standing beside her, she shall see and understand what My Hands have done in her midst and from thereon, Russia, My bride shall openly hold My Name Holy; and all erring evil spirits within her will flee; I had told you all these things before they happen so that you may believe that it is I, the Almighty, who is guiding you; hear Me: I shall not con-ceal My Plans; if men are tempted to conceal My Plans, I, with My Own Hand shall unveil everything to you all before they happen; the Holy One has been warning you, I had not been menacing anyone of you;

True Life in God Message, August 30, 19911. See prophetic message on Russia of March 11, 1988.

Below: Different faiths - Fruits of Good Will

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 27

Mohammed Mazharul Islam, Imam Dhaka City Big Mosque

Green Road Dhaka, BangladeshMost Respected Vassula Ryden, Reverend Fathers, Cardinals, Bishops, Distinguished Members of True Life in God, Ladies and Gentlemen, Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah. At the beginning, I wish to express my deep respect and heartiest greetings to you all. My last one year’s hopes and aspirations to be in True Life in God Pil-grimage in Moscow have been foiled. My dream has been vanished. But yet I am happy that the True Life in God Pilgrimage 2017 in Russia is nicely going to be held. I have my deep friendship with many dedi-cated members of True Life in God. I am grateful to all of you particularly to Vassula Ryden, Per Ryden, Theodora, Anne Marie Peters, Karol, Catarina.

I wish to particularly welcome the new Brothers from

Syria and Lebanon with whom I had much desire to be acquainted and express my best wishes of fraternity.

Bangladesh is a peaceful country of majority Muslims. We all live unitedly and we have religious tolerance. Every two years, True Life in God does a very big job by organizing our gathering in various countries of historical, archaeological and reli-gious interest. I express my gratitude to TLIG for their continuous generosity in inviting me. Islam is a religion of peace. I whole-heartedly wish that this pilgrimage will contribute in establishing peace, friendship and harmony among all people of the world. I wish the True Life in God Russia Pilgrimage a great success.

Short remarks of Mohammed Mazharul Islam of Bangladesh on the occasion of

True Life in God Pilgrimage, Moscow September 2-10, 2017

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We are not GoD

One of the most important spiritual lessons is to “Let God BE God”. Over the years of my priesthood (42 so far) I have learned to “get out of God’s way”, which means that I must be careful how I think about what God may be doing and look and think more carefully about what God is doing. One of the temptations of religious people is to fall into the error of “knowing”. This has different meanings and it is often associated with false prophecy. When it comes to religious or spiritual opinions we are often “sitting ducks” for the demons who laugh at us. Our vanity, often cloaked in a false humility, is fed by the demons that encourage us to be almost “all-knowing” so that we assume an authority which is actually bogus and sometimes dan-gerous. In charismatic circles we saw this in the early days when some people thought they had healing powers and caused havoc in prayer groups and meet-ings, and others thought they had the gift of prophecy or of receiving “words” from the Holy Spirit so that we had individuals saying to others, “I think God is telling you to do this (whatever it may be)”. I must admit I have always been suspicious of those who say things like, “God has put this on my heart” (what-ever “this” is). I believe that The Holy Spirit does give words, images and dreams to people. I have had some myself, especially images (in the spirit). They come when there is a need, not when I want them or are necessarily seeking them. In this I am not unique, but mistakes can be made, and we need to discern careful-ly or at least to say something like, “I have a picture in my mind. It may mean something; it may not.” This leaves the matter open for the other person to discern.

When I found out that the recent True Life in God Pilgrimage was to have an inter-faith emphasis I was puzzled. My initial thought was not “Why?” but “What is God doing now?” This is because I believe in both the authenticity of the messages and because I trust Vassula’s judgement (which has been shown to be correct so many times in the past). From the messages, I see that God is clear and faithful in His calling of Vassula. She has been given a special gift of discernment, which often works quickly and in a sometimes alarming and challenging way. The Spirit is clear, not confusing. Our confusion comes from cer-tain things; pride, ignorance and the demons. All of this made easier by hidden sins (which have either not

been recognised or confessed). In religion, pride is so easily cloaked by “spirituality”, but this is a spiritual-ity based on emotion and the claim to “knowledge” (a great danger, this). We are often unhappy with that little voice at the back of our brains which says, “Wait, watch, be silent”. We would rather speak, proclaim and then fall in love with our own words. Others will follow us because they seek certainty of a kind and are not prepared to say, “I don’t know and probably neither do you.”

“FoLLoW me”

In my limited confusion about the inter-faith empha-sis, I quickly realized that God was acting without our permission. Strange to say this, perhaps, but it is a necessary thought. The next thought was, “Christ is reaching out to everyone”. Following this is the thought, “He knows what He is doing…I do not al-ways know what He is doing”. When Christ called His first disciples He did not say, “Now men and boys, we are going to spend three years wandering about and I shall be preaching and healing, and we will be out in the open, in caves, getting wet, tired, hungry and though we will have great support and be wel-comed by many the time well come when….” No, His clear voice, as given in the Gospels is, “Follow me”. Today, as I write, is the Feast of St. Matthew (so beloved of Pope Francis). Matthew or Levi is shown in that wonderful painting of Caravaggio as pointing to himself and seemingly asking, “Do you mean me?” Above him is the hand of Christ, deliberately copied from Michelangelo’s depiction of the creation of man, making the point that here we have a new creation. Following this we have the scene of Jesus “eating and drinking with sinners”. Love and mercy (more accu-rately, “merciful love”) had come to Matthew and his friends. This should always be the first step in evange-lisation and we should be Christ’s instruments. In this we need to remember other stories from the Gospels such as the believing Centurion who says, “Say only the word…” or the Syro-Phoenician woman who says, “Even the house-dogs can eat the scraps…” Remem-ber Our Lord’s phrase, used of a Gentile, “Nowhere in Israel have I found faith like this.” I am also reminded of Our Lady’s words to the visionaries of Medjugorje that the holiest woman in the village at that time was a Muslim woman.

Comments On The True Life in God Pilgrimage To Moscow 2017

Continued on page 32

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 29

Moscow True Life in God prayer group exists for 18 years since Vassula’s last visit to Moscow in 1999 and numbers now about 25 persons. Russian True Life in God prayer group was longing for meeting her. We gathered in the hotel lobby and prepared to ask a lot of questions. Here are some of these questions and Vassula’s answers:

Q. What is the main obstacle for the unity now? What can the ordinary people, like us, do to eliminate this obstacle?

A. I think, there are prejudices that are still alive, there are interests, political interests, and I would say, lack of love. Because “humility and love” is the key. If this key is not used, then the unity is not there. Continue to do what you do. Organize retreats, because the unity will not come from above, it will come from the simplicity of heart, from the people below.

Q. In a practical way, how do you rely on Jesus in your ordinary life?

A. For instance, this year from January Jesus made me run, like never before. I had to go to many countries. First to Italy, then to Lebanon, again to Lebanon, then to Syria (it was very dangerous in Syria), to Spain, to Italy for a month, then I went to Vietnam, China, Philippines, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland. This is when I go out. When I am at home, I go to the supermarket, I clean the house. I like cooking and baking bread. I water the vegetables in the garden and I go out for coffee with my friends. But I also pray the Rosary, every day, I meet the prayer group, once a week, and we pray together. This is my life. Sometimes He calls me to receive a Message, and then I converse with Him.

Q. When you answer the question, replying to somebody, is it inspired from above or you speak from yourself ?

A. Sometimes I feel an urge, and I can say that it’s not me, really. Sometimes it’s me. But sometimes I say things that I don’t remember, because He cuts me and He makes me speak. Like my son. He was ten years old, when Jesus was teaching me about our Blessed Mother, that Her title in Heaven is “Mother of God”. My son came from school. He came into my room, looked at me and said: “Mary is the Mother of God, isn’t She?” He told it with authority. I looked

at him and said: “Yes.” And he left. I thought: “How did he know?” I called him: “Fabian, come! What did you say?” He answered: “What?” “You told me that Mary is the Mother of God, didn’t you?” “No, I didn’t tell you anything.” It was like a signature. One day we gathered during the pilgrimage, sailing on the Sea of Galilee. The Scandinavians from True Life in God wanted to talk to me. As we were discussing, they say that I told them: “I have to go up north, further north than Sweden.” But I don’t remember saying it. They answered: “But there is nobody there.” I said: “Yes, there is one soul.” I don’t speak like that, it’s not me. I don’t like cold countries, because I came from the desert, Egypt. So, after the pilgrimage I went home. In one week, the responsible people from Sweden called me and said: “You were right, there is one soul up north, who wants you to go there.” I said: “What are you telling me? I don’t understand. I don’t remember.” They insisted: “You told us this.” Then I understood that He wanted me to go up there, to Lapland.

On the photographs taken during this meeting some people from the Russian prayer group saw Jesus’s Face on Vassula’s face, a sign showing that Vassula was transmitting Jesus’s Message. After the Pilgrimage these people felt like it miraculously happened in the other reality, and only photographs reminded them that the Pilgrimage took place in their city, Moscow.

Besides this memorable meeting with Vassula, we strongly felt the grace of unity during the general meetings, prayers, liturgies, personal contacts, the whole program of the pilgrimage. This feast of unity was really a heavenly gift for all our group.

It was also very important for our group that on the 9th of September the pilgrims have visited the place near Moscow, named Semkhoz, where lived and was assassinated on the 9th of September in 1990 a famous orthodox priest, father Alexander Men. He was a unique missionary in the USSR. He preached the Christ and the Gospel in spite of severe persecutions by communist authorities. His bright personality, the very way of his life and mission bore testimony of living and loving Christ for thousands. Most probably, he was killed by KGB, and he died as a martyr. We were very glad to see how pilgrims from so many countries and denominations came to venerate his memory. We believe that he is glad too, because he is a man of unity. Glory be to God!

Moscow True Life in God Prayer Group


Russian Letter in English from Metropolitan Hilarion On behalf of

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia

Ms Yolla BECHARA

Dear Ms Bechara,

On behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, I thank you for the letter addressed to His Holiness, in which you inform him of the inten-tion of the ecumenical group from Lebanon to make a pilgrimage to Russia on 2-10 September 2017, and of their wish to receive His Holiness’s blessing for this trip. His Holiness welcomes the visit, considering it important for the Russian Orthodox Church that has unfailing brotherly feelings towards Christians of the Middle East and devotes special attention to them in their current difficult situation. Un-fortunately, His Holiness’s work schedule does not allow him to give his blessing to the pilgrims in person. I would suggest that the members of the ecumenical group might visit the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations on one of the days of their pilgrimage. To arrange the meeting, you can contact a staff member of the Department for External Church Relations, Mr. Sergei Alferov (tel.: +7 916 162 72 56).

I wish you good health and God’s help in your work.

Yours faithfully,

Translated from the Russian No 04/1593

21 August 2017

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 31

Russian Letter from Metropolitan Hilarion On behalf of

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia


“Who iS my neiGhbour?”

When we look at each other, Christian, Muslim, Dru-ze, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu etc., what do we see? Do we see another human being, created and loved by God? Do we ever think that we might have something to learn from each other? Muslims, whatever others might think about Islam, pray five times a day. Do we? And who are we to question the quality of that prayer? Listen to this everyone, “God is love” (St. John tells us). Do we really think we have any clear concept of what this means? If we keep the Cross before our eyes we will learn (as St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us). The Cross should guide our thoughts and our actions. Though He spoke famous words during His Passion, Christ is depicted as the “silent lamb” (Isaiah). Silence is precious and contains so much wisdom. I recently watched the film “Silence”. In my opinion it has been over-hyped and the questions that are left at the end are not so difficult to answer. However what has been left in my brain is the importance of accepting SI-LENCE, and being prepared to WATCH, WAIT and above all FOLLOW. I have also leaned this from the recent Pilgrimage. We must never forget that the keys to unity are HUMILITY and LOVE, and we know from the messages that the unity completely envisaged by Christ is not just one of Christians but of all God’s people. I wonder how many have mis-interpreted Christ’s words spoken the Gospel of this

day; “What I want is mercy, not sacrifice”? Let us put it in another way which may help us, “What I want is mercy, not what you think is true religion”

For me, one of the joys of this Pilgrimage was the connection with Russian Orthodoxy (which I greatly admire), and in this, the highlight of my visit to Mos-cow was experiencing the Cathedral of the Saviour. For me, this was an “experience”. I was deeply moved by the sheer beauty and devotion of the place, so much that I wanted to weep and throw myself to the ground. It reminded me of God’s overwhelming beauty, love and mercy and of the possibilities for human beings when they seek GOD FIRST and not themselves. I am still deeply affected by that place. The Russian lit-urgy (when I had the chance to witness it) also gave me a taste of the beauty of God. And this, of course, is one of the main claims of the Byzantine Liturgy; beauty. I am challenged in my own worship of God, and I more consciously seek beauty in prayer and in life itself. We should take nothing for granted, and we should take time to pause and look at familiar things where we may see traces of God’s handiwork. One of my favourite poems is by Fr. Gerard Manly Hopkins, it begins, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God” (God’s Grandeur). I recommend it to those who read English. I suppose it will never be translated, but there are scenes and words in other places which say the same thing. Take and read, go and look.

Fr. John Abberton

A note from Fr. John AbbertonDear Vassula,

You do not have to ask to use anything from me if it is any good. I am a little shocked by your information, but I was aware that there were some who were unhappy with the inter-faith emphasis, but as I say, if we come to these pilgrimages with our minds made up or with a rigid point of view we will not hear the Holy Spirit. The point is, to put it very simply, Christ is reaching out to everyone. Why do some people think He is not? I heard one or two remarks from people suggesting that you had made a mistake and in my own mind came a similar thought - but this was from the demons. When I thought about the situation for a few moments I knew that the answer was found in God’s great and enormous love and that our evangelisation is above all one of love.

We are still learning, or should be, and we are sometimes arrogant, telling God something, as if we need to educate Him. I would like to write something myself if you approve, on the basis of God’s incredible love. If we have not grasped how mysterious and marvelous that is, we will not succeed at anything in True Life in God. I have had my doubts, as I said, but I was trying to listen to the Holy Spirit. It may seem a bit strange that I, who has had a cancer in my ear, had an open ear, to listen to the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has never let me down. I always remember what Our Lady said to the children at Medjugorje - that the holiest woman in the village was a Muslim!

God bless, Fr. John Abberton

Comments On The TLIG Pilgrimage Continued from page 28

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 33

A Short Report of the Meeting at the Russian Department for

External Church RelationsYolla Bechara asked the Russian Department for External Church Relations, hosted by Metropoli-tan Hilarion and the Eastern Church clergy, to partake in a meeting with the True Life in God pilgrimage clergy. One will notice that they write back to her, perhaps due to the fact that she had sent them the entire VIP attendance list of those who will be present at this general meeting. So, since they knew who was with us at the pilgrim-age, they attended that meeting. The invitation letter was originally written in Russian, signed by Metropolitan Hilarion who was in Athens while we were in Russia, and translated into English. It came from the Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations.

It was an honor for Our True Life in God pil-grimage to have had some contact with the Rus-sian Church, especially since this correspondence came from this reputable Department and from Metropolitan Hilarion, who wrote the letter and signed it. We have to especially understand the first line that says, “On behalf of His Holiness Pa-triarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia” etc., and a passage from the second paragraph which states, “His Holiness welcomes the visit” etc. Me-tropolitan Hilarion is the second church autho-rity figure in Russia after the Patriarch. I had met him privately, years back, at a private audience.

Metropolitan Hilarion asked his assistant, Archimandrite Fr. Philaret, who is vice-chairman of this Department to meet us there during his absence. Fr. Philaret firstly spoke about the De-partment and then spoke somewhat about the Church of Russia. He then asked if we had any questions. Cardinal Toppo wanted firstly to speak about the reason for our visit to Russia; soon af-ter, he introduced me and True Life in God. Fr. Philaret actually had no questions. Then others spoke as well. Fr. Eugene spoke clearly about the importance of unifying the dates of Easter, which was very good. In the end, since time was short, I spoke briefly about my calling, the 32 year du-ration of the Messages and about the reason for our pilgrimage, before giving Fr. Philaret the translated version of the Russian Prophecies into booklets and the One Book in English. He spoke perfectly good English. I gave the same copies to Metropolitan Hilarion, dedicating the One Book to both. Valantis, the cameraman,video-taped our meeting. As another positive consequence, Fr. Philaret recognised Yolla and Theodora who had previously met him during our pilgrimage preparation period and befriended him then. He seemed delighted to recognise them and hugged them both. Overall, the meeting went well, and we really thank Metropolitan Hilarion for wel-coming the True Life in God group on behalf of Patriarch Kirill. In Christ, Vassula


Interfaith Panel Moscow Jewish Community Center

Good afternoon and welcome.

We’re very, very happy and honored to have you here today.

As Rabbi Alon mentioned I came here to Russia 30 years ago for the first time. I was born in Italy. When I came to Russia I was introduced to a new kind of life in those days during communism when religion was not allowed and against the law. People were not allowed to gather; they were not allowed to teach their children about religion and everything was, not only problematic, but actually dangerous. Of course religious people used to hide and gather in the un-derground, in some secret places, apartments, in some forest outside Moscow and try to find out about their religion. But what I found out at that time that not only Jews were suffering, but actually every other re-ligion also: Muslims, Russian Orthodox... Each one had their own tribulations and hardships, and inter-esting enough, when the doors opened up, somehow we realized that people that were together in sorrow, managed to come back together in openness and in freedom.

What happened was that all the different religions re-alized that only together can we open up to society, attract people and show that we really are interested in sending a positive message. And I must commend the Russian Orthodox Church for doing what they did 25 or 30 years ago, really understanding that, even

Rabbi Berel Lazar Chief Rabbi of Russia

though they are for sure the largest in numbers but they are not going to commend their beliefs and their ideology on other people.

There has been, since then, a really working relation-ship between all religions. I must say that we feel sometimes like real brothers whether it’s with the Muftis, representative of Islam, the Russian Orthodox Church, Buddhists and other religions and denomi-nations. We work together many different projects; mainly social issues, but even beyond that, sending out a message which we think is extremely important that there cannot be a religion that does not respect other religions. If you are a believer in God, then you have to be able to open your hearts to others and un-derstand that there are different ways to reach out to God, there are different possibilities to embrace God. And if we are going to give each other this place, even more important, not only for us but really for our fol-lowers.

Today, people in Russia really see how religious lead-ers not only sit together and decide different ideas to-gether but actually bring out new projects, new ideas in a united effort. I remember once we were sitting at such a meeting with the Patriarch and he said, “We will never vote on our decisions, there will never be a meeting where we will vote, if there won’t be a unani-mous decision we are not moving forward. Unless we are all together ready to move on, we are not going to do it.” There have been different examples wheth-er working in the army, teaching religion in school, making different projects like for example there was a holiday that was instituted in Russia in place of a very communist holiday that was really resembling the idea of atheism, we decided to bring in a new holiday that will be a holiday of unity of all people. And all these decisions were made, in every small detail, only when everybody agreed on everything.

I think this is really the message that I would like to bring to you. We strongly believe that the Unity of God, the Oneness of God, God being One is not only a belief of God in the Heavens, it’s really a be-lief of Unity of God in this world. There cannot be a situation - God would not have created a situa-tion - where two people cannot find understanding, then there is something wrong with His Unity. Then there is not One God who created us all. Then there

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 35

must be something wrong with the people He cre-ated if they cannot find a common language. And really when we talk about religion, love to your fel-low, opening your hearts to others, is really not only about having a dialogue but finding a solution. If you want to get to a solution, we will get to a solution. The best example and this will be my ending message, look how Jews and Muslims live not only in peace in this country, but really with love and understanding. I can give many examples how the Mufti’s children and grandchildren play with people in our community and how our children are connected to and have received

help from different Muslim people. Really, what you see today in the Middle East and other parts of the world, in Russia it’s non-existent. There’s really a full understanding, a full cooperation.

It’s a great example that could be brought to other places, and as I said in the beginning, it started off by suffering together but you don’t have to look for suffering to come together, you can come together in happiness, in joy, in celebration.

Thank you again for coming tonight.


Rev. Dimitry Safonov - Representing Metropolitan Hilarion Executive Secretary for Interreligious Council of Russia

Department for External Church Relations The Russian Orthodox Church

Thank you very much dear Rabbi Alon, it was a plea-sure to meet you in our department yesterday and I would like to greet everybody--colleagues, Rabbis, Eminences, brothers and sisters.

I cordially greet all the participants in today’s meet-ing on behalf of the chairman of the Moscow Patri-archate’s Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. As Rabbi Alon said, he is now in Greece.

The Elijah Interfaith Institute, and Metropolitan Hi-larion is a member of the board of your institute, has proved to be an important platform for conducting dialogue between religious leaders, scholars and ex-perts. In its work, the institute gives special attention to the development of academic studies and various issues of the ethics, theology and social life as mat-ters of concern for the faithful of various religions. I hope that the interfaith cooperation maintained by

the institute, including in the academic sphere, will continue and will bring forth good fruits.

And from my side, I would like to say a few words about our experience in the Russian Orthodox Church in the interfaith dialogue. Russia has an age old expe-rience of peaceful coexistence and constructive coop-eration between people of various ethnic background, cultures and religions. Religious leaders in the USSR began peacemaking cooperation soon after the great Second World War when the authorities weakened their persecution of religious communities.

The dialogue of the Russian Orthodox Church with other religions in Russia is conducted and continue on the basis of The Interreligious Council of Russia. I am the Executive Secretary of The Interreligious Council of Russia. It was established in 1998.

Venerable Rabbi Lazar is a member of our presidium of our Interreligious Council of Russia. His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, is an Honorary Chairman of this Council. The primary tasks of this Council are peacemaking, assertion of moral values in society as well as practical work to improve the situation of religious communities in the legislative, economic and social spheres.

Our Church sees in the traditional religious communi-ties in Russia a reliable alliance and a good task of de-fending morality and traditional family and strength-ening peace and accord. As practice has shown, the closeness of the moral values makes it possible for the traditional religions in Russia to engage in construc-tive cooperation and to come out as a united front


with a consolidated position on numbers of the so-cially significant issues. As an example I can cite the fact that in the meeting of June, last year, our council members adopted a statement; it was called ‘On the Protection of the Life on Unborn Children’, aimed to oppose abortion. This declaration was translated into many languages and it’s possible to see on the website of our Interreligious Council of Russia.

Our Interreligious Council of Russia has also stated some concerned positions of the traditional religions on such pressing problems as migration, restrictions on the gambling industry, drug traffic, protection of the rights of family and child, construction of worship buildings, protection of law and order, introduction of theology as an academic discipline recognized by the state, respect for civil rights, contempt for religious feelings and others.

Among the most acute problems among the tradition-al religions, there is propagation of extremism under the religious logos. This problem was considered by the presidium of the Interreligious Council of Russia which took place in February this year. It was chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Russia. Patriarch Kirill and the religious leaders of our country pointed

to the special importance that the raising of the level of religious literacy has for the struggle with extrem-ism to be effective, and they expressed readiness to make joint effort to respond to the challenge. A spe-cial role in this endeavour is to be played by the de-velopment of theological education and science in our country. This area occupied a considerable place in the work of the Interreligious Council of Russia.

Summing up, I would like to note that the experience of the Interreligious Council of Russia showed that differences in religious beliefs are not reason for an-tagonism or enmity, on the contrary for truly believ-ing people it’s natural to be in relations of friendship, mutual respect and accord, to cooperate in the social sphere in many areas that promote peace and certain traditional moral values in society.

Now we are preparing the next meeting of the pre-sidium of the Interreligious Council of Russia; it will be held here in the Museum of Tolerance nearby, and now with our partners of this community we are pre-paring this meeting.

Thank you for your attention.


Sheikh Islam Valitov Representing the Mufti of Moscow Albir hazrat Kraganov

Greeting

To the participants of the World Congress of Religious Leaders of the Interreligious centre Elijah Interfaith In-stitute

From the Mufti of the Spiritual Assembly of the Muslims of Russia Albir hazrat Kraganov On behalf of the Spiritual assembly of the Muslims of Russia, we express our sin-cere gratitude to organizers for their concern for the important issues that are being discussed today.

The improvement of the interfaith dialogue, the search for unity and mutual understanding between traditional religions play an important role in modern society. Today, we observe an increase of religious tol-erance, mutual respect and understanding as well as

cooperation among the believers. The level of improvement of this process is increasing with every year as well.

The Russian civil society along with the followers of traditional religions recognizes the need to study the Russian experience of harmonization of interethnic and interfaith relations. Progress in this area will not only improve the existing bonds, but will also pro-vide a certain momentum for the prevention of pseudo-religious extremism ideology.

Let me most sincerely wish the participants of this session fruitful work, new achievements and much success. I have no doubt that this discussion will con-tribute to the further development of the noble social mission of religions in Russia.

Thank you.

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 37

Venerable Dr. Michel Thao Chan President and Founder of Cercle de Réflexion des Nations (CRN),

Secretary General of Sino-Europe Development Formation Culture (SED-FC)

Introduction

“How to bridge our divisions and bring peace to the world”?


I have been asking this question intensely for a long time, especially since I founded the “Cercle de Reflex-ion des Nations” in the United Nations in New York in 1994 with educational programs for the leaders and humanity projects in order to build peace in the world.

It’s an existential question of our Existence itself, so there is no absolute answer, however from the inner of each of us, we apply this every day in a conscious or/and unconscious way to maintain our balance in life.I have no answer even today; But an ultimate spot from within gives me the courage to advance each day in the understanding of this questions with concrete issues of Why, When and How to realize these “Peace Building.”

The question closer to us today is: «How to bridge our divisions.» My belief is that:»Only what is beyond us brings us together.»


Thank you very much for inviting us all in your center. This is the first time in all the 11 pilgrimages that we have been doing, that we have been invited in a Jewish Center. So that is very new, thank you!

I think the vision of Unity in Diver-sity is what we carry, all here, in our hearts and this is the aim why we have the pilgrimages. It started to be pilgrimages for Christian Unity, just Christian Unity and it went on for some time: Unity in Diversity. So we have gone forward, I must say and these are all my witnesses here, that it was not just a dialogue because it’s good to have dialogues, in dialogue we progress to understand one another, but it’s also to put it into action. Action is impor-tant. Prayer, dialogue and action to go forward. Be-cause, I would be very disappointed when we finish all these talks, which are wonderful talks, brotherly

talks, out of heart, and then we go back and we do nothing about it. We’ll never progress. We’ll be just like - sometimes I describe it when we don’t move - a

wheel that is a square not round; it doesn’t go forward. But this time we opened more and that was an inspiration from God because God leads us into this. So we have heard the calling of God to go forward and open more to other religions to get them together with us. And we have managed to have some of the Muslims and we thank also Rabbi Alon who has accepted our invita-

tion; we have Buddhists as well, and we had our talks now for reconciliation and unity.

Of course all this is done with love. Without love we can be talking and talking and we can be saying the most beautiful words but without sincere love we can never go forward. So this is what I want to say.

Vassula Ryden Greek Orthodox Church


Is it the existence of God, his manifestation, his word, his strength and our opening of the heart in relation to all these? ….Yes I trust (OM AY RHIM SWAHA) And today, it is our sincere smile and joy which is the expression of what surpasses us that brings us together.

Illustrated Story of Thomas Edison

One day, as a small child Thomas Edison, cames home from school and gave a paper to his mother. He said to Her °Mom, my teacher gave this paper to me - only you are to read it ”. What does it say ? Her eyes welled with tears as she read the letter out loud to her child “Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have good enough teachers to train him. Please teach him yourself.”

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman, who has been described as America’s

greatest inventor

His mother did just that until she fell ill and passed way. Many years after Edison’s mother died, Thomas Edison became one of the greatest inventors of the century. One day he was going through some of her things and found the folded letter that his old teacher wrote to his Mother that day. He opened it….

The message written in the letter was “Your son is mentally deficient, we cannot let him attend our school any more. He is expelled.”

Edison became emotional reading it and then wrote in his diary “Thomas Edison was a mentally de-ficient child whose mother turned him into the genius of the Century.”

Conclusions

1- What can we learn from the story of Thomas Edison ° The Courage and Love of the Mother (of our Mo-ther of each of us) ; °A positive word of encouragement can help change

Someone’s entire life …

2- What can we learn today and in our everyday life similar to this story ° If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. ° The word of God can help change Someone’s entire life …

3- All works of love are works of peaceAnd we look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace. It will come very soon … because all of us know that

POLITIC IS PROVISORY, SCIENCE IS TEM-PORARY, RELIGION (FAITH AND LOVE) IS PERMANENT

Vedantist and Sufi, ordained as Buddhist Bodhisattva Monk (1992, 2001, 2014), Michel Thao Chan devotes his life as servant of peace building and sustainable development. His university background was built parallel to his professional career with the achieve-ment of Doctorates: PhD in Biology and Doctor-ate es Sciences in Physics (UTC, France), MBA and DBA (ISM, USA), Doctorate of Psychology (UMSc, USA).

Specialist in Clinical Biophysics and International Negotiation, he devoted essentially his career in the Health area, as Researcher, Professor, Marketing and Development Director, Finance and Human Re-sources Director for small, medium and big compa-nies (Hoechst, Nautilus, Fgene, TMC Development, LBF, Sanofi-Aventis, Securitas, Niscayah)

Founder and President of the Cercle de Reflexion des Nations (CRN) since 1994, he signed 2 educa-tion agreements at the Government level with the United Nations (UNITAR) for 2 executive programs:

- ‘Doctorate of Peace Administration’ for diplomats, religious leaders (signed in 2007), - ‘PhD of International Governance and Sustainable Development’ for Ministers and Vice Ministers of the world (signed in 2007, in building processes) and- The ‘declaration of the Duty of Man’, United Na-tion, New York, 1 March 2006

Today Michel Thao Chan devotes all his knowledge to build up Higher Mentality, Higher Morality and Higher Wisdom for the people and from the people.

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 39

Dear friends, committed believers, peacemakers,

Each of the spiritualities present here has undergone major stages in its history.

Period of foundation,

Period of persecution,

Period of expansion,

Period of great division between different currents,

Period of stabilization.

So every one of us here must be aware that globaliza-tion, the acceleration of History represent a new stage in the life of his spirituality.

A new stage marked by the closeness with the one who believes in something else or who does not be-lieve. Closeness with the one who is new in his reli-gion but also closeness with the one who leaves it…

All this is very new, it represents an immense chal-lenge and sometimes a painful evolution. A painful evolution but a necessary evolution because the reli-gious world has considerably receded.

The religious world, which explores, consolidates and elevates the soul, has been receding for almost a century in front of the materialistic ideologies which are subject to the supreme power of finance. A new power nourishing itself from the distraction of souls in favor of the inveterate desires of the bodies.

Therefore, the challenge is great.

As you may know I am a Muslim, I was born and lived in France, a country to which I am lovingly attached, a country shaped by the Catholic spirit, because this country was born by the conversion to Catholicism of its first king in the 5th century.

What France has undergone during almost a century is a reflection, I believe, of the future evolution of our world if the religions do not consider together a re-sponse to this destructive globalization of traditions and souls.

France was named “The Eldest Daughter of the Cath-olic Church,” its role was very effective in the history of this religion especially by giving it the largest num-ber of saints, but also brilliant theologians, writers, artists and architects devoted to this faith.

The French Revolution happened in the eighteenth century and it was extraordinarily violent against reli-gion: plundered churches, convents set on fire, perse-cuted and deported priests, monks and nuns, many of whom were beheaded.

After this Revolution, of which the French Republic is very proud, the Church was definitively expelled from national institutions nearly a century later in 1905.

In 1968 demonstrations by young people, magnifying atheism as a liberation, proclaimed “It is forbidden to forbid.” In 1975 the law on the authorization of abortion was adopted. In 1999, authorization of the union between homosexuals. In 2014, authorization of same-sex marriage with child adoption.

Today we discuss the possibility of homosexual wom-en to be able to legally procreate. Today we have the authorization for homosexual men to rent women’s bellies abroad.

But this is only the beginning, since the religions in France have not been sufficiently united to limit these evolutions.

What I wanted to tell you, dear friends, is that beyond


Mr. Camel Bechikh Spokesman of Fils de France, Founding member of La Manif pour Tous


our differences there is a set of values that unite us, provided we are aware of the new context of global-ization that is destroying us.

You know the one who divides, the one who separates Man from God, who separates husband and wife, par-ents and children ... we call him the devil, diabolo “the one who divides,” Shaytan in Arabic has the same root which means division, separation...

On the contrary, there is the angel who has the desire for union for Good.

I would like to thank the organizers for giving us the opportunity to come together, to unite our-selves to each other, this is an angelic act. It is an example for each one of us to reproduce, each one at their own level, this act of union, this angelic act. For this angelic action to continue we should keep the connection between each of us as long as possible and think about reproducing this kind of gathering. I personally commit to it today, in front of you.

May God keep you, may God protect you, dear”friends, committed believers, peacemakers... “

True Life in God Message, December 13, 1993

to honour My Name again in you, I have opened your Churches one after the other, I called you by your name that Day:

Russia,6

to rejoice and be glad, and to celebrate the Feast of My Transfiguration,7 I transfig-ured your image instantly; your misery of oppression was your punishment for the crimes of the world; and now I am waiting to be gracious to you, Russia, for in the end you will glorify Me; I tell you, while others will be destroying you will be build-ing; while many will be falling, your shepherds will be rising, if you put your trust in Me; and, while some of My Own, sitting at table with Me, will be wickedly betraying Me, you, you will be the one who will stretch out your hand to defend My Name, My Honour and My Sacrifice, and so every one of your sins will have been paid;

6 From USSR to Russia

7 The Lord predicted to transfigure Russia in a Message. The fall of the communism happened in the week of the Orthodox Feast of Transfiguration

Below: Sheikh Mohamed Ali Al Hajj from Lebanon addressing the pilgrims

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 41

Vassula’s First Speech

Now we are trying to find the key to bridge our divisions among different faiths. My question is, how are we to find that bridge that will transform us to the point that we can bring peace in the world, when in our own Christian circles, we are still debating, disputing and keeping our Churches di-vided?

Indeed, what we are all in search of is beyond our human capacity. ‘How to bridge our divisions and bring peace to the world?’ And what is that sort of Bridge? Unless God intervenes, I can’t see that on our own we are able to reach permanent solutions and resolve our divisions and put an end to them. But, I like when Jesus says: ‘Do your best and I shall do the rest.’ That’s a tone of hope here. And so, what I do believe is that it will be only by the Mighty Hand of God that can unite us; we need a miracle!

And I believe in miracles and that God is able to bring us all together. But that does not mean that we must just sit there and take it easy and relax and wait for a miracle to drop from Heaven. The Lord wants us to work with sincerity, sacrifice and love. God’s Calling is an urgent call, calling us all to re-discover Him; He is calling us to rediscover Him by dying to self and ego, and not through administrative reforms, no! We have to allow God to reveal Himself in our hearts in an intimate way.

Here, among us, we have a rather biggish group of Christians from different Churches, and of which I belong to one of them. In the last few years during our pilgrimages, we, who came from 23 different Church denominations actually put into practice the so longed unity in diversity that has been a perpetual dialogue between Churches for many years and still is.

Inspired by the Spirit of God, suddenly something happened, we did not see our differences anymore and we became one, sharing around one Altar the Holy Eucharist. These were sublime moments of brotherly love and of sharing, glorify-ing God. We had a foretaste of what unity will be like, and the words of unity we were expressing in our dialogues for so many years took shape and form and became alive and were not anymore read only on a printed page but became visible and tangible.

So everything is possible with God, if we obtain His favour and if we ask Him! Faith and trust in God is crucial. True faith makes us see through the Light of God that everyone around us is indeed a brother or a sister to us, loved by the Almighty God. So let our faith in God augment and make us confident and bold enough to approach God asking Him with determination for His help, and for a miracle.

But then, God in exchange for His favor will ask first of all from us, to hear our cry of repentance. To acknowledge that

we have been un-ethical and lack-ing respect in our behavior towards each other, disre-spectful of others’ beliefs and tradi-tions, failing to be transparent, fail-ing to admit our failures; failing to have spoken up

about dictatorial leadership which are causes of extreme vio-lence, and sufferings in our world; He will demand from us to die to our ego, once and for all, to our pride and prejudices; He will ask for sacrificial love, and to turn our lives into an un-ceasing prayer, but above all, He will ask us to live the greatest 2 Commandments of the Law, and that is ‘to truly love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind.’ And ‘to love our neighbor as our self.’ Then, when God will see our sincere heart, His Majesty will cover us with His graces and He will anoint us and show us the way. And, He will do the miracle.

In Sura XXII (22) called the Pilgrimage in section 10 verse 77 and 78 it is written “Adore your Lord and do good.” “Be a witness for mankind! So establish regular prayer, give regular charity and hold fast to Allah.”

In short, what God our Lord wants from us is to be-come the Living Image of His Deity, that has no trace of darkness for He is the Alpha and the Ome-ga, and that we should realize that alone we can do nothing, but with God on our side, the impos-sible will become possible. And so I’ll end up by saying, that it’s God or nothing!

So let prayer be our Sword against Satan who delights in our division and our destruction. And God will give us the nec-essary Light to illumine our mind and soul to show us that the Bridge of Unity is there, but in our darkness we are failing to see it! It is a Bridge made out of Heavenly Sapphires that represent all the Virtues.

The moment we will truly repent of our innumerable sins, God will forgive us and in His Forgiveness He will restore our sight to be worthy to see that Bridge that brings peace to the world and into the reality of God. Glory be to God, whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask, or imagine!

How to bridge our divisions and bring peace to the world


At present, the island where I come from – Mind-anao in the Philippines – is under martial law. This is because of the protracted stand-off in Marawi City between an ISIS-inspired group of Muslim militants and government armed forces. Since May 23 of this year 2017, armed extremists have taken over the city center, holding on to several hostages and engag-ing in sniper shooting to keep government forces at bay. Almost the entire population of Marawi – about 230,000 – have evacuated to Iligan city, 30 kilometers away, or sought refuge in other places, including my city of Cagayan de Oro which is 120 kilometers dis-tance from Marawi.

Even as we try to estimate the incalculable loss of lives and properties, the deeper questions need to be raised. What are the root causes behind the unrest of Mus-lim communities in Mindanao? How do we bridge divisions and build peace in Mindanao and the rest of the country? In a widespread consultation among Christians, Muslims and indigenous people, spon-sored by the Bishops-Ulama Conference in 2010, the researchers were able to identify six key factors for peace-building in Mindanao, conveniently sum-marized by six S’s.

1) First is Sincerity, which connotes transparency and good will. This is forged through personal friendships among Muslims, Christians, and indigenous people. Indeed in our Bishops-Ulama Conference, which is a gathering of religious leaders coming from what are supposedly “conflicting sides”, we have shown that friendship and openness can highlight the common values that we all share.

2) Sensitivity means mutual respect for different cul-tures and religious traditions. Inter-religious as well as intra-religious dialogue helps the participants to understand and appreciate better different cultures. In one BUC dialogue meeting, bishops and ulama ex-changed copies of the Bible and the Koran. In anoth-er meeting, we reflected on the parallel accounts and unique role of Mary in the Bible and Maryam in the Koran – she being the most revered woman in both sacred scriptures. In one Mindanao Week of Peace activity, reciprocal visits of mosques and churches highlighted the mutual appreciation of places of wor-ship by both Christian and Muslim believers.

3) Closely related to sensitivity is Spirituality. Both

Christians and Muslims are challenged to explore further the tenets and teachings of their own faith as religions of peace. Muslims point out that Islam itself comes from the root word, “Salaam,” which means Peace. Christians on their part are invited to follow the example of Jesus Christ in active non-violence and to live out the beatitude, “Blessed are the peace-makers.” Love of God and love of neighbor are the two commandments and a “common word” among Muslims and Christians.

4) Despite the differences in culture and religion, in-digenous people, Muslims and Christians live togeth-er in Solidarity on one island of Mindanao and one country. More and more the tri-people population of Mindanao now share the same schools and market places. There are more interactions and even mar-riages among the various ethnic communities. Unity in diversity is a lived experience for many ordinary residents of Mindanao. Indeed, the vast majority of Christian, Muslim and indigenous people communi-ties have long aspired for peace in their localities.

5) Security is needed as a condition for lasting peace. Cessation of hostilities, control of loose firearms, and maintenance of peace and order are major compo-nents for a community’s sense of security. Likewise, control of criminality, drug trafficking, etc. and respect for human rights are all part of ensuring security and freedom from fear for every citizen.

6) The final factor for peace-building is Sustainabil-ity – i.e., legislation that ensures the structures and mechanisms for a just and lasting peace. The draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law is an example of how leg-islation can create an autonomous government for the Muslim-dominated areas of Mindanao, ultimately addressing the Muslim communities’ aspirations for a wider measure of self-determination.

These then are six factors for healing divisions and building bridges among various cultural communities for the lasting peace of Mindanao – Sincerity, Sen-sitivity, Spirituality, Solidarity, Security and Sustain-ability. These values and processes may take time to develop, but as they unfold they provide the viable alternatives to a society mired in violence and terror-ism. Building bridges instead of erecting walls can help bring about a more inclusive and lasting peace for Mindanao and the world.

His Grace, Antonio J. Ledesma, S.J. Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines


M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 43

His Grace, Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Delhi

One of the finest blessings God has bestowed on the ecumenical movement for the unity of the Church in the last over fifty years is the realization that the unity of the Church is for the unity of the whole of humankind and the integrity of God’s creation. In that sense ecumenism cannot be dissociated from the need for the Christian community to dialogue with other faiths and even ideolo-gies in order to bring about God’s Kingdom here on earth in the fulfillment of Christ’s mandate to preach the Good News to the whole world.

I am so glad that we have brothers and sisters of other faiths in this ecumenical pil-grimage and we are all walk-ing together as co-pilgrims on our common journey towards our eternal homeland.

I would like to share here with all of you in this pilgrimage a recent experience from India –the wonderful news from Mumbai reported in the media in the aftermath of the torrential rains and resulting floods in that city and its suburbs from Au-gust 28-30. Hundreds of commuters were stranded due to stoppage of transport facilities – trains, bus-es, taxis and autorickshaws. There was no way they could reach home. The roads had become rivers over-night. So also hundreds of people had to flee from their homes due to flooding. At this hour of need it was reported that the local Hindu temples, Muslim mosques, Sikh gurudwaras and Christian churches with their institutions opened their doors to welcome and accommodate as many people as they could ir-respective of caste or creed; not only that, people of all religions together arranged for food and bedding for the marooned people. This was a magnificent ges-ture of love and unity among religions for the cause of suffering humanity. It was a testimony of true spiri-tuality that should be the hallmark of all religions. Nobody asked for anyone’s religious identity but all experienced the joy of being one humanity.

One way in which we can build bridges and work for peace is by joining hands together in service to hu-manity. Mahatma Gandhi’s teaching on non-violence

(ahimsa) doesn’t merely speak of avoiding violence but of active love which is the constant struggle for truth and justice (satyagraha). Gandhiji’s philosophy is centered on breaking down walls of division and building bridges of love, unity and peace everywhere, especially with the lowest, the least and the lost.

It is so sad that human be-ings are divided on the basis of caste, class, race, tribe and creed to the point of hating one another, discriminating against one another and even killing one another. There are also wars among nations to protect one’s boundar-ies and “territorial integrity.” Human history has wit-nessed the rise of ideologies that have deified the “nation” at cost of true human values of brotherhood and sister-

hood of all as all religions teach us and particularly the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Nationalism misused for political purposes is always destructive, and especially when this nationalism is tied to religion it can interfere with fundamental human rights and human freedom.

It is a travesty of religion when religion becomes a tool to spread hatred and violence in society and worse still when it is politicized to gain votes and win elections in the name of religion. Clearly the society becomes polarized in such cases and hatred and mistrust rule where there should be love, harmony, a sense of broth-erhood and sisterhood among peoples.

I would like to refer here to the late Archbishop An-gelo Fernandes of Delhi and of happy memory, who was the founding President of the World Council for Religion and Peace and a relentless “crusader” for world peace with justice. In his book “Vatican Two Revisited” (1997) he writes: “The problem of peace is certainly the most important item on today’s agenda of world history. Humanity has reached a critical point in its development and is torn between the dilemma of continuing with the mad arms race and the equilib-rium of terror, so-called deterrence or journeying be-yond towards paths of deeper understanding, interde-



pendence and brotherhood in our ‘Only One Earth’. Peace never means just the absence of trouble; rather it means total well-being, everything that makes for a person’s highest good. This peace has always got to do with personal relationships: a person’s relation-ships to self, fellow human beings and to the Lord of all. It is the peace that is born of reconciliation of people estranged, whether by commission or by omis-sion, both from God and others. Only when people can live in peace with their Maker can a durable peace exist in human relations. Peace with God, peace with oneself, peace in one’s own heart, peace in the fam-ily and peace among humankind, all belong together. Peace is thus both a gift of God and a human work. It is not the absence of war, nor the maintenance of a balance of power. It is an enterprise of justice and the fruit of love. It results from the harmony built into human society by its founder and actualized by people of every succeeding generation as they thirst after ever greater justice. Under the ILO building in Geneva there is an inscription which reads: ‘If you want peace work for justice.’ Peace must be constructed on the basis of central human values: truth, justice, freedom and love. Essential to the process of building a more genuinely human world is unconditional and effective respect for the human dignity, equality and human rights of each and every person.”

It is only when we recognize the God-given human dignity and equality of one and all and accept each other as brother or sister, then and then only will the reign of justice become universal. Justice grows out of love and without love justice cannot subsist. This is possible because love is a decision, an act of the will, that mighty power within us, which in partnership with the Lord, can bring about change.

Archbishop Angelo Fernandes always linked devel-opment with justice and peace. Talking of the “Road towards Integral Development” he writes: “Develop-ment is the new name for Peace. We must now look more closely at the hurdles on the way, on the obstacles to peace as we enter upon the Third Millennium… If the world were a village of 1000 people, 60 would own half of the wealth, 500 would go hungry, 600 would live in slums and shanties and 700 would be illiterate. That puts it all in a nutshell. Over two billion people are living in poverty and one billion in absolute pov-erty. Women and children are the principal victims of

this distortion. 35,000 children die every day because of neglect, malnutrition and violence and 15 million are refugees. This is thanks to an unjust international economic order based upon greed and profit-making with moral values and sense of justice taking a back place… The net result of the plethora of ills in hu-man society has been discord in the family, mistrust between religious communities, conflict and violence between ethnic groups, frictions and tensions between States. Poverty has therefore been called a form of death, physical and cultural. And yet the world’s greatest problem is not poverty but the unconcern of those who could influence the course of events for the better. Real politik must assume a more human face in the next millennium.” This he said twenty years ago before we entered the Third Millennium. The statis-tics have worsened today. Something more the Arch-bishop had said: “There are three bombs overhang-ing humankind, the nuclear bomb, the hunger bomb, the debt crisis bomb; and now the ecological bomb. They all need to be defused as we choose life instead of death for the future.” Don’t we feel today that these words are true and we as responsible religious people are called to respond to the looming threat?

There is urgent for a need based economy rather than a greed based economy. In the words of Mahatma Gandhiji: “There is enough in the world to meet the needs of all but not enough for the greed of one.” Economic growth alone is not the answer but rather a development that is equitable and sustainable and not linked to the political and economic interests of the few, but one that embraces women, minorities, indig-enous and marginalized people.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world as the “Prince of Peace.” At his birth the angels sang the song of peace, before his death he gave us the gift of peace and at his Resurrection his first words were: “Peace be with you.” He has clearly laid down for us his teaching on peace: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons (children) of God” (Mt. 5:9). This teaching which is the path of salvation is inseparably linked with his teaching on love, forgive-ness and reconciliation, gratitude, humility and the self-denial of the Cross that leads to Resurrection.

May his Spirit inspire and guide the world to make the right decisions that lead to fullness of life and not to destruction and death.

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M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 45

Most Rev. Vassula

Your Eminences, Your Graces, Your Excellencies, Rev. Fathers, Sisters and members of True life in God, invited friends, and all protocol observed.

I have been asked to address you in 10 minutes on the Issues of Inter religious dialogue among the religions. As I stand before you, I thank God for bringing us together as His children for this wonderful and important occasion and then my sincere thanks go to Mrs. Vassula and her team for organizing such a beautiful occasion and inviting us to take part in this gathering. We thank them for their great work.

First of all, what is interfaith dialogue? It refers to cooperation, constructive and positive interactions between people of different religious traditions.

Jesus said, “Peace I leave you, my Peace I give you” John 14:27. The Peace we receive from God is the true peace not the one the world gives us. Peace is essential for everybody today, we Christians are called to live with Christ in peace and at the same time as agents of Peace.

The question is how we can promote true peace in this divided world and among the divided religions. We experience divisions, hypocrisy, hatred, pride, defensiveness, judgments, lack of forgiveness, lack of respect, negative criticism and lack of true love among nations, neighbors, families, groups and above all among the Christian denominations.

Why are such disagreement, confusions, contradictions, defensive attitude happening among the children of God /Christians. Wasn’t it God’s plan for everybody to live peacefully? Didn’t Jesus pray for the Peace and Unity of His disciples? Didn’t Jesus say “if two or three gather together in my name, I will be in their midst”? Do we think Jesus agrees with our disagreement and disunity? Do our apostolic traditions contradict each other or is it our own interpretation of the Word of God or the understanding and decision of our fore fathers that we worship in different ways and follow our own teachings?

It is clear that over centuries quarrels and dissensions have arisen between Christians and Muslims, between Christians and Jews. Are we not brothers in God?

Are we not created by Him? Are we not descendants of Abraham and one family of God? Are we not trying to reach in our own ways to Him, through faith, prayer and worship? Can’t we forget the past negative experiences and make sincere efforts to achieve mutual understanding for the better future of everybody? Can’t we Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Jews together work to preserve and promote peace and justice and moral values? Don’t our Gospel and Qur’an speak often pardon and reconciliation? ”Those who have placed their faith in God should set their hearts on the practice of what is good.” (Paul to Titus 3:8)

Once Pope Paul VI said: “We have high regard for Muslims. They worship God who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and Almighty, the creator of heaven and earth and brings his creation to perfection.”

What do we see best now for the current generations and the generations still to come. When we speak of Christianity, the Fathers of the Church thought the church they wanted to be has been that way and should not be blamed for that as they looked that way might be better to walk in true faith. But unfortunately it magnified more darkness, separations, loss of souls, isolations and more confusions among denominations and multiplied its divisions on hundreds. In such a way the children of God experienced at the same time blessings and confusions.

But still we, as the current generation, do we feel responsible to re-look at it and open a space for dialogue, peace, unity and reconciliation among

His Excellency Bishop Markos Gebremedhin Vicar Apostolic of Jimma- Bonga – Ethiopian Catholic Church

Bishop delegate for Peace and Justice desk in Ethiopia Bishop delegate for Religious issues in Ethiopia



Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Jews, as the right way and make necessary efforts to do what directs to Peace. Can’t we do something in common for our own peace and unity?

We are very grateful to those who took the initiative and are now working for interreligious dialogue, for the peace and unity among religions, who help us to reflect more on what we have in common than divide us. We thank them for giving importance for this issue and help us to reflect on our divisions and hatred to one another rather than being united in following the one and true God.

St. John Paul II is often seen as a major figure in opening up dialogue between Catholics and Jewish communities. He was the first pope to make an official visit to a synagogue and made official apologies on behalf of the Catholic Church for wrongs against Jews throughout history. He referred to Judaism as the “Older brothers” of Christianity. We forgive and we ask forgiveness he said. Is that not beautiful?

Though Buddha was born 500 years before Christ, and didn’t say anything about one God but believed in gods, we learn many good things from this religion which we have in common like Buddha was so much concerned with human conditions. Still Peace and justice are our common concern and which needs to be encouraged.

We all agree the religion and doctrine we follow and practice in particular is the best one for each and every one of us but that doesn’t mean that you don’t respect each other, love one another and collaborate with your brothers and sisters who worship the same God in different ways than yours.

I see the following text as the binding rule for all of us. In Matt 7: 12 we are given the “Golden Rule”: “Therefore whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them,” for this is the law and prophets. It was during his sermon on the mount that Jesus stressed the importance of both sides understanding and collaborating for peaceful co-existence of his followers.

In such a way, He is telling us that everyone who is created by the image and likeness of God should not be avoided but instead be treated with dignity, gentleness, humility and respect. At the same time, we shouldn’t be self-centered but should open our eyes to see their strength, value their opinions and ideas rather than judge their weakness. We should not criticize negatively other confessions because of the way they worship and their doctrine of faith during our public ministry. It is wise to be patient,

and forgive and love whenever you find yourself wounded or hurt and accept graciously when asked for forgiveness. We should not stress on extreme differences of the Churches whenever we are invited for ecumenical dialogue and collaborations as it can be an obstacle for the peace initiative. It is always a blessing to encourage one another and secure peace and develop what we have in common. What makes us united is much more visible than what divides us.

It is a good thing to come to understand each other by learning to accept differences, by overcoming prejudices in mutual respect and by working together for reconciliation and service and encourage the spiritual and moral truths found in religions.

Both the Bible and Qur’an teach that Mercy and Justice are two characteristics of God. God is merciful and compassionate and he wants us to be merciful to each other. God’s will for us is to live in peace and mutual respect.

We Christians, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists have many things in common, as believers and human beings, we live in the same world and same realities. Yes we can work together bearing witness before modern civilization and no matter how long it will take before peace is secured fully in our planet. Together we can proclaim that Peace is a must in our planet and start working without taking too much time.

Without peace, there can be no authentic development, for this reason, no better life for its people, and no bright future for its children. We need to pray together for those countries who are suffering due to lack of peace. They need our prayers and joint actions.

Pope Francis, in His recent visit to Egypt, offered a message of unity, tolerance and non-violence and he said to the people of Egypt and to Sheik Ahmed Al-Tayb, Egyptian grand Imam, “Say clearly “No” to every form of violence, vengeance and hatred carried out in the name of religion or in the name of God.” I hope we all agree in his message.

Our God is the source of peace a peaceful God, slow to anger, and full of patience and mercy. For sure we all wish to be at peace with God. What does it mean? I humbly invite you to meditate on the word of God because God created this world with the intention that it should be free of satanic attack and be full of peace but human sin went against God’s plan starting from our first parents.

Now we are children of one God because God took the initiative to reconcile with us and seek peace with

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 47

us. We need to be promoters of peace and unity wherever and whatever situations we are in. Let us begin building peace within ourselves. If we are at peace with our God and if we are people of prayer God can still use us as His instrument of His peace to be reached wherever it is needed.

We have simple and beautiful examples of how both sister Churches - Orthodox Christians and Catholic faithful - in a small village unite and live together peacefully with very good collaboration among themselves. It is in the Apostolic Vicariate of Jimma-Bonga in Ethiopia at the particular village called Shappa where I came from, that we have an ecumenical Church where once or twice a month people of two groups of the faithful come together for the last 30 years, worship together, pray together, celebrate together and hold discussions on various issues and look for common solutions for common problems. They walk and work together. Is it not beautiful?

During the 1st World War, when nations proclaimed enmity among the nations and destroyed each other by the troubled war and, during the midst of trouble and fighting between two countries, that was France

and Germany, the great news came to the soldiers that it was December 25, it was the day of Peace, it was the day where the prince of peace Jesus Christ was born. “Christmas.” Hearing such a great message, both enemies put their weapon aside, embraced each other, exchanged the sign of peace with each other, sang the Christmas song together “Joy to the world, the Lord has come” and spent the day together celebrating. Isn’t this beautiful.

Peace is essential and the base for everything. Without peace we walk on doubts and confusions and even at risk but with Peace we have everything especially the Almighty God on our side.

In Ethiopia, the country where I come from, the leaders of the different denominations in collaboration with the government of Ethiopia established an inter-faith forum office at national and diocesan level where they come together from time to time and discuss peaceful co-existence among the religions and walk and work together for the common matters of the country. We see this as good example to be encouraged. We all need peace and let us work together for peace and harmony. Let Peace be one of our priorities. “Serving God requires convictions and self-sacrifice.”

Grace to you, peace and blessing from the Giver of blessings and the God of graces and bounties.

I am Archbishop George of the Greek Orthodox Church in the city of Homs - Syria. I have been very hesitant about this speech that I have sent to you as an expression of my contribution to this pilgrimage that you are doing in the city of Moscow in the blessed land of Russia.

My first question, lovingly, and I am not an expert in such meetings: where do we get to through these initiatives?

Are they just meetings and exchange of speeches, shaking hands and compliments in front of the cam-eras and all the media?

To whom is the journey of this pilgrimage directed in life, as suggested by the title of the gathering?

If the answer implies that we turn to each other, this is good and beautiful and very important, but is this the aim?

I am responsible in my church for my people and be-lieving in what I live and experience, the dialogue of the daily life that I live with my brothers is the living and sincere expression of a beautiful vision that out-weighs any discussion, no matter how important it is, on the intellectual, theological and religious levels.

Everyday life between members of society from all walks of life, regardless of differences and disparities, transcends in its human dimension any difference in color, race, religion or denomination.

My second question is: How do I look at the hu-man being that I live with, and with whom I share our daily food?

More than that, we drink the same water and we also breathe the same air. Do I consider him different from me and a stranger to me?

How do I establish my relationship with him? The answer is simple and I draw from the Bible: “Who are you to judge your neighbour, judgment is the Lord’s.” (cf. James 4:12)

The Most Reverend George Abou Zakhm Archbishop of Homs - Syria

Antiochian Greek Orthodox Church



So I am not his Lord, nor a judge or a ruler over him. He is my brother in humanity. I have absolutely no right to view him with superiority or to diminish the importance of his presence by my side. He is a be-ing that has all the beautiful qualities, and I can build with him all the bridges that achieve our humanity.

I repeat, I do not write a scientific lecture or a theolog-ical thesis. I am writing a personal contribution about the experience we are living here in Syria, especially after this great ordeal, and after this absurd and crazy war that we have lived, and we are still living its con-sequences. It was named: “The Arab Spring”. What spring is this? What flowers and what fragrances did it diffuse? It brought only murder, destruction, more destruction and displacement. However, we have not lost hope nor aspiration. We did not give in to de-spair, nor even to the temptation of escaping by any possible means. On the contrary, we have increased

our determination to make sure we accept each other. And we emphasize our common presence in order to build the state to which we belong, even if we differ in religion.

So can we bridge our divisions and bring peace to the world? I say certainly, yes, because the possibility is fulfilled by good and charitable will that certainly helps us overcome all our differences and ideological and intellectual divisions, and abandon our individual selfishness, and open ourselves to others and accept them as our brothers in humanity.

I conclude with a heartfelt greeting to all of you. In particular Mrs. Vassula, who took this bold initiative and, at the same time, has worked and is still work-ing to build all the bridges in order to achieve a noble humanitarian goal of spreading the message of peace in the world.

listen carefully and understand: her shepherds will be gathering

while treaties will be breaking elsewhere, and while rebellion will be working its way elsewhere to abolish the Perpetual Sacrifice, Russia’s shepherds will be gathering to restore My House, reverencing the Perpetual Sacrifice, worshipping and honouring Me;

True Life in God Message, December 13, 1993

she [Russia] will arise from the stillness of death and her world of darkness into My World of Peace and Light; with a loud cry she will manifest her joy beholding her Saviour by her side I will lift her to Me and My Flame of Love will enflame her heart purifying her and leaving her in total rapture for Me her God,

True Life in God Message, March 11, 1988

Below: Inside Moscow’s Cathedral Mosque

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 49

Bishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh The Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Homs, Hama and Tartus

At the outset, I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to those who have invited us to this brotherly gathering, which brings together all reli-gions in an atmosphere of love, brotherhood and co-operation under one roof, to find the real common means of bringing about peace and security in a world of war and various conflicts under the pretext of reli-gion, while religion is innocent.

Denominational strife, terrorist and takfirist (declaring one as infidel) ideas have risen, and a world in which poli-tics, economy, trade and the interests of states are mired at the expense of other coun-tries, victimizing the weak and the poor. A world in which every country uses religion to achieve its goals with weak excuses: de-mocracy, human free-dom, freedom of religions, the requirements of societ-ies...

They are like meek lambs but inwardly they are fero-cious wolves, and the victim of all that is the human being who is the beautiful creature of God and the central subject of life, of the universe and of religions. Every one of us builds their humanity according to their religion and according to their beliefs and their social, cultural, educational and human customs. They consider that by doing that they are achieving God’s purpose and here we see many tragedies generated by religions for lack of understanding, lack of dialogue and for being distant from each other.

Therefore, attention and efforts have to turn towards dialogue to overcome many of the problems of life at all levels. Religion is, in fact, the main component and reformer of human civilization and its identity. That is because religion is considered as the only thing that provides it with the values and ideals that help it achieve its existence, development, strength, legitimacy and permanence in history, and that in its absence, all the rest is disrupted. With this pivotal role of religion in the life of human society, it often finds itself at the center of the accusation because it is one of the causes

of conflict, fighting and genocide among human com-munities and it is responsible for the occurrence of such human tragedies. It is no wonder that we have turned towards interfaith dialogue and have pinned our hopes on reaching a successful solution that puts an end to these tragedies; and the truth is, as the well-known German Catholic theologian Hans Kung said: “There will be no peace among the nations without peace

among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions.”

Is it possible that the problem is with the religions because of the lack of dialogue among them? Is dia-logue the peaceful solution to religions? What are the bridges of encounter between them?

The problem, in our opinion, is not the absence of dialogue between religions but the real problem lies in that new phenomenon represented by the blatant conflict of religions. This phenomenon has become increasingly acute since the dominance of the lethal secular ideology of the need to separate religion from the state and public affairs of society, declaring that religion is the opium of the people and preaching the death of God. This aggressive wave against religion has expressed itself through intense efforts and in-tensive organized attempts through international po-litical reports and other media, to paint an ugly and isolated image of religion as the source of all evils in the world.

This meeting is a workshop to promote understand-ing, cooperation and respect for religious and cultural pluralism in order to combat conflict and strife and instill faith in the face of atheism, and peace in the face of wars, and fraternity in the face of racism.

We must defend human dignity in building a peaceful coexistence among peoples and in protecting creation and working on the unity of the human family in the search for truth, goodness and beauty. The bridges of peace are built on:



1. Serving the poor without stopping at religious, eth-nic or racial differences.

2. Cooperation in order to create and maintain peace so that religion will always remain innocent of any violence, killing or destruction.

3. Work on radical change by moving everyone to un-derstanding, finding radical solutions to problems and recognizing pluralism as an added value to societies. Out of our Christian faith that calls for peace and love and urges harmony and renunciation of fighting, conspiracy and harming others based on religious or ethnic differences, we are to address God, the God of love and peace, who created man in His image and likeness and breathed life into him to live freely on earth. We have to fulfill His divine will and recon-cile with each other and put our theological doctrines aside because we have not chosen where to be born and into which denomination, nationality, ethnicity or country to belong. And if it was not our will, it was then a Divine Will. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, since you were called to peace (Colossians 3:15), and we pray that peace comes from the Lord upon the face of the earth (Sirach 38:8), for God is not a God of confusion but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33).

Peace in Christianity is a divine gift given to us by the Lord Jesus before His ascension. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” ( John 14:27)

“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” (Romans 14:19). “For the Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.” (Psalm 29: 11).

Peace is finally, as Saint Augustine said, “serenity of mind, tranquility of soul, simplicity of heart, a bond of love, a companion of charity; it is the one that removes hostilities, stops wars, represses anger and breaks pride. It loves the rivals, reconciles the enemies and it is delightful and accepted by everyone.”

“Practice peace with everyone. Be at peace with ev-eryone. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5: 9).

Peace is the bridge that binds us all together. It is our call, our prayer and our wish that love would bond the hearts and that we break the barriers of distance and hatred, and together build a true humanity together in order to achieve the desired purpose of God, which is to love each other, and that greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ( John 15:12-13)

And we in Syria, the cradle of Divine Religions and the land of civilizations, have lived with our Muslim brothers more than one thousand five hundred years in an atmosphere of love, cooperation and a common attention in building our homeland and defending it. During this crisis which is in its seventh year, evil forces have tried to break up the relationship between Muslims and Christians and tried to plant fear in our hearts. There are powerful schemes to displace Chris-tians from the East and this hurts us because it will achieve the goals of some countries and religions who believe that the Christian presence in the East is not desirable and that Christians are a colony, forgetting that the birthplace of Christianity is Bethlehem and that Christianity in Europe started from Damascus and Antioch. And also that Christians, mainly Syriac Christians, were the ones who have transferred (in the sense of translated) the Greek civilization to Syr-iac and then to Arabic. Today, we seek to strengthen our relationship with each other under these difficult circumstances, working to combat the terrorist ide-ology and calling for an end to the war and for the implementation of peace. Until now, our meetings continue intensively in order to preserve the unity of our homeland, the strength of our relationships and the consolidation of our shared existence. Hence, I appeal to you to cooperate with us in preserving all the components and the national and religious fabric in this beautiful garden, Syria, beautiful for its land and people, for its cultural heritage and religious di-versity; in order to preserve for each one his place and status and his right to live in this nation with dignity, bliss and peace.

I hope that our meeting is a start to building bridges of love. We appeal to the world to hear our voice, to stop wars, renounce racism and rebuild humanity on sound foundations.

I warmly thank you for your attention.

Peace to you and Peace be with you.

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 51

Jesus said: “Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God”.

St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians chal-lenges the believers to be the reconcilers: “All this from God who through Christ reconciled us to Himself, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”

IntroductIon

Let me first greet you with salaam, and convey the same from our people in the Land many refer to as the Holy Land, of which I speak of as the Land of the Holy One. This is so due to the fact that holy may mean a land with many holes, which I am afraid is true now, as a result of the on-going conflict in the Middle East.

MeetIng PrIMe MInISter tony blaIr

This brings me straight to share with you a meeting with the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr. Tony Blair, on February 18, 2003, days before the war on Iraq. I was one of four bishops, two from Eng-land, one from the United States, and myself, trying to divert his attention from war to peaceful means. His response was: “We go to war against Iraq in order to pave the way for peace in the Middle East.”-!!!??? To which I responded: “Mr. P.M.: The shortest route to Baghdad goes through Jerusalem. Once peace comes to Jerusalem, peace will come to the whole world.”

We all know what happened, the peace he brought to the Middle East and how not only Iraq but a whole Middle East was torn into pieces.

Peace IS the way

My friends; wars never bring genuine peace. Genuine

peace is not the absence of war, neither the cessation of hostilities, and certainly not the quiet which comes out of subjugation and oppression. Peace is the way.

There is no place under the sun where the term peace/Salaam/Shalom is used as we do in Israel, Palestine, the Arab countries, the so called Holy Land. We greet one another with Salaam or Shalom, or Asalamu Alai-kum. Church leaders and Rabbis and Imams preach long sermons on it. Children are named Salaam and Shalom. So also high rises in Tel-Aviv, and different centers and towns. And yet, not much of Salaam or Shalom. The term has been so used, so misused, and so abused that it became not only devalued, but causes some to doubt one’s sincerity when using it. I am reminded of Psalm 120 where God is quoted saying: “I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.”

Peace where there IS conflIct

The search for peace and reconciliation does not mean the avoidance of conflict.

We may contribute to peace, and/or engage in acts of reconciliation only where there is conflict. There is no lack of conflicts around us: not only among na-tions, but also among individuals, within families and among neighbors. No one with enough common sense leaves conflicting parties to busy himself in reconciling parties in love. Those in love do not need you or me. And note peace-making cannot be done with remote controls. One needs to be there. Mind you it is never a picnic.

what IS our MISSIon? whoSe taSk IS It?

What is really this ministry we have been given as believers in God? It is the work of breaking down walls of mistrust and hostility wherever they exist, and particularly as they are constructed around differences of culture, race, nationality, religion and economic sta-tus. To reconcile is to bring into right relationship, to re-order our relationships and restore unity with God and one with another. This is not the task of politicians. This is your task and mine. We are called to help reconcile. We are called to struggle against evil. How?

The great Mahatma of India, Ghandi, used to say: “To refuse to struggle against the evil, and the injustices of our world is to surrender our humanity; to struggle against the evil with the weapons of the evil doer is to

The Right Reverend Bishop Riah Abo El -Assal, Thirteenth Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East



enter into your humanity; to struggle against the evil, the injustices and the oppression with the weapons of God is to enter your divinity.”

brother’S brother and SISter’S SISter Allow me to end with a story that must have hap-pened somewhere in Moscow, which in my opinion helped two people to enter into their divinity:

Tolstoy, the famous Russian author of books, was approached by a man in need on one of the streets of Moscow. Tolstoy, like many writers of books in those days failed to find any money in his pocket. He

turned to the beggar and said: “Brother, had I had any money with me, I would have given it to you. Sorry I have none.” To which the beggar responded: “You have given me more than I expected. You called me brother.”

Are we in a position to relate one to another as brothers and sisters. Are we ready to recognize the otherness of the other the way we wish them do so. Or do we contin-ue to follow in the footsteps of Cain: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Dear sisters and brothers: we are called to be: not only brothers’ keepers, but more brother’s brother and sister’s sister.

Vassula, can you hear? listen ... listen to your Sister’s children’s laments1 ... her children are lamenting and there is wailing, it is My Russia’s children who are weeping, all Heaven plainly hears their grieving, Heaven is deeply moved by their distress and I, who have never ceased loving her, now am near her dead body, My Hand upon her cold heart and her bones will flower again from her tomb and her name shall be well spoken of for I shall adorn her and her sons and daughters; hence a covenant of Peace and Love shall be signed and sealed between Me and her; I love her and always have, even in her disloyalty towards Me and even in her wickedness I blessed her and blessed her; this shall be My Glorious Miracle; just wait and see; those who have fallen asleep in hatred, hating Me for no reason, those too I shall bring back to life since they are her sons too and still live in her womb; all these things shall soon take place;

daughter, I am the Holy One, the Most High, I am the Most Holy Trinity, please Me and hear Me as you heard Me today;

True Life in God Message, November 13, 1989

1. Here I started to weep not only for Russia’s children who suffer, but also because God sounded so sad, beyond description.

Below: Christian and Muslim clerics from the Middle East

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 53

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, Praise and Peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and all the Prophets and Messengers and upon those who follow them in goodness until the Judgment Day.

Brothers and sisters, the custodians, whose gaze is fixed on what is on high, seekers of righteousness and makers of good; the Truth is transcended with your intentions, and charity is increased through your ef-forts, and the Ultimate Truth blesses your work.

If the children of the Truth fight, it is due to the ab-sence of the light of God, for when a light is gone, darkness takes its place.

I hope that my talk about “dialogue and encounter” won’t be conventional although both words are signif-icant, specifically after most enlightened clergymen have been convinced that their words expresses their own will and not the will of religion. The Holy Books were not written all at the same time but they were revealed (sent down) or written in a specific chrono-logical order according to the sequence of events; the clergyman can read from the book what suits his will and intention, if he wishes to get closer to the “differ-ent other” he would find what supports his desire, and if he wishes exclusion and rejection he would also find what supports him. However, the general constant in all religions is that the commandments of God are Mercy and Charity, not killing and elimination. The proof of God’s abundant Mercy is His saying: “In-deed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before Prophet Muhammad] - those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their re-ward with their Lord, and no fear will there be con-cerning them, nor will they grieve.” (Al-Baqarah: 62)

From our point of view as Druze, we see that the world with its diversity, colors and differences, is nothing but the various facets of One Truth. Our Holy Koran guarantees this diversity and difference “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you.” (Al-Hujurat: 13). In Addition, we maintain that true faith and sincere adoration must be translated into a good treatment to others, that is why our Sheikhs and Scholars repeat a short saying: “we can find out whether a person has

Sheikh Daneel Abdel Khalek, Druze, Lebanon President of Together for Humanity Association

good religion (or faith) from how good they treat oth-ers”; that simple saying carries the spirituality of our noble Prophet’s saying: “the Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand the people are safe.”

On The other hand, as a Lebanese citizen, my faith does not contradict the civil law. Religion, for us Muslims, is two parts: devotions and behavior. As for the devotions, my country’s constitution guarantees them since it considers sacred the freedom of belief, and every denomination practices its rites as it wishes. As for the behavior, which deals with treatment of others, it agrees categorically with all the laws, mainly when it comes to protecting people’s rights and not violating them.

But the most delightful to my heart is to speak as a human being, because I haven’t seen a bigger, wider and more solid bridge that unites us other than that of humanity. That is the level where all humans meet. They are all in one boat and no one can leave it. And to be short, I haven’t found other than two reasons for human fighting: greed and fear of others. Is there other reasons for wars to break out? Is there other reasons for peoples to race for armament? I didn’t need to search for a long time in order to discover that what has been spent, on wars and the arms race, would have been enough for humanity and its needs for many decades, but we are still in the same spiral until this day.

That’s why I will end by saying: there is no salvation for the human race in any of the past practices. The past must only help us to draw lessons and teach us not to repeat the mistakes. In order to reach salvation we need to wait for a Divine Mercy that is beyond the will of humans, or to start a new human approach that is unlike anything in the past.



Rev. Fr. Teófilo Rodríguez Roman Catholic priest in Panama

Founder and Director of the Fraternity of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary’s Divine Mercy

Peace and joy!

In Jesus and Mary

Dearest brothers and sisters in the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

We have been asked to bring forward some proposals on how to bridge our divisions and bring peace to the world.

I would summarize it in five key points based on Jesus’ answer to St. Judas Thaddaeus, recounted by John the Evangelist in chapter 14: 22-31.

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my Word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. The one who doesn’t love me will not keep my words. The word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.

“I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful. You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe. I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me. On the con-trary, so that the world may know that I love the Fa-ther, I do as the Father commanded me. “Get up;

let’s leave this place.” ( John 14: 22-31)

In my opinion, this passage contains the 5 key points to overcome divisions and bring peace to the world:

1. To love and keep the Word of God.

2. God wants to make his home in you, in me, in us.

3. The Holy Spirit will teach and remind Christ’s promises.

4. True peace will only come from Christ.

5. The prince of this world has no hold on Jesus Christ.

Let us develop briefly each one of these points and let this Pilgrimage, here, in Russia, be the pre-announce-ment of the great unity coming to us as children of the same Father, apostles of the foretold end of times and witnesses of the Holy Spirit, of the triumph of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

1. TO LOVE AND TO KEEP THE WORD OF GOD

In our Lord’s mind, to love implies to keep, and also to obey. It is not enough to tell God: “I love you”. Love will prove itself by obeying, by accomplishing his Word with our heart.

Now that we are celebrating a 100th year anniversary after Fatima´s apparitions in 2017, we should all say a “Mea Culpa” because, if we had just obeyed Our Lady’s message, neither World War II would have happened, nor the arising of the communist ideology. Not even the gender ideology, which is diabolical as Pope Francis puts it, would have shown up today.

In each of her apparitions the Holy Virgin asked the little shepherds to pray the Rosary for peace and sal-vation of the world. And she repeated it with such insistence that is really impressing.

2. GOD WANTS TO MAKE HIS HOME IN YOU, IN ME, IN US.

All Scriptures are full of references of God manifest-ing his wish to stay and live with us. The words may


M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 55

vary, but their meaning is the same: house, mansion, palace, temple, room and betrothal.

Song of Songs 1:4

“Take me away with you – let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. How right they are to adore you!”

Isaiah 32,18

“Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place, in safe and secure dwellings.”

Hosea 2,19

“I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compas-sion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.”

Pope Francis declared, on October 2, 2016, in an in-ter-religious meeting in Azerbaijan: “Religions, on the contrary, which help to discern the good and put it into practice through deeds, prayer and diligent cultivation of the inner life, are called to build a cul-ture of encounter and peace, based on patience, un-derstanding, and humble, tangible steps. This is the way a humane society is best served. For its part, so-ciety must always overcome the temptation to take advantage of religious factors: religions must never be instrumentalised, nor can they ever lend support to, or approve of, conflicts and disagreements.”

I don’t want to put an end to this section, without recalling some prophetic words from God’s Spirit, on April 3, 1995: “The new Heavens…. will be when My Holy Spirit will be poured out to you all from above, from the highest heaven…to make a heaven out of your soul, so that in this New Heaven I may be glorified…” (“True Life in God”)

On June 13th, 1929, Our Lady requested Lucia, at her convent in Tuy (Spain), the world’s consecration to her Immaculate Heart, with special mention of Rus-sia. His Holiness the Pope did it, in union with all the Bishops of the world.

Fatima opened its doors to a new era: that of the Im-maculate Heart of Mary.

Disobedience to God is an offspring of pride and is promoted by the devil himself, because he doesn’t know how to be humble.

On June 2, 1987, Vassula received from the Lord a mis-sion that has caused her many sufferings, but it is Jesus’

deepest wish and it appears in St. John’s Gospel, 17:21:

“May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be one in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.”

The vision of the three perpendicular iron bars, close to each other, represents the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant Church and the Orthodox Church. The three branches of Christianity that are reluctant to obey and bend through the Holy Spirit’s fire to reach unity.

The Lord stated: “To unite we must all bend and we must all be willing to bend by softening. How could their heads (the authorities of the churches) meet unless they all bend?” (“Heaven is real but so is Hell”, page 79).

3. THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL TEACH AND REMIND CHRIST’S PROMISES

The third part of Fatima’s secret was revealed by St. John Paul II, on May 23, 2000.

Sister Lucia wrote this message, in obedience, on Jan-uary 3, 1944, in these words:

“After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flash-ing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radi-ated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’ And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it’ a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father’. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Fa-ther passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the moun-tain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him, and in the same way there died one after another the other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious, and various lay people of differ-ent ranks and positions. Beneath the two arms of the Cross there were two Angels each with a crystal


aspersorium in his hand, in which they gathered up the blood of the Martyrs and with it sprinkled the souls that were making their way to God. “

Last May 13th, 2017, during his visit to Fatima, Pope Francis pronounced a prayer in front of the image Our Lady. These were some of his words:

“In this place where, a hundred years ago you made known to all the purposes of God’s mercy, I gaze at your robe of light and, as a bishop robed in white, I call to mind all those who, robed in the splendour of their baptism, desire to live in God and tell the mysteries of Christ in order to obtain peace.”

4. TRUE PEACE WILL ONLY COME FROM CHRIST

“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” ( John 16:33)

Lucia of Fatima wrote in his memories about the Third Apparition, speaking of hell:

“You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish devo-tion to my Immaculate Heart. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace.

“The war is going to end; but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the Pontificate of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is a great sign given to you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father.

“To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the conse-cration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on First Saturdays. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and per-secutions of the Church.”

We must renew our vote of remaining faithful, so peace will prevail.

On September 17, 1992, Our Lord said:

“I am gentle and humble of heart and I know every-thing in your hearts, so ask My Spirit and My Spirit will come to your help; the Spirit now asks you to pray often this prayer:

Jesus, neither death, nor life, no angel, no prince,

nothing that exists, nothing still to come,

not any power or height or depth, nor any created thing,

will ever come to separate me from You;

I vow to remain faithful to You, this is my solemn vow;

help me keep this vow forever and ever. Amen. (“True Life in God”)

5. THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD HAS NO HOLD ON JESUS CHRIST

“If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you”. (Luke 11:20)

The last part of Fatima’s secret, already released, is a most solemn assertion of God’s victory over the Devil. “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph”.

The Church, from the beginning of her existence, has had a constant series of persecutions, martyrdoms, ex-ternal and internal attacks, but our Lord’s words pre-vail: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matthew 16:18).

May we proclaim, on Fatima’s Century anniversary, from our beloved Russia, the triumph of peace and unity for all peoples through the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Amen. Amen.

-----------------------------------

N.T. The Biblical quotations are taken from the Eng-lish original Christian Standard Bible or New In-ternational Version. The Pope’s quotations as well as Sister Lucia’s are taken from English public versions of the different texts.

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M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 57

Rev. Mariano Arellano Pastor of the Spanish Evangelical Church

Good afternoon. Peace and blessings for each one of you.

I thank God for the opportunity of being with you in these special days and also for the privilege to share a few words with you.

The organization of this event asked me a brief speech on “How to bridge our divi-sions and bring peace to the world”. The truth is that from the beginning I found it a huge challenge to talk about this issue that has such deep implications.

For some reason, the image of a road through which we all are walking came to my mind. The way im-plies movement, that means that we don´t want to stay where we are, we want to improve in life, to reach new personal and collective goals. If we are people of faith we want to mature spiritually. And we all (with independence of our beliefs…) want to build a better world, in which we can live in a more dignified and humane way.

I find it really surprising that throughout human his-tory we have so often shown our inability to walk to-gether. And above all, I find hard to accept that this is also true among those who call ourselves “Christians”, children of the same Father and therefore brothers and sisters.

There is a passage in the Gospels that can help us to understand some of the keys that make our unity so difficult to reach.

It is found in the Gospel of St. Mark, chapter 9 and verses 30 to 37. For reasons of time, I would like to read only verses 33 to 35:

They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” 1

The stories of the Gospels have the enormous ability to show us very deep thoughts using very simple and everyday images. Specifically, in this brief passage we can find a reflection of the whole history of the Chris-tian Church in this world.

Let’s look at the text a little more closely. The disciples follow Jesus on the way, just as we do... But they had been discussing along the way. Perhaps they should have paid more attention to the teachings of Jesus but they engaged in discussion among them; And by doing

so, they put Jesus apart. Notice that the Lord did not participate in these discussions that his disciples had and so when they came to the house Jesus asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?”

And the story tells us that the disciples did not answer the Lord, perhaps because they felt ashamed... Per-haps God will ask us the exact same question “What were you arguing about on the way?” Can you imag-ine how sad it would be if we too should be ashamed before the Lord in an uncomfortable silence?

Now, I believe that it can help us as brothers and sis-ters who seek for the unity to pay attention to the subject on which the disciples argued: “Who would be the most important, who would be the greatest.”

I believe that this sad question has been persecuting the people of God throughout its history and in it we find some implications that had been hurting our unity and fraternity.

And is that when we ask as individuals or as commu-nities “Who is the most important?” We are estab-lishing categories among us; We make the way with a competitive mind, looking at the other as my rival and not as my brother.

When in our heart we ask that kind of question, we are admitting that some are better than others; that some of us are bigger than the others; that the truth we possess about God is more authentic than that of my brother who does not think or believe exactly as I do... When we fall into this dangerous dynamic, we are trying to possess God, conform it according to our mental or ecclesiological structures ... And the 1 New International Version



truth is that none of us can take possession of God, no one can think that he possesses the monopoly of His truth, the monopoly of His Person or His love...

Now, when we think that some of us are better than others, when we think that we can possess God and lock him into our own mental structures, we end up believing that ours is the only truth that counts and that we have the right to impose it on others. Then it is when the truth of God, that is to be a source of life and dignity, becomes an element in the service of the religious institution (whatever the name may have ...), it becomes the perfect excuse to fill our hunger for power.

I believe that all Christian churches have sometimes fallen into this sin, and we must ask the Lord for for-

giveness. And we must ask God together that He will teach us more about the nature of His Kingdom, that which Jesus approached in this world, in which there is no place for competition and rivalry, one in which there are no categories or barriers between its citizens, that in which no one pretends to take possession of God, but is God who takes over us, the kingdom that rests on His mercy, justice and love.

The Kingdom of God is one in which each one of us lives for the others, because when we love the brother we are loving God himself. A God who is very close to us, He is walking beside us, we don´t have to leave Him apart with our discussions. Let Him continue to lead us and make us instruments of His love, peace and hope for this world through which we walk to-gether. May the Lord bless you.

The bridges of peace and understanding between re-ligions have existed and continue to exist. And what we see today from division and animosity often has several reasons and we will speak about some of them. 1. Ignoring the similarities and focusing on the differences. One of the most important similari-ties between us which unites us is the love of God and the desire to reach Him. While in most so-cieties we have focused on the shell and have abandoned this goal for which we were created. O followers of the book; come to an equitable proposition between us and you that we shall not serve any but God … And we have in a religious narration: “Is religion any-thing but Love?” And another narration: “Make being with you beloved to me.”

2. Ignorance about others’ beliefs and judging with-out any deep understanding or knowledge. And some of the useful solutions for this problem are:

a. Reading about other religions objectively and with openness. b. Invitations between religious groups to have work-shops and lectures about each other to bring about understanding.

c. Continuous relationship and meetings between re-ligious leaders in order to have friendly discussions.

3. Not allowing people who are not suitable to represent religions. Today we find many rep-resenting religions while they have in fact noth-ing to do with these religions and they only repre-sent their ignorant understanding of these religions. Some of the solutions for this great problem are: a. Being united all together in occasion when any-one, anywhere in the world, faces injustice, condemn-ing such injustice. And I emphasize anywhere in the world and not only in the developed countries. About caring for all humanity, Imam Ali says: “People are one of two groups, either a brother in religion or an equal in creation.”

b. Making use of good occasions in the media to spread the moderate way of thinking, which is the true one.

4. Humility in theory and in practice. The basis of worship is humility in front of the creator and one of the greatest physical manifestations of humility is prostration. God wants us to be humble for his best of cre-ations, his prophets and their successors. And after them, be humble to the parents and here there is a story from Imam Sadiq, one of the grandsons of Prophet Mohammed.

Sheikh Mohamed Ali Mostafa Khalik Teacher and Imam at AL KHEI association in Paris

Manager institut BERCEA DU SAVOIR


M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 59

A student of the Imam came to him asking about how to treat his Christian mother, while he was Mus-lim himself. The Imam told him that he should treat her in the best way possible to treat anyone. And then we have Prophet Jesus’ story and how he used to wash the feet of his disciples, which is a great example of humility. And Prophet Mohammed teaches us humility when he asks his followers to be humble in front of the el-

derly and the children, the mother and the father, the wife and the husband, the poor more than the rich… Therefore, we must learn how be humble in front of each other and one of the best examples of humil-ity is accepting others and wanting the best for them both in action and from the depth of our hearts. May God grant us the sweetness of His love and the beauty of speaking to Him.. Thank you

His Holiness Sanghanayaka Suddhananda Mahathero Supreme Patriarch of the Buddhists of Bangladesh and President of

Bangladesh Bouddha Kristi Prachar Sangha, Dhaka, Bangladesh, President of Dharmarajika Orphanage, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Most Dear Vassula Ryden, The Divine Messenger,Reverend Fathers, Cardinals, Bishops of various de-nominations, Your Holinesses, Excellencies,Ladies & Gentlemen,

At the outset, please allow me to offer my hearti-est greetings to you all from the core of my heart. I am unfortunate for not being able to be with you all only due to a physically vulnerable condition. I was determined to start for Moscow; but the doctors vehemently prevented me from moving anywhere even to nearby areas. I shall not be physically pres-ent; but whole heart and mind shall be in Moscow. I am deprived from coming in cross of hundreds of the most illustrious sons and daughters of the world.

Reverends, Ladies & Gentlemen,

Vassula is a name known in almost every corner of the world. The Divine Messenger is relentlessly propa-gating the Message of God throughout the world. I am undoubtedly fortunate to have been in close con-tact with Vassula Ryden for last seventeen years who facilitated introducing you all. Bangladesh is a country of communal harmony. Though the majority of the people are Muslim yet the Hindus, Buddhists and Christians are all living in peaceful co-existence. Our Honorable Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina has stabled the rule of law and equal religious freedom to the people of all faiths. At present we are really living a harmonious life in Bangladesh.

Buddhism is a religion of non-violence and Bud-dha’s teachings are based on loving kindness, com-

passion, altruistic joy, sympathy. The Buddha said- “ May all sentient beings be happy.” After this invaluable utterance there is no room of an-ger, hatred, killing, violence amongst us.

Today I humbly lay my appeal to you all not to be only confined with the efforts of Christian unity, but also the unity of all faiths. Our united efforts shall make a peaceful atmosphere beneath the sun and we can be able to make a safe world for our future generation.

Through the Beth Myriams, the TLIG Associa-tion has been accomplishing a gigantic task for the have-not group of the world. In my humanitarian services, TLIG has been standing beside me by ex-tending invaluable financial cooperation. I offer my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Heidi Kyhl, Theodora Koni-dari, Monica Schreil and others for their dedicated services towards us. I call Vassula as my Sister and I am confident that my relation with Vassula shall be strengthened day by day.In conclusion, I whole-heartedly wish the Pilgrimage 2017 a great success. May all beings be happy.


...I will lift her [Russia] to become the head2 of many nations; in her poverty I

will rebuild My Kingdom,

True Life in God Message, October 25, 1992

2 Spiritually.


ECUMENICAL

Handling such a deep theme in a few words and within ten minutes is a very difficult task. Thus, in or-der to be able to do it, I shall imitate our Lord Jesus, who handled big themes in a few words, by speaking to the crowds in paraboles. (Cf. Mt. 13 :34).

Once upon a time, there were two brothers, Francis and Cyril, living in two sepa-rate houses, facing each other, surrounded by a most beauti-ful countryside. Due to small problems, which grew up in time, both brothers stopped speaking to each other and avoided crossing their ways.

One day a carpenter arrived to one of the houses, asking whether there was any job for him. Francis answered:

-Do you see, sir, those wooden boards, close to the rivulet? I cut them recently. My brother Cyril lives in the house on the other side and, due to our rivalry, he diverted the rivulet to separate us for good. This is the reason why I do not want to see his house any longer. I ask you to make a fence for me, a wall which will prevent me from seeing whatever lies on the opposite side.

Francis went away to town and only returned late at night…

What a great surprise he had when he saw, instead of the fence, a pretty bridge that the carpenter had built, to unite both sides of the land.

Unable to say a word, he suddenly saw on the opposite side his brother Cyril crossing the bridge with a big smile.

-Francis, my brother, I cannot believe my eyes! It is you who built this bridge, when it was I who had of-fended you. I come to apologize to you. What a hu-mility, Francis, what a courage you have! Forgive me, brother, forgive me…

And both brothers embraced each other, forgetting the past to build a future of peace and brotherhood.

Bishop Isidore Battikha, Archbishop emeritus of Homs, Syria Bishop of Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, Greek-Melkite Catholic Church

When Francis realized that the carpenter was leaving, he told him:

- My good man, how much do I owe you? Why can´t you stay with us to celebrate our reconciliation?

- No, thank you, dear friend, answered the carpenter, I still have many more bridges to be built; it is my mission…

1. The two names chosen, ‘Francis’ and ‘Cyril’ are to sym-bolize the two sister Church-es: Catholic and Orthodox.

2. To be a bridge builder is every Christian’s mission.

3. The differences be-tween Men are a wealth and not a failure.

4. What unites Chris-tians is much bigger than

what differentiates them.

5. The wooden boards used to build the bridge are: humility, forgiveness, truth. All put to-gether will give us a world of peace and serenity.

6. So that the world believes in the Cross and the Resurrection of our Lord, let us love each other, and let us forgive offences from each other, so that our Lord also forgives us our offences and gives us Peace. Because those who have no peace inside them-selves, cannot give it to the world and to the others.

INTERRELIGIOUS

In a hymn to Peace, with words of Pope Francis, that was made into a song by Odino Faccia, this beauti-ful melody is expressed like this: “For all to be one / walls don’t exist anymore / but only the value of the encounter / that is the bridge to peace / unity is the path / an alliance always open to love and truth.

Paz - Paix - Peace - Salam - Shalom - Pace - Irene - Mir ......

Sisters and brothers,


M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 61

We expected peace, and nothing is going well ... Who does not want Peace? BUT ... How to reach it in a world agitated by numerous and intriguing problems?

Christianity announces Peace with the Prince of Peace ( Jesus) (Isa. 9: 6) and continues to announce it in every assembly of the Christian Communities. Islam announces Peace among all the adherents of its religion, with a greeting that has become a worldwide symbol of the Arabic language: Alsalam Alaykoum. The Hebrews put the roots of Peace with a Shalom well-known by everyone ... Shalom, Shalom, Shalom ... and so the other religions of the Earth.

Where is the problem for reaching peace?

St. Augustine says: “Pax tranquillitas ordinis” - Peace is the tranquility of order (from Civ. Dei, XIX, 13). Yes, tranquility of order, because order is the right disposi-tion of things according to their end, and the end of every human creature is to return to God, from whom they came ... It is a bridge, between God and human-ity, a bridge that brings the Word of God to humans, through the channels of transcendence of the Sacred Books, in the different religions, which find their ori-gins in human consciousness, that is always seeking the Creator and discerning between good and evil.

But this bridge with God has to be materialized in the bridges that we have to build among men, even though they have diverse ways to God, a diversity that is a sign of our freedom.

In this world of paradoxes and constant changes, the global society has a certain homogenization, at the same time it becomes evident its enormous diversity in common spaces of coexistence. The efforts, that are carried out around the world, to foster the interreli-gious dialogue grow as the sense of uniformity and distrust towards difference grow.

The response to identity conflicts is more and more in-tense through proposals for establishing ties between the different communities of believers. Ties that do not seek to settle the differences or dissolve them in a homogeneous framework where divergences are not respected, but to assume them as part of a more com-plex work, full of nuances, less marked by an imposed ideology, where the willingness to share the journey and where mutual recognition stand out. They are ba-sic works, day to day, marked by practical principles that do not wish to be lost in impotent debates or in supposed yearnings for domination.

The religious field is sensitive to the outbreak of iden-tity conflicts, true, but it also contains its own anti-

dote: it is the field that most speaks to us about the human condition.

Dialogue or coexistence?

Dialogue in coexistence and respect ...

The goal is not to compete, but to know, share, build bridges and witness ...

The idea of dialogue is not to confuse identities, nor to do any kind of syncretism, because to build bridges we need to have a solid base on each side, we need “iodines” to balance and strengthen ... these “iodines” are humility, mercy, forgiveness, prayer and getting to know each other ....

His Holiness Pope Francis addressing the ambassa-dors in 2013 says: “Building bridges between religions for Peace”. Dialogue helps build bridges between all men so that each one finds in the other not an en-emy, not an adversary or contender, but a brother to be welcomed and embraced. We cannot build bridges between men ignoring God and His mercy, but aslo we cannot live authentic relationships with God ig-noring others.

There can be no real peace if each person is the mea-sure of themselves, if each person can always claim only their own right, without caring, at the same time, about the good of others, of all, starting from the na-ture that human beings of the earth have in common, created equally to the image and likeness of God.

when Russia became a dependant of Satan, because her land was bar-ren, he offered her the deadly fruit he keeps in store for those I love, it kills in stages, the more one eats of it the more one needs it, it is deadly, killing slowly;

True Life in God Message, January 5, 1988

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Archbishop Antoine Chahda The Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to start by thank-ing the organizers of this spe-cial meeting for inviting me to participate in this discussion on the following question:

What is the bridge that brings us together, focusing on the richness of all religions and what brings peace to the world?

Yes, it is of great importance to build bridges of hu-man communication between different cultures in order to build together the human civilization, at a time when many seek to demolish bridges and break the bonds of social cohesion, using for their cause all available means - religious and economic separation, intellectual means or weapons. So what peace are we talking about if the destructive war machine doesn’t stop, the intellectual one even before the military one?

Historically:

The Levant in general, and the city of Aleppo, in particular have known great demographic changes. From the beginning of Aleppo’s history until now, this was due to a succession of peoples bringing changes through wars, colonisation, economic developments or religion. Aleppo, which is considered the oldest city in the world, remains inhabited today. We were not immune to all these resulting changes because, from its foundation, it has known the passage of many peoples. Its name also changed several times until it settled on “Aleppo”, but in all that history, daily life continued in the city nonstop and it remains inhab-ited to this day.

Socially:

As an outcome of these changes, many of which are the result of wars and colonialism, many diverse groups of peoples settled and intermarried with the people of this city creating a diversity of cultures and languages. Aleppo has thus been enriched through the various traditions and customs that the new set-tlers brought with them.

Politically:

Aleppo remained resilient in the face of many coloniz-

ers and opened its gates only to those whom the city want-ed and through treaties that guaranteed its people’s stabil-ity and co-existence. Despite its unique geographical loca-tion, it remained an econom-ic, cultural, commercial and religious city with distinctive features rather than a city or capital of politics, princes or kings.

Economically:

Aleppo’s geographic location and its diversity of cul-tures have long made it a crossroads, a route and a sta-ble place for trade between East and West, with con-voys through it reaching India through the so-called “Silk Road”. This economic and commercial dimen-sion was distinct, thus encouraging many to choose Aleppo as a center for their commerce and trade to the east and to the west. With their trade, they car-ried their ideas, cultures and even their families. So the commercial traffic was a reason for the cultural and civil movement and even the religious one in Aleppo, where consuls, writers and missionaries live.

Religiously:

The city of Aleppo has been known since ancient times as a religious center with pagans, Christians, Jews and Muslims. Although located near the well-known city of Antioch, the city of Aleppo has its own position on the religious scene represented by saints, doctors of the Church and intellectuals from the different religions. The cultural diversity and the commercial exchange, as well as the religious ideas that the traders brought with them, were not a cause of confrontation and fighting, but of closeness and openness to the cul-ture and religion of others, with dialogue, understand-ing and acceptance.

Today:

With all the historical attributes that Aleppo has de-veloped on political, cultural, economic, religious and other levels, in spite of all the wars, natural disasters, earthquakes, famines and infectious diseases, even this last war, Aleppo is still alive. And I do not exag-gerate if I say it can still teach lessons on the ability to overcome wars, difficulties and disasters that have


M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 63

struck it, and it can remain, as it has always been, a bridge between the East and the West, between the North and the South; and it can remain the Silk Road not only for goods and trade, but also for the con-cepts of mutual respect, accepting others and living in peace, despite all the differences carried by the diverse cultures.

Aleppo, in the context of Christian religion, is an ecu-menical city par excellence. It has six Catholic and three Orthodox denominations and two evangelical communities. They live together in mutual respect, engage in periodic and monthly meetings, working together for the benefit of Christians regardless of their denomination. The same with Muslims from the different rites, for the work is to agree on what unites both religions not on what separates them. Christian clergy meet Muslim religious scholars nev-er to discuss matters of religion, or to convince one

another of their religion, but to work on mutual love and living together in peace, and staying away from all that incites tension or fanaticism, or all that leads to categorizing the followers of other faiths as infidels.

What will bring peace to Aleppo, and may also to the world, is tireless and serious work on two main pillars: human civilization and the cultural dimension. Every human being is a “human being” no matter how dif-ferent our religions or denominations are. The cultur-al factor elevates the human being to meet the other person with peace and love, moving away from every thought that leads to fanaticism, calling others infi-dels and rejecting them. Love remains the main bond that connects society in a cohesive unity and, together, this society can overcome every threat, war or menace, all those things under the banner of living properly our citizenship in one country and homeland.

Thank you.

Most Reverend Simon Atallah, oam Bishop Emeritus of Baalbek-Deir El-Ahmar (Maronite), Lebanon

Former President of the Episcopal Committee for Ecumenical Affairs

Building bridges “Today, the human race is involved in a new stage of history. Profound and rapid changes are spreading by degrees around the whole world.”(Vatican II, Gau-dium et Spes, introduction, 4) For its part, the Church wants to be a credible partner in society, rather than being relegated to the role of an authority, reduced to bles-sing or censuring. Indeed, the Church, in a constructive at-titude of dialogue, would like to participate in the innume-rable studies for purpose. The language of faith must, in fact, take account of this true social and cultural transformation (ibidem, Gaudium et Spes) in all of its forms of expres-sion. For its part, the Obser-vatory, “Faith and Culture” of the Ecumenical Council of Churches, is a place where culture today nourishes its dialogue with faith.

The Church calls on all its faithful to actively en-gage in interreligious dialogue. This dialogue between Christians and believers of other reli-

gions, in a certain sense, does not exist. Moreover, the personal character of all interreligious dialogue enables us to establish the fundamental principles of any dialogue and to measure the demands.

If we take a look at what has happened, and what happens in religious circles, especially in recent years, we find that an ever-increasing number of faith-ful of various religions have met, perhaps by chance,

not only in distant countries, but also and especially in the Middle East and Europe.

Another observation pre-vails: thanks to Mass Me-dia, it is impossible not to recognize that Christianity, although it remains the pre-dominant religion in the West, is on the interna-tional level only a religion among others. Indeed, where

other religions have played the same role, Chris-tian communities are only very small minorities. It is in this context that the Church has become aware of the need to establish contacts in a coo-perative manner with these various religions (cf.



The Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions). This policy of dialogue requires the adoption, at least, of some fundamental principles, which enables building bridges between peoples, no matter what religion they belong to.

1- Those who want to build bridges to engage in communication, or rather, in dialogue with others, must, first of all, have a deep and sincere respect for their interlocutor, whoever they may be. It is absolu-tely necessary to recognize their right to be different. It is even necessary to be touched by this difference.

If it is true that we must let ourselves be challenged by others, it follows logically that we must be ready to challenge them. Failing to do so, would be lacking respect for others, which is the very foundation of dialogue. Indeed, where the two partners in a dia-logue are not strong enough to question each other, we can wonder about the identity of their meeting. That is why: A) We are called to deeply respect the man who faces us and his religion. However, it must be admitted that in the context of interreligious dialogue, if one does not make an effort, as much as possible, to understand the religion of others, they can not truly respect that religion. B) This respect must be theologically and anthropo-logically sound. A Christian must be able to explain to himself and explain to his Christian brothers and sisters, as well as to his interlocutors, why and how he can remain totally faithful to the Christian faith and yet have a profound respect for other religions. 2- Nothing that is true and holy in other religions must be rejected. (Inculturation, Vatican II, Nostra Aetate, 2)

“Every Christian must regard with sincere reve-rence those ways of conduct and of life, those pre-cepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones the Church holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men.” (Nostra Aetate, 2)

The Muslim and Jewish religions are, of course, not left out in Nostra Aetate. On the contrary, because of the special ties which bind them to the Church and which stem from the rooting of the three traditions in the Abrahamic faith and their attachment to the One God, the Council exhorts Christians, Muslims and Jews to make an effort to better understand each other.

In their reflections on interreligious dialogue, the Fathers of the Council themselves chose to speak of the perception among peoples, “of the inhe-rent hidden power which hovers over the course of things and over the events,” that is of Traditio-nal Religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism. It would be good to ask the represen-tatives of these different religions to give a brief overview of each of the religions mentioned above. Conclusion: Interreligious dilogue is the vocation of Christianity. In a panel discussion entitled Religions in Dialogue, professors of theology and history of religions at the Catholic Institute of Paris, analyzed the attitude of the great religions towards Christianity and that of Christianity towards those great religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam and the religion of China). In their analysis of the word “dialogue”, first of all, and then of the Church’s involvement in this dialogue, these professors saw that this commitment was very often interpreted by those to whom the Church addressed it-self, as a new and well disguised method of proselytism.

For us, it is incumbent upon us to make the interre-ligious reality be often perceived as the vocation of Christianity. Indeed, the urgency of this dialogue stems from the Christian vision of man, from the faith in Jesus Christ, the Word of God made man, and from the action of the Holy Spirit. Basically, the commit-ment to interreligious dialogue concerns Christians in a particular way. It belongs to their own vocation and must be integrated into their spiritual life. Christians should always remain humble before the mystery of Christ and ready to open themselves to the spiritual intuitions of others in order to be able to penetrate them better. When Christians genuinely engage in interreligious dialogue, this humility can radiate and become the best testimony of their real respect for the mystery of God and, of course, for that of man. In the light of this concept, we can certainly go so far as to say that engagement in interreligious dialogue is inseparable from the mission that every Christian receives at the moment of their baptism. The vocation of the Christian, and therefore of every man, consists in building bridges between men to preach solidarity and spread peace through the love of the Creator of the world and of the neighbor, a citizen of planet Ear-th. Every man possesses, indeed, a depth which no one, except God, will ever be able to probe completely. To deny this would go against what makes the dignity of man in the Christian faith. Unfortunately, our daily relationships with others rarely reflect this reality.

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The Church in Vatican II “exhorts all of her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with pru-dence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the so-cio-cultural values found among these men.” (Nos-tra Aetate, 2) In his Encyclical, Redemptoris Mis-sio, Saint Pope John Paul II, stresses the permanent value of the missionary precept, which springs from

baptism, and says: “Each member of the faithful and all Christian communities are called to practice dialogue, although not always to the same degree or in the same way. The contribution of the laity is indispensable in this area, for they ‘can favor the relations which ought to be established with the followers of various religions through their example in the situations in which they live and in their activities.’ Some of them also will be able to make a contribution through research and study.” (Redemptoris missio,57)

...when I will resurrect Russia, she will restore My gifts, she will embellish My House again with love and I will unite her again to Me, I will offer her My Bread and My Wine and she will not refuse My Food, she will accept My offer and she will eat My Bread and drink My Wine renewing herself praising Me; I will clothe her with My Glory, I will adorn her majestically, I will irrigate her from My Own Springs, I will replenish her stores;

True Life in God Message, February 1, 1988

you will be My ambassador for My Affairs; I will, My child, carry you on My Shoulders in the heart of a nation who preferred to trust in wile and guile than in the Breath of My Holy Spirit; I will send you now to these who have taken Me the Holy One out of their sight; I will bring them a conversion and a salvation such as was never heard of

before nor seen before;True Life in God Message, July 21, 1992

Kremlin in Izmailovo is reflected in the lake


Sheikh Muhammad Ben Mustafa Valsan Director of the magazine “Sacred Science”

Given the theme of the day which deals with peace and the means of establishing it by communicating, I will begin by conveying my greetings to you by using two expressions which, by a fortunate coinci-dence, rhyme with one another: Es-Salâmu ‘alaykum and Pax vobiscum. This greeting normally constitutes a pledge of peace and the guarantee of complete se-curity against any form of possible aggression. It also offers the advantage of contributing to the happiness of those who address it as well as those who return it, since it is said: Blessed are the “peacemakers” (makarioi oi éirénopoloi): for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5: 9) I can not help recalling in this respect that the word Islâm itself is taken from the salama root expressing the idea of “peace” that we hear in Es-Salâmu ‘alaykum.

One can preach profitably in two ways: by good speech and by example. To illustrate this point, I will summarize briefly what may explain why I am ho-nored to be among you today. Based on a Tariqa, in other words a Fraternity, founded in the 13th century by Sheikh Abu l-Hasan ash-Shadili, the Sufi commu-nity, which I run since 1990, was established by my father in Paris in 1951. As the community expanded, particularly because of the birth of children, it soon needed a larger setting and a healthier environment. My status as a professional beekeeper enabled me to acquire, in 1994, an estate in the countryside, in the south of the city of Dijon, the capital of Burgundy known worldwide for its mustard and its fine wines.

The site that was expected to allow me to develop my professional activity included many buildings, most of them old, which had to be rehabilitated, to create dwellings and a place of worship called a zawiya. I discovered at the signing of the purchase contract that this place was historic. This was the place where Ro-bert de Molesme (1029-1111) had founded the great monastic Order of the Cistercians in 1098. I thus found myself on the primitively unhealthy, marshy and woodland, which the first monks cleared and made hospitable to establish their abbey, “oratory” as much

as “laboratory”, in accordance with the Benedictine motto orare et laborare (“to pray and to work”). The original well of the founding Father is still there. As at that time the place was covered with reeds, the new monastery took the name of Abbey of Cîteaux (a cistel designating a “reed”). Two years after their arrival, the monks moved their general center of activity two kilo-meters to the south to benefit from the abundant wa-ters of a river and they assigned the original location,

the clay of which was rich in iron, to the work of forging and tiling: the place is still called today La Forgeotte. Shortly thereafter, while the few aging and healthless monks suggested that the new Order was doomed to disappear and that it would have been only an episodic return to strict observance of the Monastic Rule of Saint

Benedict, arrived a providential savior. With about thirty companions, the one who was later to be called Saint Bernard gave the necessary and decisive impe-tus to ensure the survival and then the expansion of the Cistercian Order. The latter soon covered Europe and in a few decades included hundreds of monaste-ries to reach more than 1500 in 1250.

Our arrival in July 1994, which quickly affected more than 150 people, could not go unnoticed. We were no longer in the context of the anonymity of the cities, and very quickly some natives would consider us as Saracens who have returned. Luckily, the monks were our closest neighbors, and since good neighborly rela-tions were of major importance in Islam, this was one of our primary concerns. So I went, with a group of brothers, to knock at the door of the Abbey in order to establish the best possible relationship. Wearing our woolen robes, we were welcomed by Father-Ab-bot Dom Olivier, who was in the first year of his ab-batial office. We thus got acquainted with the monks who themselves were in their usual white uniform. The moment was solemn and it was then that I as-ked for the protection of the Father-Abbot for our community, evoking the prophetic precedent in this respect. It must be remembered that the apostolic function of the Prophet Muhammad was first attested by Christian monks. On two occasions, and well be-


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fore his mission, the young Qurayshite Muhammad had been recognized as the expected future Prophet of the Arabs. During a trip to Syria, he was identified as such when he was only twelve years old. It was a monk named Bahira who, versed in the sacred wri-tings and acquainted with certain prophecies, spotted him during his stopover in front of his convent, and who, having interrogated him and having verified cer-tain physical signs on him, was convinced of his future apostolate. The diagnosis was confirmed fifteen years later, during a second trip to the same place, by the monk Nestor who was probably a successor of Bahira. Subsequently, at the advent of the new religion, it was the cousin of his wife, Waraqa ibn Nawfal, who had embraced Christianity, who testified to the authenti-city of his elective role. Soon after, when confronted with the persecutions that were multiplying, a first group of Muslims was forced to emigrate from Mec-ca and found refuge in Abyssinia (Ethiopian Empire) with the Negus (the Monarch). Of Christian faith, the latter assured them of his royal protection. One can evaluate, from this simple summary, what the Muslims owe to the Christians of the time!

Accepting my request, the Father-Abbot of Cîteaux, whose benevolence towards us never ceased, accepted generously to watch over the protection of our small community. A friendship was thus sealed and it be-came even stronger in the course of time. Meetings to share our experiences on our respective community and spiritual lives were organized and became regu-lar. On a monthly basis, we began by exchanging our views on the data of our Sacred Texts, our rites, etc. Then the question of a common prayer soon came up.

Since there was no question of conforming to any form of syncretism, it was agreed to accomplish together a “prayer of the heart” whose silent nature would make it possible to escape any problem of compatibility. Subsequently, the desire for a shared invocation ha-ving been manifested, it was necessary to find a text suitable for it. The choice was made for a magnificent prayer by Gregory of Nazianz (329-390) which was perfectly appropriate. Addressed to the one and su-preme God, the praise begins with this call: O Thou Who art beyond all, what else may we rightly call Thee? It goes on to say: All things, both the speaking and the speechless, proclaim Thee... To Thee is the prayer of all... O Most-Named, how then shall I address Thee? Other initiatives were also taken as the ritual of washing the hands and the feet to commemorate the Abrahamic rituals of the Oak of Mamre (cf. Genesis 18:1-10) and the good welcome given to Jesus coming as a stran-

ger (cf. Matthew 25:35). To this last reference and its mention in extenso, echoes also a holy hadith (hadith qudsi) where, on the Day of Resurrection, God makes this reproach to man: “I was sick and you did not visit Me.“ The man will inquire: “Oh Lord how would I have visited You when You are the Lord of the Worlds?” He will answer him: “Did you not know that one of My servants was sick? But you did not visit him. And don’t you know that if you had visited him, you would have found Me near him?”

If the happy rapprochement between our communi-ties enjoyed a blessed space, it must be said that the time was also, from the beginning, particularly auspi-cious. On August 20, 1994, the new Burgundian seat of the Tariqa was inaugurated on St. Bernard’s Day. It turns out that this date marked a rather exceptional moment of conjunction. That year, on the 20th of Au-gust, the solar calendar corresponded to the Mawlid an-Nabi, that is to say on the anniversary of the Birth of the Prophet on the 12th of the month of Rabi al-Awwal of the lunar calendar. The likelihood of such a coincidence is low, given that the year is 365 days and a quarter according to the first calculation and 354 days and a third according to the second, which results in a lag of approximately 11 days between the two annual cycles and one year roughly every 33 years. What added value to this astonishing and rare conjunction is that it seems to have occurred precisely at the very birth of the Prophet, if one relies on the data of Martin Lings, the author of a biography of the the Prophet (cf. Le Prophète Muhammad, chapter 7, p.33, Paris, 1977).

In order for this kind of harmony to exist, so that the ensuing peace can last, it is necessary, above all, that the actors would be people predominantly animated by right intention and goodwill, having in view the interest of God in their work. To be convinced of this, it should only remember the praise transmitted by Saint Luke (2:14) and based on the Vulgate es-tablished by St. Jerome: Gloria in altissimis Deo and in terra pax in hominibus bonae voluntatis (“Glory To God in the highest heaven and Peace on earth to men of Good Will”).

It is obvious that this communication is too brief to answer correctly the question: How to bridge our di-visions and bring peace to the world? Doubtless, it raises more questions than it answers. I hope, however, that it will be seen as a first contribution to the more than ever necessary implementation of constructive meetings for peace.


His Grace Archbishop Martin S. Jumoad Archbishop of Ozamis, Philippines

Good day to each and everyone! I am asked to speak on a topic entitled: “How to bridge our divisions and bring peace to the world.” I do not claim to be the expert on this and in fact, in my daily life, I struggle to live with it.

Allow me to bring to your attention the first book of the Holy Book of the Christians, particularly in Gen. 2:18-24. Here we are told that God created man and woman in His image and likeness. They are not set apart in isolation but in harmony with each other - where there is an assurance of freedom (in the garden), various possibilities for food (the trees of the garden), work (the command to cultivate), and above all com-munity (the gift of someone who is like himself ) Gen 2: 18-24.

However, through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, sin entered into the world. This was exacerbated with man’s refusal to accept his condition as creature with the episode of the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9). In the divine plan, all people had “one language” and the same words but humanity became divided, turning its back on the Creator. But the Almighty has never turned away from us. He sent men and women to guide us to the path of righteousness so that we may live in peace, harmony, love, understanding, etc. among ourselves.

The mission to preach peace, harmony, love, under-standing, etc. rests on each and everyone of us. The following are areas where we concretize the “bridging of our divisions” and attain peace:

1. In the family, parents must teach their children to be merciful and forgiving

Last November 30, 2016, I left my former assignment

where I spent 33 years i.e. 19 years as priest and 14 years as Bishop of the Prelature of Isabela de Basilan, and as-sumed as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ozamis. I mention this because Basilan before 1972 was peaceful; it is a place where both Christians and Muslims lived together harmoniously. However, when Islam funda-mentalists in the early 80’s from Afghanistan came to Basilan teaching Muslims to hate the Christians, the relationship between Muslims and Christians became bad. Now, the bias is heightened due to painful ex-periences which led to killing each other. Basilan is in Mindanao where both Muslims and Christians are suspicious of each other. This must stop. It can be healed when parents of every family, whether Christian or Muslim, will tell stories to their children about how they lived in the past when there was peace, mercy, love and forgiveness in the community. We must remember that it is in the family in which a child receives his first formative ideas about truth and goodness. It is in the family where a child learns what it means to love and to be loved. Parents must tell stories to their children on how to strengthen the bond of peace and harmony in-stead of telling stories that ignite hatred and vengeance. There is high hope we can bridge the division and at-tain peace if parents mirror their lives to their children about mercy, forgiveness, love, respect, harmony, under-standing, cooperation and unity.

2. Another area that can bridge our division and bring peace to the world is through works of Charity or works of kindness

Why can’t kindness be our way of life? Deep within there is the instinct to help and reach out to offer a helping hand. Deep within ourselves also there is a tiny voice that tells us to wait, otherwise if there are problems you will be held accountable.

In Marawi, Lanao del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines, the Maute (ISIS affiliated) wanted to establish an Islamic State and as a result there is War in that portion of Min-danao and Martial Law was declared last May 23, 2017 until December 31, 2017. There were many casualties on the part of the Maute terrorist group and as well as on the side of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. There were also civilians who died in this war. When it happened, last May 23, 2017, there were students who were trapped because it was the enrolment period for schools. There was a Christian student who was inter-viewed by the media and he thanked a Muslim student


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who protected him and saved rescued him in the pro-cess. The Christian student said: “I am grateful to God I am alive. This is because God used a Muslim student to protect me and rescued me from the Maute terror-ist group. Without his helping hand, I would have been dead by now.” Here we realize that acts of kind-ness or works of charity are always well appreciated. Here’s an advice from an author Og Mandino:

“Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understand-ing you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.” Why can’t kindness be our way of life? Why postpone doing works of Charity? Acts of Kindness can bridge the division and by that we can attain world peace. 3. Dialogue

This is very important in bridging the division and bringing peace to the world. We must get the pulse or sentiments of other people. In other words, the need for dialogue. We need to listen to others and allow reason to rule in us. We must not become emotional and never allow emotions to prevail. When we talk, we have to open ourselves and set aside biases. We do not prejudge others. Nobody feels superior instead one must feel on an equal footing with one another. A sense of superiority would be the hindrance for dia-logue. Equality serves as the basis for dialogue.

Do not allow painful memories to continue to exist in our consciousness. If there is no healing of painful memories, we can never participate in dialogue.

In Basilan, most priests accept in theory the neces-sity for dialogue but their heart refuses to do it. This is because the beheading of captive Catholics by Abu Sayyaf continues. Just recently, last July 20, 2017, seven Catholics who were farmers were abducted and later on, because they could not give ransom, they were be-headed. The clergy of Basilan are for dialogue but their hearts refuse to do it. Dialogue is very important to bridge the division and attain peace.

4. Be forgiving and merciful.

Everybody has experienced being hurt by someone. This is normal as we interact with each other. However, we must have a forgiving and merciful heart. If we can-not forgive, this leads to hatred where the person may plan for vengeance. By all means, we need to possess a forgiving and merciful heart.

In the words of Pope Francis: “A little bit of mercy

makes the world less cold and more just.”

People may think we are fools if we forgive those who do us wrong. But to forgive is divine. The heart of the gospel is about mercy and forgiveness. We can win trust and confidence if we are merciful and forgiving. This is one way to bridge our division and bring peace to the world.

5. Another aspect which may bridge the division and bring peace to the world is when we can accept oth-ers’ differences

Every person is unique. We have unique expressions of life. As long as our ways promote friendship and harmony, we must not be embarrassed to present our-selves to others. Accept other people and give them importance.

Lastly, we need to be involved and actively participate in activities of organizations that promote peace. Even if there are obstacles in doing this, we have to continue doing it. At the same time, we pray to the Almighty to give us peace.

Our activities, our efforts must be grounded in prayer. He is the “Prince of Peace” and giver of Peace! He is the God of Peace! All our efforts will be nothing if we are not grounded in the Almighty. We have to pray! If ev-erything is done, then let us lift this up to the Almighty. Let us do our share and the Almighty will bless it.

In everything I have said, this must start within oneself. Please allow me to tell this story:

I Wanted To Change The World

Author: Unknown Monk 1100 A.D.

“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.

I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.

When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.

Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the na-tion and I could indeed have changed the world.”

Brothers and sisters let us contribute something to bridge the division and attain peace. This must start within ourselves.


Sheikh Mohammed Ali El-Hajj Ali Al-Amili Director of the Seminary of Imam As-Sajjad, Beirut

Towards a Spring of Faith

Introduction

With all of today’s world achievements, and after the religions have gone through various steps, up and down, it has become mandatory for us to answer a number of questions that have imposed themselves on our actuality:

- What role must religion assume in the era of global-ization and with the domi-nation and leadership of pol-itics due to the economic and military systems?

-What is the way to spread advanced and enlightened concepts in the religions that go with the times, so that the journey of the religions does not stay behind the current culture!?

-What relationship must prevail between the religions of planet Earth now that all peoples are connected to each other by the advanced means of communica-tions!?

-Does the need for religion still exist in our era, par-ticularly in the huge progress in materialism?

Likewise, the questions and doubts about the reli-gions’ role and their future multiply.

However, first we need to admit that existential dan-gers - so to speak - threaten the religions, due to many factors, as if the religions - with all their experience - have not reconciled with the societies of our age! Their ways and literature are still behind our modern age! And religion has not stayed in its own domain, without injustice and violation, injustice against reli-gion, or violation in areas that are not related to re-ligion. In other words, the work of religion has not been arranged in its own specified space in a spon-taneous and a smooth way; that’s what explains the huge gap between the era and the religions.

The prospects for Religion in the 21st century

After the religions have accumulated rich experiences that they have learned during a long period of time, mainly those religions that came before Islam, and af-ter spread of the bloody conflicts based on abhorrent

denominational backgrounds between Muslims, and in the Arab societies, after what has been termed “The Arab Spring,” and with the increase of the political Islam; it is time to speak objectively and frankly about the issues and concerns of religion, and about its re-quired role in our modern world.

Therefore, reference should be made to a number of quick points:

- First: between “Faith” and “Religion”:

In general, people focus on religious manifestations, in-cluding the rites that could be transformed into mere empty customs, without penetrating into the depth of the sincere faith that is re-

quired to take root in our souls.

There is a huge difference between “faith” in the Al-mighty God, who is the main foundation, the essence, and between “religions,” their manifestations, their rites, that differ from one people to another, from one religion to another, they even vary due to time fac-tors. Therefore, the human influence is clear in all re-ligious systems, if not to say that all the literature and thought of the religions are man made.

Faith is then a common space between all believers in the Almighty God, contrary to the religious frames that differ, in form, between one religion and another, even between one denomination and another also.

Today, we have become obliged to increase our respect for believers, all believers, even when they don’t agree on the ritual forms, the ritual ways, and other things that only represent the outer layers of religion.

If we manage to move our focus from the manifes-tations of the religion to the essence of faith, then the space of what is in common between the follow-ers of the religions will be widened to its maximum. - Secondly: Diversity, and its importance:

“Diversity” is God’s norm in His creation, it is the source of the true value of humans, for repeated and similar copies of a human being don’t make sense. The progress that humanity has reached was a reflection of the capacity for diversity and difference that humans


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sisters in humanity. There is nothing more honorable than this bond.

b - Successors of God on His Earth:

This planet, where we live in its vast spaciousness, is our big home; it is our responsibility to protect it and develop it. It has been entrusted to us and we all share in managing it.

c- Belief in the Almighty God:

Who created us, and we have differed on His descrip-tion and teachings but we haven’t differed on His ex-istence and believing in Him.

d- Same Fate:

We will all leave this life and journey towards the Al-mighty God. Death is our fate, it unites us, since we are on the same journey, in the same train that will transport us to a place that we currently ignore, but where we will join each other again. And meet there. Therefore, God, life and money bring us together.

Global Peace

To be short - and I took a long time - I end by saying:

After all human expertise during the successive past millenniums; it is time for us to realize that peace is the product of human goodwill, and it is the result of disciplining and training the soul which brings forth inner peace that will reflect as social and political peace.

Religions, as the political systems, are a reflection of the human work, culture, understanding and aware-ness. These religions and countries don’t give peace unless the humans, who belong to them, possess it.

It is man that imprints nations with his impres-sion, and imprints religions with his impres-sion; so it is more effective to ask for peace from man directly, in isolation from his religious in-clinations, that may not have a magic recipe!! True Life in God Pilgrimage

Finally, I don’t think we could find among us here deeper intellectual words other than this scene, be-cause this common field “pilgrimage” is the best ex-pression and is more effective than intellectual re-searches, in explaining the dimensions and the aims of the monotheistic and other religions.

To do this pilgrimage together means that we have overcome many social obstacles that hide often un-

have, since it is the way to change our reality and to come up with preferable ways to live life.

That’s what we should realize at the intellectual, spiri-tual and doctrinal levels. Diversity in these fields is also a source of richness and progress. When we start from this constant, the annoyances between the fol-lowers of the various religions will disappear.

- Thirdly: Regression of the gap between religions:

The nature of experience and expertise that the reli-gions have gained will make the gap between them recede, and the future will witness an inevitable rap-prochement, given that things would be set straight, until all religions would be placed in the same boat, despite their differences in some visions and rituals, but the most important field that will direct its course is the circle of its concerns, as well as its perspectives and challenges.

After the “Arab Spring” has broken out in our region - with the aim to adjust the structure of the systems that suffer from many political illnesses, at the level of suppression of freedoms, absence of power alterna-tion, and tyranny - I have called at that time to begin a different kind of spring, I called it “The Religious Spring,” of course that spring is not subjected to any religious or geographical limits.

The reform of the spiritual aspects represents the es-sence of religion and its objective, and the righteous-ness of the human’s spirit is the natural beginning to reform society. That can happen through a balance between humans’ religious and material lives, and af-ter the human being satisfies their spiritual hunger, and feed their mind with values and principles. Then we could only expect goodness out of this person, and he will become like bees “putting only nectar.”

How to bridge our divisions?

You did well choosing the theme “How to bridge our divisions?” because we really need to build bridges be-tween all who are different intellectually, politically, ethnically and ideologically. That difference - as we mentioned earlier - is God’s norm in His creation, and a human concern that accompanies us in our journey on this planet.

And to comment on the theme - as you know - many things bring us together, rather too many things:

a - Human Brotherhood:

That’s the main common denominator, we are all the children of Adam, therefore, we are all brothers and


der the cloak of religion. Any obstacle in the face of such a gathering between those who are religiously different comes from an unreligious source. No di-vine religious system can contain other than the com-mon good for all humans, without the social patterns that some followers of the religions may practice, and which contain some discrimination against the fol-lowers of other religions for that is far from the spiri-tuality of the tolerant religions...

This “pilgrimage” is an act that God loves, it’s all good for humanity, and our final (after death) wage for it is not less than the wage we will receive for the devo-tions and rituals that we practice, for this is a universal devotion not just a trip.

Our meeting is a responsibility, and our gathering alone gives us value, a human value, that imposes on us more human-religious responsibilities, so we can

become messengers of goodness, peace, love and com-munication ... between all humans, with all their cul-tures, religions, races...

With the hope to meet again in a new pilgrimage, and until then, this pilgrimage remains our own responsi-bility, in its spirituality and background, to translate the expertise of this recurrent pilgrimage and invest them in our societies.

I still have to thank the competent Mrs. Vassula Ryden and all the workers of “True Life in God” and the host country Russia.

Many thanks to all participants.

To Vassula, I wish her longevity and good health to remain a model for charity and generosity, and the best messenger of peace and harmony among humans.

Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein Director The Elijah Interfaith Institute

My name is Alon Goshen Gottstein, I’m a Rabbi, an academic and an author of more than a dozen books on interfaith relations and collaborative research projects. 20 years ago I founded, and still direct, a global organization called The Elijah Interfaith In-stitute. Our task has been to deepen understanding, foster friendship and increase unity between religious leaders and communities worldwide. Through study, spiritual sharing and a rich program we have trans-formed the attitudes and mind sets of thousands of religious leaders and practitioners, developing friend-ship and trust, including many of the voices you will hear today. I am grateful to Vassula for her ongoing work that is so much in line with our own. And I was deeply moved when she decided to feature the video of friendship made by religious leaders at the opening of this gathering and to recommend that all of you see it and share it further. It is a sign of deep commonal-ity of vision, and for that I give thanks to God.

I would like to share my message with you as a kind of commentary on what is already my message, and my life vocation – a message and vocation of friendship across religions.

Making friends across religions is actually a novel concept. All religions have and promote the so-called Golden Rule. This is true of literally all religions, East and West, from Islam to Confucius, from Judaism to Buddhism. Let me share one well known example from my tradition. A noted rabbi, around the time

of Jesus, Hillel was his name, once was asked to teach the entire Torah to someone who was standing on one leg. He summed it up as follows: “Do not do to oth-ers what you would not want done to yourself. That’s the whole Torah, the rest is explication”, he said. This Golden Rule, whether presented in terms of what to do or what not to do, is present in all world religions.

But in today’s world we need to go further. We need to find positive meaning in relationships and we need to provide the antidote to hatred, intolerance and vio-lence. This requires a teaching of friendship and de-veloping this as a common message of world religious leaders is an important development, even a small rev-olution, in terms of the teachings of religions. For the most part, they have emphasized friendship within, not friendship to all. Affirming an active friendship to the religious other is thus an important moment and a sign of the times. It shows how religion and religious leaders can articulate a new and appropriate message, when so many consider they not only have nothing meaningful to say but that they are indeed the source of the problem.

Of course, we can’t deny that in the books of many re-ligions you can find texts that are not very open, even hostile, to people of other faiths. When the world’s most important leaders call for friendship, they are in fact affirming a particular way of practicing religion and rejecting another; they are preferring some texts over others, and are either drawing on historic prece-


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dents or creating them, over and against other models that have emerged. In this they exercise their leader-ship to the full.

This will allow you to appreciate why as a scholar, and as a leader of leaders and as someone who works within all religious traditions to help them advance to greater unity and harmony, this is a great personal moment for me. Whatever else this moment is, it is also a moment of great and authentic spiritual teaching. And in today’s world, as I have discovered through decades of working with religious leaders, authentic spiritual teaching can, and must, be delivered jointly by teachers of different re-ligions.

It is the reality that religions can cultivate friendship and understanding. It is a real-ity that is already lived by a group of premier world reli-gious leaders, and many, many others. Yet, it’s also a reality that is almost a secret and is unknown by the common person.

Why is this a secret and why does the man on the street not know that people can be friends across re-ligions? I can offer 3 reasons for it, and no, I am not going to blame the media:

1. Religions are meant to raise humanity to spir-itual heights. Love of the other and the deep-er unity of mankind are fundamental teach-ings of all religions. But religions, sadly, often enough serve group interests and enforce par-ticular identities, at the expense of the higher calling of religion. So religions in some way can malfunction in certain contexts.

2. (local) Religious leaders do not receive the best training, because they are often trained only in the particularity of their tradition and its preservation, they often do not come to understand the higher teachings of their own religions.

3. Religion is all too often intertwined with poli-tics, and that causes a loss of spiritual vision. This sometimes leads to violence, religious competition and hatred and rejection of the other.

But this need not be the case. Religious leaders are of central importance to all traditions and have been able to rise above limitations often associated with re-ligion. And today the most prominent leaders of the world’s major religions are delivering a common vi-sion of friendship to the world at large.

And that’s why this appeal is so important. It reminds us of the highest teachings of our religions. Let me

refer to my own tradition. The Jewish people have suffered such persecution for thousands of years that within Judaism a kind of spiritual xenophobia has taken hold. Yet, recalling Judaism’s higher teachings of divine unity, love and compassion for all, allows teachers and authorities within Judaism to recall something that is higher than historical circum-stance, the pain it created

and the natural urge to latch on to painful memory. So, when a figure like R. Nachman of Breslav speaks of compassion as the universal value for all, or when Rav Kook speaks of the notion of universal friendship, they are reminding us of the kind of Judaism we want to live today, and what I, and many others, consider to be the spiritually true and authentic Judaism.

The same goes for Christianity. Speaking as a Chris-tian (a privilege that I have as an interfaith entrepre-neur) I (that is Bishop Stephen Sykes of the Church of England) note that there have been two voices in the Christian tradition. One hostile, the other hospi-table to the other. The issue of hospitality is a burning issue today and a foundation for extending friend-ship to others. When we realize that the hostile voice emerged from a community that was fighting for its survival and for its identity, as Bishop Sykes suggests, then we are free to recover the core message of the tradition – one of friendship and hospitality.

I’m grateful that the world’s most prominent religious leaders were willing to make this appeal and my dream is that this appeal will stimulate the man and woman in the street to rethink the attitudes they hold and actually open up to friendship across religions and to learning about other faiths, so that the friendship and the relationships are real, solid and long-lasting.

A call is amazing. But we need to help people to take practical steps to realize the call. This is why we’ve


to make friends – share a meal, engage in conversa-tion, take a walk.

The toolkit for religious leaders helps cultivate an at-mosphere of respectful sharing and learning, offering principles of study and texts that can be studied, as a way of cultivating friendship and enhancing mutual understanding.

So, my message and my request to all of you is simple. Don’t stop with watching a video or clapping hands. Take it further. There is inspiration from the world’s premier leaders on our dedicated youtube channel. There are suggestions and advice for making friends. Don’t applaud from the gallery. Join the movement, make it your own and share the fruit with others.Thank you.

designed toolkits, one for the common person, where she can find recommendations for practising friend-ship across religions in every day life. The other is for religious leaders, and it seeks to equip them with the principles and method by means of which they can bring positive change and positive relationships to their communities. I’d therefore like to use this moment to issue an invitation to the man and the street, but in particular to the thousands of local lead-ers worldwide, to download toolkits we have devel-oped in order to implement and advance a commu-nity oriented program of cultivating friendship across religions.

The universal toolkit makes specific recommenda-tions, as do the religious leaders in our appeal, for how

ah daughter, My Eyes wept ceaselessly to see this nation reduced to silence by the sword; priests and prophets were made prisoners and were forced to dwell in darkness; many of them were slaughtered pitilessly before My very Eyes; - this nation who at one time honoured Me and praised Me openly, radiant as a sapphire, a Citadel of delights, was re-duced into a waterless country of drought, by the sins and crimes of the world; I tell you, daughter, Russia, your sister, has not yet shown you what she will accomplish in My Name; pray, pray for this Glorious Day;

the Day of Festival has yet to come and how I wish it were here already!

True Life in God Message, September 3, 1991

Altar to celebrate Liturgies at hotel

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Sheikh Nizam Boukhzam President of the Lebanese House Establishment for Environment

Druze DenominationThe Journey of Peace

Dear ones .. Who stand before me representing all religions, races and nationalities.

Nothing prevents us from meeting here and nothing hinders our communication. But - most importantly - we must know how to communicate, what is the subject of our dialogue and what is the reason behind it.

We should not repeat the language that does not serve our unity and does not safeguard our companionship.We should not focus on learning how to speak and how to dialogue. It is more important to learn how to apply our words and the content of our dialogue sessions. Words are useful only if followed by deeds, otherwise it’s cunning, deceit and gossip.

Ladies and Gentlemen, coming from far and wide, what have you seen here, and what about the situation in your countries? What obliges you here to accept others while, in your hometown, you refuse them and maybe kill them? Isn’t that contradiction and duality? Do we boast about our humanity and our openness only in front of other people but, in our own countries, we live and practice what is truly within us? The question, ladies and gentlemen, needs to be asked and repeated. What do we really want and do we really accept others?!

Maybe we need a minute of silence to mourn the dishonesty that we practice against ourselves in the first place and then against others. Let’s kill then this evil spirit that accompanies us and possesses us and live then with a new spirit that, hopefully, will [be] simple and not malicious!

Ladies and Gentlemen, in the world we have those who have really worked for unity and coexistence. But their work was individual and dangerous.

Because the language of love and good has many enemies whose capabilities are big enough to silence any voice that contradicts their deceit.

We have contributed through the Lebanese House Establishment for the Environment, over which I have the honor to preside and which I previously had the honor to establish, to highlight the question of citizenship as it deserves. We tried not to speak for the sake of speaking. And not to repeat ourselves as well as the theories around that complex subject.

But we wanted through that to try and make each person ask themselves about this issue: “Did my way of thinking ascend to the level of humanity?”

From there, we entered into a different mindset, away from the glamorous slogans that each person will end up forgetting, because the goal is to serve the community, not just brainstorming and wasting time.

Ladies and Gentlemen ...

I invite myself and I invite you to say only what we really feel within us. Because the situation today, tomorrow and yesterday, requires only inner sincerity that will be reflected in external deeds. Otherwise, our meetings will remain within known limitations.

I don’t call upon you today to be humanitarian, but my call for you today is to be reasonable. Humanity without reason does not work. And reason without knowledge causes damage instead of benefit.

The consequences of our humble work can spread into a vast geographic area. Because where there is a will, all obstacles are removed and when the visions are one, all the ideas are understood the way they should be understood.

I end my speech by saying...

Think once and one hundred thousand times before you destroy the lives of others through the words you utter. And think thousands of times before you even think so that your thinking remains the action of reason and knowledge.

May you remain makers of good and I wish you Peace.



His Eminence Telesphore P. Cardinal Toppo Archbishop of Ranchi, Roman Catholic Church, India

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Life is a great pilgrimage and all of us are pilgrims in the journey of life. I am also one of the pilgrims in your affectionate company and it gives me great joy that you have asked me to welcome this august gath-ering, the pilgrims of peace. Yes, I accord a very warm welcome to all of you to this pilgrim convention as well to have a deep reflection on the theme of this pil-grimage, “How to bridge our divisions and bring peace to the world.” In fact, I wish to welcome you to this great mis-sion of healing love that bridges divisions and brings peace to each of us and to the world. Moscow de-rives its name from the Moskva River, which has been flow-ing for ages and to this day. Generations and generations have lived around this riv-er as pilgrims in this journey of life. The river itself is a beautiful symbol of our pilgrimage to God as the river flows towards its destination. In fact, in the case of the Moskva River, it flows into the Oka River which in turn flows into the Volga in its journey towards the Caspian Sea. The spring of love that wells up in our hearts and mingles with the springs in the hearts of others makes the journey towards our desti-nation much more joyous and beautiful. Welcome to each of you, the Moskva, the Oka and the Volga. Yes, welcome to you my brothers and sisters in this ancient city of Moscow.

The world needs peacemakers, the children of God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God,” said Jesus in His famous Sermon on the Mount. The unfortunate reality is that divisions are multiplying in the world. We are divided in so many ways and so many issues. A simple analysis of the prevailing divisions in the world would reveal to us that love in our hearts has been replaced by greed, violence, arrogance, and as Pope Francis says, “the use and throw culture” prevalent in the society. Respect and reverence for the other is paramount in bridging

divisions and bringing peace to the world. Everyone born on this earth deserves a dignified life. Every creature has an inherent purpose and nothing can be destroyed to satiate one’s greed, or to establish false supremacy. The world needs to understand this in-alienable truth and we have a great mission here as pilgrims of peace.

Pope Francis, in his message for World Peace Day 2014, said, “Fraternity is an essential human qual-

ity, for we are rela-tional beings. A lively awareness of our re-latedness helps us to look upon and to treat each person as a true sister or brother; without fraternity it is impossible to build a just society and a solid lasting peace.” Yes, fraternity is the foundation and path-way to peace. Frater-nity is a living bond that unifies hearts and minds and makes us

peacemakers in the world. Pride builds walls between people while humility, the very essence of fraternity, builds bridges and quietly births peace. We have a call, therewith, to transform the society through our acts of goodness flowing forth to the other and to the whole of creation from the divine spring within each of us. This life in God and this is life from God.

I am extremely happy that we have gathered from dif-ferent faiths as brothers and sisters bound together by the same love of God. In Him we are one and in Him we will remain one is the message manifested in and through this august gathering. I pray that our togetherness and the open reflections will make us the real instruments of peace to this world torn apart for various reasons. Peace is a gift as well as a task and re-sponsibility. Peace is not a tranquilizer but the great-est energizer to be always alive, vibrant and passionate to the cause of peace. We are the sons and daughters of God and therefore we are implicitly the peacemak-ers. Once again, welcome to all of you and let us be vibrant peacemakers.


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If people were to seriously heed God’s calling to prayer, all men and women would be saints already. If one ac-cepted and practiced the Unity in diversity among the Churches, as the Lord is asking, already there would be a hope that the Prayer of Jesus to the Father will be accomplished. If every human being responded to God’s Love which He deploys in His Message of True Life in God for each one of us, our lives would turn into a Hymn of Love. If people took seriously the warnings of Christ about Satan’s fury in these last days, the latter would have been already conquered and banished from men’s hearts and from the world. If all the religions of the world would answer God’s calling to reconciliation, all men and women would already recognize each other as brothers and sis-ters, descending from one Source.

And if everyone realized that we are living in a time of ineffable Grace and Mercy and that God in full power is renewing His creation, we would never cease praising God night and day and our hearts will turn into a blazing furnace of zeal!

Let us learn from the Prophets of old, how on their way they learned self-renunciation, self-denial by putting God’s Interests and God Himself first in their life. They learned to strip themselves from their ego, and their will.

Let us today become warriors of righteousness asking God for an untamable courage, to let our zeal and love we have for God be directed towards the good and the glory of God. We may be weak, but God will sustain us in His strength. We may not have it easy, but in our struggle we can put our trust in God who will teach us how to persevere and to accomplish our mission by glorifying Him.

We must allow God to strip us from all that is worldly so as to imprint in us His Own Holy Image. Hard as our oppressors may harry us, we shall not be broken or overpowered, but instead they will cringe at our pres-

ence. In our poverty of spirit, we will give God the possibility to invade us with His Light enlightening us with Wisdom; in our wretchedness and incapacity, God will give us nobility of spirit to carry out His Word fearlessly.

Therefore, let us flee from the complacency the world is offering us and the comfort, and let us break this safe cocoon we’ve weaved ourselves into, and break our shackles and free ourselves, to earn what the prophets of old times received; and our soul will turn into a fountain of tears with repentance when we real-ize Who was the One outside the door of our heart knocking throughout all of these years.

Jesus said to me one day, “never let anything dis-courage you if peace does not come right away, for have you ever heard of a country born in one day? As the earth makes fresh things grow, as a garden makes seeds spring up, so will your Creator make both integrity and peace spring up in the sight of all the nations when your prayers will reach Him.”

I will end up by giving you a small example of a tree: All the branches of a tree are holy if the root is holy. No doubt some of the branch-es have been cut off, and, like shoots of wild olive, you have been grafted among the rest to share with them the rich sap provided by the olive tree itself, but still, even if you think yourself superior to the other branches, remember that you do not support the root; it is the root that supports you. And the root is God.

Therefore, all of us have not only an important role to play in maintaining peace and unity but an obligation. I sincerely hope that the day will come that through our efforts we will achieve the peace that all of us are aiming at and that God expects from us and that we can say sincerely one day to one another: “my brother, my sister.”

Vassula’s Ending Speech in RussiaThe Question of Peace


Words of Appreciation Vassula responds to letters of appreciation from VIPs who participated in the

True Life in God pilgrimage in Russia Dear Distinguished Guests,

I thank you all very much for your kind and encouraging words of appreciation. Our gathering was indeed wonderful and we give glory to God who made our Pilgrimage realizable according to His Will and to put our speeches into action. I strongly believe that God wanted to assemble us in this way to show us through this gathering, that He, our Creator, the only Source of Life who breathed in us His Spirit giving us life, we all belong to Him and that we are all His Own, His children, infinitely loved by Him. We are blessed to be His seed, and of kingly descent.

God wanted to remind us all that our world that is living in constant turmoil needs ambassa-dors of Love and Peace, who are unable to become self-satisfied, but are able to repay evil with love and sacrifice, becoming an image of holiness. And as Scriptures say: (Rm 13: 10) Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbor; that is why it is the answer to every one of the Commandments.

We met humbly in this way, as a big family to share not only this journey together but also our eagerness and willingness to find ways of how to bridge our divisions.

It is written in our Scripture: (Rm 11: 33-36) How rich are the depths of God – how deep His Wisdom and Knowledge – and how impossible to penetrate His motives or understand His methods! Who could ever know the Mind of the Lord? Who could ever be His counsellor? Who could ever give Him anything or lend Him anything? All that exists comes from Him; all is by Him and for Him. To Him be glory for ever! Amen.

I’m never ashamed to witness of my experience with Jesus, who is my Teacher, and my Coun-sellor and that all my spiritual knowledge comes from Him and the Father. I rely and relied entirely on the power of God who called me by His own grace, undeservedly, for His own purpose to be a witness of His Mercy, Love and Unity in diversity. I have always put my trust in God and always will.

In Christ,

Vassula

Letters of Appreciation

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 79

SuJit Kumar barua retireD Senior DeveLopment SpeciaLiSt, embaSSy oF Japan, DhaKa anD vp banGLaDeSh bouDDha KriSti pracher SanGha, DhaKa, banGLaDeSh Dear Friend, I had my mental preparation of reciting my written poem in evening of the 9th September, 2017 i.e. during the valedictory speech session; but it has not been possible due to severe time constraint. For this reason, I have thought it appropriate to personally forward to you. Please read the poem which is self-explanatory and come forward without any laziness. With kindest regards.

VASSULA RYDÉN: AN ILLUSTRIOUS DAUGHTER ON EARTH

For the last eight days, we have been gathered here,

From all over the world, we are very near and dear.

From all continents, we responded the call of Vassula Ryden,

This venue has become the center of unity for men and women.

Like the previous ones, we are in Ecumenical Pilgrimage,

A congregation of peace, unity among people of all age.

Vassula called all of us for ecumenism, unity and reconciliations,

So to build a pure land of religious harmony among the nations.

All her speeches, letters, essays have contributed on spirituality,

The result of which we could see the real peace and tranquility.

The divine messenger has not only united followers of all denominations,

But also consolidated the people of other faiths and their inner visions.

Vassula is complaisant, refulgent, prudent and enormously magnanimous,

And Bangladeshi people of all faiths pay their homage to her so much.

In recognition, she was accorded with both Visuddhananda and Atisha award,

Which has augmented indeed her very life-long dedication and to move forward.

Here are Philippine priests and laities of the country of Ramon Magsaysay Prize,

In my mind, Vassula is the deserving personality of such an Asian Nobel size.

I moreover humbly draw the attention of my Norwegian and Swedish friends,

Nobel Prize for Peace – 2019 should be justifiably in our Vassula’s holy hands.

Let us start the work plan and have a determined vision,

All of us in respective countries shall initiate the mission.

Let us approach to our parliament members of Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Former Recipients, Professors, Academicians and others of all the region.

Moreover, we shall proceed to the Members of Norwegian Nobel Committee,

As well as former Permanent Advisors, Norsk Nobel Institute that are pretty.

Let us send our strong recommendation for Vassula from each world corner,


Who has greatly contributed in establishing peace, the illustrious fore-runner.

Hello, Nobel Committee for Peace, please listen to our loud and united voice,

Nobody can be so much deserving in present world, Vassula is our only choice.

Under the very large umbrella of The True Life in God Foundation,

Let us have concerted efforts to widely disseminate her peace mission.

Long live Vassula Rydén with sound health and mind,

Who earned world-wide reputation and are so much kind.

Fr. John abberton roman cathoLic prieSt, enGLanD

Dear Vassula,

Since the medallion is in the same focus as the tower of the Mosque, it cannot be a reflection. There are two other circles, one higher and less distinct and one below. I cannot say what these are but they could be drops or particles on the phone lens or something on the bus window. The circle below looks like the orbs we see in many pictures. I do not believe the photo is a fake which means that it must be a gift from God.

As far as the Pilgrimage is concerned, this photo is enough for me to believe that it was inspired by Christ and was the work of the Holy Spirit. To begin with I was unsure about the emphasis on inter-faith dialogue, especially with Muslims and the Druze.

Unfortunately, because of my hearing difficulties etc. I was not able to use the translator equipment, so I did miss the content of some of the speeches. I thought some of the speeches were repetitive and did not speak directly enough, but it was necessary and the Spirit was present. The inter-faith meeting in the Synagogue did not impress me very much because there was actually very little dialogue; it was mainly just each person giving a short talk. The only dialogue came from the Rabbi. But the Spirit was there. It was something of a breakthrough.

I believe Christ is reaching out to everyone because the time is now very short and we must love and respect each other. Many people are turning to Christ (as we heard) but many will not. However, you mentioned the example of Mother Teresa and I really believe that she was a gift to the Church of our time and that in her ministry we find the key to removing fear and hostility.

Christ is more loving than we think, more gentle, more forgiving than we know, and He is reaching out to everyone. Once I said that I thought that as a priest I should not get in His way, and so I am open to what He may be doing in these days. Who are we to decide how God should act? We know nothing. When the Spirit moves we should move and if it truly is the Spirit, we will know by the gift of discernment. God is wonderful but too often we try to contain Him.

The Catholic Church was given a wonderful vision through the life and work of St. John Paul II. I believe this same vision is being set forth by Pope Francis (not without flaws!). If we look at Pope Francis and fail to see simplicity, humility and mercy, we do not understand the man, nor do we understand what Christ is doing

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SheiKh nizam bouKhzam, preSiDent oF the LebaneSe houSe eStabLiShment For environmen, Druze Denomination

Good morning everyone,

It was a successful trip mainly because we got to know the admirable persons that you are.

The biggest thanks goes to our sister Vassula and her organizing team and to our brothers Georges, Chadi and sister Yolla.

I apologize for any wrong that came out of me.

SheiKh DaneeL abDeL KhaLeK, Druze, Lebanon - preSiDent oF toGether For humanity aSSociation One of the best experiences in my life. After it, I feel different from the person I was before it.

now. For St. John Paul II, the dignity of the human person was paramount. This is why I think of him and Mother Teresa as two sides of the same coin. Christians should, above all, be people of true humanity, seeing the beauty of God’s creation in each other and respecting each other’s history and difficulties. As we heard from that wonderful testimony of the ex-Muslim member of Hezbollah Afshin Javid, Christ is in love with all of us, whoever we are, and wants us to find true happiness with our Creator.

For me the highlight of all pilgrimages and True Life in God retreats is the fellowship, being with others. This pilgrimage was no exception and for me, personally, it was humbling to hear how so many people have been praying for me.

Another thing that is important to me is to see Russian people and their environment. I have been telling people here that we have nothing to fear from them and much to learn, and from the Orthodox Church of Russia, there is a great deal to learn about how the liturgy should be an expression of our love for God and an openness to the beauty of God. Thanks again and God bless.

moSt rev. oLiver Doeme DaShe, biShop anD truStee, cathoLic DioceSe oF maiDuGuri., northeaSt niGeria

Dear Theodora.... I wish to thank Vassula for the opportunity given to me to come for the conference in Russia. It was a wonderful experience. We are grateful to God for Vassula. She is a gift to the church and to humanity.Praying for the Lord's blessings to be bestowed upon you and your family members.God blessed.+Oliver Doeme


hiS exceLLency biShop marKoS GebremeDhin vicar apoStoLic oF Jimma-bonGa ethiopian cathoLic church biShop DeLeGate For peace anD JuStice DeSK in ethiopia biShop DeLeGate For reLiGiouS iSSueS in ethiopia

I just want to thank you for all the care and wonderful and graceful time we have been enjoyed with TLIG since my arrival in Moscow. Thank you so much and God bless you. My sincere thanks also to Mrs. Vassula.

Sr. betty naKyanzi, rScJ, KampaLa uGanDa, Former teacher, Lecturer anD prioreSS

Dear Vassula,

This reflection you have sent us is touching indeed!!! I feel as if I was there in this pilgrimage you just had. It is rich and I keep on sharing these Messages with my friends in Uganda. We are always behind you and praying for you, the Almighty God to keep on granting you His Wis-dom and all you ask of Him. And where we are, we also play our part to make these Messages we receive known to our friends. God bless you in all. Much love and prayer.

abuna eLiaS chacour meLKite (GreeK cathoLic) archbiShop em oF acre, haiFa, nazareth anD aLL GaLiLee

Dear Vassula. Since we were in Moscow, I was motivated to write a letter of gratitude for inviting me to that historical event. What was most impressive is the big gathering of people and the care everyone showed to his neighbor.

The celebration of the liturgies in different denomination was most impressive. I hope you appreciated both celebrations of the Eucharist, the Orthodox one and the Melkite Catholic one. This is somehow living unity within the respect of the diversity.

I just finished reading your exciting book “True Life in God”, needless to emphasize how deeply impressed I was with your thoughts, with your vision and mainly with your familiarity with God. I strongly believe that to be close to our neighbor we have first to become one with God, in that case the neighbor is not a tolerated person, but is a welcomed partner. The neighbor ceases to be a guest since he becomes a real partner. This is what we live every day, with regards of our Muslim brothers and sisters, they stream to our school. They are now over 60% of our constituency. We never welcome them as our guests, we open our arms and our hearts to have them as our partners. We have so much in common. We need to emphasize this fact, what divides us should be mutually respected. God will do the rest. This is what you are doing dear Vassula.

I pray that you continue the way you opened for a True Life in God, we will always be honored to participate in [your] mission and learn from your visions. Yours sincerely,

metropoLitan GeorGe haDDaD

Thank you to all the brethren who shared with us these blessed days.

In love, I pray to the success of the missions and calls of everyone, hoping to meet you soon and see you good and healthy.

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 83

SanGhanayaKa SuDDhananDa mahathero, preSiDent, banGLaDeSh bouDDha KriSti prachar SanGha, Dhar-maraJiKa buDDhiSt monaStery, atiSha DipanKar SaraK, baSabo, SabuJbaG, DhaKa-1214, banGLaDeSh

To: Divine Messenger Sister Vassula Ryden Divine Emissary of True Life in God Greece

Most Dear Sister, Thank you very much for your kind email of the 15th September, 2017. I am happy to know that the pilgrimage was attended by new friends of Muslim Community. From Sujit I came to know about the attendance of a Vietnam Buddhist Monk.

You are relentlessly working for the unity, peace and fraternity among all faiths. Such great efforts should be given due recognition from the peace loving organization of the world.

I wish you in sound health, mind and long life.

May all beings be happy. With best wishes,

SheiKh iyaD abDaLLah, imam oF aL-aJami moSque, Shheem, Lebanon

Good morning everyone,

God bless you! The best thing about our trip was that we got to know people like you. Knowing you makes us proud. A heartfelt thanks to Mrs. Vassula and the organizing team who have served the pilgrims without any failure. I thank God again for allowing us to meet you and I thank you again.

Thank God for our safe trip home!

venerabLe Dr. micheL thao chan, preSiDent & FounDer “cercLe De reFLexion DeS nationS” (crn) Sino-european DeveLopment Formation & cuLture (SeD-Fc)

The pilgrimage lifted up by the great souls of more than 80 Cardinal, Archbishops, Bishops, Reverends, Rabbi, Iman, Venerable coming from different nations and faith, is a Historic Event.

This pilgrimage has been a true blessing in its depth of inspiration and realisation. I was seeking the mindfulness, I was inspired every day by “Love and faith” during the Mass of more than 900 great souls of brothers and sisters. The pilgrimage that ranks above all is to walk in the footsteps of the builders of sacred cathedrals, vibrated by living icons of Jesus, God and Saints.

Depth reconnaissance to Vassula and her dedicated team (Theodora, Yolla, and others…) who remind to us by their attitudes during the ‘11th Ecumenical Pilgrimage’ that true life in God, the heart of our Heart, the ultimate spot is neither [a] Utopia, nor a Feasibility but a Forgotten Truth.


hiS Grace archbiShop SeLWanoS boutroS aLnemeh, Syriac orthoDox metropoLitan oF homS, hama anD tartuS

Good morning to all of you beloved ones. We extend our love, appreciation and thanks to Mrs. Vassula and to the members of the organizing team with her, especially in Lebanon. It was a special pilgrimage, filled with an atmo-sphere of true love for God and for each other. We have felt the grace of God and had the opportunity to meet a great number of people from different countries and reli-gions. May God bless this good work that pleases His Holy Name. I hope that we will all be the ones who would do His Good Will on earth. Thank you for your love and let’s stay connected. Your brother Bishop Selwanos

rev Father peter yateS cSWG

Dear Theodora, I just wanted to say thank you to Vassula for inviting me and all the Pilgrimage Team for all [your] hard work and for everything we enjoyed in Moscow.

Thanks also to Vassula for bringing us together and leading us through the Pilgrimage on the next part of the journey. I seemed the Lord used the occasion to teach us more about ourselves, especially in matters beyond the Church.

He was showing us how to overcome our fears and uncertainties in going forward together under His direc-tion, prompted and encouraged by Vassula; which meant our trusting Vassula’s discernment, and all that the Messages spell out in terms of building bridges and peace. I have been asked to serve on an Inter-Faith group by our local Bishop; there may be an opportunity to speak about Moscow, and perhaps the Messages and Vas-sula too. With our grateful thanks as ever,

Fr. youhanna (aSaaD) youSSeF, pariSh prieSt oF St. GeorGe GreeK orthoDox church in aL-meSher-Feh, homS, Syria

Good morning brothers and sisters, Archbishop Selwanos and I have arrived yesterday evening to Syria, today we begin to rest. I would like to say that the days we have spent together in Russia in your company were of the most beautiful days that I have lived. I thank all those who organized and worked [hard] so we could have these beautiful experiences through the meetings, the bridges that we have built with all the brothers from all religions. I thank sister Vassula, who had the first blessing and prayers, and I thank all the team that was work-ing with her, Yolla, Theodora and everyone. I also thank Georges for the tiring preparations and Chadi who was translating so that we would feel comfortable. I also thank all of you for this openness and these initiatives so that we could build true relationships with each other. I pray that our Lord bless these relationships and make them last so we can remain one with each other and so that the bridges remain between us and flower peace and love in our societies. Thank you everyone, Amen!

rabbi Dr. aLon GoShen-GottStein, FounDer anD Director-the eLiJah interFaith inStitute

I hope the pilgrimage finished well and all are happy.It was a wonderful experience for us and I am grateful we could bring something to the hundreds of participants. With love, Alon

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 85

Fr. emiLianoS aboumraD, GreeK orthoDox pariSh prieSt oF monSeF anD ShiKhan,mount-Lebanon

God be with you and bless you! We are very, very grateful and we thank True Life in God and mainly you, Yolla, and the team with you, also our dear sister, the good lady Vassula for this huge and successful event. We wish you success, we hope you would reach and spread more and keep delivering the message of the Gospel. God bless you and sanctify you! We are fully ready to remain connected and to serve at any time you call us to serve. God bless you and sanctify you!

hiS Grace archbiShop antoine chahDa, Syriac cathoLic archbiShop oF aLeppo, Syria I thank you very much for everything you did for us. It was a beautiful gathering with a lot of sharing (or

exchange) of experiences. We always hope that the message reaches where it must reach: to everyone, so that the faith of everyone becomes strong. We hope that, in the future, things would have become more expanded and people would then be more zealous to work with each other in love as we saw, acted and said.

Greetings to Vassula and to the team who worked hard in preparing the program. May the Lord give you strength and may our Lady protect you. Thank you again for this beautiful gathering!

hiS Grace, archbiShop aniL JoSeph thomaS couto, archbiShop oF the roman cathoLic archDioceSe oF DeLhiDear Theodora, Thank you very much for the extremely well-organised True Life in God pilgrimage 2017. Kindly convey my profound thanks to Vassula and the rest of the True Life in God organizing team. I enjoyed every moment of it though I had to leave earlier. It was a wonderful experience of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who brings the whole of humankind together through the unity of the Church celebrated in the Eucharist. I consider myself privileged to have been part of this joyful journey towards communion. Be assured of my prayers and with love.

SheiKh mohammeD aLi eL-haJJ aLi aL-amiLi Director - Seminary oF imam aS-SaJJaD, beirut I was pleased to be with all of you; with my heartfelt gratitude to all the organizers; I wish everyone good health and well-being, and I strongly apologize for any mistake made by me.

May you remain under the care and protection of God.


the riGht reverenD biShop riah abo eL -aSSaL, thirteenth anGLican biShop oF JeruSaLem anD the miDDLe eaSt

Note sent to True Life in God Lebanon

The best thing in the gathering was to meet and see you and get to know each one of you closely beloved broth-ers and sisters in God.

I ask the Almighty God to crown the efforts of those in charge of the program with success by more rap-prochement and unity to boost the journey of brotherly love, coexistence and common life in our homeland (he means the Arab world) which we have no other. I also hope to see you soon. God bless you and make of you a blessing to many.

My special thanks to Vassula and the team that helps her.

Your brother,

Email sent to Vassula

Dear Vassula,

Salaam and grace from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Just a short note knowing that you too need a little break now that the Pilgrimage is over.

Therefore, this comes mainly to thank you most sincerely for inviting me to the True Life in God pilgrimage to Russia. Also for the opportunity to meet again with so many friends from here and there who are totally committed to the unity, not only of all Christians, but of all created in the image of God to form one human family under His grace and mercy.

I was equally happy to meet with the delegates of other faiths to share and exchange opinions on how best to promote the mission entrusted to us .

Blessings and kindest regards to you and to your dear family. In Christ, Bishop Riah

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 87

moSt reverenD Simon ataLLah, oam biShop emerituS oF baaLbeK-Deir eL-ahmar (maronite), Lebanon Former preSiDent oF the epiScopaL committee For ecumenicaL aFFairS

Good evening, our great, good, open Sheikhs, we miss you already! Your presence with us was very good, it added a special taste to this gathering. This will be marked down and recorded in the history of our country, our civilization, our culture and our faith. We ask our Lord - I ask from our Lord specially, to bless you and to bless your families and to keep you always in this beautiful spirit, with open hearts and minds. We also ask that our hearts and minds be open to the grace of God that works in us and unites us and makes us meet You, O God! And when we meet God, then everything will be ok; and everything will be done in joy and happiness. I wish you all that is good and I thank God for being with you, for being with each other in this pilgrimage to Russia. Until we meet again!

Pilgrimage to Orthodoxy in Moscow

My dear friends of True Life in God,

1) With great joy I would like to congratulate you on the success of the pilgrimage you have organized in Mos-cow to honor the Orthodoxy that exists in the Russian Federation. This Orthodoxy is a great heritage for humanity. Having a chance to get acquainted with this heritage on the spot, is a grace for us, and, on the other hand, an op-portunity to evangelize us ecumenically and spiritually in order to build bridges of frater-nity and participate in the building of peace between men.

2) It is not easy to organize a pilgrimage of 800 people; yet you did. Congratulations! The Lord has filled you with many graces, espe-cially the presence of Vassula, Theodora and Yolla with their collaborators and community leaders from all over the world. Please accept

my congratulations. May the Lord bless your labors and your continued efforts to continue your mission in the world according to your own charism, while reviewing certain points, certain activities which might present certain difficulties and reservations among the competent authority.

3) Allow me to give you a few remarks, which for me, at least, could improve two sides: the “form” (organiza-tion and logistics) and the “depth”, in order to enrich our relationships, consolidate our conviviality and walk the path of truth, peace and unity.

4) Prepare, more in depth, the required talks.

5) Set up reflection groups - (workshops) - to share ideas and translate them into reality, as far as possible.

6) Organize common prayers in the workshops, outside the Eucharist, in which, pilgrims who don’t believe in the Eucharist, can participate.

7) Lighten the daily programs.

8) Prepare those participating in the pilgrimage in their own countries, one year in advance.

9) Organize accommodations, taking into account the age of each pilgrim and their state of health, etc.


mr. cameL bechiKh, SpoKeSman oF FiLS De France, FounDinG member oF La maniF pour touS borDeaux on october 7, 2017 Russia, the center of convergence between Western and Eastern religions, was a particularly appropriate place to bring together believers from all five continents.

Pilgrimage for some, interreligious gathering for others, this week will remain engraved as a significant time for everyone.

When the mystics mingle, there springs a universal view, the essential of which rests on the peace of Creation in its Creator.

The meeting of beautiful souls, Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists has reinforced in each of us the idea that we are each a brick dedicated to the construction of peace.

Frankly, without taboos, let us continue this process of union in the face of modern hegemony nourished by individualism.

It is a personal conviction that this gathering and the ones that will follow participate in showing the way.

Thank you to those who gave their time, themselves, for this gathering to take place. Finally, thanks to Vassula’s tireless efforts, without whom nothing would have been possible.

HEAVEN I S REAL BUT SO IS HELL

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10) Prepare official and semi-official meetings in the countries of the pilgrimage.

Objective of the pilgrimage:

The aim of our pilgrimage is to practice charity, or love, which generates peace, spreads it and makes us apos-tles of peace among men. This love is the main engine of evangelization and the building of the desired peace, which is unfortunately lost, for lack of the spirit of dialogue, self-denial and lack of truth.

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Any church that does not evangelize is self-destructing and denying itself.

M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 9 89

Prices are quoted in US Dollars. Please send an email to [email protected] for the book price and shipping charge in your country.

hiS eminence archbiShop chucraLLah-nabiL eL-haGe

maronite archeparchy oF tyre, Lebanon Seeking peace by trying to find unity among all the peoples of the earth, seems to be the task that Vassula Ryden has given herself, or rather the task that heaven has offered her. It is in this perspective that our last visit to Moscow should be viewed.

Indeed, our pilgrimage to Russia to honor Russian Orthodoxy and seek to draw from the deep roots of the Russian people the unity achieved between different ethnic groups, religions and churches could only encour-age us in our quest for peace and unity. Moreover, the emblem we tried to live: “building bridges”, could only push us to leave our home in order to relive the exodus of the Hebrew people and go to the search of both God and the different other.

In this search, we have adopted the basic principle of listening with empathy and interest to the brother (or sister) with whom we live, not only to better know him (her) but also to find his thirst too for peace and unity, and then to accumulate all the points that can unite us and enable us to live with him in a harmony similar to that which we have encountered in the splendid Russian churches that we have visited.

Coming out of oneself, rejection of any fear that the other may inspire, knowing and recognizing him in his enriching difference, freeing oneself from any hasty judgment or based on hearsay, getting rid of any hatred that may come from a heavy and sad past in order to welcome, enter into communion and even love without conditions, that seems to be for us the way that can lead to a unity which must of course be sustained by a humble and continuous dialogue to dispel any misunderstanding and be crowned by our love of God who is both master and giver of any peace and unity.

Let us remember finally what Pope Francis says: “The search for peace is an open-ended task, a responsibility that never ends and that demands the commitment of everyone.

As a result of restructuringour book pricing,we offer you the

Single Edition Volume of the

True Life in God Messages

The One-Book!

An unbelievable price of only $16 per book/ 2 or more books

for $15 each (plus shipping) through your local

True Life in God Association. Books are available in

English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Swedish,

Greek, Armenian, Lithuanian and other languages


CHRIST’S AGONY IN GETHSEMANEThis is an original Limited Edition Giclée on Canvas Print,

measuring 48” x 36”, (122 x 92 cm) and is printed with pigmented inks strictly limited to 250.

Each print is hand signed and authorized by the artist, Vassula Rydén , as a faithful reproduction of the original oil painting.

Vassula Rydén has personally inspected, numbered, approved and signed each print.

No unsigned or unnumbered copies within the edition exist.

Fine materials are used to ensure long lasting beauty to

protect your investment in fine art.

To properly care for your print on canvas, protect it from strong ultraviolet radiation such as direct sunlight.

Reproductions of the image you see may not be made. All rights to this image are fully retained by Vassula Rydén.

To reserve your Limited Edition Print on Canvas, send an

email to Sara at [email protected]. Please consider giving this to your priest as a gift. Prayer groups may also

purchase a copy for their group meetings.Price: $1,000. There will be no copyright protection

on the Canvas you receive.

Funds received for this Canvas are directed to the True Life in God Mission which supports the Beth Myriams,

and the Greek Association covering retreats and sometimes air ticket expenses for countries that can’t pay for Vassula’s

mission to these countries.

COPYRIGHT

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About the Messages of

True Life in GodVassula Rydén was born in Egypt of Greek parents on 18 January 1942. She is married and has two grown-up boys. Although baptised into the Greek Orthodox Church she rarely thought of God until 1985 when she began to receive Divine Messages. These have been named, by Jesus Himself, True Life in God. They have now been

translated into over 40 languages and all the work has been done by volunteers; Vassula receives no royalties for any books published.In these Prophetic Messages (some of the prophecies have already been fulfilled) God is calling the whole of His creation to return to Love while asking Christians to unify His Body, His Church (“Orthodox! Catholics! Protestants! You all belong to Me! You are all One in My Eyes!”). Vassula’s mission is to go out and proclaim the Truth. She has now visited over 70 countries and has spoken in over 900 meetings, some with audiences as large as 100,000 people. True Life in God Messages are profoundly spiritual and are written

in a clear and direct language. We are invited to enter into conversation with God substituting Vassula’s name in these texts for our own. Once having done that we are gently led into the mysteries of the Triune God and begin to grow in the Knowledge of God. Through the bounty of the Holy Spirit acting in us (Second Pentecost) we then begin to grow in God’s Love, Peace and Unity. Jesus’ prayer to the Father (John 17;21) “may they be one in Us, as You are in Me and I am in You, so that the world may believe it was You who sent Me;” will then be accomplished. Jesus explains about this prayer on 10 December 2001: “My words intonated were meant that the whole of creation must be affected into a spiritual unity not a unity by a signed treaty; to fulfil My Words the churches must seek first humility and love, graces that can be obtained through the Holy Spirit and through a great repentance;”In the latest Messages published under the title of Odes of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Trinity summarize the purpose of these Divine Messages: to rediscover the revealed Truth and to enter into the spiritual espousal with God, the wedding feast of Apocalypse Chapter 21. In that union of creature with God, God’s Will will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, for we will find true Life, the life in God and with God. www.tlig.org www.tligradio.org

This past September more than 80 prelates and 700 international pilgrims travelled in pilgrimage to Moscow, Russia in support of the Christian unity so ardently desired by Our Lord. As the country of predilection so dear to Our Lady of Fatima, Russia occupies an essential role in the True Life in God eccle-siastically approved messages, particularly in these End Times; through the Holy Spirit’s outpouring upon her, God’s light of holiness will spread across the world and strengthen the bonds of Christian unity (True Life in God Message of October 25, 1992).

Presented in this newsletter are the many letters of appreciation from Cardinals to Ar-chbishops and from priests to laity that te-stify to the overwhelming good fruits expe-rienced. In reading these pages, one soon discovers the impressions of a lovingly pa-ternal God who gently exhorts his chil-dren to remain in the truth of Christ Jesus while respecting one another’s traditions. In his beloved Son the Creator and only source of life who breathed in us his Holy Spirit, unifies us, his children of royal descent.

+ Rev. J.L. Iannuzzi, STD

My Soul is thirsting for this glorious mo-ment, I mean to show My splendour and My glory to every nation living under these skies, through your sister Russia, I shall dress her with My beauty and with My integrity, and I shall parade her to your brothers3 so that they may see My beauty and My integrity through her and in her; daughter, the wedding of your sister’s conversion is soon to come;

True Life in God Message, December 24, 19933. The Lord here means the Roman Catholics.

True Life in God Magazine is edited by Fr. Joe Iannuzzi and Fr. Vincent Cosatti www.tlig.org © Copyright 2018 Vassula Rydén . All rights reserved. www.tligradio.org

Red Square Gates

True Life in God Message, January 30, 1992

Prophecy About Russia- I thought: how could He stand someone like Russia, with no beauty in her, and repulsive for lack of teeth ... while I was thinking all these things, Russia’s Husband approached her tenderly and put His Arm around her shoulders. And I saw in His Eye, Infinite Tenderness, Love and Fidelity for ever and ever. I saw that He would never aban-don her in spite of her unattractiveness. - I recognised You, my Lord.

no, I shall not abandon her, nor does she repulse me; I am her Father and her Spouse, and My Name is Faithful and True; I shall dress her up again giving her fine clothes, and her heart will be the ornament of a sweet and gentle disposition; I have never ceased to rain a downpour of blessings on her; I shall never deprive her of My Love; ah, Vassula, be patient as I am patient; lean now on Me;

o russia, how i the lord my russia! love you, · december-january 2018 issue 39 international...

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