Συνάντηση
μεταξύ του Παγκοσμίου Συμβουλίου
Εκκλησιών (WCC)
και της Διεθνούς Εβραϊκής Επιτροπής
για τον Διαθρησκειακό Διάλογο (IJICIC)
πραγματοποιήθηκε σήμερα το πρωί στο
Παρίσι.
Ένας
από τους κεντρικούς ομιλητές ήταν ο
Σεβασμιώτατος Μητροπολίτης Γαλλίας κ.
Εμμανουήλ, ο οποίος υπεραμύνθηκε των
θέσεων της Ορθοδόξου Εκκλησίας, ενώ σε
δημόσια προσβλητική επίθεση που δέχθηκε
κατά του ελληνισμού, απάντησε με
σκληρότητα ότι ουδέποτε η Ορθόδοξη
Εκκλησία και το γένος των Ελλήνων
εκφράστηκαν υποτιμητικά για τους
Εβραίους και ότι στο σύγχρονο ελληνικό
κράτος έχουν εξαλειφθεί τα φαινόμενα
αντισημιτισμού που παρατηρούνται σε
άλλες κοινωνίες.
Αναφέρθηκε
μάλιστα στα ιστορικά γεγονότα της
ηρωικής διάσωσης των ελλήνων πολιτών
Εβραίων κατά τον Β΄ Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο
στη Ζάκυνθο από τον μακαριστό Μητροπολίτη
κυρό Χρυσόστομο, στη Θεσσαλονίκη από
τον μακαριστό Μητροπολίτη κυρό Γεννάδιο
και στην αξιομνημόνευτη επίσημη επιστολή
διαμαρτυρίας που υπεγράφη στην Αθήνα
στις 23 Μαρτίου 1943 από τον μακαριστό
Αρχιεπίσκοπο κυρό Δαμασκηνό και 27
ηγετικά μέλη πολιτιστικών, ακαδημαϊκών
και επαγγελματικών οργανώσεων.
Διαβάστε
την εισήγηση του Σεβασμιωτάτου στην
αγγλική γλώσσα:
“The
normalization of hatred: challenges for Jews and Christians today”
His
Eminence, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France
IJCIC-WCC
meeting
Paris,
June 2019
Distinguished
guests,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
Dear
friends,
On
behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, I would like to congratulate
you on the occasion of this joint meeting between the IJCIC and WCC
on the crucial topic of hatred.
Last
May, I accompanied H.A.H. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on his
visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Poland. In the history of humanity,
very few places have inspired so much terror, abomination and horror.
Auschwitz-Birkenau encapsulates what humankind, moved by pure hatred,
can do to dehumanize and desacralize the image of God placed in each
and every person.
I was
profoundly moved by this opportunity to stand at this place where so
many died, victims of hatred and a bloody thirst for injustice. The
world continues to mourn this disaster, this unspeakable tragedy.
While walking on the ground of what is today a memorial, the words of
Prophet Jeremiah sprang to mind: “How long will the land mourn and
the grass of the field wither, because of the vices of those who
dwell in it?” (Jr 12:4)
The
Orthodox Church has many historic ties to Judaism and to the Jewish
people. During the Second World War, the people of Greece and the
Orthodox Church fought for their Jewish brothers and sisters and
saved many of them.
On
July 11, 1942, for example, the German Nazis surrounded the Jews in
the city of Thessalonica in northern Greece, in order to send them to
the concentration camps. The community paid 2.5 billion drachmas for
their freedom, but all they could do was to delay the transfer until
the following March. 96% of the members of the Jewish community in
Thessalonica, 46,091 people, were sent to Auschwitz. Only 1,950 of
them returned to find most of their sixty synagogues destroyed, their
cemetery was sacked and their schools dilapidated. Some of the
survivors migrated to Israel and the United States. The Jewish
community of Thessalonica survived and currently has about 1,000
members and maintains four synagogues. We remember with pride the
bold and courageous behavior of the late Metropolitan Gennadios of
Thessalonica who repeatedly took initiatives to protect the city’s
Jewish community.
As
H.A.H Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew also recalled during his last
visit to Poland, many stories have been recorded of pure sacrificial
love during this horrible time. Among them, he reminded us of Saint
Maria of Paris, together with her friends and her son, Yuri. During
the Second World War, she was arrested by the Gestapo in France for
helping Jews to escape persecution and sent to Ravensbrück
concentration camp, where she was selected for the gas chambers on
Holy Saturday, 1945. She is not only a saint of the Orthodox Church
but also a Righteous Among the Nations. Her destiny reminds us of the
self-sacrificial love that transcends hope itself to become divine.
Orthodox
Christians stand with sorrow in front of human pain and war. Our
faith teaches us that we must not be unfair and irresponsible towards
our brethren. As the official document “The Orthodox Church Mission
in the Modern World” of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox
Church in Crete in 2016 states: " secularism; violence; moral
laxity; detrimental phenomena such as the use of addictive substances
and other addictions especially in the lives of certain youth;
racism; the arms race and wars, as well as the resulting social
catastrophes; the oppression of certain social groups, religious
communities, and entire peoples; social inequality; the restriction
of human rights in the field of freedom of conscience—in particular
religious freedom; the misinformation and manipulation of public
opinion; economic misery; the disproportionate redistribution of
vital resources or complete lack thereof; the hunger of millions of
people; forced migration of populations and human trafficking; the
refugee crisis; the destruction of the environment; and the
unrestrained use of genetic biotechnology and biomedicine at the
beginning, duration, and end of human life. These all create infinite
anxiety for humanity today".
Unfortunately,
even today, extremist groups continue to cultivate anti-Semitism. In
recent years, the Jewish community in France has been deeply wounded
by several vile attacks and murders, clearly showing that
anti-Semitism is still real and very much alive. It is unacceptable
for us, as Christian leaders, to look the other way while this vile
trend spreads across Europe.
In its
statement, the European Council recognizes that Jewish communities in
various EU countries feel particularly vulnerable to terrorist
attacks following the increase in violent incidents in recent years.
It notes that anti-Semitic hatred remains widespread, as confirmed in
the 2018 Anti-Semitism Report of the Fundamental Rights Agency.
The
declaration calls on the Member States to adopt and implement a
holistic strategy to prevent and combat all forms of anti-Semitism in
their strategies for the prevention of racism, xenophobia,
radicalization and violent extremism. Member States are also invited
to step up their efforts to guarantee the safety of Jewish
communities and institutions, and Jewish citizens.
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
Dear
friends,
Let us
reflect on the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: “Darkness can not
drive away the darkness. Only the light can do that. Hate can not
extinguish hate. Only love can do that.” To fight Anti-Semitism,
hatred, and discrimination of all kinds, we all need to be involved.
The role of education and family is very important indeed, but
religious communities also have a key role to play in eradicating
racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.
The
ongoing outburst of religious fundamentalism and terrible acts of
violence perpetrated in the name of religion lend credence to modern
critiques of religious faith and support the identification of
religion with its negative aspects. The truth is that violence is the
negation of our fundamental religious beliefs and doctrine. True
faith does not release humans from responsibility for the world or
the obligation to respect human dignity and struggle for justice and
peace. On the contrary, it strengthens or commitment to action and
enlarges our witness for freedom and human core values.
As
Herodotus,
the
great
Greek
historian
and
father
of
historiography
wrote:
“Οὐδείς γάρ οὕτω ἀνόητος ἐστί ὅστις
πόλεμον πρό εἰρήνης αἱρέεται· ἐν μέν
γάρ τή οἱ παῖδες τούς πατέρας θάπτουσι,
ἐν δέ τῳ οἱ πατέρες τούς παῖδας”,
which
means:
“No
one
is
so
foolish
as
to
prefer
war
to
peace.
In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war,
fathers bury their sons."
Thank
you for your attention!