2024 - A Milestone Year in the History of the Melkite Greek-Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch
“Father, may they all be one just as you are in me, and I am in you.” (John 17:21)
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As we travel along any historic road in most places around the world, we often notice at the roadside, at varying intervals, what are usually called milestones, sometimes simple, occasionally more detailed. Regardless of the material from which they are made, and regardless of what they are called, milestones have a common purpose, they tell us how near we are to our destination, and sometimes how far we have come.
Until modern navigation systems made finding our location easy, milestones were so much a part of the very notion of journey that the word milestone came into use as a metaphor for any significant moment in the life of an individual, a family or a community.
This year, 2024, is a milestone year in the history of the Melkite Greek-Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch, and of our Melkite Church throughout the world. During this year we will commemorate three hundred years of an ecumenical journey, which started by the restoration of the full communion between the Melkite Patriarchate and the Apostolic See of Rome. I cannot resist stating the obvious, none of us will ever see another three hundred years.
In 1724 a pro-Catholic element within the Antiochian Synod elected a patriarch who favoured a reunion with the Apostolic See of Rome. However, the differing group proceeded to elect a patriarch who would remain in communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches. Thus, today we have two Byzantine Antiochian Churches, Melkite Greek-Catholic and Greek-Orthodox.
It must be said unequivocally that neither party wished to divide the Byzantine Antiochian Church. The pro-Catholic group was focused on the fulness of the Undivided Church; the pro-Orthodox were concerned to protect the integrity of the Faith once delivered to the Saints. No single group could have imagined the Antiochian Church without the others even when they disagreed.
11 November 2023 was designated as the beginning of a year of commemorations as we remember the formative events of 1724 and as we evaluate our journey thus far. Appropriately this first service was to take place in Damascus at the Patriarchal Cathedral in the Street called Straight – that street so well known to the Apostle Paul.
We may very well have our opinions as to what path should have been taken by one party or the other in 1724, however it would be unjust to question their integrity or their commitment to the wellbeing of the Antiochian Church and the Patriarchate.
Melkite Catholics give witness to the authentic message of the Cattolica of the first millennium, Orthodoxy and Catholicism are not incompatible. East and West are happily met in Christ.
We cannot know the future of the Melkite Greek-Catholic Church of Antioch. However, of one thing we can be certain, all is in the hands of the Lord who assures us, “I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
As we continue our journey, it is our fervent prayer that our brothers and sisters of the Antiochian Greek Orthodox Church will accompany us. Perhaps now more than ever before, the destination is in sight – the One Bread and the One Cup. Lord, in your mercy hasten the day.
With prayers assured and with my paternal blessing,
✠ Robert Rabbat
Eparch