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these two days, may great bene?t come to our Churches. In that spirit
we conclude with words from the Divine Liturgy, proclaimed immedi-
ately before the recitation of the Creed: ‘Let us love one another, that
with one mind we may confess the Trinity one in essence and undi-
vided.’

Archbishop of Canterbury’s response to welcome message by the
Ecumenical Patriarch

Your All-Holiness, Beloved Brother in Christ,
I thank you most warmly for your welcome and greetings and at

the outset bring the greetings from the Anglican Communion and the
Church of England. I realise that this is an initial and very short visit,
but it is a vital opportunity so soon after my enthronement for us to be
able to share and be strengthened through this more personal visit. Your
All Holiness has once mentioned that in a world “becoming smaller and
smaller distance-wise, the need for personal communication has become
imperative.” I see my short visit in that light. To be with you in this holy
and historic place is indeed a great privilege. The warmth of your wel-
come adds to my deep sense of privilege at meeting you.

This city has left its mark in a diversity of ways upon Christianity
as a whole. It was from this city that manuscripts of the Bible in the
original languages were received in the West. This city (also renowned
as the New Rome) is your seat as the Ecumenical Patriarch, and we con-
tinue to bene?t from the insight of what the secular and Christian lead-
ership through this link has taught the world church about the relation-
ship between Christianity and the application of worldly power over the
years. Your history is more and more important in the increasing con-
frontations of the world in which religion is used as a pretext for vio-
lence that in reality comes from greed and the pride of human beings.

You have demonstrated over the centuries the martyrdom to
which we are called in scripture, the call to witness in word and life, a
call more important than life itself. The cost of that martyrdom is seen

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