Middle East, the heads of the Churches of Jerusalem, ‘death does not have the last word’

As Scripture teaches and faith reveals, “the desolation of the tomb was not the end of history, death did not have the last word. By the power of God, Christ rose victorious from the tomb, breaking the bonds of sin and death. Therefore, in these catastrophic times, we affirm these powerful and encouraging words to our communities and to Christians around the world.” Thus the patriarchs and heads of the Churches of Jerusalem in the Easter message released today and relaunched by Vatican News.

“In the weeks leading up to this year’s commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ – they state – a new and devastating regional war has once again thrown the Holy Land and the Middle East at large into chaos. Each passing day brings with it an ever more violent escalation: a relentless cycle of death, destruction and horrific suffering that now spreads across the world, causing growing economic hardship. From the black smoke of this expanding devastation, a profound darkness has enveloped our region, as suffocating as the air inside the sealed tomb of the crucified Christ. Hope itself seems to have abandoned us”. However, “just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too can walk in a new life” (Romans, 6, 4).

The invitation to the faithful and all men and women of good will is therefore to “work and pray ceaselessly for the relief of the countless multitudes throughout the Middle East and beyond who are suffering gravely from the ravages of this war”. And “we urge them to intercede for an immediate end to the bloodshed and for justice and peace to finally prevail throughout our war-torn region, beginning in Jerusalem and extending to Gaza, Lebanon and all of the Holy Land, to the Gulf States and Tehran, and to the ends of the Earth.”