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The bishop’s speech to the ground-breaking ceremony

The bishop’s speech to the ground-breaking ceremony

  • 26.11.2018

Mor Dionysios Isa GÜRBÜZ

Rede des Bischofs zum Spatenstich 25.11.2018

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, dear guests!

Today is a special day for the Syrian Orthodox. Church in Austria, in the beautiful city of Vienna, on the beautiful Leopoldauer Platz.

Today’s special occasion is the groundbreaking of the first Syrian Orth. Church built in Austria.

Jesus Christ was born in a small stable in Bethlehem, lying on the straw in the crib.

Even though he was so small and helpless, King Herod feared him and ordered him to be killed.

Why, because Jesus had come to conquer injustices and create new structures, to set new course that was directed towards truth and justice.

This truth and justice is his Holy Church.

The unjust ruler was in power for only a short time, but Jesus Christ lives forever.

Although the first Holy Church, like the crib, was small and consisted of obedient people, they feared many rulers and persecuted the apostles, the representatives of the Church; They arrested and had them killed because church teaching created unrest in these rulers.

Despite the persecution of the church from the beginning, it could not be defeated. The rulers are fleeting and forgotten, but the Church remains forever.

Jesus promised: “Do not be afraid, I am with you and nobody can destroy you.”

Jesus also said the following to Simon Peter: “You are the rock and I will build my church on this rock”. Jesus built his church on the truth, the truth that he is God and in this sense built the church on this faith and trust in him. Because he announced: “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14,5)

Like the rock that is stable and unshakable, the Church of Jesus is stable and unshakable. Peter has become a rock in his belief in Jesus because he believed in his deity.

Times change, countries change, rulers come and go, and everything in the world can change, but one thing does not change, the Church, built on the teaching of Jesus Christ and enduring forever will have. From east to west, all over the world the Church has one faith, that is the faith that Jesus passed on to his disciples. As Apostle Paul wrote in one of his letters, the Church is a pillar of truth and whoever enters this Church is saved.

He will only find holiness and goodness there because the teaching of Jesus is a great strength for all of us. The Church and her teaching guide us to good deeds, loving action and strengthen us in God’s love. Therefore, good believers can only say good things.

Every person who actually believes in Jesus, who is convinced of his deity and his teachings and who follows them, is a living church. So every Christian family is a little church in Jesus.

Today, these small churches have teamed up to build a larger one. These believers want to build a church on this square, pray in it together to better shape their religious and secular life.

We Syrian Orthodox Christians come from Mesopotamia, we are members of a church that was the first to believe in Jesus Christ in Antioch. Relatives of Syriac Orth. Churches were persecuted, massacred and killed over and over again, especially by Islam. However, they have not given up their belief. As a large church they were destroyed, but – as I mentioned – these small churches have been strengthened in their faith. They sacrificed their lives, but not their beliefs. Because of this persecution and displacement, these Christians could no longer stay in their homeland. They have involuntarily left their churches, their houses, their villages and sought their hope in new countries. Thousands of churches and monasteries in the homeland of Tur Abdin had to be abandoned. The Syrian Orth. Christians have fled to European countries, America, Australia and Canada with new hope. In these countries these people came together again because each of them was a church and has remained a church. That is what brought us here today.

Why do we want to build a church today?

In the present, faith is weakened, many people have stopped going to church. You have given up the valuable treasures of being a Christian. This caused many churches to close their gates. On the other hand, we are seeing the number of mosques in Europe multiply. We all know what is taught there about the other believers. However, the gospel teaches us not to give up our faith and hope. With the construction of this church we want to show that Christianity is still alive and that Jesus is still present. We do not want to build a church from stones here, but a church from Christian souls who can better shape their Christian life under the roof of the church.

We want to implant Christian teaching in people’s hearts. With the construction of this church we want to give hope to all Christians so that they do not leave their churches.

Building a church strengthens all of us in faith!

When we wanted to build a church here, we v. a. Tried the hearts of our neighbors and those of our neighboring cath. Winning sister church. Before we started planning our construction project, we visited these neighbors and informed them about our construction. We didn’t want to build a competing church, we wanted to build a church that stood alongside each other so that we could all live together in peace like a Christian family. Culture, tradition and language differ, but the Church is one.

In addition to a cath. Church we are building one of the oldest church, the Syriac Orth. Antioch Church. Prayers of peace will always rise from both churches, for the beautiful country of Austria, for the city of Vienna and for the Leopoldau district. We will hold our prayers in the Aramaic language, the mother tongue of Jesus, the neighboring church in German. Since German grammar is difficult – I think – Aramaic prayers will arrive faster. So our blessings go to the neighboring church and their blessings to us. We want to respect each other and live together in peace.

The Middle East has become the prayer mat for Islam, our churches and monasteries there have been destroyed and Christians have been driven out of their countries.

With the construction of this church, we would like to set an example so that Europe does not become a prayer mat for Islam. We want the Christian roots to go deeper here and show that Christianity is still alive in these countries. Although we come from other countries, we love our new home countries no less than the Europeans. We want Christian teaching and culture to be preserved in these countries.

We thank the sister churches, Cardinal Schönborn, who all Christians and our Syriac Orth. Church supports. Our thanks also go to the district head, the district politicians, the municipality of Vienna and the Austrian government, to everyone who supported us in the implementation of our construction project.

We are convinced that harmonious living together also promotes integration. Austrian culture is no stranger to us because it is a Christian culture.

We thank all guests who take part in today’s special event.

God bless you.

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