PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND

ADDRESS OF PAUL VI
TO THE ARMENIAN PATRIARCH YEGHESHE DERDERIAN

4 January 1964

We are particularly grateful for the kind welcome you have given Us during our pilgrimage to this city, hallowed by the great mysteries of the redemption which Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ worked in it. 

Our meeting has a particular significance because of the friendly ties which have developed between Us and the Armenian Church through the delegated observers who participated in the work of the Second Vatican Council. The spirit of true Christian charity and comprehension which they manifested made Us all the more certain of the fraternal welcome We would receive here from you and from your faithful. Our expectations have been more than amply fulfilled. 

There is a spirit which more and more influences Christian hearts. It is the desire to carry out what the Apostle to the Nations counselled us: to forget what is past and push on to what lies ahead, with our eyes fixed upon Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. This spirit has already been manifested in a concrete way in this Holy City, in the efforts being made by all Christians to work in common accord for the reverent care and fitting veneration of that hallowed place where Our Lord, triumphant on the Cross and victorious over the grave, effected the great mission of reconciliation which He had received from His Father. We salute these expressions of Christian charity which already exist, and We express the earnest desire that they may multiply and expand into every area of our common Christian endeavour. 

We have corne as a prayerful pilgrim to this Holy City. In the prayers which We offer to God, our Father, and to our Saviour Jesus Christ, His Divine Son, We remember you and the flock of which you are the pastor. May divine graces and favors descend in abundance upon all of you.