I apologize first to you, faithful and worshippers, for the stumbling blocks that we, the priestly body, cause you, for not a month passes without stumbling blocks for you, and the distortion of the image of the Church before the foreign nations, because of some case and the manner of handling it. Grieve over us and because of us, not because of your Church, for the face of Jesus in it is more splendid and more beautiful. And let Jesus alone be the direction of your faces.
And forgive us and pardon us for the sake of the face of Jesus, and pray for us that we may return to His mind, that one day we may awaken to what our hands have done to the Church and to her children. For even those who handle cases are humans under weakness “forall have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).
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As for the two questions, they are:
1. Why does every case in Antioch begin with a leak on the internet and media defamation, for absolutely all the cases share this preface, then reach the same result (the exclusion and the nailing of the other)? Are there no Gospel ways, according to the mind of Jesus and the saints, by which they could be handled?
2. And why does the Patriarchate deal with these cases as an equal/party in them? Where are the Gospel ideals?
Does not the Scripture say “WOE TO THAT MAN BY WHOM THE STUMBLING BLOCK COMES!” (Mt 18:7)? Stumbling blocks do not come from the act as much as they come from the handling of the act.