Arabic original here.
Unity in the Church is Conciliar
Conciliarity is a movement, a movement of love and a movement of diversity.
God is one, and for the Church communion must be at the same time perfect unity and perfect diversity.
The head does not impede the freedom of the members. He does not lord over them. He remains in coordination and conciliarity with them.
Unity is a bond of love, a bond of communion. Therefore, God is love.
The Church is a communion of love in the image of the Holy Trinity. What is her conciliar character that leads to unity?
The Church is the body of Christ. She is the community that the Lord redeemed with His blood. She works to bring together all those divided as one.
This unity is embodied in the mystery of the Eucharist.
It is there where the bishop gathers together with the faithful. The bishop is always in the midst of God's people. He cares for his church, that is, for God's people, through the truth of the word, the word of Christ.
He uncovers the members' talents and bears them in his prayer. He is not concerned first of all with material gain or idle glory.
"Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:2-3).
The entire people of God preserves the faith. The bishop's mission is to declare the word and act upon it.
The council of bishops is also a face of unity. Each bishop there bears his church's experience and weaknesses.
On the other hand, the people bear the bishop in their prayers, so that decisions will come that are pleasing to God and salvific for every element of the Church.
+Ephrem
Metropolitan of Tripoli, al-Koura and their Dependencies
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