subsume this signicant meeting under the auspices of theEcumenical Patriarchate for the second time. The rst such blessedoccasion was in Heraklion, Crete, almost 45 years ago.The commitment of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the visionand mission of the World Council of Churches – from the earlyformative and creative years through even the more difcult andcontentious moments – has always been unwavering andparamount. Indeed, our own admiration and dedication to theservice and ministry of the World Council of Churches is amplyevident in our extensive participation in numerous executive rolesand responsibilities over many decades. In more recent years, onthe occasion of the 60 th anniversary of the WCC, we addressed the Central Committee in Geneva in 2008; on these very grounds, wespoke to the plenary of the Faith and Order Commission in 2009;and we communicated a message via video to the InternationalEcumenical Peace Convocation held in Jamaica last year.Given all this, we would like to bring to your attention threeconcepts highlighted in the Apostle Paul’s Letter to Titus thatpertain to the sub-themes of your forthcoming 10 th General Assembly next year in Busan, South Korea, which comprises ahumble prayer that the “God of Life [may] lead us to justice andpeace.”Life is God's gift to humankind and to all creation. It is a giftthat emerges from the Trinitarian love and God’s love for theworld. The Father loves the Son, while the Holy Spirit strengthensthis divine love among the three persons and toward the world. According to the Church Fathers, this gift of life is the result of

God’s mystery as Father and “Maker of all things, both visible andinvisible.” Creation on the other hand has to live in the fullness of freedom and in pursuit of justice and peace. When humanity experiences such freedom and justice, then it realizes the pre-guration of God’s Kingdom and the anticipation of the divinetransguration.Turning, then, to St. Paul’s Letter to Titus, we observe thatthe rst concept concerns St. Paul’s advice to “teach what betssound doctrine.” (2.1)

Life Together in Faith: Unity and Mission

is therst sub-theme of the General Assembly in Korea. This is a clearreminder of the foundation of our unity and mission as anecumenical body. For we must at all times remember – alwaysreminding ourselves and respectfully reminding others – that weconstitute a fellowship of churches that confess the Lord JesusChrist as God and Savior, ultimately seeking and under nocircumstances neglecting our calling to visible unity in one faith“that the world may believe.” (John 17.21) We must be careful that,again in the inspired words of Paul to Titus, “in everything wemay adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (2.10) and that “theword of God is not discredited.” (2.5)The second concept relates to St. Paul’s recognition that“truth accords with godliness” (1.1), that authentic “peace comesfrom God” (1.4), and that “the grace of God has appeared for thesalvation of the whole world.” (2.11)

Life Together in Hope: For Justice, Peace and Reconciliation in the World

is the second sub-themeof the upcoming General Assembly. “Godliness” implies doing theright thing by all people and by all of God’s creation; it involveshonoring and upholding the rights of every person as well as of

every living creature. Our doctrine and tradition should informour life and spirituality; our creed should conform to our worship;or, to adopt the language of the programs of the World Council of Churches, our “faith” should complement our “order.”Finally, the third sub-theme of next year’s General Assemblyis

Life Together in Love: For a Common Future

. There is a key termthat appears in chapter 1, verse 8, of Paul’s Letter to Titus. Theword is

 philoxenos

 , which signies “hospitable.” The bishop – or,we could expand this to include every faithful Christian and,indeed, every “lover of goodness” (1.8) as “God’s steward” (1.7) –is called to be both gracious and generous, kind andaccommodating. The expression  philoxenos literally designatessomeone who loves strangers. It denotes someone who is not intolerant and exclusive of those who are different or appearforeign. It is the welcoming and embracing of the other – the every other, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, color, creed and gender– in whom we are to envisage the unique and living image of God.It is the antithesis of racism and xenophobia. We must strive toovercome eastern and western divides of cults and cultures; wemust struggle to heal northern and southern divides of peoplesand countries.Dear friends, our prayers are with you as you prepare toorganize an Assembly that will proclaim a new message andvision for the years ahead. We also pray for all those involved inthese preparations – the members of the Central Committee, theSecretary General, the Assembly Planning Committee under theleadership of His Eminence Metropolitan Gennadios, and eachmember of the Committee and Staff, as well the Korean Host

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Committee – so that the WCC member Churches and the entireecumenical family may experience a peaceful and festiveAssembly.We are called to invoke and embrace God’s justice and peace.If we resist justice and peace, then we are instruments of evil in theworld. In some ways, the theme of next year’s Assembly – “God of life, lead us to justice and peace” – is diametrically opposed to thepetition in the Lord’s Prayer that God may “lead us not intotemptation, but deliver us from evil.”Permit us to close with words from St. Paul’s Letter to Titus:“My beloved children in our common faith, may the grace andpeace of God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior … be with youall. Amen.” (Titus 1.4 and 3.15)