Message from Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem to JD Vance

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Archbishop Atallah Hanna, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Archbishop of Sebastya, issued this open message to US Vice President JD David Vance) yesterday, ahead of his visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Old Jerusalem today - hoping that it will reach him and that the Palestinian Christian voice will be heard.

You will visit the Church of Resurrection tomorrow and you will see doors open because the Church of Resurrection has always and forever been open to all its visitors regardless of their religious affiliation, ethnicity or skin colour.

The love that we hold on to and call for is the one that He who conquered death by His Resurrection called, and that is in the place you will visit tomorrow.

I will address you in the language of love, faith and humanity, not in the language of politics and interests that you will hear from the Israeli politicians that you will meet. We are not politicians and we will not be, but we believe in the values of truth, justice and the victory of the oppressed, and we hope that your visit to the Holy Grave will lead you to receive some of the light that has sprung from this empty tomb to dispel the darkness of this world.

There are rulers in this world who have been blinded to the injustice that our Palestinian people has been exposed and continue to be faced. In front of them the American President - you are his deputy - and you boast about your Christianity, but whoever hears your statements and attitudes discovers and notices that you are far from Christianity and you are in a place that has nothing to do with Christian values that always urge us to win against the oppressed and the tortured.

The purpose of my message is not to condemn you, it is not one of our responsibilities, because there is a Creator in heaven, and he is the one we will stand in front of at a time when each of us will ask what did you do to your brother?

The purpose of this message of mine is to remind you as you visit the holiest sacred place for Christians in the world with your Christian, moral and humanitarian duties, namely to reject injustice, tyranny, occupation and oppression.

How can a Christian ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people especially what happened during the two years in Gaza which was a War of Holocaust.

You will stay in Jerusalem for three days but we have not heard that your program includes a meeting with Palestinian representatives. You will not to hear what the Palestinians say about themselves but just what is said about them from the Israeli side, who dedicated all your visit to meeting them and hearing what they say to you.

It is not possible to come to Jerusalem and Palestine without hearing what the Palestinians say about their suffering, pain and concerns and in particular what the Palestinian Christians say - as you will visit their blessed and glorious church tomorrow. It seems that you will be surrounded by security men, preventing you from hearing anything that may bother you. The side that is hosting you.

In the Church of Resurrection there will be a number of leaders, fathers, monks who will tell you frankly that Jerusalem is hungry for peace and our holy country is also hungry for peace but the peace we are calling is peace based on justice and respect for human rights.

What I would like to tell you is that it is not in your power to ignore the existence of the Palestinian people and it is sad and painful that you come to these Holy Lands for an unholy purpose and that is to adhere to the occupation, its oppressive policies and practices against the Palestinian people.

You fed us with speeches about peace, but you did not do anything for the sake of peace, no, you ignored Palestinian rights and proofs, and when the Palestinians lived their new burden during the two years of conquered and affected Gaza, you supportd their oppressors who with your weapons killed many Palestinians, making you partners in this crime committed against our people.

I hope that your entrance to the Church of Resurrection will be an agent to change something in your character towards what is better and what is best, especially that you say you are a Christian. I hope that the grace of the holy tomb and the blessing of the wheel of the wheel will touch your life and your thought to be more just and humane. We pray for you and for the rulers of this world - those who lost their humanity, so that the humanity they lost returns, and will be their compass in the right direction.

What you should hear is what you will not hear at all during your visit, from your Israeli friends: that Palestine exists and its people exist and its cause is a living issue that many people support around this world, especially in America ...

American politics has only brought destruction - not only in Palestine but also in other places of the world. The successive American administrations played a destructive role in more than one place and a spot in this world where oil was poured on the burning fire to make it more ignorant and leave behind destruction, destruction and inhuman disaster.

Palestinian Christians and all our people are calling you as you enter the Old City of Jerusalem with tight Israeli guards that they wish you and your president to be more just.

Do you know that Palestians are not allowed to enter the Church of Resurrection that you will visit tomorrow. They are also preented from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the City of Jerusalem.

You crossed the oceans to reach Jerusalem, but a Palestinian who is half an hour away from Jerusalem by his car, cannot reach the Holy City, because there are barriers, gates and fences manned by the military.

Do you know that the war of genocide in Gaza left a huge destruction, a disaster and a tragedy that cannot be imagined by a human mind, and all of this is with the blessing of the American administration and those with it?

I invite you to radically change your policies in our region, the peace that we all want cannot be by supporting Israel and supporting its wars and its criminal policies against the Palestinian people. Peace is based on justice, respect and protection of human rights. Peace cannot be built on the ruins of the Palestinian people and by conspiring against the people.

When your president visited Jerusalem and Sharm Sheikh a few days ago, he did not touch Palestine at all as if it is not on a map, but in fact it is on the map, not in his mind and in his opinion distorted by the Zionist lobby that controls ruling in the United States.
They tell us that America is an oasis of democracy and freedom, but it is not. When the racist Zionist lobby controls the government and they direct the policies and attitudes, it means that America is undercover occupation even if it claims to be an oasis of democracy, freedom and human rights defense.

Your attitude towards the Palestinian people and their just cause is what makes us determine whether you are a Christian or otherwise. Please return to your humanity and true Christianity, and do not ignore the injustice that our Palestinian people are facing, and do not disregard the suffering of this people and their quest to live in freedom, dignity and peace.

Yes, we are with peace, and we pray for peace, and tomorrow you will listen to the fathers in the Church of Resurrection who will stress the concept of peace, but our peace is not the peace of surrender, but the peace of freedom, dignity, abstinence from occupation, preservation of freedom and dignity of the Palestinian human.

I hope you receive my message and not be blocked by those around you who do not want you to hear the voice of truth and justice, but want you to here the voice of misguidance, distortion and falsification of facts and records.

We pray for you and for your president and all the rulers in this world to work to remove the injustice from our people, who deserve to live and do not deserve to die and deserve freedom and do not deserves to stay alive under occupation and slavery.

As you enter the Church of Resurrection, remember that this place reminds us of the victory of life over death, the victory of good over evil, and the victory of love over hate and racism.

We raise our prayers for our oppressed people in Gaza and for our Palestinian people displaced under the occupation, and remind you of what His Holiness, the late Pope Francis, said when he went to Bethlehem and was shocked by the presence of military fences and barriers, where he said in front of the media who accompanied his visit to Bethlehem, "that peace does not need military fences or barriers." Instead peace needs bridges of love, brotherhood and mercy.

"Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful," and remember that Jerusalem is a holy city of the three monotheistic religions, and it's not thanks to your host who claims to be a Jewish city ignoring its importance in both Christianity and Islam religions.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the children of God who are called." (Matthew 9:5)

Archbishop Atallah Hanna
Jerusalem 22/10/2025