A Message from the Ecclesiastical Court (7)

Judicial Year 2026–2027

My beloved brothers, esteemed judges and lawyers,

With the blessing of our Father, His Eminence Metropolitan Christophoros, Metropolitan of our blessed Jordan and President of the Court of Appeals, and with great affection, I address you at the beginning of this new judicial year, praying that it may be a year blessed with peace and justice, and that the Lord may accompany us in our responsibility and mission, being before us in judgment, above us in conscience, and among us in our love for our brothers and sisters whose cases, rights, and dignity have been entrusted to our care.

As we open a new judicial year, I hope that its beginning will not be merely a transition in the record of days and cases, but rather an occasion for self-examination and a renewal of the meaning of the mission entrusted to us. The Ecclesiastical Court is not a place where documents and legal pleadings alone meet, nor is it an arena where opposing parties compete for victory. Rather, it is a place where truth meets conscience, law meets mercy, and justice meets human responsibility before God. Therefore, every case that enters the doors of our Court carries, behind its documents, a suffering human being, a troubled home, a family fearful for its unity, and children who may have no voice in the dispute, yet are often the first to bear its consequences.

My brothers, the lawyers,

The dignity of the legal profession before the Ecclesiastical Court derives not solely from legal knowledge, important and necessary as it is, but also from the integrity and faithfulness that a lawyer upholds before God and conscience. When you represent a person before the Court, you do not merely carry a case file; rather, you enter into a delicate part of that person’s life, secrets, suffering, dignity, and family. Accordingly, every word becomes a trust, every piece of advice a trust, every legal argument a trust, and even silence, when silence is called for, becomes a trust. Likewise, striving for reconciliation, whenever possible and just, becomes an integral part of the honour of this mission.

For this reason, I remind myself and all of you that we will one day stand before the judgment seat of God, the Righteous Judge, where eloquence in argument will be of no avail if it is divorced from truth, nor will the strength of an oral pleading be of any value if it harms another human being. Nor is there any victory in a case if its price is the destruction of a home that could have been saved, or the wounding of a child who could have been spared the pain of litigation. There, the question will not simply be: What have we won in our cases? Rather, it will be: What have we done for the person who placed their trust in us? Were we a source of support in their pursuit of truth and peace, or did we add to their fear, intensify their anger, and deepen their conflict?

Therefore, I ask you, with love, to instill the fear of God in the hearts of our brothers and sisters who turn to you and appoint you to represent them in their cases; not a fear that causes terror, but that sacred fear which makes a person pause before committing injustice, examine themselves before making an accusation, and fear building their own rights upon another person’s wounds or the tarnishing of their image. A true lawyer does not exploit their client’s anger, nor turn their suffering into fuel for prolonging the dispute. Rather, they help their client see their case through the eyes of truth, reason, and conscience.

I hope that you will not turn family cases into battlegrounds in search of a winner and a loser. For in family disputes, if peace is lost, everyone may lose, even if one of the parties wins a court judgment. How grave it is when a case comes to an end in the Court’s records, yet the dispute remains alive in the hearts of the children, or when the documents are closed, yet hurtful words continue to echo in the memory of an entire family.

For its part, the Ecclesiastical Court does not regard itself merely as an authority that settles disputes and issues judgments, but rather as one of the Church’s instruments in serving and healing the human person. In our understanding, Canon Law is not a wall that separates one person from another; rather, it is a system of justice that sets boundaries against disorder and injustice, safeguards human dignity, and opens the door, wherever possible, to repentance, restoration, and reconciliation.

Accordingly, we look forward to your cooperation with the Court, not merely in procedural matters, but also in a spirit that reflects the life of the Church. Together, we seek, without prejudice to the rights of litigants or the requirements of justice, to find the approach befitting us as children of Christ and members of His Church’s Body. Let none of us make prolonging litigation our aim, but rather the attainment of truth; not the aggravation of wounds, but their healing; not the downfall of another, but the restoration of every person, as far as possible, to a position in which they can continue their lives in peace and dignity.

In family cases in particular, we must always remember that there is an interest that goes beyond the wishes of the spouses themselves: the best interests of the children. They must never become witnesses to their parents’ war, messengers between two adversaries, instruments of pressure and bargaining, or victims of fleeting judicial victories. A child’s psychological well-being, the preservation of the image of both father and mother in the child’s heart, and the continuation of the child’s feeling that they belong to a family that respects its shared humanity even in times of disagreement, are moral and spiritual responsibilities no less important than any legal right sought before the Court.

Furthermore, the family in our society is not an isolated island, separate from its surroundings. Its turmoil extends to the extended family, the clan, and society, just as its peace contributes to the peace of all. Our responsibility, therefore, extends beyond the boundaries of an individual case, as it affects family peace, social unity, relationships among people, and ultimately the integrity of our unified national fabric, to which we are proud to belong and whose preservation is a responsibility we all share.

My beloved brothers,

In line with the Court’s desire to develop judicial work and enhance the level of cooperation between the Court and the esteemed body of lawyers, a date will soon be set for a meeting with you. During this meeting, we will place before the table of fraternal and responsible dialogue a number of delicate and sensitive matters that the Court has identified through court hearings and its practical experience over the past period, as well as observations, guidance, and warnings arising from certain incidents that the Court considers necessary to discuss with openness, love, and responsibility. This is not intended to restrict the lawyer’s role, but rather to protect the dignity of the profession, ensure the proper administration of justice, and safeguard the particular nature of ecclesiastical justice and the mission of the Church.

This meeting will also provide an opportunity to clearly address the law issued by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which regulates the procedures for granting licenses to plead and practice advocacy before its Ecclesiastical Courts, and to explain its requirements and the obligations arising from it. This will contribute to regulating the professional and judicial relationship and strengthening the standards of responsibility, discipline, and integrity that should govern the practice of advocacy before the Ecclesiastical Court.

We will also address certain legal and practical guidelines relating to the provisions governing wills and inheritance, in accordance with the legislation and decisions recently approved by the Patriarchate through the Holy Synod. This is intended to provide greater clarity in their application, spare litigants and lawyers any difficulties that may arise from differences in interpretation or practice, and establish more orderly, precise, and stable judicial proceedings.

As I place these words before you at the beginning of our new judicial year, I do not write to you from a position that separates the Court from the lawyers, but rather from a deep conviction that ecclesiastical justice can only be upheld through the complementary roles we each fulfill, while preserving the independence, boundaries, and responsibilities of each role. The judge is entrusted with a responsibility, the lawyer is entrusted with a responsibility, the client is a trust, truth is a trust, and the family is a trust. Above us all stands God, who searches the hearts and minds, before whom intentions are revealed even before words are spoken.

I repeat this reminder so that we may remember that the true value of our work is not measured by the number of cases we have handled, but by what we can carry with us in good conscience when we stand before God. A case may end with a judgment, and a file may be closed by a decision, but the responsibility for every word, position, and piece of advice remains written in the life of the person who came before us.

Therefore, let us make this new judicial year a renewed covenant with God and our consciences: to remain faithful to truth without harshness, to the law without rigidity, and to the human person without favouritism; mindful that the dignity of justice does not rest upon the number of judgments it issues, but upon its ability to give everyone their due, and, once litigation has ended, to leave the human person with their dignity, the Church with its mission, and society with its peace and cohesion. Through this faithfulness, we serve our Church and our homeland, and remain worthy of the responsibility entrusted to us before God and conscience.

I would like to share with you, with love, a story drawn from the depths of the Church’s teaching and experience:

I have often heard from those involved in litigation among our faithful, when asking them why they do not communicate with the other party, the following response:

“Father, the lawyer asked me not to communicate with the other party and told me that everything should go through them only, and they strongly emphasised this to me.”

I say that this is regrettable and dishonourable to the mission and to brotherhood within the Body of Christ, and it carries grave condemnation before God if the mission is transformed from one of love, truth, and fairness into one of division and tearing apart the Body of Christ, as Arius did to the Body of the Church approximately 1,700 years ago.

It is recounted that Saint Peter of Alexandria saw in a vision the garment of the Lord Jesus Christ torn. He asked Him, saying: “Lord, who has torn Your garment?” He replied: “Arius, the denier.” May we, therefore, never deny the grace of God granted to us, but rather remain faithful to it through our faithfulness to the mission entrusted to us, our service to our brothers and sisters, and our pursuit of their peace.

In conclusion,

I ask our compassionate God, the Righteous Judge, to grant us all wisdom in thought, integrity of conscience, and uprightness in word and deed. May He place His holy fear before our eyes in every case, decision, pleading, and piece of advice, so that we may fulfill the trust He has placed in our hands, prepared for the day when we shall all stand before His awesome judgment seat. May what we have done not become a cause of condemnation for us, but rather a testimony that, to the extent of our human weakness, we have sought to serve truth with love, justice with conscience, and the human person with dignity.

Amman, September 5, 2026

Yours Faithfully,

Archimandrite Christophoros

President of the Court of First Instance of the Ecclesiastical Court of the Greek Orthodox – Jordan