by Father Sliman Hifawi
Ouranoupolis – The Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Kuwait and Baghdad, Archbishop Ghattas Hazim , made a pilgrimage to Mount Athos from September 6 to 9, 2026, alongside the Catholic Bishop of the Vicariate of Northern Arabia, Bishop Aldo Berardi, whose jurisdiction covers Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain. This “historic” trip reflects “the good relationship existing between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in Kuwait,” as Bishop Berardi himself noted, in a country where both serve as pastors to their respective communities.
The Catholic prelate, accompanied by a delegation that included Father Sliman Hifawi , Father Boutrus Gharib , seminarian Pedro Mendoza , layman Pierre Maalouf, and from the Orthodox Church Father Ephrem Al Toumi, had the opportunity to experience firsthand the monastic spirituality of the Holy Mountain. Welcomed first at the Monastery of Simonopetra and later at Vatopedi, they visited twelve of the twenty monasteries that make up the peninsula.
A tradition since Byzantine times
Mount Athos, the center of Orthodox monastic spirituality, constitutes a privileged natural enclave. For centuries, monks and hermits have sought in the seclusion of its landscape a life rooted in the Gospel and united with Jesus Christ through asceticism, prayer, and fasting.
The Holy Mountain is located on a peninsula in northern Greece and has a self-governing regime administered by its 20 monasteries, making it the only monastic republic in the world. Although spiritually dependent on the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the abbot of each monastery holds disciplinary, administrative, and spiritual authority over his monks, granting each monastery broad autonomy.
Cradle of great saints
This enclave has been a fruitful nursery of holiness. Some of its saints are also venerated by Eastern Catholic Churches, such as Saint Gregory Palamas , a distinguished Athonite theologian who emphasized the close bond between the Eucharistic mystery and ecclesial harmony:
“Let us hold fast to love toward one another; in this we shall be recognized as His true disciples. Let us maintain the unity of the faith and the communion of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For having been called in one Body and fed with the same Heavenly Bread, we ought also to be of one heart and one soul.”
Likewise, the monasteries preserve precious relics, ranging from fragments of the Lignum Crucis to the remains of more recent saints of the Orthodox tradition.
Saint Arethas, a common patron in Arabia
A particularly moving moment of the ecumenical pilgrimage was the veneration of the relics of Saint Arethas and his fellow martyrs, who are among the patrons of the Church in the Arabian Peninsula for both Catholics and Orthodox .
This unprecedented visit, in which an Orthodox prelate formally invited a Catholic counterpart to tour Mount Athos, served to “further strengthen the ties that unite us” in a place sacred “not only for the Orthodox Church, but for all of Christendom,” highlighted Bishop Berardi.
Blessing from the Ecumenical Patriarch
The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, warmly welcomed the request submitted by Metropolitan Hazim to undertake this pilgrimage. In granting his blessing, the Patriarch praised this initiative aimed at continuing to open paths toward Christian unity—an effort especially meaningful when made visible through bishops, successors of the apostles.
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