His Holiness Serbian Patriarch kyr Porfirije, responding to the invitation of His Majesty King Abdullah II, departed today for Jordan, where on 9 December he will take part in the International Conference entitled Aqaba Process – Balkan Interfaith Dialogue.
 
The upcoming conference, to be held in Bethany on the Jordan River, at the site where St. John the Forerunner baptized our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is being organized on the tenth anniversary of King Abdullah’s peace initiative.
 
The Aqaba Process is not a formal organization but a platform for dialogue, coordination, and the exchange of experiences among political, military, religious, and security leaders from around the world. It is expected that the conference in Jordan will be attended by His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem kyr Theophilos III, His Beatitude Patriarch of Antioch kyr John X, and His Beatitude Archbishop of Albania kyr John, together with Hierarchs, as well as Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders from the Middle East and the Balkans.
 
The theme of the dialogue, Bridges Between People: Enhancing Understanding for Peaceful Coexistence, seems as if taken from one of the homilies of the Head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who constantly calls for building bridges of understanding, cooperation, peace, and love among people and nations.
 
Alongside His Holiness kyr Porfirije, the following will take part in the work of the conference: Their Eminences Metropolitan of Dabar-Bosna kyr Hrizostom and Metropolitan of Budimlje-Nikšić kyr Metodije; and Their Graces Bishop of Buenos Aires and of South and Central America kyr Kirilo and Vicar Bishop of Hvosno kyr Aleksej.