The nature of a person's life is based on the relationships he builds with others. “Man is a social being.” Therefore, the Lord Jesus said to Satan in the temptation on the mountain: “Man does not live by bread alone...” A person is not what he eats or drinks, and his life cannot be measured by that and is not based on it alone. In order to prove that so-and-so's life is happy, we cannot just prove that he eats or sleeps well. Rather, when we refer to the happiness of life, we mostly mean the good relationships and friendships that give us true happiness. Although the absence of material poverty and the possession of wealth is sometimes a form of happiness, this does not contain the entire meaning of a happy life at all.

So how do we live happily with each other? How do we work together? How can one of us become a reason for the happiness of others, and for his own deep true happiness as well? How do many people live without divisions? What are the foundations of unity among people? As long as a person does not live “alone,” how can he live “one” with others? Or are diversity and abundance inevitably the causes of divisions and conflicts? God forbid! This is not in the divine intention. Christianity is distinguished in particular by its concept of “unity in diversity,” and that many are called to become one.

This is why our concept of one God is not at all compatible with God being a single individual. “God cannot be one if He is alone”! Our concept of unity, even in God, is based on the unity of an entity and not on the isolation of a single being. God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is in complete unity without division or disagreement, but rather in one unity and divinity. That is why when Jesus raised his voice to the Father in his farewell prayer, he asked for us “that they may be one” and added “as we are” (i.e. the Trinity, see John 17:21-23). Unity therefore arises from the openness of the first to the other, and not from the distancing of one from the other. Isolation is “sin,” and sin begets isolation.

The wondrous diversity of the universe is the work of God the Creator, and multiplicity and abundance are in the good divine plan for the unity of the universe and man. That is why he said: “Grow and multiply and fill the earth.” In divine work, unity is achieved through multiplicity. The Father's intention in the entire divine plan is to gather all human beings and the entire universe into one Son. The most important thing we can start with in the Christian concept of unity is that it means “union.” For a person to be one does not mean to be alone. On the contrary, he must unite with another. Isolation is the exact opposite of loneliness. Unity is the union of multiple parties, not their exclusion. This is why Christianity is based on the existence of the other and not on his isolation. Hell in Christianity is loneliness in the sense of loneliness and isolation. Paradise is the success of the union, meaning that we who are many become one.

Jesus himself came so that we might have this “life in his name,” that is, “to gather those who are scattered into one,” and to make of all peoples one body (Ephesians 2:14-18). Thus, God appears calling Adam and Eve (and they were numerous) in the singular before the fall, that is, as one. Not as one individual, but as one life, and as one entity realized by two or more, that is, as many in one union. While God created many to become one, human sin, selfishness, and desires...all of them were tearing apart the unity of humans, so Adam separated himself from Eve from the first moment of sin, and did not bear responsibility with her, but rather bore her alone and justified himself. While the older brother did not consider himself responsible for his younger brother, God was asking him, “Where is your brother?” Addressing him as responsible for his brother and his partner in life. Thus sin multiplied until the tongues in Babylon were confused and the peoples were divided. Divisions increased and human unity was torn apart due to a clear reason indicated in the Holy Bible, which is sin. If our current world is fragmented and tormented by disputes and wars, we must redouble our efforts to strengthen the bonds of unity and eliminate the causes of divisions.

There are many ties in the world that try to bring people together, including ethnic or political ties or even interests and companies. But they all seem not to aim for true unity, but rather to form blocs that, if united together, separate themselves from others. The true cosmic unity that brings all into one, without eliminating the person and uniqueness of each one, is the biblical call. Where everyone comes together without the part merging into the whole, and without the section dividing the whole. The most important principle in this sacred biblical call, which is absent from other ideologies and methods, is that the element of unity among human beings is none other than God Himself. Human unity among people in the absence of God is not possible, in the opinion of the book. The Book of Revelation depicts human beings united when they “gather around the Lamb” (7, 9).

 Saint Dorotheus, Bishop of Gaza, gives a beautiful picture that explains our path to “union,” and how we move to become one. He likens people to the multiple points of a circle that make up its circumference, and God is the center. The further away the points are from the center, the more the periphery becomes fragmented and the points move further away from each other. While on the contrary, when each point approaches the center - God, then they unite with each other and seek each other more. When every person approaches God and lives in His satisfaction and commandments, then sin, the cause of discord, disappears.

The diversity of languages, races and circumstances among humans is a natural condition (Genesis 1:28). However, it is sin that makes this wealth a cause and source of conflicts. Sin is the “wall of hostility” that separates people from one another and which Jesus came to tear down (Ephesians 2:14-18). Unity does not arise from isolation, but from unity. The secret of loneliness is not loneliness, but rather the practice of love, that is, the absence of sin, and there is no sin except the absence of love. Unity is the goal of virtue, and discord is the result of sin. That is why people will know Christ’s disciples through their unity as he commanded them, that is, through their mutual love.

Unity does not exist between us when one is isolated or isolated. But when we communicate and cooperate together. This communication, of course, has systems and principles, and it is not possible for several people to work together in the way that each one of them does. We are many together, but our way of living is one, because we have one spirit, one gospel, one commandments, and one covenant with God. Everything outside of this one path is “sin,” and everything that puts each of us on this path is “love.” Sin is “not together” and love is “together”.

In order for multiple people to be together, they must love each other, that is, the first must love the other more than any reason that isolates him from him. “I love” means that I put the other above many things, such as “my comfort, my dignity, my interest…”, that is, the “you” before the “me.” This cannot be achieved without what the Church teaches us about virtues to practice, such as humility, forgiveness, patience, and sacrifice...

There are virtues and there is love. Love is not one of the virtues. Love is the result, result, and goal of applying all virtues. That is, when we humble ourselves before others, and when we forgive them and sacrifice for them...then we have loved. So there is sin or love. Love takes away sin because “love never fails,” and sin takes away love. Love is the bond of unity, and sin is the cause of discord. Thus, we are one by practicing the virtues, that is, in “love.” We can only work together in this way. Love means the cross. That is, out of love for others, we must crucify our own desires and selfishness, and also bear the pain and suffering of others, just as the “Lamb of God” bore our sins and pain.

I wanted to reflect with you on these simple words as we stand on the threshold of the coming seasons and celebrations. Love constitutes a starting point for us for great collective action in order to achieve our pastoral and development dreams. Actions require us not to lose even one of Jesus’ “little brothers,” and to engage everyone in the work. We need everyone, not only to help us in the many tasks, but rather so that we are not in sin, but in love. So that we may never be many but one.

We will not be one unless we forgive, humble ourselves, and sacrifice. We are numerous and dispersed as long as we live in sin, that is, in the absence of love. Jesus came to remove this wall of hostility from us. Jesus came so that we might truly love “and that we might be one as the Trinity.”

Amen