At the conclusion of their meeting at Jerusalem the Holy Father Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras in agreement with his Holy Synod together recognize the great significance of this event, and give thanks to Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who guided their steps towards the Holy Land, where our common Redeemer, Christ our Lord, lived, taught, died, rose again, and ascended into Heaven, whence he sent the Holy Spirit on the infant Church.  This meeting cannot be considered as anything other than a brotherly gesture, inspired by the charity of Christ, who left his disciples and supreme commandment to love one another, to pardon offences seventy times seven, and to be united among themselves.

            The two pilgrims, their eyes fixed on Christ, the exemplar and author, with the Father, of unity and peace, pray God that this meeting may be the sign and prelude of things to come for the glory of God and the enlightenment of his faithful people.  After so many centuries of silence, they have now met with the desire to fulfil the Lord's will and to proclaim the ancient truth of his Gospel confided to the Church.

            These common feelings have been made manifest to all the members of the respective hierarchies, and to all the faithful, so that they may share them in their own right, and send new prayers to God on high, that in the eyes of all Christians there may shine forth more and more the truth of the one Church of Christ and of his Gospel, which is the light and salvation of the world.

E.J. Stormon, Towards the Healing of Schism, The Sees of Rome and Constantinople, Paulist Press, 1987, p. 64