Jerusalem, October 30, 2025
Theodosios Atallah Hannah
Ahead of U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre last week, His Eminence Archbishop Atallah Hanna of Sebastia of the Jerusalem Patriarchate issued a scathing open letter addressing the American official.
The letter was released on October 22, one day before the visit took place. OrthoChristian previously reported on Vance’s visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was led by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem.
Abp. Atallah, who is known for his outspoken statements in support of the Palestinian cause, addressed VP Vance in what he described as “the language of love, faith, and humanity.” In the letter, the Archbishop expressed hope that Vance would hear “the Palestinian Christian voice that must be heard” during his three-day visit to Jerusalem, while condemning the U.S. administration’s stance as far from Christianity.
The letter touched on themes of Christian duty, the situation in Gaza, access restrictions for Palestinians to Jerusalem’s holy sites, and U.S. policy in the region. Abp. Atallah called on the VP to meet with Palestinian figures during his visit and to hear directly from Palestinians about their experiences.
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Read the full text of the Archbishop’s open letter:
Tomorrow you will visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and you will see open doors before you, for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has always and forever kept its doors open to all its visitors, regardless of their religious or ethnic affiliations or the color of their skin.
The love we uphold and proclaim is the love proclaimed by Him Who conquered death through His Resurrection—in the very place you will visit tomorrow.
I address you in the language of love, faith, and humanity, not in the language of politics and interests that you will hear from the Israeli politicians you will meet. We are not politicians and never will be, but we believe in the values of truth, justice, and standing with the oppressed. We hope that your visit to the Holy Sepulchre will enable you to receive some of the light that shone forth from this empty tomb to dispel the darkness of this world.
There are rulers in this world whose interests have blinded their sight and insight, and they turn a blind eye to the injustices that our Palestinian people have been subjected to and continue to endure. Foremost among them is the American president, whose deputy you are. You boast of your Christianity, but anyone who hears your statements and positions discovers and notes that you are far from Christianity—you exist in a realm that has no connection to the Christian values that constantly urge us to stand with the oppressed and the suffering.
The purpose of my letter is not to condemn you, for that is not our responsibility—there is a just Judge in Heaven before Whom we will all stand at some point, when each of us will be asked: “What did you do for your brother?”
The purpose of this letter is to remind you, as you visit the holiest place sacred to Christians in the world, of your Christian, moral, and human duties—to reject injustice, tyranny, occupation, and oppression.
How can a Christian ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people, especially what has happened over the past two years in Gaza, where there has been a war of genocide?
You will remain in Jerusalem for three days, and we have not heard that your program includes meetings with Palestinian figures so that you might hear what Palestinians say about themselves, rather than what is said about them by the Israeli side, to whom you have devoted your entire visit to meet and hear what they tell you.
It is inconceivable that you would come to Jerusalem and Palestine without hearing what Palestinians say about their suffering, their pain, their concerns, and what Palestinian Christians in particular have to say, given that you will be visiting their blessed and glorious church tomorrow. But it seems you will be surrounded by security personnel to prevent you from hearing anything from anyone that might disturb you or disturb the party hosting you.
A number of church leaders, priests, and monks will be present in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, who will tell you plainly that Jerusalem thirsts for peace, and our Holy Land also thirsts for peace. But the peace we call for is peace built on justice and respect for human rights.
What I want to tell you is that it is not within your authority to ignore the existence of the Palestinian people. It is sad and painful that you have come to this Holy Land for an unholy purpose—to side with the occupation and its unjust policies and practices against the Palestinian people.
You have saturated us with speeches about peace, but you have done nothing for peace. Rather, you have ignored Palestinian rights and principles. And when Palestinians lived through their new catastrophe over the past two years in stricken and grief-stricken Gaza, you were supportive and backing them, and with your weapons many Palestinians were killed, making you partners in this crime committed against our people.
I hope that your entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre will be a factor in changing something in your character toward what is better and more just, especially since you say you are a Christian. I hope that the grace of the Holy Sepulchre and the blessing of Golgotha will touch your life and your thinking so that you may be more just and humane. We pray for you and for the rulers and tyrants of this world who have lost their humanity, that their lost humanity may return to them and their compass may point in the right direction.
What you should hear is what you will absolutely not hear during your visit from your Israeli friends—that Palestine exists, its people exist, and its cause is a living cause embraced by many in this world, especially in America, where demonstrations and marches have taken place condemning the policy of the American president.
American policy has brought us nothing but total destruction, not only in Palestine but throughout the world. Successive American administrations have played a destructive role in more than one place and spot in this world, pouring oil on burning fires to make them burn more fiercely and leave behind destruction, ruin, and human tragedies.
Palestinian Christians and our entire people call out to you as you enter the Old City of Jerusalem under tight Israeli guard, hoping that you and your president will be more just and fair.
Do you know that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that you will visit tomorrow, as well as Al-Aqsa Mosque and the entire city of Jerusalem, are places that Palestinians are prevented from reaching? You crossed oceans to reach Jerusalem, but a Palestinian who lives half an hour by car from Jerusalem cannot reach the Holy City, for there are checkpoints, gates, and military walls lying in wait for him.
Do you know that the war of genocide in Gaza has left enormous destruction and a catastrophe and tragedy that no human mind can imagine, and all of this with the blessing of the American administration and those with it?
I call on you to radically change your policies in our region. The peace we all want cannot come through supporting Israel and supporting its wars and criminal policies against the Palestinian people. Peace is built on justice and on respecting and protecting human rights. Peace cannot be built on the ruins of the Palestinian people or through conspiring against the Palestinian people and their just cause.
When your president visited Jerusalem and Sharm el-Sheikh several days ago, he did not address Palestine at all, as if it does not exist on the map. But in reality, it does exist on the map—it just does not exist in his mind and distorted thinking, distorted by the Zionist lobby that controls governance in the United States.
They tell us that America is an oasis of democracy and freedom, but it is not so. When the racist Zionist lobby controls governance and they are the ones directing policies and positions, this means that America suffers from a covert occupation, even if it claims to be an oasis of democracy, freedom, and the defense of human rights.
Your position toward the Palestinian people and their just cause is what makes us determine whether you are a Christian or otherwise. Return to your humanity and to your true Christianity, and do not ignore the injustices to which our Palestinian people are subjected. Do not ignore this people’s suffering and their striving to live in freedom, dignity, and peace.
Yes, we are for peace and we pray for peace. Tomorrow you will hear from the fathers in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre who will emphasize the concept of peace, but our peace is not the peace of surrender—it is the peace of freedom, dignity, and liberation from occupation, and the protection of the freedom and dignity of the Palestinian person.
I hope my letter reaches you and that those around you, who do not want you to hear the voice of truth and justice but want you to hear the voice of deception, distortion, and the falsification of facts and realities, do not block it.
We pray for you, for your president, and for all the rulers of this world, that they may work to lift the injustice from our people, who deserve life and do not deserve death, who deserve freedom and do not deserve to remain living under occupation and enslavement.
Remember, as you enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, that this place reminds us of the victory of life over death, the victory of good over evil, and the victory of love over hatred and racism.
We raise our prayers for our oppressed people in Gaza and our Palestinian people suffering under occupation. I remind you of what His Holiness Pope Francis said when he went to Bethlehem and was shocked by the presence of walls and military checkpoints. He said before the journalists who accompanied his visit to Bethlehem: “Peace does not need walls and military checkpoints—it needs bridges of love, brotherhood, and mercy.”
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful (Lk. 6:36). And remember that Jerusalem is a holy city for the three monotheistic faiths and is not the monopoly of the party hosting you, which claims it is a Jewish city while ignoring its importance in Christianity and Islam.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God (Mt. 5:9)
Archbishop Atallah Hanna
Archbishop of Sebastia of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem
October 22, 2025
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