Reports have been received of a foiled assassination attempt against the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomaeos. The Turkish police announced that they have arrested two young men who planned the attack to take place in the Phanar district of Istanbul, where the patriarchate is located. Writing to Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira to express his profound shock at this news, Abba Seraphim also gave thanks to Almighty God “for His Providential Mercy in preventing such wickedness to triumph.” He found it very difficult to believe that anyone should wish to deprive us of so wise and gentle a peacemaker and said that in our troubled world we not only need more people who follow his eirenic example but we also need to listen to them carefully and cherish their message. Abba Seraphim accordingly instructed all his clergy to offer prayers of thanksgiving for the Patriarch’s deliverance and to pray that God will grant him a long and fruitful ministry among us.