Exhortation of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch BARTHOLOMEW to the Archdiocesan Council

Waldorf Astoria Hotel
Direct Archdiocesan District
New York, New York

October 31, 2009

* * *

Your Eminence Archbishop Demetrios,
Most Reverend Metropolitans and Bishops,
Beloved Clergy and Laity,
Members of the Archdiocesan Council,

It is indeed truly a joy to greet you this morning. For we recognize the earnest concern that each of you feel for the ongoing growth of our historical and sacred Archdiocese, as well as for the responsible ministry to the Orthodox Christian faithful throughout this blessed and unique nation. We can assure you that – in the Mother Church of Constantinople – we hear regularly of your achievements and take special pride in your fervent love for Christ and His teaching, as well as in your unfailing commitment to the mission of the Church in our modern society. Therefore, we would first of all like to express to you our sincere gratitude and Patriarchal blessing for all that you do as members of this Archdiocesan Council, under the spiritual leadership of your Archbishop and his brother Metropolitans of the Eparchial Synod. Your labor of love reaches your parishes and their faithful from one end of this country to the other, and – as we can bear witness – even beyond this Archdiocese to the ends of the inhabited earth.

This – beloved sons and daughters in Christ – is precisely the first point we would like to bring to your attention today. For our words of thanks are not expressions of mere formality or simple courtesy. They reflect our profound care and concern for all that you do as a daughter Church. For, although we may appear to be distant from you geographically, the truth is that we are close – indeed, united – with you spiritually. This is the image of the Church and its spiritual leaders that we have received from St. Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthians: “Who,” he asks, “is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant? … Besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.” (Chapter 11, verses 28-29)

The fact, therefore, that we are located far from you does not mean that we do not feel close to you. As St. Paul says in his First Letter to the Corinthians: “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” (Chapter 12.26) We share in your problems and concerns, just as we rejoice in your success and happiness. We are with you – beside you, praying for you and supporting you – at every moment and in every situation.

Second, the same Apostle describes the way that you – also – should relate to one another within the Archdiocesan Council. For he speaks of the Church as being one body comprised many members: “Indeed,” he says, “the body does not consist of one member, but of many.” The foot, and the ear, and the eye are all equally important – even if their function is not the same. None can say to the other that they are unimportant or unnecessary. Therefore, all of you are indispensable members of this responsible body of the Church – bishops and presbyters, clergy and laity, men and women, young and old. Together, you are called to hold – respectfully and carefully – the holy and seamless robe of Christ  that unites the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. And together you comprise a unique and indispensable part of the beautiful garment of the wider Church.

Today, we commemorate the feast of St. Stachys of the Seventy Apostles of our Lord, a close assistant and coworker of St. Andrew the First-Called of the Apostles, whom St. Andrew ordained as the first bishop of Byzantium and, therefore, the first in a long line of succession through the centuries leading to the position that we are humbled to hold. This long line of succession is a treasure that we can never afford to ignore or lose sight of. For it is the tradition that connects us through the ages to the Church of Archbishop Iakovos of blessed memory, and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras who served this Archdiocese so faithfully; and before them to the Church of Philotheos Kokkinos in the time of St. Gregory Palamas; and before him to the Church of St. Photios the Great and St. John the Faster; and before them to the Church of St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom, whose relics we cherish in our Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George.

We are – all of us – honored to be among such a “great cloud of witnesses.” We are – all of us – privileged to be an invaluable link on this long chain that leads back to the first Apostolic community and to our Lord Himself. Therefore, permit us to leave you with one word of counsel and exhortation. As you meet regularly to decide on the regional and national affairs of this Archdiocese; and as you gather together to deliberate on problems and issues that arise in particular parishes or in the entire church throughout this land; never lose sight of two things:

First, of your sacred and historical roots, which lie in the Mother Church of Constantinople, which has known glory and martyrdom alike over the centuries, and to this day maintains the unity, sanctity, catholicity and apostolicity of the Orthodox Christian Church;

And second, of your spiritual and heavenly goal, which lies in the Kingdom of God, to which all of our actions and our ministry should aspire.

May our Heavenly Father bless all of you, together with your families and communities, and may His Holy Spirit come upon all of you so that you, in our Lord Jesus Christ, may be of one heart and one mind in preserving and safeguarding the oneness and unity of this Holy Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Let it be so!

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