New York, June 15, 2020
Photo: goarch.org
Serving in the Holy Trinity Archdiocesan Cathedral in New York on June 11, Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America read out an address in honor of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople on the occasion of his name’s day.
“We have gathered today to chant… a doxology of gratitude, for the life-changing and self-sacrificial Patriarchal Ministry of our father in Christ, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who has given his every breath to the worldwide Orthodox Church for nearly three decades,” the Archbishop began his address, the text of which is published on the Greek Archdiocese’s website.
Abp. Elpidophoros also recalled the words of Pat. Bartholomew at his enthronement as Patriarch of Constantinople 29 years ago, speaking of the Patriarchate in Biblical terms: “[I]n self-emptiness, we approach at this moment the burning and unconsumed bush of the Ecumenical Patriarchy—by which we are called to see God – in the service of the mystery of unbroken apostolicity, in diakonia and witness to Orthodoxy, and to the edification of Christian unity.”
And it is within this vision of the Burning Bush, the Archbishop said, that Pat. Bartholomew “correctly expounds the Holy Mother and Great Church of Christ as the living and ever-burning torch of Faith that enlightens the world through Her ministry.”
This ministry is the unbroken tradition of the saints, “embodied in the sacred person of our Ecumenical Patriarch,” Abp. Elpidophoros continued.
And the Patriarch is at the heart of the spread of the Gospel around the world, the GOARCH primate believes: “Our Patriarch exemplifies every flame in the Burning Bush that we know as the Phanar—the lighthouse that ignites the hearts of the faithful and sheds the light of Christ around the globe.”
The Archbishop explains how the Patriarch spreads the Gospel: “Whether it is human rights or religious liberty, ecological justice or interfaith understanding, His All-Holiness brings the timeless wisdom of the Orthodox Faith to contemporary issues and questions.”
He continued: “Within the boundaries of the Church, our Patriarch remains the extraordinary standard of canonical discipline, a true κανόνα πίστεως, the Orthodox rule of the Faith.”
The Patriarch’s activity in Ukraine is an example of this standard-bearing, the Archbishop continues: “This is why he led the Holy and Sacred Synod to the determination to grant autocephaly to the pious Ukrainian People and established the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”
And 2016’s Council of Crete: “This is why he convened - even in the face of disingenuous opposition—the Holy and Great Council in Crete in 2016. This Council, that was over fifty years in the making, took important steps in communicating Orthodoxy outside the Church, and established even greater continuity inside the Church.”
Pat. Bartholomew has inspired the Church of Constantinople to continue its missionary activity in places like Albania, Estonia, and the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Abp. Elpidophoros also noted.
And speaking of his work in the ecumenical sphere, the Archbishop quotes Oliver Clément: “For Bartholomew, ecumenism is not a luxury but a duty. He likes to call to mind the undivided Church, the spiritual matrix of Europe, where East and West were united and worked together.”
“Without hesitation, we can truly say that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has exceeded every expectation that the Church and the world ever had of him on that fateful October Day in 1991, when he was elected the 270th Successor to the Apostle and First-Called Disciple Saint Andrew,” Archbishop Elpidophoros said, concluding his speech by wishing the Patriarch many years.
“Metropolitan” Epiphany Dumenko of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” also praised Pat. Bartholomew’s work in fostering unity in the Orthodox Church.
