New York, January 22, 2021
Photo: greekcitytimes.com
Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese participated in yesterday’s Presidential Inaugural Interfaith Prayer Service, offering a prayer that President Biden and Vice President Harris might be blessed with “wisdom, grace, and fortitude” to unite America and lead it to a better future.
“Imbue them with virtue, righteousness, and a keen sense for justice so that all Americans can have confidence that their rights as citizens will always be defended and protected,” the Archbishop prayed.
Watch a video of the Archbishop’s virtual prayer and read the full text:
Let us pray to the Lord. Kyrie Eleison.
O Mighty God of our mothers and fathers, by Your mercy and love, You have brought us once again to our national moment of passing the torch of freedom. We give You thanks for Your loving kindness and compassion, and in this hour, we call upon You to shower Your blessings upon our president, Joseph R. Biden, and our vice president, Kamala Harris. Grant unto them wisdom, grace, and fortitude to lead our nation to a brighter, safer, and more healthful future for all Americans. Strengthen them in their mission to bring healing, reconciliation, and peace to our land. Imbue them with virtue, righteousness, and a keen sense for justice so that all Americans can have confidence that their rights as citizens will always be defended and protected. Save, God, and preserve our republic, our congress and courts, our military and civil servants, so that in peace and property we may live out our days. We petition Your grace and majesty, ascribing glory and dominion to You, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, glorified to the ages of ages. Amen.
Prayers were also offered by clergy and representatives of various Protestant and Catholic groups as well as Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Native American communities, and the National LGBTQ Task Force.
President Biden has developed good relations with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Abp. Elpidophoros also offered a prayer at last year’s Democratic Convention, at which Biden was officially nominated as the Democratic candidate, while declining to offer a prayer at the Republic Convention.
Biden styles himself as a great friend of the Greek diaspore in America and a defender of the Patriarchate as the supposed center of Orthodoxy. Notably, Biden is a supporter of Constantinople’s attack on the Ukrainian Church and has been known to pressure at least the Jerusalem Church to recognize the schismatics.
He was also the recipient of the Greek Archdiocese’s Athenagoras Human Rights Award in 2015, despite his un-Christian pro-abortion views.
Pat. Bartholomew gushed over the election of Biden as President, and Biden in turn told the Patriarch that the U.S. is in need of his guidance. President Biden is also a close friend of Fr. Alexander Karloutsos, the Archbishop’s representative to the office of the President and one of the most powerful men in GOARCH and the entire Patriarchate of Constantinople.
“I think in Joe Biden you’re going to have a unifier-in-chief, he will not be a divider,” believes Fr. Alexander.
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