Words of Thanks in the Presence of His Beatitude the Patriarch

Your Beatitude, Kyrios Kyrios Theophilos III, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem, the Most Venerable,
Your Eminence Metropolitan Joachim, the Most Reverend,
Your Eminences, venerable fathers,

Kissing your pure right hand, I bring you, Your Beatitude, fragrant greetings from the lands of our holy Galilee, asking our Lord Jesus Christ to grant you abundant health, strength and wisdom in shepherding your flock of the Holy City, guarded by God. On the day of your installation as Patriarch, when you were enthroned upon the throne of St. James the Apostle, the Brother of the Lord, in the Holy City of Jerusalem, the pastoral staff was handed to you, my Master, and you were told at that time: “Take the staff, to shepherd with it the flock of Christ entrusted to you; and let it be to you, towards the obedient, a staff of pastoral care and protection, but towards the disobedient and the wavering, a staff of fear, a staff of chastening.” We are that very flock of Christ which the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ, entrusted into your hands; and He in turn gave you, through the Holy Spirit, the authority to ordain priests and deacons to serve and teach the Orthodox people of God in these holy precincts, the place where the feet of Christ the Lord once trod.

My Master, Your Beatitude, you are the teacher, the guide and the helmsman of the ship, that is, the Church of Christ, which the waves of the sea batter to right and to left so that she is never at rest. The tempter is strong; but be confident, my Master, that the harbour of salvation is near, and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church of God, by the power of the precious and holy Cross.

I remember the day we met here a few months ago: you whispered in my ear that Your Beatitude would be a father and a guide to your sons the priests, and that the doors of your guest hall are always open. And so I pledge before you, my Master, Your Beatitude, to be that son who obeys his father, submitting with all love to the authority of the Holy Synod of Jerusalem, which is led by the Holy Spirit, and to the canons of the holy Apostolic Church.

I thank you, Your Beatitude, and the Holy Synod for the trust you have granted me in raising me to the first degree of the holy priesthood, unworthy as I am of divine grace. I know that the cross is great; but the joy of the light of the Resurrection burns within me as a love of giving and of serving the flock of Christ.

I also thank His Eminence Metropolitan Joachim for his condescension and love in granting me the order of the diaconate, hoping that he will be a spiritual father and a wise guide to my lowliness through the years.

And so, in the name of the venerable fathers, the priests, foremost among them the Very Reverend Archimandrite Philotheos, Patriarchal Representative for the Metropolis of Ptolemais, Acre and the Galilee; in the name of my father, my mother, my wife and our dear family; and in the name of all the friends and acquaintances present with us here, we offer our thanks once again to Your Beatitude, to Their Eminences the Metropolitans and to all the members of the Holy Synod, praying to the Child of the cave, God incarnate, to grant you good shepherding and fullness of warmth and love for our holy Apostolic Church. Amen.