Archbishop Elpidophoros of America delivered a speech at the Ordination of Deacon Alexander Gratsias to the Priesthood on the 2nd of July 2023.
His ordination took place at the St Nicholas Church at Ground Zero, in New York.
In his speech, the Archbishop of America referred to the value of the priesthood and emphasized that as a priest of the Most High God, he was called to feed and nurture the People of God.
Archbishop Elpidoporos of America began his address to Alexander Gratsias by saying: “Now is the moment when you will rise one step higher, in order to bend both of your knees, and receive ordination into the Holy Priesthood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
“As a priest of the Most High God, you are called to feed and nurture the People of God – not with earthly ‘food that perishes, but with the food that abides unto eternal life.’,” he added.
“Through the prayers of Saint Nicholas, the Wonderworker of Myra, may you ever hold this vision of the priesthood in your soul, and always be the priest of God that He has called you to be,” the Archbishop wished.
Read the full speech of Archbishop Elpidophoros of America:
My beloved Deacon Alexander,
Now is the Time! Now is the moment when you will rise one step higher, in order to bend both of your knees, and receive ordination into the Holy Priesthood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here at the Saint Nicholas Shrine, your last Divine Liturgy as a Deacon, becomes your first as a Priest.
We are assembled at this special place – a place where thousands died unjustly, and where heroes gave their last full measure to save anyone they could. Like the Martyrs who rest within the Holy Table, we gather in the presence of these martyrs, understanding that “the blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church.”[1] For the ultimate nature of service in the Church is sacrifice, and sometimes that means the ultimate sacrifice of life and limb.
Indeed, my beloved Deacon Alexander, you have already crossed the threshold of this sacrificial service. For the Sacred Diaconate is the portal to the one Priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is in the order of Melchizedek, who offered Abraham bread and wine.
For this is the purpose of a priest. And truly, there is no other purpose that surpasses it – to offer Bread and Wine on behalf of the People of God and for the life of the world, so that we might receive the Most Holy Body and Precious Blood of our Lord in the Divine Liturgy.
As a priest of the Most High God, you are called to feed and nurture the People of God – not with earthly “food that perishes, but with the food that abides unto eternal life.” [2]
As our Lord said:
Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you feed on the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Those who feed on My Flesh and drink My Blood possess eternal life, and I will raise them up at the Last Day. Indeed, My Flesh is truly a food that nourishes, and My Blood is truly a drink that quenches. Those who feed on My Flesh and drink My Blood abide in Me and I in them. [3]
I ask you, then: Is there any more extraordinary saying of the Lord?
As a priest, you will be called to live this experience with the People of God through the Divine Liturgy. Let it never become routine. Let it never be only a ritual. Let it never be a performance for which you merely play a part.
Remember what I say to you this day. At every Liturgy, whether you are in a magnificent Church such as this, or in the humblest of circumstances – celebrate every Liturgy of your ministry:
as if it were your first Liturgy,
your last Liturgy,
your only Liturgy.
For we enter eternity every time we intone the words:
Εύλογημένη ἡ Βασιλεία… Blessed is the Kingdom…
With these words, we pass into the Upper Room, the Ἀνώγαιον on Mount Zion, with our Master and Lord, and we are present at the foretaste of the Supper of the Lamb. We step into the Kairos of Remembrance, where God’s Mind infuses our minds with His Grace, and we are carried away into the Mystical Union with the Divine.
The saints knew this Mystery intimately. They understood their role, not as makers of the Holy Eucharist, but as servants, manifesting the Sacred Supper through the ages – where the Lord encounters His People through our remembrance of Him, and where we are transfigured by our union with His Holy Body and Most Precious Blood.
We do this in Remembrance of Him, in the fullness of the Church, with many thousands, or as the Lord said, with two or three.[4] But always in the context of the Church. As witnesses, we see before us, right in this moment, the Fathers praying with us in their icons.
My beloved Deacon Alexander,
Saint Nicholas himself will always be with you in every Liturgy, as you are receiving the grace of the Priesthood in his Holy Shrine. The whole Church prays in every Liturgy, even if we are deaf through our sinfulness, to their chorus.
Therefore, come up higher now and receive the grace of ordination into the ranks of the Presbyterate. Your late and blesséd father, the Protopresbyter Emmanuel, serves with the Angels in Heaven. And you shall serve for many, many years upon earth – as it is in Heaven! – with those who, though human, aspire to rise above the Angels. [5]
Through the prayers of Saint Nicholas, the Wonderworker of Myra, may you ever hold this vision of the priesthood in your soul, and always be the priest of God that He has called you to be. Amen!