Archbishop Elpidophoros of America gave a speech during the 64th Annual Saint Michael’s Home Nameday Gala, November 12, 2023.
“I expect that every person here in this room tonight has visited Saint Michael’s Home, and has seen for themselves the truly marvelous ministry and warm, caring environment that it provides,” the Arhcbishop said.
“Therefore, all of you, who are supporters of this Home, are also partakers of the promise of God. You can expect to be blessed in ways that are beyond your imagination,” he added.
“I extend to you my wholehearted blessings for your continued success and prosperity, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your selfless and tireless service to the Church and Saint Michael’s Home,” he concluded.
Read the full speech of the Archbishop below:
Dear Friends – Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am deeply pleased to join you once again – for this 64th Annual Saint Michael’s Home Nameday Gala, which benefits this precious Institution of our Sacred Archdiocese. Saint Michael’s Home is a reason for all of us to rejoice, and a cause of pride for our National Church. It is a place that is exemplary in its care and love for its residents, who feel that they are truly members of a family – the family of the Church.
I expect that every person here in this room tonight has visited Saint Michael’s Home, and has seen for themselves the truly marvelous ministry and warm, caring environment that it provides. Saint Michael’s Home fulfills the commandment of our Lord in the truest sense: “Honor thy father and thy mother.”
And remember, as Saint Paul observes, it “is the first commandment with a promise, ‘that it may be well with you, and you may live a long life upon the earth.’”*
Therefore, all of you, who are supporters of this Home, are also partakers of the promise of God. You can expect to be blessed in ways that are beyond your imagination.
By recognizing our elders in the community, we fulfill an ancient paradigm that is spoken of in Scripture:
Στέφανος καυχήσεως γῆρας, ἐν δὲ ὁδοῖς δικαιοσύνης εὑρίσκεται.
Old age is a crown of dignity; it is found in the ways of righteousness.†
And speaking of “the ways of righteousness,” kindly allow me to say a few words about tonight’s honorees: Angeliki and Stylianos Zervoudis. You have been chosen to receive the prestigious Archangel Michael Award. I express my heartfelt congratulations to you and pray that his honor will redound not only to your renown, but the to benefit and increase of Saint Michael’s Home. Your remarkable enterprise, Galaxy General Contracting Corporation, has provided spaces for life and living throughout your forty-year history. You are proud contributors to the Omogeneia – especially in building our Saints Peter and Paul Church in the Bronx.
I extend to you my wholehearted blessings for your continued success and prosperity, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your selfless and tireless service to the Church and Saint Michael’s Home.
With these thoughts, then, I would now like to close with the prayerful words of the ever-memorable Archbishop Michael, who blessed the opening of Saint Michael’s Home with this heartfelt intercession before God:
“… embrace with Your all-powerful grace this institution, which has been established to care for those encumbered by old age, and show love to our elderly pioneer brethren who have offered so much.”
Amen! And congratulations to all!
* Ephesians 6:2b-3.
† Proverbs 16:31 (LXX).
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
