“Your Beatitude, we wish you to be an example to follow,” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said in his congratulatory message to the new Bulgarian Patriarch Daniel during his speech at the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, where the enthronement ceremony of the newly elected patriarch took place yesterday.
In his homily, the Ecumenical Patriarch referred to the historic moment of the enthronement and stressed the continuous testimony and contribution of the Church to the preservation of the faith and tradition. He recognized the turbulent history of the Church and underlined the eschatological dimension of Church life.
He pointed out the responsibilities and the sacrificial nature of the position of the Archbishop of Constantinople, as defined by the Holy Ecumenical Synods. The Patriarch stressed the importance of maintaining unity, love, holiness, and solidarity among the Orthodox Churches, calling for overcoming historical issues and promoting a new era in inter-Orthodox relations.
“We commend the unanimous initiative of the invitation to personally attend the election and elevation of the first in you for the first time in ecclesiastical matters,” said the Ecumenical Patriarch. “This extremely hopeful event gives a new perspective to intra-Orthodox things and thus inaugurates a new era,” he added. He pointed out: “This era must be characterized by the transcendence of historical rigidities, isolationism and self-sufficiency and to advance, I rejoice, the “re-ecclesiasticalization” of inter-Orthodox relations.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch praised the initiative to personally attend the enthronement of the new Patriarch, describing the event as highly hopeful for the course of the Orthodox Church. The Ecumenical Patriarch also wished the new Patriarch of Bulgaria to be an example to follow: “But you, Your Beatitude, we wish you to be an example to follow, unclosely oriented and anchored in the peaceful and prosperous harbors of the Holy Great Church of Christ,” said the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Finally, he assured that the Holy Great Church of Christ will always offer him understanding and support and concluded his homily by saying to the new Patriarch: “In humble, but everlasting “Phanar”, you will always find understanding, support and assistance. In this you will be revived by the life-giving temples of the Mother of God of Constantinople, of the enduring with endurance and myrrh of thanksgiving the correctness of the faith and the canonical tradition of healthy ecclesiology.”
