Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and delegation departed from Washington, DC and arrived in Pittsburgh, PA to a warm welcome from Metropolitan Savas and faithful from the Metropolis.
Read the full greeting of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew upon his arrival at the Pittsburgh International Airport
Your Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America,
Your Eminence Metropolitan Savas,
Dear Clergy and Faithful,
Honored Guests,
Beloved Children in the Lord,In the Holy Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we bring to you our paternal and Patriarchal blessings from the Mother Church of Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Apostolic Throne of the First-Called Andrew.
We recall with emotion our late and blessed brother in the Lord, Metropolitan Maximos, who fell asleep in the Lord on the very anniversary of our Enthronement last year. He left this world as the longest serving Hierarch of the Greek Orthodox people of Pittsburgh. Our brotherly fellow of Halki, ὁμογάλακτος ἀδελφός, was a devoted son of the Holy Great Church of Christ, and left a great example of loyalty for all to follow.
It is nearly twenty-four years since we were last in Pittsburgh, and we are only here until later this evening. But we have no doubt that your warm welcome and hospitality will turn moments into eternity.
We have come to visit the famous Greek Orthodox Community of Weirton, West Virginia, named for All Saints. We shall have much to say later about this community and the men and women who possessed the steel in their souls to build the only Church in America with a stainless steel dome and belfry.
For now, we rejoice to return to the very place from which we departed, on our first and longest Patriarchal Voyage to the United States. We were young in our Patriarchy those many years ago, and now, by the grace of God and prayers of All the Saints, we have fulfilled thirty years of Patriarchal ministry.
In returning here to Pittsburgh, we recall our last injunction to the Faithful of America that November day in 1997:
Love one another. There is no greater power for unity and peace. There is no greater gift you can give to our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no greater gift you can give to your children. There is no greater gift you can give to each other . . . than love.
Beloved Children in the Lord:
As we closed that pilgrimage those many years ago, we commence again today with the same message: Love one another.
There is no greater commandment of the Lord, and no greater calling for every human being.
Thank you for this warm and hospitable welcome. May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ bestow upon you, your families, and loved ones, grace upon grace,* and His infinite mercy. Amen.
Protopresbyter Frank Milanese and members of the parish of All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in Weirton, WV greet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop Elpidophoros, Metropolitan Savas and the Official Delegation followed by Doxology and a Luncheon.
Read the full antiphonesis of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at All Saints Greek Orthodox Church
Your Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America,
Your Eminence Metropolitan Savas,
Dear Clergy and Faithful,
Beloved Children in the Lord,Today, we are deeply moved to be in West Virginia for the first time, and in this glorious Church of All Saints in Weirton. We note with great satisfaction that it was our ever-memorable predecessor on the Throne of Chrysostom, Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, who laid the cornerstone of this Temple, when he was Archbishop of America, in the year of our Lord, 1947.
Through the many decades of its existence, this community has gifted to the Church a strong and vibrant series of leaders and true servants of the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not the least among them are the members of the Psaros family, but we celebrate all those who went forth from Weirton with steel in their souls for the cause of the Church.
There is something about the history of this community, and its association with the steel mills that once flourished here. Although that industry diminished, the resolve and fortitude of the faithful of All Saints seemed to become even more firm. Here in Weirton – a famous name in America, everyone knows its associations – the Greek Orthodox People have held fast to their faith and to their traditions.
You have all honored the memory of your forebears, who immigrated here to be part of the industrial revolution of the early Twentieth Century. Now, one hundred years later, you are persevering in your commitment to Faith and Family, to the practice of our Holy Orthodox Christian Faith, and to the Hellenic Heritage that simple men and women brought to this region.
Here, in West Virginia, the tradition of the Christian East has found a home and a Temple within which to offer the pure worship and Holy Liturgy. You should all be very proud of your achievements, for you, the sons and daughters of the Ecumenical Throne, manifest your strength and the bonds with your Mother Church of Constantinople.
As Ecumenical Patriarch, when we behold your devotion and dedication, we receive even more θάρρος and encouragement to continue our course. We have run this race of service and ministry to the Sacred See of Saint Andrew for thirty years. And we take courage from the words of the Holy Apostle Paul, “we have not run or labored in vain.”
Especially when we behold your shining faces, and your children’s children gathered around in this magnificent Temple, we feel as is chanted in the hymns of the Church:
“As you behold your children’s children like saplings around your table, rejoice and be glad, O High Priest, and offer them to Christ the Chief Shepherd!”
Wherefore, with a joyful heart, we offer all of this precious Community of All Saints to the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, invoking upon you and all the faithful, His abundant grace and infinite mercy. Amen.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop Elpidophoros and the Official Delegation arrived in South Bend, IN and were welcomed by Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago and Metropolis leadership.
Read the full greeting of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew upon his arrival at the South Bend International Airport
Your Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America,
Your Eminence Metropolitan Nathanael,
Beloved Children in the Lord,With great joy we arrive in this Holy Metropolis of Chicago – for the first time since our first Apostolic and Patriarchal Visit in 1997, so many years ago. We have come to the famous city of South Bend, to further the work of ecumenical dialogue and environmental justice, by accepting from the renown University of Notre Dame a Doctor in Laws degree honoris causa. We will receive this honorary doctorate in the name of the Mother Church of Constantinople, our Ecumenical Patriarchate, the First Throne of Orthodoxy.
Although we shall be here for a short time, we look forward to meeting the Faithful of the Metropolis, the Orthodox Student Body of the University, and the local clergy who serve under Metropolitan Nathanael.
Chiefly and above all, we wish to convey our paternal and Patriarchal blessings upon all the Faithful of the Metropolis. Chicago is known worldwide for its Greek Orthodox Community, which has a rich history of worship, architecture, and education. The Metropolis is home to the National Hellenic Museum, which preserves the history of the first pioneers of Christian Orthodoxy and the Hellenic experience in America.
And here in South Bend, at Notre Dame, we know there is a warm ecumenical welcome for Orthodox students, who often come here for specific Orthodox studies of Patristics and Liturgics.
Thus, we see here in the heartland of the American landscape the limitless possibilities for openness, dialogue, and spiritual growth.
Wherefore, we bless with all our heart and soul the Faithful clergy and laity, praying for God’s abundant mercy to always be with you, now and forever. Amen.
HOMILY by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew During the Doxology at St. Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Church, South Bend, IN
Your Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America,
Your Eminence Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago,
Venerable Hierarchs and devout Clergy,
Honorable Archons and dearest children in the Lord,
With the grace and good-will of our merciful God, who ever bestows upon His Church and our People His saving gifts and every blessing from above, we are present here among you with our honorable entourage. We rejoice at meeting you face to face during this festive Doxology, for your hospitality, for your sincere respect toward our person, which is in the end a respect for the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the supreme institution of Orthodoxy and our People.
We thank you wholeheartedly, beloved brother Metropolitan Nathanael, for your kind words. We congratulate you on all that you have achieved for your sacred and large Metropolis of Chicago during the brief time since your election, as you have served your Metropolis with holy zeal, dynamism and much dedication. You should never forget, of course, that whatever we do is the work of the Lord, which is accomplished through us in the communion of the Church. Whatever we are able to achieve, we do so “through Him who loved us” (Rm 8.37), adhering to His heavenly commandments.
Our faith in Christ, the incarnate pre-eternal Word of God, is the saving response to our ultimate questions. There can be no complete fulfilment of human existence without Christ as “the way, the truth, and the life” (see Jn 14.6). Christ calls us to proclaim His Gospel, to become “the salt of the earth,” to place our lamp “on a stand,” to become a “neighbor” for all those who “fall upon thieves” in order to support the least of our brothers and sisters, in accordance with His words: “As you do it to one of these the least of my brothers and sisters, you do it to me” (Mt 25.40). In this spirit, our predecessor St. Gregory the Theologian declares: “Until the end of time, let us visit Christ, let us care for Christ, let us feed Christ, let us clothe Christ, let us welcome Christ, let us honor Christ.” (PG 35.909)
Never in its historical journey has the Church identified itself with introversion; and never has occasional introversion benefitted the Church. Remaining closed and indifferent to history and the adventures of human freedom is not the correct interpretation – either theologically or ecclesiologically – of the description of the Church as “not of this world.” As rightly said, the Church is not “the adversary of history,” but “its liberator.” In order to act as a liberating and transformative power, the Church must always approach and understand contemporary society and culture, within which its life unfolds and with regard to which it must assess challenges and favorable perspectives.
Your Eminence Metropolitan Nathanael, you know very well the cultural context within which you are called to exercise your spiritual and pastoral work. You know the existential pursuits and problems of our faithful, and especially our youth, about whom the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (in Crete, 2016) decreed that “they are not simply the ‘future’ of the Church, but the active expression of the Church’s life in this world for the love of God and the love of humankind.” (Encyclical, paragraph 7).
The divine values of our Orthodox tradition, beloved hierarchs and children, today comprise an alternative proposal of life for the world; and at their center lies the “common freedom” and “the communion of persons.” The “culture of personhood” is life as thanksgiving, the eucharistic relationship with creation, the joy of life as relationship, and the experience of freedom as love; it is the peace of Christ, which is more than merely spiritual peace, but also external and social peace, the transcendence of violence and aggression in human and social relations. The Orthodox Church prays for the peace “that surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4.7) and “for the peace of the whole world.” Above all, the Orthodox way of life entails, in the life of the Church, the foretaste of the splendor of the Last Times, as well as the hope of eternity, without which our life and deeds are characterized by vainglory.
With these sentiments and thoughts, dear Brother, we express once again our deep gratitude for your warm welcome and boundless love, as we pray that the Founder of the Church may bless your ministry for the benefit of the people entrusted to you by the Mother Church, and we convey our paternal greeting and Patriarchal blessing to all of them, praising their faithfulness to the traditions of our Church and their respect toward the Ecumenical Throne. May the giver of all gifts, our Lord and Savior, protect all of you and direct your steps on the straight path!