Your Eminence and beloved brother in Christ
Archbishop Spyridon
Your Eminence Cardinal Keeler,
Beloved friend the Honorable Kurt Schmoke,
Most beloved friend and Archon Senator Paul Sarbanes,
Civic and Religious Leaders,
Honored guests and friends,
Beloved spiritual children in the Lord,

From the Mother Church, the Sacred Center of our Faith, we bring to all of you a message of love and the blessings of peace.  Truly, this gathering is a feast of Christian love, an “Agape”, where the nourishment of human warmth, smiling children and shared fellowship fills our hearts with the peace which surpasses all understanding.  As we behold you, our faithful daughters and sons and our new found friends of this wonderful city of Baltimore, we rejoice that because of you, the Orthodox Faith is thriving in all richness, diversity, and unity.

We have come to bring to you the affirmation and blessing of the Mother Church.  We have come to witness first-hand your accomplishments, success and progress in life, faith and spiritual understanding.  We have come to celebrate with you the seventy five years of our beloved Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, and to embrace all the Orthodox people of the United States.

Here in Baltimore, the Orthodox communities have built upon a common vision of ministry and service.  You have played an energetic role by participating in its renewal and revitalization. The Orthodox community has been an active partner in this rebirth.  As you have a played a major role in the life of the people of this City and of this State, set your course for even greater goals, especially spiritual ones.

Many of the Orthodox communities of this region were founded by simple, hard-working immigrants who turned westward and traversed land and sea to make a better life for themselves and their children.  But they brought the light from the East.  These early forebears carried the torch of faith and they have passed the torch to you.  If that torch is to burn brightly, to be the lamp that illumines the house, the city, the world, it must ever be renewed and rekindled in every generation.

Not a few years ago, the Olympic Torch passed through the streets of this city.  As that flame of excellence now returns to the land of its birth, so you must return with all fervor to the land of your spiritual birth – to  Jerusalem on high – and be lit anew by the Holy Spirit of God.  Your way is lighted by the beacon of the Mother Church, a beacon that guides all of the Orthodox world by the Seven Ecumenical Councils, by the canon of the New Testament, by the Liturgy of the Great Church of Christ.

You, the Orthodox people of Baltimore, have outstanding exemplars to inspire you in your quest for spiritual perfection.  The faithful clergy of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of New Jersey and all the Orthodox jurisdictions represented in your mosaic of faith.  You have responsible and generous lay leaders who have toiled for the glory of Christ and His Holy Church.  You have a vibrant and dedicated youth who are eager to assume the responsibilities for leadership in the Church.

But among them all, as Ecumenical Patriarch, we desire to single out one man who sums up your love for the Mother Church, for Orthodox culture, for the highest Christian ideals: Senator Paul Sarbanes, Archon Megas Logothetis of the Great Church of Christ.  We express our fatherly pride in this accomplished son of the Mother Church; for his unwavering pursuit of righteousness and truth in both his public service to the Church and to the people of the United States of America.  Well done, good and faithful servant!

Finally, in closing, we express to all of you, Mayor Schmoke and the citizens of Baltimore and the great state of Maryland, official dignitaries and reverend brothers and clergy, and to you, our most precious spiritual children in America, our prayer that your lives may be forever enriched with the blessings of God, His grace and His infinite mercy.  Amen.