Your Eminence, beloved brother in Christ,
Archbishop Spyridon of America,
Most Honorable Mitch Skandalakis,
Chairman of the Fulton County Commission,
Your Grace Bishop Alexios,
Beloved and Dear Friends,

By the grace and mercy of God, we bring to all of you here assembled, the greetings and blessings of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.  We express our thanks to you for your warm welcome and legendary Southern hospitality.
We feel both joy and spiritual satisfaction at the sight of such a diverse gathering of religious and civic leaders, sharing in a common meal that is filled with hope and love.  It is truly a sign of the success that the people of Atlanta rightly celebrate.
This success cannot be measured only by the material prosperity symbolized by the magnificent skyline of the American South’s premier city.  In the city where moral, spiritual and ethical leadership are personified by the figures of Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Jimmy Carter, we behold that Atlanta’s success must be perceived in relation to the Divine.
For those with the eyes to see, and the ears to hear, and the hearts to understand, there is a profound mystery in the conjunction of their legacies and their presence in Atlanta.   One man was completely powerless, at least by the world’s standards, a preacher and the son of a preacher.  The other was the most politically powerful person on the face of the earth.  Yet, Martin Luther King, Jr. changed the course of this nation’s understanding of social justice, as much by his death as by his life.  And Jimmy Carter, a person very dear to our Modesty and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, has become a powerful, spiritual force for peace and reconciliation — and this, in the years after his term as President of this great nation.
So it is, that we find ourselves with leaders of religious institutions and governmental agencies this morning, in a spirit of mutual interdependence and appreciation. As Ecumenical Patriarch, we recognize the preeminent position of the American vision of religious tolerance and freedom of expression.  This is the key to understanding how Athens and Jerusalem, if you will, meet in a coincidence that enriches our culture.  Only in a society which values the free expression of conscience, the primacy of choice as regards religious belief, can ethical and spiritual values retain their proper place in the public arena.  The very opportunity for diversity is the guarantee that the “agora” of civic life will have the benefit of godliness.  Here in the United States of America, and in Atlanta, we can say with the Psalmist that “mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psalm 84:11).
We congratulate you on your efforts to achieve such a common and shared wealth of human and divine values, for in the end, we know that because the Divine has already become human, the human has the full potential of the Divine.  Truth really can spring up from the earth, because the Sun of Righteousness shines down on us from the heavens (cf. Psalm 84:12, Malachi 4:2).
May His grace and infinite mercy be with you all.  Amen.