Your Eminence and brother Archbishop Spyridon of America,
Your Eminences, holy brothers and fellow travellers,
Your Grace, Bishop Methodios of Boston
Beloved children in the Lord,

Every time we see the shining faces of the younger generation of our Holy Archdiocese of America, we understand that this Archdiocese, is the Archdiocese of the future.
We are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and, as we behold you here before us, we have every reason to believe that our journey into the new millennium is full of hope.
The Holy Spirit is working in, and speaking to your hearts.  The Holy Spirit is in your souls.  Beloved young people, cultivate the love of Christ and love for your fellow human being in your hearts like a fertile field that will yield a great harvest.
As we understand it, you are children of the third and fourth generation of the immigrants who came from the old country.  You have grown up in this prosperous country and around the beautiful, noble city of Boston.  You should rightly boast that you are Americans of Greek descent, and be proud of your Greek Orthodox Faith.  Both of these realities make you a beautiful adornment to the rich landscape of America.
Perhaps you do not use the Greek language as comfortably as your parents, but you know much about Hellenic Paideia. You know and appreciate the meaning of Classical Greece, the meaning of the Byzantine Empire, the meaning of Constantinople and Aghia Sophia, the meaning of the Greek Revival.  You know the special the meaning of today, the Holy Protection of the All-Holy Theotokos, OXI Day.  The world you live in is full of the collected memories from your poor, but noble and pious forebears.  You have listened and learned them well from your pappou and yiayia.
You recognize instinctively the greatness of your ancestral virtues, of the Christian and Greek culture which honors you.  Indeed,  you feel a special joy when you meet other young people of a Greek background.  This is not some kind of prejudice, but rather a personal identity, encouraged in the democratic society in which you were born and raised.
You are the hopes and dreams of your parents and grandparents, who, leaving the bosom of their motherland, came to this country, to a strange land, so that all of you might have a better life.  The seventy fifth anniversary of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America testifies that you are the precious fruits of their labors, and now their legacy is entrusted to you.
And you are not alone.  You have brothers and sisters in every corner of the world, the Oikoumene.  Our faith is two thousand years old.  The three hundred million Orthodox Christian souls who are alive today, are but a fraction of all those who have come before us through the centuries.  Their legacy is also part of you; of your language, your traditions, your family life, your very being.
Take courage in the world-wide character of your beliefs.  Hold on to the traditions which you have been taught, either in your families or through your Church schools (cf. II Thessalonians 2:15).  Practice your faith with love, being careful not to ever judge anyone else.  Choose rather to walk humbly with God, asking Him to lead you along the path of your life.
Above all, your righteous boast must be that you are members of the Greek Orthodox Church.  Together with the members of your local community, you belong to another great and distinguished family, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which is called the Great Orthodox Church of Christ, the chief of all the Orthodox Churches.
From the days when the First-Called Apostle, Saint Andrew, the brother of Saint Peter, came to a small community amid the ruins of ancient Byzantium — five full centuries before the Emperor Justinian built the Great Church of the Wisdom of God, Aghia Sophia — the Patriarchate has been in Constantinople.  We call the Patriarchate “The Great Church of Christ” and in the historic district of the Phanar, you will find our beautiful, yet humble Cathedral Church, the Patriarchal Church of Saint George the Trophy-Bearer.
Today, we have had the great joy of meeting with you in your home here in Boston.  We hope that in time, perhaps in the summer months, we will experience an even greater joy to meet again at the Phanar, at the Patriarchate.  Our house is not very big, but the Great Church of Christ is your home.  We will be waiting for you.  Until then, may God be with you.