May 29, 1998

Most Reverend Metropolitan Sotirios of Toronto,

Distinguished Fellow Guests,

“Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and thou water that art above the heavens.”

“Fire, hail, snow, ice, blast of tempest, which perform His word.” -(Psalm 148)

By the above verses of the Psalmist, who has endowed us with this word, calls us to imitate the heavens and the waters, the snow, the ice and the storm and to praise the Lord by obeying his word as all of nature does.

We are constantly called to praise Him in the beauty of his creation, which surrounds us. We are especially called to praise Him today in this place where dominates not only light keeps watch over us but also the glory and the power of the Lord our God “Who supports His chambers in the waters ” (Psalm 103)

We would like to express thanks to your Reverence beloved brother Sotirios for choosing this place which reminds us again of the Psalmist’s thanksgiving to God: ” In a place of green pasture, there hath He made me to dwell; beside the water of rest hath He nurtured me” (Psalm 22). Moreover, this place grants us refreshment especially today day during which our mind turns back to the multitude of sorrows and trials that our nation has suffered during the greatest defeat of its history.

We would also like to extend our blessing to you, our beloved George Bikos and your co-workers for choosing to develop your creative gifts and to manifest your sense of hospitality in such a location. We would like to thank you from our heart and bestow upon you in turn our patriarchal blessing along with our paternal wishes for further success, good health and a God-pleasing life.

We are all standing in awe before the rivers, lakes, a multitude of waters, and in particular Niagara Falls. The very nature of water, its movement, its beauty, its dynamic, and most of all its participation in all forms of life, justify the praise of this awesome element of God’s creation from the very beginning not only by theologians and hymnographers but also by philosophers, poets, artists and scientists.

Water was glorified from the very beginning when God “…hath founded it upon the seas, and upon the waters hath He prepared it” (Psalm 23). It was further glorified on the second day of Creation when God divided the waters ” which were above the firmament” (Gen. 1:7). Finally, it was ultimately glorified when life itself sprung forth from the water by the command of the Life-creating God (Gen. 1:20).

Water has been praised in many ways ever since. It holds a central position in worship and other pious expressions of the people. When the fullness of time had come and God showed his redeeming Grace in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the seas, the lakes, the waters, and especially the river Jordan received the blessing of His love.

“The waters saw You, O God, and were afraid. The Jordan was turned back”. If such things had happened in Canada, the Niagara River would have turned back along with its raging waterfalls. People would have been amazed beyond measure and the faint-heartedness of those unable to conceive the power of God and understand the depth of the allegory, which surpasses nature, would have been greater. ” The Jordan flowing down turned back and raised us toward heaven” (Feast of Theophany, Ypakoe of the 3rd Ode). Of course, it was not Jordan by itself that turned back but the Lord and Master of all implemented the turnover in His baptism “to raise man up to the heights” (2nd prayer of the Great Blessing of the Waters). We participate in this miracle by the first and great sacrament of our baptism. Our baptism overturns the descent towards corruption and death and begins our ascent to heaven and our theosis. Thus, the blessed and sanctified water is accompanying us along this ascent.

Unfortunately, the descent remains with us since many people have forgotten in days past, and still forget, particularly in our time “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, the world, and all that dwell therein” (Psalm 23).

The Deluge constituted the most devastating calamity in our past, the expression of Gods wrath for peoples disobedience and sinfulness. Do we nowadays acknowledge contemporary disasters as Gods nudging in order to prevent new calamities?

It seems we do not. The disobedience of mankind goes on along with the confusion of life, the insatiatey of desires, the improvidence for the future of the world and the generations to come. All the above and the like bring forth all the already known anomalies in nature and other yet unknown and probably irreversible calamities.

Here we would like to mention two anomalies related to water: the observed melting of ice due to the rise of global temperature known as the “greenhouse effect” and the predicted insufficiency of water along with the expansion of the desert on the earth, which will make the survival of the human race in those areas afflicted by drought practically impossible and will result in further disasters as well.

Such a perspective becomes even more painful in the sight of the awesome waterfalls here. We now understand the following words of the Psalmist as a supplication of a thirsty people to God “He shall come down like rain upon a fleece, and like rain-drops that fall upon the earth” (Psalm 71:6).

In the hope that God will provide again for His people and will enlighten our minds and warm our hearts and inspire in us love for harmony and beauty in this world, we would like to thank you from our heart and raise our cup for a toast to the health of you all.