Your Eminence, beloved brother in Christ,
Archbishop Spyridon of America,
Your Grace, beloved brother in Christ,
Bishop Anthony of San Francisco,
Beloved children in the Lord,

What a harbinger of grace, filled with joy, is it to be gathered with you today, as Ecumenical Patriarch, with you, the honorable priests of the Diocese of San Francisco, accompanied by your pious presvyteres and your children.  The reason for our spiritual joy does not come so much from this breakfast in our honor — for which, by the way, we heartily thank you — but from the presence of your families.  We feel that this gathering today approaches the likes of the great “House-Church.”
Behold the grace of God, we stand as a Spiritual Father in the midst of our beloved children in the Lord.  You shoulder the highest honor in the world, to keep shining and bright the lamp upon its lampstand (Luke 11:33), but not only in your own houses.  You must radiate the light of Christ for “those who would enter” the house of the Lord.
Beloved Presbyters, the Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, has entrusted the performance of His Mysteries in your very hands.  Through His Mysteries, human beings are redeemed in the Church.  We have no doubt that you carry out your sacred ministry with pride and even inspired courage in the midst of this confused world.  We note that many people, who are disenchanted with secular answers, are turning to Orthodoxy.
But your ministry has a special character, because you are, first of all, builders of the temple of your families, and then, the builders of the Church of your communities.  There is a unique honor and simultaneous responsibility in this, because you are responsible for the members of your family, your Presvytera and your children.
In the family of a priest, the exhortation of the Apostle Peter is put into practice: “. . .  as living stones are you built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (I Peter 2:5).
The priestly family is like a lighthouse and an island of hope at the crest of this century.  For those caught in the whirling winds and waves of life, the family of the priest ought to shine the light of Christ, and call those have been shipwrecked back to salvation through Jesus Christ.
If your home is Christ’s home (Hebrews 3:6), confidence that the Gospel of Christ is not just some utopia, will strengthen the souls of your faithful.  A powerful spirit of renewal will enable them to hold together in the society in which they live.  They will strengthen those foundations by which our people have been sustained.
If, in the family of a priest, the mother and the children are not inspired by the principles of the Gospel, and they do not follow the Evangelical path, will they not seek out answers in contemporary society?  Will there not be a growth of unbelief, freedoms out of control, a sinful attitude, and even tragic results?
But where there is “the divine grace . . . which heals every weakness and fills up that which is lacking” a person has the right to claim piety and purity in manners, and discipline according to divine law, and the fragrance of virtue.
In the house of a priest, everything can become holy, and the house can become a seedbed of joy and tranquillity.
Call to mind the blessed house of Zacharias and Elizabeth, who gave the  Forerunner, Saint John the Baptist to humanity, he who was the friend of the Bridegroom Christ.  Remember the Episcopal home of Gregory and Nonna, in which the instruction of Saint Paul was put into practice (I Timothy 3:1-7).  This husband and wife struggled and worked, not only to have “children in subjection with all modesty,” but they were counted worthy to build a dwelling both on earth and in heaven, filled with five Saints.
With these good hopes, we greet you all, beloved children, certain that one day, you will be able to address the Lord and say: “Behold, here we are, and the children whom God has given us” (Hebrews 2:13).