Beloved Brother in Christ, Archbishop Spyridon of America, Beloved Brother in Christ, Bishop Anthony,
Beloved priests and presvyteres,
Representatives of Los Angeles’ Christian communities,
Beloved Friends and Children in the Lord,

We greet you in the name of the most Holy Trinity, in the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: “Peace be with you.” After His awesome resurrection, His greeting to His disciples was a reminder of the state in which we must all strive to live. There is great wisdom in the simplicity of peace, and depth of truth to found in the attainment of Christ’s peace. In beautiful Cathedral of Saint Sophia, aptly named for the  Divine Wisdom of God, we pray that His Divine Wisdom will descend upon this  evening’s Ecumenical Service, as we reach out to one another in love and mutual respect. We believe that Christ’s peace is with us today, guarded and guided by angels, in this city of angels.
If we quiet our hearts and put away our worldly cares, the peace of Christ will return us to His most important commandment. We hear that commandment in the word of St. John the Evangelist, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (I John 4:7,8).
Love is a word always in fashion, but its contemporary meaning is often distorted and obscured by a love of material things and a fascination with the secular. The scriptural use of the word love is the Greek word, agape.  Agape is sacrificial love.  It is loving when it isn’t easy or convenient to love.  It is an altruistic love that implies that we can disagree and not be disagreeable.  Agape is a nurturing love, the love that God showered upon His creation by emptying Himself, and sending His Holy Word into the world.
At the heart of our various traditions, as Christians, is the person of Jesus Christ, and deeply embedded in His Gospel message is the peace that guarantees our ability to love. As children of  God, we are living icons of God, made in His image and likeness. God, as a loving creator, has sanctified all of creation and called it good. He has called us to be stewards of His abundance. He calls us to live balanced and harmonious lives with our fellow human beings, as well as with the natural world around us.
Our connection to the planet Earth is Eucharistic in nature, in the sense that we are sustained and nourished from the earth, but never consuming it. In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the Eucharistic prayer speaks of the holy elements of body and blood as being “eaten  yet never consumed.”
  Our materialistically oriented world society, with its false gods of misguided consumerism and secular humanism, has caused a violation of our own spiritual and ethical values. This materialism is robbing us of a deeper relationship with God and with each other.  It has alienated us from God’s creation in a sinful defilement of our fragile environment.  For the oceans, the  rivers, the mountains, the deserts, the forests and the air we breathe are in themselves living icons of the life-sustaining energies of the Holy Spirit.
Concern for our physical environment must be coupled with an equal concern for the environment and condition of our souls.  We cannot combat pollution of the planet unless we come to terms with the ongoing pollution of our souls.
Materialistic greed, hate, prejudices that shackle people to the fringes of our society, indifference and apathy, have dissipated  our spiritual energies and neutralized our will. Reaffirming our love for one another, conforming our will to the will of God in our moral and ethical behavior will allow us to transform ourselves and our world into an image of Christ.
However, if we are to be a witness to the world of the transforming light and transfiguring power of Jesus Christ, we must put love into correct practice. It is what Orthodox Christians proclaim as Orthopraxia. Orthopraxia is uniting actions to faith and to prayer. It is living in a unity of purpose. It is this unity within our lives that mirrors the unity of the human and Divine in the cosmos. We become models of Christ for one another through our actions in the world. It is St. James’ call to be “Doers of the Word and not hearers only” (James 1:22).
Orthopraxia brings a mentality of the sacred to our concepts of stewardship and Christian unity. God’s total creation is a sacrament placed into human hands. The renewal of the environment, of our spiritual lives, and of our relationship with one another, is dependent on the Lord’s sanctifying Grace and our decision to cooperate with one another in agape. As Ecumenical Patriarch, we pledge to you that the Great Church of Christ will extend a willing heart and firm hand to all that wish to unite their energies to Orthopraxia. As the 270th sucessor to the First Called Apostle Andrew, we plege our fatherly prayers and blessing to all who strive to realize the truth of Jesus Christ in their lives.
Let us strive from the best in our faith traditions, to save our planet neighborhood by neighborhood, village by village, city by city, nation by nation, person by person.  More than ever, we need each other as we pursue this divine adventure of being God’s agents of renewal and reconciliation.
As you have embraced our Modesty and our brother bishops and clergy, we embrace you. With a prayerful heart, we offer you our warmest blessings. May this first ever visit to southern California be a new beginning in our union of common purpose and good works.
May the peace of Christ, His grace and infinite mercy, and the love of the Father and the grace of the Holy Spirit, abide with you always.  Amen.