My Beloved Brothers and Children in the Lord,

We feel deep joy and great happiness today, finding ourselves together, brothers and sisters united in the common body of Christ’s living presence. We share our Lord with each other as Orthodox Christians and this is truly a blessing. Our common litany to our Lord, the common cup of unwavering truth unites us in visible ways, and unites us in a mystery beyond our immediate senses.

Although we seem separated into various local churches, in this vast diversity of American culture, we are confident of the unity of our faith beneath the surface of our various Orthodox customs. We are united in the mystery of faith, mystically united by our faith in the embrace of the living Jesus Christ. Therefore, we have the certainty, in accordance with Christ’s promise that wherever two are three are gathered in His name, Christ is in their midst (Matt 18:20).

We also have His promise that wherever two of us agree upon all things, things that we shall ask of God, our petition will be accepted by our Father in Heaven.

We are gathered here, two and three together and in agreement with one another, in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Him we have unwavering faith. We need but agree upon our request of Him. What we ask is the strength and grace to know His glory, to grow in likeness to Him and move from glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18).

Christ is the perfect icon of our hoped for unity. His is the likeness into which we hope to transfigure our human being. As he has demonstrated, we must strive to act in His image. As He has taught, we must seek to learn and to teach. As He has prayed for us, we must pray for ourselves and for our brothers and sisters. What He asked of His Father in heaven, we too must humbly ask, and all the while, we do so keeping in our hearts our unity in the faith. We are one body, united in a love we know through the signs of our peace and our embrace. We are one voice proclaiming the symbol of our faith as taught to us by the Fathers of Nicea and Constantinople. My beloved children, contemplate the wonder of this unchanging faith. Contemplate the wonder of this amazing unity in the Lord enfleshed in our form.

And contemplate the awesome request that Christ Jesus made of His Father, our Father in Heaven: He asked of the Father that we might be one; that we might share in the glory given to Christ Himself. Through our glorified lives and because of Christ’s awesome sacrifice and triumph, we are made one in Him and He in us. All of us here together, in one faith, one communion, are living the affirmative response of our Father in Heaven toward us, in answer to Christ’s request of Him. Thus he prayed:
“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved meî(John 17:20-23).

In this prayer, we understand that Christ sees unity as the cornerstone of our united faith. The world understands the truth and power of God by the witness of our unity. The world understands God’s love for all, by His love for His faithful children in and through the love that Christ has for His followers. We beg of the Lord that we might be conformed to His will. Our struggle is to conform our will to His. Our struggle toward unity is constant, for our lips profess a common symbol and yet we find ourselves occasionally in conflict over the signs and symbols of our worldly positions. We wish for unity, and crave togetherness, yet struggle to place our selves in worldly structures that appease our human sense of ego. Our wills are not in this instance conformed to God’s will, but rather we struggle with one another’s will in self-centered ways. This conflict of wills between our human desires and God’s will is the moment of our greatest spiritual conflict. It impairs our ability to agree in His name. It stands in the way of our gathering in love to be transfigured by His glory. It leaves us in the darkness of our individual selves, cut off from the communion of Christ, the communion with one another as one in Christ.
When the Lord looks into the depths of our souls, he sees the longing of our truest desire. The darkness at the heart of our separation, one from the other, longs for the true light of Jesus Christ. In that light, we come to understand that our true desire is to be at one with Christ, and with one another. Christ’s prayer for unity with the Father is the constant wish of the Triune God for His creatures to be at one with Him, to glorify God in unity and love for one another. Our darkness is illuminated by our acceptance of Christ’s wish, by praying Christ’s prayer ourselves.

We must seek union in the commandments of Christ, in the love of Christ, in His love for us. The power of the common cup that we share must always be before us, must always guide our intentions toward one another. No matter how much we strive for union, there is always that one greater step toward union that we might make. It is when we think that we can be no closer to one another, that we must pray Christ’s prayer again and then again, that we may truly be one in the Father. Every obstacle, every instance of our human pride and prejudice must be answered with the prayer of love. It is love that transcends all boundaries, makes all things new, gives purpose to life and guarantees our unified will in the Trinity: ìas You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us.î

Our Modesty prays now and at all times that we may be one in the Lord, first and foremost in our hearts, our souls, our minds. Finding unity in the Lord is our prayer for all of you, my beloved children. Only in unity will we find the strength to live in the Lord fully and completely.

May the Triune God unite our souls in the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we may arrive, all of us, to the unity of faith in peace and love, until Christ Himself is one with us and we with Him. May we be with Him in the Father and Holy Spirit now and unto the ages of ages. Amen.