Environment and City

We are deeply grateful for the honor bestowed on us today, an honor which we accept not on behalf of one individual, but on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the entire Holy Orthodox Church in whose rich vineyard we are privileged to labor. We may toil in this vineyard, we may plant seeds here, we may harvest its fruits, but it is God’s vineyard, they are God’s seeds, and it is God’s fruit. All glory, then, is due to Him.

The company within which we are receiving it increases the joy we feel in accepting this degree. For we are in the presence of His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, of our brother in Christ, the Archbishop of Canterbury, of the Lord Bishop of London, of the Lord Mayor of London, and, of course, of the administration, faculty and students of this extraordinary university, which serves and enriches London, the largest city in Europe.

We warmly thank His Lordship the Bishop of Stepney for his most kind and generous introduction. Our joy is even further multiplied because this honorary degree is being conferred upon us on the momentous occasion of the centenary of City University. One hundred years is indeed a landmark achievement worthy of praise and recognition. We are deeply touched that you have chosen to include us in these celebrations. To you, the esteemed administration, the faculty and beloved students, we extend our heartfelt congratulations and paternal prayers that God, the Giver of Light, may continue to illumine your hearts and minds as you increase in knowledge and wisdom. May God bless you with yet another centenary.

The ancient Greeks believed that human beings could rise to their full potential only within the context of a city. This great university and its talented students are evidence of that ancient wisdom. Nevertheless, increasingly these days, we witness another, darker aspect of life in our cities. We observe children without clothing, food, or shelter; we see people without jobs; we hear of brothers killing brothers; we recognize broken families, broken lives, and broken dreams. Therefore, we ask ourselves: why? What went wrong? How can this be?

Our first instinct is to doubt that wisdom of the ancients. However, our better instinct is in fact to believe it even more. For, if we truly believe that cities offer great opportunities, we will be driven to discover why it is that so many people are not finding those opportunities. What is missing? What is lacking? The answer, we believe, lies in faith, not in knowledge or wealth or political action. It lies simply in faith. Knowledge expands the mind, but faith can open the heart. Wealth builds houses, but faith can move mountains. Politics does the possible, but faith can do the impossible.

Western civilization has brought about the greatest of human achievements – from medical miracles to people on the moon, from stable democracies to the high standards of living. Yet, these have come with a price, and that price is most evident on the streets of our cities. Politicians and professors alone cannot heal the problems of Western society, be they pornography, pollution, drugs, poverty, crime, war, or homelessness. Religious leaders have a central and inspirational role to play in raising the spiritual principles of love, tolerance, morality and renewal to the fore.

This is why we consider this degree such a special honor. For, a secular university is bestowing it on a spiritual institution, thus demonstrating that one is not antithetical to the other. Indeed, more than this, it brings our two worlds – of academia and ecclesia – closer together, and for this we are truly grateful to God.

We are convinced that our mission today – namely, that of bringing the healing power of the Holy Spirit to all the children of God – is more vital than ever. The spirituality of the Church offers a different sort of fulfillment than that which is offered by the secularism of modern life. Here, too, there is no antithesis.

Secular Humanism and Society

            The failure of anthropocentric ideologies has left a void in many people’s lives. The frantic pursuit of the future has sacrificed the inner peace of the past. We need to regain our religious outlook. We must urgently counter the effects of secular humanism with the teaching of the Church on humanity and the natural world and elevate the pursuit of the temporal toward a healthy respect for the eternal by bringing the one into harmony with the other. Moreover, we must repair the torn fabric of society by reminding ourselves every day that the misfortune of some of us, affects the fortune of all of us.

Our society resembles the lawyer who asked Jesus: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responded: “What is written in the law?” The lawyer said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Lk. 10.25-27). This led to a further question – one that is of extremely relevance to our world today. I am referring to the question: “Who is my neighbor?” (Lk. 10.29).

Jesus answered with the story of a man who was robbed and beaten on the road leading from Jerusalem to Jericho. A priest approached that man, and – and, in much the same way as so many of us step over a homeless person today – crossed to the other side of the road. Then a Levite came by; he, too, avoided the situation by crossing the road. Yet a Samaritan who happened to be traveling down that road was moved to bind the man’s wounds, take him to the closest inn, and tend to him. Jesus asked: “Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?” (Lk. 10.36). When the lawyer chose the Good Samaritan, Jesus simply said: “Go and do likewise” (Lk. 10.37).

Today, there is hardly a more important question than: “Who is my neighbor?” The future of our world rests on how we respond to this. Sadly, we do not always answer as we should. In Bosnia, where warfare still rages, like the priest in Jesus’ parable, too many have crossed the road rather than confront the situation. In Los Angeles, in London and in St. Petersburg, too many of our children have been abandoned to the urban warfare of the streets. In South Africa, on the other hand, we have seen millions of our fellow human beings behave like the Good Samaritan. The South Africans are certainly proving themselves true neighbors.

If God would only grant us the power to plant just one idea, as though it were a seed, in the fertile minds that are gathered in this great cathedral today – in order, thus, to return the favor for this degree by offering back to this secular institution a simple, yet profound spiritual exhortation – it would be just this: “Go and do likewise.” Know that every human being is your neighbor; and behave accordingly. Above all else, “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lk. 10.27).