WASHINGTON – His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America attended yesterday, an Easter Prayer Breakfast for approximately 70 Christian religious leaders at the White House, as a guest of President Barack Obama and had a seat of honor at the President’s table. 

The President after welcoming the religious leaders as “brothers and sisters in Christ” said he wanted to join them and “continue the Easter celebration of our risen Savior, and to reflect on the work to which His promise calls all of us.” 

He further noted: “For even after the passage of 2,000 years, we can still picture the moment in our mind’s eye. The young man from Nazareth marched through Jerusalem; object of scorn and derision and abuse and torture by an empire. The agony of crucifixion amid the cries of thieves.  The discovery, just three days later, that would forever alter our world – that the Son of Man was not to be found in His tomb and that Jesus Christ had risen.”

“We are awed by the grace He showed even to those who would have killed Him.  We are thankful for the sacrifice He gave for the sins of humanity.  And we glory in the promise of redemption in the resurrection.”

Archbishop Demetrios immediately following the breakfast said: “We had the honor of being in a two-hour gathering hosted by President Obama, filled with the joy of the Resurrection of the Lord and with multiple expressions of faith in Him. Particularly impressive were the opening remarks by the President which constitute a strong declaration of this faith in the Resurrection of Christ and in its healing consequences for the world of today.”