His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros
Closing Remarks to the Metropolis of San Francisco Clergy Laity Assembly
Contemplate, Reconcile, and Unify
March 4, 2024
Saint Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center
Dunlap, California
Your Eminence, Metropolitan Gerasimos, Beloved Brother in Christ,
Your Graces, Bishops John and Spyridon,
Reverend Fathers and Presvyteres,
Dear Sisters of the Philoptochos,
Esteemed Archons of the Ecumenical Throne,
Honored Members of Leadership One Hundred,
Delegates to the Clergy Laity Assembly,
Sisters and Brothers in the Lord,
We have come to the close of these Clergy Laity Assembly deliberations, and I want to congratulate all of you for your dedication to the health and well-being of this God-saved Metropolis of San Francisco.
The Metropolis has the weighty responsibility of hosting the National Archdiocese Clergy Laity Congress this upcoming July in San Diego, and simply witnessing your good work here gives me great confidence about the prospects for the Congress.
We need these local Assemblies and national Congresses in order to keep in touch with our Faithful in the Parishes, where the People of God live out their lives.
Every voice deserves to be heard. Every parishioner merits our consideration. And remember, we are not as homogenous a community as we once might have been.
There are literally tens of thousands of people in our pews who have adopted the Greek Orthodox Faith, and they bring a tremendous diversity of gifts to our churches.
There is also wide divergence of political and even cultural priorities found in our communities, but this should not be a cause of division. Rather, it should be the cause for substantive and deep conversations that focus on our Holy Orthodox Faith, the truly uniting factor that resonates throughout the community.
You have all given a good account of yourselves here, and I am delighted to be able to remain and spend a little more time with your clergy. The spirit of this place is so conducive to reflection and contemplation; so we will engage further with prayer and with worship.
May all of you travel the path through the Holy and Great Lent with good intentions and with spiritual focus, such that you arrive with joy and assurance at the Holy Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
May His blessings abound in your lives through these holy days, and may you all attain to the redemptive love and gladness of the Holy Pascha, through the intercessions of His All-Holy Mother, the Life-Giving Spring, through the prayers of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra, and through all the Saints. Amen.