Archbishop Elpidophoros of America was officially enthroned as the seventh Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The magnificent enthronement ceremony took place at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan on Saturday, June 22, 2019.
Representatives of the governments of the United States, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey, of the autocephalous Churches of Greece and Cyprus as well as American religious leaders and political and business personalities from both the sides of the Atlantic, were present at the ceremony.
The new Archbishop accompanied by the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Metropolitan Augustine of Germany, arrived at the Holy Trinity Cathedral little after 11 am. They walked the red carpet that was laid down on 74th Street, while children were throwing rose petals.
Six Evzones of the Greek Presidential Guard sent by the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, paid the honors.
Greek Foreign Minister George Katrougalos and U.S. Secretary of Health Alex Azar – an Antiochean Orthodox Christian – were present at the ceremony.
Archbishop Elpidophoros was elected unanimously by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople, on May 11, 2019.
“My heart is especially ready and steadfast to serve this Archdiocese and nation, both of which I have long admired since childhood and from my ministry at the Phanar. Through the decades, I have observed the development of the Church here, the challenges it has encountered, and the ground it has broken. So, I am here—your new Archbishop—to listen to you, to dialogue with you, and to work with you. My prayerful aspiration is to stand before you and beside you, to lead by example and exhortation, and to minister through service and sacrifice”, Archbishop Elpidophoros said in his Enthronement Address.
Explaining his vision for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Elpidophoros said that “if we are to be true to our evangelical roots and spiritual traditions, we must be a Church that embraces our young people and all members of our community and our country.”
“The Church—which means all of us—must be ready to meet our youth where they live and where they learn: in our communities, on college campuses, with all of the range and resources of social media at our disposal. We cannot lose any time, and we cannot wait for them to reach out to us. We must offer them a taste of the sacramental life, of the living Body of Christ. We should welcome and embrace them, meeting them—just as the Lord Jesus Himself did with His disciples—on their own terms, in their own hearts, and with their own resources.”
He stressed the need for the development and expansion of the Theological School of Boston, “the heart of education of clergy and formation of leaders for our Archdiocese”, as well as the value of the service to the Church (stewardship).
Archbishop Elpidophoros set as his top priority the restoration of the St. Nicholas Shrine in Ground Zero.
“It is our duty and our responsibility as Orthodox Christians—but also our obligation and commitment to God and His people—to complete and open the doors of the Saint Nicholas National Shrine as a witness and vision of what is best and what is beautiful in all people of faith and religious conviction. I assure you that my heart is ready and steadfast in this task as well,” he said.
The congregation offered a two minute standing ovation to former Archbishop of America, 91-year-old Demetrios who resigned a few months ago upon pressure from the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
“My aspiration is to plant and multiply their diverse gifts in the fertile soil of this church and land as I reach out in a dialogue of love and truth to our ecumenical and interfaith brothers and sisters. My heart is certainly ready and steadfast to follow their groundbreaking lead and their illustrious example,” the new Archbishop of America stressed among others.
52-year-old Elpidophoros with impressive studies and CV, is the first Archbishop of the Archdiocese of America after twenty years.
Source: keeptalkinggreece.com