Brothers, Fathers, and children in the Lord,

"Christ, the true Patriarch of the entire oecumene, to whom all authority has been given in heaven and on earth," according to the Rudder, calls up the Patriarchs in due time and sends them out as organs of his eternal ways, as he did with the Patriarchs of the Old Testament. Thus, the Patriarch, according to royal definition, "is the living and animate icon of Christ, defining truth through deeds and words. Paramount for the Patriarch is the salvation of the souls of those entrusted to him, that they may, on the one hand, live in Christ and, on the other hand, be crucified to the world. Characteristic of the Patriarch is that he be didactic and, untroubled, be ranked equally with all, the mighty and the humble."

And if these things concern every Patriarch, what can we say about the Patriarch of this city which Symeon of Thessalonika characterizes as the founding city of the faith of Christ, the acropolis of Orthodoxy, the city of cities, with its throne as a most pious divine throne of the great priesthood?

This is the reason, we entreat, beseech and supplicate the prayers of all of you, who have readily come together on this joyous occasion, that our Humble Selves may be deemed worthy by God, as we enter from this moment into the Holy of Holies being totally consecrated to the Lord, to His Altar, to His diakonia and humanity, to the Cross, and to the Church.

Pray for us, all of you, who have come "from the West and the North, by sea and the East" in order to install us upon this sacred cathedral of the Apostle Stachys as yet another in the long line of his successors. Pray that, faithfully and favorably to God, we serve the Lord, this most holy Church, and Orthodoxy under the heavens. Pray that we sustain our People and maintain the privileges and the rights of this most venerable Throne, which "we sign with great pleasure," as our predecessor to the Throne of Chalcedon, Eleutherios, affirmed at the IV Ecumenical Synod. Pray that we are at all times a tool of the will of God in the service of all humanity. Pray that our Patriarchy will be unharmed, bountiful, hopeful, unhindered, according to the names and through the intercessions of the martyrs from Persia whom the Church commemorates today. Pray that the Lord will sustain the Church, strengthen the faith and bring peace to the world.

We are of the firm hope that from the heavenly chambers the prayer of our spiritual father, Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon of blessed memory, who offered many precious services to the Mother Church, accompanies and sustains us, as does the prayer of our immediate predecessor, the most gentle Patriarch Dimitrios of blessed memory, who embodied the extreme humility of Christ, a humility which this Church of the poor of Christ expresses. We are also assured if the prayer of our respected and beloved parents, whom the benevolent God deigned to see this day.

Again and many times over, "glory to God for all things."

"God is love" (1 John 4:16).