The Ecumenical Patriarchate must play a crucial role in our return to ecumenism. Because the Patriarchate, as the first among equals, is the repository of the memory of "the One, Holy Catholic, and Apostolic Church". Within our walls, Mnemosyne jealously guards the candle of Orthodox Christianity from Lethe - and in that flickering flame lies the promise our redemption. As long as that candle continues to burn, there is the possibility that some day, the flame will again pass outside the patriarchal church of St. George and will cast its redeeming light throughout the oikoumene.

But that will not happen until lay members of the Orthodox Church - academics,, artists, business persons, writers, and intellectuals of all ethnicities - also begin to re-evaluate the place of their Orthodox heritage in their identity. And in this, the Orthodox diaspora can lead the way - for the diaspora lives constantly on the borderline of civilizations, and is forced to reconsider questions of identity all the time.

There are obvious benefits in this re-evaluation for all of us - we will end up with a more balanced and more accurate view of our past and our future. But the benefits extend far beyond ourselves.

If we respect our Greek Orthodox inheritance, others will likely respect it, too. We may yet rescue our inheritance - our parakatatheke from the oblivion to which it seems to have been doomed in the West.