CONSTANTINOPLE – His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew sent a letter to His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America on the occasion of the Feast of St. George, Patron Saint of the Patriarchal Nave. As it is customary every year, the Patriarchate offered an Artoklasia (Blessing of the Loaves) and commemorated the faithful of the United States.

Patriarch Bartholomew in his letter to Archbishop Elpidophoros wrote:

“The Mother Church of Constantinople that partakes of the crucifixion, the much revered Ecumenical Patriarchate, has this year celebrated the annual commemoration of the Holy, Glorious, Great-Martyr George the Trophy-Bearer. And in the course of the celebration of the Holy Eucharist and the Sacred Artoklasia within our All-Venerable Patriarchal Cathedral that is named in honor of Saint George, the Mother Church has remembered in Her prayers Her beloved spiritual children in America.

Wherefore, we congratulate Your much beloved Eminence on account of your important pastoral labors, which you perform with holy zeal, with enthusiasm, and with great paternal love for the devout clergy and the harmonious people of God in America, with unshakeable devotion for the eternal Greek Orthodox values and for the constantly tested Mother Church, from Which you draw joy from Her most Holy Shrines, illumination and knowledge from Her age-old enduring history, and strength and hope from Her cross of sacrifice. We greet you with a brotherly kiss and bless you from the depths of our Patriarchal heart, together with all the genuine children of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the New World – clergy and laity – with this prayer: that our Lord Jesus Christ Who is risen from the dead, through the intercessions of His Holy Trophy-Bearer, might come into your midst, among all who truly desire Him, ‘even though the doors where you are gathered are sealed shut’ because of fear of the pandemic. May the Lord overshadow you all and bless you, granting you love, peace, solidarity, and every good thing.”