BOSTON – For the second time this year Archbishop Elpidophoros chose to celebrate the Vesper Service for the Name Day of Patriarch Bartholomew at the renowned Episcopalian church of St. Bartholomew in Manhattan, aiming to emphasize the ecumenicity of the Patriarch as he said in his sermon.

Specifically, Archbishop Elpidophoros said that, “we celebrate the Ecumenical Patriarch’s name day here in a church of another Christian community, because His All-Holiness is the very definition of ecumenicity. He, following in the footsteps of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, is continuously reaching out to those beyond his own circle and family of faith. The Ecumenical Patriarch is a spiritual father for all people, whether they realize it or not.”

In another instance he said that, “His All-Holiness has deep concern and care for all of creation. We know of his steady and strong advocacy for the environment – his commitment to a sustainable planet for the whole human family, all eight billion of us.”

The Archbishop repeated that, “being in this church, borrowed from another Christian tradition, is a sign of our expansive and embracing love for all people. It is a symbolic act that many will try to interpret through their own filters of grievance, prejudice, and lack of basic human kindness. But the truth of our presence and prayers here tonight is the same as the vision of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, which he enunciated a few years ago: It is our belief and, at the same time, our hope, that Christianity can be viewed as a religion of love and dialogue. The visions of the Gospel are what the Orthodox Church seeks to incarnate and support in the modern world.”

“Because of this vision,” Elpidophoros continued, “His All-Holiness has stood – an immovable rock of faith and piety – against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the complicity of the Russian Orthodox Church in its shameful support for this unconscionable war of aggression. The Church is to be a place of love, acceptance and redemption. It was the Lord Himself Who said: I will never cast out the one who comes to Me.”

The National Herald has learned that Elpidophoros dreams of acquiring the landmark St. Bartholomew’s church with the aim of turning it into a Greek Orthodox Cathedral instead of the existing Holy Trinity Archdiocesan Cathedral, which was built by pioneer Greek immigrants, an idea that has come up several through the years.