“May our Lord Jesus Christ, who united heaven and earth, also unite your hearts, wherever you may be across the globe, in a single aspiration: to know Him, to love Him and to follow Him

“Different contexts, common aspirations is not merely the theme of an international day, but the very mystery of the Church of Christ: one Body, many members, one hope

“The common aspiration of young people everywhere for justice, dignity and peace finds a concrete response when each person, like the Good Samaritan, becomes a neighbour to someone in need — that is, the ultimate criterion of love.

“You, young Orthodox Christians scattered throughout the world, have a particular calling: to be bridges, not walls.

“St John Chrysostom reminds us, however, that true wealth is that of the soul purified of the passions and filled with grace, and that the poorest person who is at peace in Christ is richer than an emperor troubled by the passions. Your common aspiration, regardless of the continent on which you live, for a better future finds its complete fulfilment only when that future includes communion with God.

“The desire to love genuinely, to be loved faithfully and to build a healthy family is an aspiration shared by all young people

“St John Chrysostom calls the family a little church, the place where prayer, forgiveness and self-sacrifice are learnt before they are lived out in society.

“This is where our message meets the theme of the Orthodox Youth Meeting in Bucharest .

“the family is the place where love, prayer, forgiveness and self-sacrifice are learnt and lived

“You, the young Orthodox Christians of the diaspora, are living proof that it is possible to live in a different context, in another country, with another language and another rhythm of life, and yet have the same faith, the same Liturgy and the same hope.

“although young people live in different social and cultural contexts, they remain united by faith in Christ and by the same fundamental values: “meaning, love, truth and a future worth living”.

“You are the heart of the Church scattered throughout the world, like the seed of the Gospel carried to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8)