“I thank the most gracious God for the supreme gift of the priesthood: eight years as a deacon, four as a priest, 18 as a metropolitan and 35 as Ecumenical Patriarch, in the service of the entire Christian community under the dominion of the Lord, of the Great Church, of inter-Orthodox cooperation, inter-Christian and interreligious dialogues, peace and solidarity, the protection of the natural environment and the encounter between the Church and the contemporary world,

“The words Jesus alone were inscribed forever upon my soul and have served as a compass throughout my life. My spiritual father earnestly urged me, as I became a cleric, to look only to Jesus.

“My entire journey has been a life in dialogue,