“two forms of longing had converged there 65 years ago: love for one’s birthplace and the response to the call of the heavenly Father.
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“Twice over. The person who remembers his true Homeland takes better care of the roadside inn than the one who mistakes it for his final home. Longing for the Heavenly City neither abolishes nor destroys anything on which earthly life depends. We obey human ordinances in pursuit of peace on earth – provided they do not conflict with our faith.
“Longing for return, according to Homer, is not simply a memory, nor a passing nostalgia. It is a force that sets one’s entire being in motion,
“He is now to be among you at the calling of your heart. Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part. The union of your spirits here has caused Him to remain for whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name, there is love, there is love.
“Today, after 65 years, we are not simply praising a man. We glorify and give thanks to God, because time has revealed the wisdom of His Providence and confirmed the calling,
“The question is not whether to love it, but how to love it rightly. Our citizenship is in heaven, says the Apostle, and from there we await the Savior. Remembering this does not mean despising the earth. It means refusing to demand from it what it could never give us in the first place – an unshakable foundation.
“Today, after sixty-five years, we do not simply praise a man; we praise and thank God, because time has revealed the wisdom of His Providence and confirmed the calling,
“the gathering, just days before the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, allowed those present to share not only in the Patriarch’s joy but also in his profound longing to return to his native island.
“a moment of emotion and spiritual joy