“Here you received the first degree of Holy Orders. Not to be served, but to seek human glory, but to shepherd the spiritual flock of Christ’s Church.

“You willingly emptied yourself for the Church, renouncing every personal interest and devoting yourself entirely to the service of Christ and His flock.

“shepherd the flock of God entrusted to his care with God-given wisdom and courage

“supreme gift of the priesthood

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew ›

Ecumenical Patriarch

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“pray to the Lord, you catechumens

“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,

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I ›

His All-Holiness

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