“a deacon never ceases to be a deacon
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“no one present at the ordination in 1961 could have known where the young deacon’s path would lead.
“every bishop, like every layman, is a witness to Christ crucified and risen, and that this witness has to be everywhere and always—among one’s own flock and among the people outside the bounds of the Church.
“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,
“every bishop bears witness to Christ Crucified and Risen both among his own flock and among those outside the Church
“the Church does not say a final “goodbye” to the departed, but rather “until we meet again,”
“supreme gift of the priesthood
“Here you received the first degree of the priesthood. Not to be served, but to serve; not to seek human glory, but to shepherd the spiritual flock of the Church of Christ,
“Your Beatitude, adorned with the noble labor of monastic life and wise archpastoral ministry, you are for all of us an example of sincere steadfastness in the Truth.