Your Holiness Catholicos ILYA, Your Beatitude Metropolitan THEODOSIUS, Your Eminences, Rev. Fathers, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Dear graduates.

I am highly honored by the invitation of the beloved in Christ, Fr. Thomas Hopko, to be with you at this important event which vividly reminds me of my spiritual mentors, late Fr. Alexander Schmemann and Fr. John Meyendorff. At the same time, not being a theologian, I feel unworthy to address you at this very significant moment of your life. For this reason, I will venture to share with you three main concerns I have, as a layman, about Orthodoxy today, as well as my dream of your future role as lay theologians, monks, deacons, priests or bishops.

FIRST: As a result of what was called "New World Order", today there seem to be attempts to subordinate or discredit Orthodoxy on the assumption that it has inspired certain religious, cultural and ideological anti-western attitudes. This is felt, mainly, in regions like Eastern Europe and the Middle East where some western initiatives are exacerbating existing inter-Church tensions or divisions, inter-religious sensitivities, inter-cultural and international conflicts. Such actions include proselytism among Orthodox, and lead to their emigration.

The question here is whether the Orthodox Churches can continue to witness freely in society and to assert, through the ecumenical movement, the uniqueness of their spirituality and their enriching contribution to the oneness of Christianity in today's world.

SECOND: In some countries, the disappearance of secular ideologies has given rise to ethnic or religious nationalism. Accordingly, all religions became tempted to replace secular ideologies with their own ideals and to redefine people's identity in religious or ethnic terms. This is leading them to expose themselves to political and military exploitation and make their particular religion and God appear as causes of division and war instead of unity and peace among people of different beliefs and ethnicities. Such a new climate is compelling some Churches to withdraw into their historic particularism and therefore into more isolation from each other, for ethnic or new canonical reasons.

The question is whether the Orthodox Churches affected by this development can assume a prophetic role with regard to the powers of this world and transcend their historical differences in order to manifest their ecclesial universality and the potential unity of humanity.

THIRD: In some parts of the world, the Orthodox and many other Christians, feel themselves to be victims of a conflict mainly between two cultures. The first is the western secular humanist culture which has invested power in the human being to the extent of permitting him or her to marginalize and even kill God through materialist and atheist ideologies. The second cultural trend is a reaction to the first in the sense that it tries to recenter power in God, leading, unfortunately, to a kind of religious fundamentalism or ethnic chauvinism which permits the elimination of the human being, in the name of God or ethnic purity.

The question, is whether, in such a context, the Orthodox Churches will be able to continue to witness freely to the reconciliation between God and the human being, as conceived, through their incarnational theology, to be the criteria of God's love, justice and peace in the world.

Dear graduates

As of today you may feel already thrown into this historic reality. Your power or authority, as future leaders in the Church, will be only partly based on the knowledge you acquired at ST. Vladimir's Theological Seminary. It will be essentially the power of the Holy Spirit rooted in your sacrificial love to Christ and to your neighbor. You are also young and therefore, as St. John the evangelist says, "You are strong and the word of God abides in you." Consequently, you are expected to have enough courage to challenge and to make constructive proposals rooted in the Church Tradition, thus adopting the attitude of prophetic faithfulness. In my view, this would require from you, at least, the following action:

FIRST: to call for the formation of an ad-hoc inter-Orthodox committee, under the chairmanship of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, to assist the Ecumenical Patriarch, as Primus Inter-pares, in solving the problems of inter-orthodox relations caused by the new radical socio-political changes. This will help reaffirm the principle of collegiality followed by the autocephalous and independent Orthodox Churches.

SECOND: to call for conferences of Orthodox theologians, to clarify further, to Orthodox and non-Orthodox Christians, the theological assumptions of the Orthodox response to the present historic challenges and of the Orthodox witness to God's peace in society, directly or through the ecumenical movement. Such conferences will also help manifest Orthodox Unity.

In my opinion, the agenda of these events should include the following theological assumptions: a) The historical and transcendental dimensions of the Church ministry. b) The local and universal nature of the Church. c) The institutional and mystical nature of the Church and of the Unity of Orthodoxy. d) The reconciliation between God and the human being through the incarnation of Jesus Christ and peace between people. e) The concept and implications of apophatic theology. f) Authority in the Church, as concept and as process.

THIRD: to call for inter-Orthodox cooperation and mutual support, aiming at the development of Church educational, pastoral and other "Diaconal" institutions. In this regard many Orthodox Churches take for granted that autocephaly and independence also mean self-sufficiency. For them the principle of sharing of resources, that existed in the early Church, is no longer necessary. For this reason, an International Pan-Orthodox Fund to support local Orthodox activities seems to be highly needed.

FOURTH: to call for Unity between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches. After several joint meetings, these Churches have reached a Christological formula which recognized that Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human. Therefore, you should urge them to transcend the impact of the "powers and principalities" of this world, and the philosophical and ethnic considerations that divided them in the past, in order to achieve Unity through or beyond the Council of Chalcedon. This will definitely help change the attitude of Catholic and Protestant Christianity towards Orthodoxy and will give new blood and a new orientation to the ecumenical movement.

FIFTH: to call for inter-Orthodox exchanges on the Orthodox Churches' participation in the ecumenical movement. The new circumstances in the world are affecting negatively and positively the relationship that the Orthodox are experiencing with other Churches within the ecumenical movement. The issue here, is how the Orthodox Churches could pursue their enriching relationship with the ecumenical organizations and continue their witness through them to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church without compromising their theological convictions.

SIXTH: to call for the continuous involvement of the younger generation, as an energetic and courageous factor of renewal,unity and witness in the life of the Orthodox Churches.

Dear graduates

The Orthodox Churches are facing today external challenges and internal problems. For this reason, you are called to facilitate their urgent response through inter-orthodox exchanges and cooperation. However, in order to be prepared to face the task ahead, you are expected to deepen your spirituality, so that "your light will shine forth to all people" and you could offer an important qualitative contribution to Orthodoxy and through it to all Christianity, in this decade and the new millennium.

While leaving us today, hear the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ saying to His disciples: "Peace I leave with you, my Peace I give to you" (Jn 14:27).

Christ is Risen