Winnipeg, Canada – Thursday, July 10, 2025

Your Eminence Archbishop Sotirios of Canada,
Your Eminence Archbishop Ilarion of Winnipeg,
Your Grace Bishop Andriy of Toronto,
Very Reverend Grand Archimandrite Fr. Iakovos,
Reverend Clergy,
Dearly Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

With feelings of spiritual joy and gratitude to the Lord, I address you all and warmly welcome you to our Clergy-Laity Assembly.

It is the first time I am visiting Winnipeg, and it is certainly a great honor for me to represent at this gathering His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, together with the venerable and most-revered Archbishop Sotirios of Canada and the Very Reverend Archimandrite Iakovos, and to convey to all of you His paternal love, affection, and deep concern as the First among all Orthodox under heaven.
At the same time, I bring you His All-Holiness’s desire and invitation to visit the Sacred Center of Orthodoxy, which bears an unbroken history of centuries and the enduring legacy of an empire—Byzantium—and a civilization—Byzantine—for more than eleven centuries.

This is a unique opportunity, I would say, to see face-to-face the Sacred Summit of Orthodoxy, to receive His blessing in person, to listen to His concerns, to draw wisdom from His many years of experience in the Church, and ultimately, to live out what the late Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras so aptly emphasized: “Come, let us look into each other’s eyes!”

This is the communion of persons, which holds such profound importance and meaning within the Church.

This year’s Clergy-Laity Assembly is the fruit of our shared concerns and hopes for the future of your local Church, as well as a genuine expression of our unity in Christ.

Our Church is not a human institution but the Body of Christ. Within this Body, every member has its unique, irreplaceable role and mission. However, unity is not merely the result of good cooperation; it is the fruit of life in the Holy Spirit, centered on Christ and held together by the Bishop.

St. Ignatius the God-Bearer reminds us that where the Bishop is, there is the Church.

The role of the Bishop is not merely administrative—it is liturgical and paternal. He is the one who presides over the Divine Eucharist and connects the flock to Christ, safeguarding the unity of faith and the communion of love.

Today, we are called to strengthen this unity—clergy and laity together—in a spirit of humility, dialogue, and mutual respect.

The Church does not need conflicts or divisions, but united hearts—persons who care deeply for her journey and labor for the spiritual growth of all.

Unity around the Bishop is not blind obedience, but a free and loving attachment to the one who, in Christ, serves the sacrament of unity, with a spirit of sacrificial love. It is a fruit of faith, trust, and love.
Let us journey forward, then, beloved Brethren, with unity of heart, with hope and a sense of responsibility, so that the labor of all of us may be transformed into spiritual fruit.

Let us never forget that Christ is the center of our life, existence, and ministry—and that only in Him can we find true communion and spiritual progress.

Our journey to Emmaus should always be Christ-centered and visionary.

I thank you warmly for your presence and participation, and I pray that this year’s Assembly may bear spiritual fruit and prove beneficial to all who participate in it.

Please accept my heartfelt wishes for every success!