Beloved Fathers, brothers and sisters in Christ, whom the Lord our God has entrusted me to serve both here within the Ancient See of Mercia and the British Isles, as well as those of you who are abroad, I greet you all in Christ cordially with the words of the Holy Apostle Paul: “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”  (Galatians 3:26-29) 

 

Beloved children in Christ, as we celebrate the Holy Feast of the All-saints of the British Isles, I cannot help but feel that the saints themselves today keep festival and rejoice with us in the joy which we all feel today. Through my lowliness, you now receive a father who desires to gather his children, who are in need of a loving father who in turn, will nurture them, guide them, help them as well as protect them. Today, the vacant throne of Saint Chad, who is our local saint, is by God’s Grace vacant no more, however, being appointed to such a throne, I understand perfectly well that I must also live up to the responsibilities which come with this spiritual territory. 

 

First of all, my dear children, I humbly ask my Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, to grant me the true desire which is necessary to want to pray ceaselessly to Him, so that He may always strengthen, guide and enlighten me to do what is pleasing to Him for all of you. I do not wish to mislead you by simply ignoring what is not God pleasing in your lives. I do not wish to be the father who allows his children to remain steadfast in their wrongdoings and unrighteousness, lest I fall short of God’s mercy and provoke His wrath. I pray that I will be able to chastise you all when necessary, just like the father who chastises his children out of the fatherly love he has for them, because only he knows what is best for them. Of course, this can only happen, if you all allow it to happen.  Secondly, I hope that you will all keep me in your prayers, because now more than ever, I am in need of them.

 

Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life, in that I am being called to bear yet another cross.  When I think of this, I hear the voice of my Lord saying: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16;24) And again: “…he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:38) This means, that I must humble myself, by denying my flesh what it desires, in order to truly be a follower and disciple of Christ. To me, becoming your bishop, means that I am not only indebted to God even more than before, but I am also indebted before all of you even more, in that my responsibilities before you will be far greater than before. This of course means that I must exercise the Grace which the Lord has bestowed upon me, to benefit you spiritually, so as to ensure that you may all be set firmly on the path to salvation.

 

As you all know, a big part of my life as a clergyman, is mission work. I feel that this is specifically what the Lord has called me to do. Fortunately, through the See which has been appointed to me, I am able to continue carrying out this work. According to the Gospel, this happens to be the fundamental and core work of our Faith, as the Lord Himself said to His Disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,...”(Matthew 28:19) Keeping this in mind, I hope that we can all work together tirelessly for this cause, so that elect souls may find their way back to their Heavenly Father and Creator, and in doing so, we may always be blessed by the Lord.   

 

Finally, I wanted all of you to know, that over the last nine years of being active here in Britain as well as abroad, I have seen you all grow spiritually, in fact, I will say that we have grown together. As a priest I learnt many things, and furthermore, I was given many unimaginable experiences over those nine years, some positive and some negative, but one thing is for sure, I benefited a great deal from every one of those experiences. I have seen you all grow spiritually over the years, I have been there through your good times and difficult times, I have witnessed the raising of your children and grandchildren, I have cried with you through illnesses and deaths, I have rejoiced with you in baptisms and weddings, and I am happy to say that I have been part of your lives.  I can happily say that we have progressed as individuals, but also as a community, and when I see how the new generation of Christians is unfolding, I am filled with hope, and I pray that this generation will bring forth many good things, however, that being said, this does not mean that we have finished our work, now more than ever, we must strive to grow stronger spiritually, both as individuals, and as communities, therefore, we must not take for granted what we have been given. We have a lot of work to do and we have much to learn.  In light of how I see myself serving the Lord, I will end my speech with a quote from the Holy Apostle Paul yet again, which best describes what I am about which says: “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those under the law I became as one under the law—though not being myself under the law—that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law—not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ—that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1st Corinthians 9:19;23) 

Forgive me and pray for me, the least of all bishops,

 

                                                                             

                                                                           Metropolitan of Mercia and the British Isles,

 

 

 

                                                                                                     

 

 

+SOZOMENOS