A Lecture by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios,
Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

4 February 2004
Fordham University
Orthodoxy in America Lecture Series


Part Six

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Tonight, thanks to your kindness, I had the handsome opportunity to speak about four aspects, four expressions, four manifestations of the dynamic character of the Orthodox faith in America: a) in the area of language (the creation of an English theological Orthodox language), b) in the area of the absoluteness of the truth as revealed by God who became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ the Lord, c) in the area of spirituality understood in a special way as the priority of God, and d) in the dynamic character of faith as a balancing agent and an agent contributing to the presentation of the wholeness of faith, intact and perfect.

I did not speak, as perhaps expected, about Orthodox worship or about social issues. I did not speak about inter-Orthodox, inter-Christian, interreligious problems. I did not speak about major or minor ethical problems, or about issues of peace and war. I did not speak about the epic of the Orthodox immigrants, who came to the United States and created what they have created in the past two hundred years. I did not speak about Orthodoxy as the carrier of the amazing legacy of the Hellenistic and Greek tradition, and its tradition of language and culture. And, I did not speak about Orthodoxy as true philanthropy, as true humanism, as true understanding of what human beings, the cosmos, and God are about.

But, then, I just offered an introduction. And, I presuppose the long series of promising lectures that will follow and that, I am sure, will touch upon those and other very crucial and very basic aspects, and make this forum a forum of enlightenment, wisdom, and joy.

Ultimately, the presence of Orthodoxy in America could be understood in terms of a dynamic faith expressed in an all encompassing love, a love which, according to the great Father of the Church St. John Chrysostom, has no limit and goes beyond any measure. As he beautifully put it, "Ου γαρ ενι μετρον τουτου του καλου (i.e. αγαπης). Μετρον αγαπης το μηδαμου ιστασθαι," "There is no measure of this good, which is love. The measure of love is not to stop anywhere." (St. John Chrysostom, Exegesis of the Epistle to the Philippians II, 18).