Hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA Offer Prayerful Greetings to Newly Elected Metropolitan Athenagoras of New Jersey

Hierarchs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA extended prayerful greetings to Metropolitan Athenagoras of New Jersey, newly elected by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In a fraternal letter, they expressed profound joy and thanksgiving to Almighty God for his election under the presidency of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The hierarchs greeted their brother hierarch with the proclamation “ΑΞΙΟΣ! AXIOS! WORTHY!” recognizing his devotion to Christ, love for the Church, and fidelity to the Mother Church of Constantinople.

Metropolitan Antony and Archbishop Daniel highlighted the close spiritual bonds between their respective communities. As hierarchs serving in the same geographical region and sharing a common canonical and spiritual home beneath the omophorion of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, they expressed hope for the continued strengthening of fraternal relationships and collaboration. They emphasized the importance of walking together in the witness of Orthodox Christianity in the United States, praying together, serving together, and proclaiming the saving Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Reflecting on the challenges facing contemporary society, the letter called for a shared Orthodox witness that responds to division, loneliness, war, suffering, and uncertainty with the light of Christ. The hierarchs affirmed that this witness must uphold the dignity of every human person, offer compassion to those who suffer, and proclaim the hope of the Resurrection. They also expressed their readiness to stand beside Metropolitan Athenagoras in prayer, Christian witness, charitable service, and ministries through which their communities may manifest the unity and love to which Christ calls His disciples.

Assuring the newly elected Metropolitan of the prayers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA, Metropolitan Antony and Archbishop Daniel asked the Lord to grant him wisdom in leadership, courage in adversity, patience in difficulty, compassion for those entrusted to his care, and abundant spiritual joy. The letter concluded with a prayer that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Great High Priest and Chief Shepherd of His Church, strengthen Metropolitan Athenagoras in his sacred ministry; that the Most Holy Theotokos shelter him beneath her protecting veil; and that the prayers of his heavenly patron, Saint Athenagoras, accompany him throughout the years ahead.

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