His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros
Remarks at the Legacy Luncheon
September 14, 2023
Maliotis Cultural Center
Brookline, Massachusetts
Dear Friends,
I want to welcome all of you, and thank you for making the effort and being part of our Legacy Luncheon today. Your membership in the Hellenic College Holy Cross Founders Legacy Society is as visionary as it is necessary for the future of our precious Σχολή. You are all invaluable participants in a movement that will redound to the prosperity of this Institution – perhaps in ways we cannot even conceive of in this present moment.
When we inaugurated this Society back in March of 2023, I shared a proverb with you: “Blesséd are they who plants trees under whose shade they will never sit.” I would expand this elegant saying to include the following: “And blesséd are those who plant trees whose fruits they may never taste.” For your commitment to Hellenic College and Holy Cross will undoubtedly yield harvests of spiritual, academic, and institutional fruits in the future. And I pray that you will all have at least a glimpse of this harvest – to behold the flowering, budding, and fruiting of the Legacy Trees that you have planted.
I can assure you of this. Not only as the Chairman of the Board of the School, but as your Archbishop, I will not rest until these fruits are produced and bring their prosperity to our Σχολή.
There is a story from the lives of the Desert Fathers that speaks to the commitment that I have to this wonderful place. It comes from the life of Saint John Kolovos, a monk of the Egyptian desert from the Fourth Century.
When John was young – eighteen years old – he attached himself to a great Teacher. His teacher took a piece of dry wood and planted it in the ground, commanding John: “Water it every day until it bears fruit.”
A seemingly absurd command! But John did as he had been told, leaving every evening to fetch the water, which was so far away that he did not return with it until the next morning.
After three years of doing so, the wood came to life and it bore fruit. And his teacher took some of the fruit to the church and said to the assembly: “Take and eat the fruit of obedience!”
This is what faithfulness can accomplish. You have done your part. You have planted the trees. And I tell you, we will water them and nurture them with unrelenting faith, knowing that your vision is pure, and the cause of our School is righteous.
Thank you all for your faithfulness, and together, let us anticipate a glorious harvest! Amen!