GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO ET IN TERRA PAX HOMINIBUS BONAE VOLUNTATIS
Most Reverend Father bishops, Very Reverend Father presbyters, Venerable Father deacons, Laudable monastics, and brothers and sisters of the Universal Church;
God is the Lord and has revealed himself onto us: Blessed is He who comes with the Name of the Lord! (Ps 117:27)
It is pleasing to the Holy Spirit via the courage, determination, and perseverance bestowed to our Archdeacon via his obedience and wholeheartedness in response to God that we find him worthy and mature to progress to the presbyterate.
For many years, this servant of God dwelt in the darkness of pre-conceived ideologies, unsound doctrines and confined religious and cultural surroundings. These abnormalities exercised in various institutions have caused spiritual, psychological and physical damage to many noble young men; weighed heavily upon them - supressing their own growth and capacity to excel in the Lord in rendering service to his Church!
Thus, with the grace of the All Holy Spirit that lives, moves, and breathes in the Ark of Salvation, this Servant of God has anchored onto Christ who is the cornerstone of his Church and edifice of all who wholeheartedly believe; rising up from the dark sea of worldly ignorance into the light of truth and knowledge in Jesus who is the Bishop of his Church!
Furthermore, the servant of God has demonstrated sound faith in word and deed within the tradition of the Fathers of the Church who received wisdom from the Apostles; planting the true faith which we all share via Holy Baptism in professing Holy Orthodoxy as the Ark of Salvation!
Hence, it is my paternal joy as Exarch of these lands and Katholicos of Oceania to decree that the Very Reverend Archdeacon Matthew Gabriel Pulvirenti shall be ordained to the Presbytery of Christ and his Apostles of the Glorious Thursday of Bright Week 2020 Anno Domini.
I entrust this worthy man of God under the protection of our Holy Mother Mariam and our Patriarchs the Holy Apostles of Christ our God! May I ask the whole Church to keep this beloved Archdeacon in your prayers as he advances in his ministry at the Altar of the Lord!
With and in the joy of Christ who is Bishop of his Church, his Holy Apostles and their Venerable Successors,
The Apostolic Authority of the Australian Exarchate
+Raffaele
Archbishop of Melbourne.
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