On Saturday, October 17, 2015, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon; Archpriest Eric G. Tosi, OCA Secretary; and Subdeacon Roman Ostash represented the Orthodox Church in America at the Order of Saint Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s annual banquet at the New York Hilton Hotel. In addition to His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and Archdiocesan Hierarchs, others in attendance included His Eminence, Metropolitan Anthony and His Grace, Bishop Daniel of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and His Grace, Bishop John of Naro-Fominsk, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA.
During the banquet, the 2015 Athenagoras Human Rights Award was presented to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, US Vice President. In 2011, he was the first sitting US Vice President to visit His All-Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Phanar, visiting a second time in November 2014. “We are honored to bestow the Athenagoras Human Rights award on this exemplary leader, whose love of freedom and human rights has borne such a witness for the Mother Church and the rights of all oppressed people,” said Anthony Limberakis, Archon National Commander.
The Athenagoras Human Rights Award is named in honor of the His All-Holiness, the late Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, the 268th Ecumenical Patriarch, whose lengthy tenure began in 1948 and concluded with his repose in 1972. From 1930 until his election to the Ecumenical Throne, he served as Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America.
The Award is presented each year to an individual or organization whose life and mission reflect the noble principles of human rights and religious freedom. Past Award recipients include US Presidents George Bush and Jimmy Carter, Mother Teresa, Elie Wiesel, Archbishop Desmound Tutu, the former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev and Admiral James Stavridis.
