My beloved friends and fellow Orthodox:

Thirteen years have passed since by the Grace of God and the blessings of His All Holiness our Ecumenical Patriarch and the Holy Synod of Constantinople, I was enthroned as the first canonical Hierarch for the then newly established Holy Metropolis of Mexico.

I arrived in the region and was enthroned in January of 1997 not knowing what to expect.  I assumed a newly established Metropolis with no foundation, no financial income and with only four clergymen, with parishes in Panama, Mexico, and Venezuela, and a mission ministry in Haiti.