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NEW YORK — His Eminence Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop emeritus of New York, received the 2026 Athenagoras Human Rights Award from the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on Saturday, Oct. 17, at the organization’s annual banquet at the New York Hilton Midtown. The evening opened with a prayer for the recovery of Pope Leo XIV by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America.
The black-tie dinner closed the annual Archon Weekend. It brought together Greek Orthodox hierarchs, Archons of the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle and leaders from government, the judiciary and the Catholic Church to honor a man Orthodox leaders have long called a friend.
Archbishop Elpidophoros entered the ballroom in procession with Cardinal Dolan. Archon National Commander Dr. Anthony J. Limberakis escorted them. After the U.S. and Greek national anthems, Archbishop Elpidophoros led the invocation.
He began by asking the guests to remember the pope “with special and heartfelt petitions.” He prayed that Pope Leo, “whose goodness and piety is manifest to all the world,” would “enjoy his speedy recovery, good health and length of days.”
He asked God to bestow “full healing and vigorous health” upon the pope, “that he may continue his worldwide ministry to the people of God.” He also prayed that all those gathered “may always serve the Great Church of Christ of Constantinople with pride and purpose.”
The prayer came four days after Pope Leo had surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital to remove a cancerous tumor from his right lung. The Vatican said the cancer was detected early and was localized, and canceled papal audiences through Oct. 20 while the pope recovers.
The prayer reinforced the relationship and ongoing dialogue between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Rome, and between Archbishop Elpidophoros and the Catholic Church in New York.
“A good friend and an ecumenical partner”
Limberakis welcomed guests on behalf of the Archons. “It’s a great joy to be all together once again,” he said. He called Cardinal Dolan “the face of the Catholic Church in New York City for many years, and a good friend and an ecumenical partner to our beloved Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and Ecumenical Patriarchate.” He also cited the cardinal’s “exemplary dedication to the Catholic Church and the causes of human rights and religious freedom.”
The master of ceremonies was Archon Mike Emanuel, chief Washington correspondent for Fox News and anchor of “Fox News Live.” He recently marked 30 years with the network.
“It is a blessing and honor to be with all of you tonight as we honor a distinguished clergyman,” Emanuel said.
He recalled watching Cardinal Dolan speak on television on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks this year. “I felt like you were speaking to me and comforting all of us,” he told the cardinal.
Emanuel also gave the honoree a word of advice. “When you’re with the Greeks, Cardinal, you’re going to hear the word ‘axios’ a lot,” he said. “You are most worthy for this tonight.”
Considering “the world we live in today,” Emanuel said, it was fitting for Orthodox and Roman Catholic believers to come together.
The Apostolic Brotherhood of Saints Peter and Andrew
In presenting the award, Limberakis traced the meetings between popes and ecumenical patriarchs. They began with Athenagoras’s meeting with Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem in 1964, “the first meeting of a pope and an ecumenical patriarch in more than five centuries.” Most recently, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew met Pope Leo in Nicaea last November to mark the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council. Limberakis said he had witnessed three such moments in person.
“When a prince of the Church of Rome, a cardinal, stands beside the Church of Constantinople, the world sees the brotherly witness of Peter and Andrew alive in our troubled world,” Limberakis told Cardinal Dolan.
He praised Cardinal Dolan’s work as chairman of the U.S. bishops’ committee on religious liberty and as a member of the White House Religious Liberty Commission. “Religious freedom is not a privilege granted by governments,” Limberakis said. “It is a gift of God.”
He said the Archons have stood with the Ecumenical Patriarchate for 60 years. In Turkey, he said, the patriarchate has been denied legal personality and has had its properties confiscated. It has also endured government interference in the election of the patriarch.
He gave thanks for “the long-awaited progress toward the reopening” of the Theological School of Halki, which the Turkish state closed 55 years ago. “We will not rest until its classrooms are once again filled,” he said.
As Cardinal Dolan received the award, the guests answered with the word Emanuel had promised: “Axios!”
A Sacred Trifecta: Jerusalem, Athens and Rome
“More than any award in itself, what means a lot to me is from whom it comes,” Cardinal Dolan said. He thanked Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, “whose gracious words touch my heart this evening,” as well as Archbishop Elpidophoros and the Archons.
The cardinal spoke of his fondness for His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, who led the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America when Cardinal Dolan arrived in New York 17 years ago.
“The joy and the honor of this evening is enhanced with the company of another man whose friendship I cherish, my beloved Archbishop Demetrios,” Cardinal Dolan said.
Cardinal Dolan reminded the audience that New Yorkers live in “a city of bridges and tunnels.” He said the bridge between the city’s Catholics and Greek Orthodox “would be one of the greatest bridges that we have around.” He noted that the pope’s Latin title, pontifex, means bridge-builder. “You all have been bridge-builders,” he told the audience.
Cardinal Dolan cited Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s “masterful address in Athens last week,” and read from it: “Here in Athens, we found the first civilization that would come to define the West.” If he had done anything to deserve the award, Cardinal Dolan said, “it’s only because I was formed by that sacred trifecta: Jerusalem, Athens and Rome.”
“Your friendship and solidarity mean the world to me,” he said.
“A bridge between the new world and the old world”
Archbishop Elpidophoros spoke after the Cardinal. He called Cardinal Dolan “a giant of the contemporary Roman Catholic Church, not only in the physical sense but also in the spiritual sense,” and “a veritable spiritual figure of New York City.”
Cardinal Dolan’s reputation had reached him at the Phanar, the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s seat in Constantinople, long before the two men met, Archbishop Elpidophoros said. “In selecting Cardinal Dolan for the Athenagoras Human Rights Award, which honors an ecumenical hero, the Archons have sent a signal about the future of Christianity in our contemporary world,” he said. Cardinal Dolan, he added, “represents the kind of bridge-builder, as he described, that is so necessary in our world today.”
Archbishop Elpidophoros praised Cardinal Dolan’s “plain-speaking manner” in communicating the Gospel. “He is as comfortable on national television as he is speaking informally with a few police or firemen,” he said. He noted that Cardinal Dolan had twice voted in a conclave to elect a pope. “In short, Cardinal Dolan is a model hierarch for anyone to behold.”
He also pointed to Cardinal Dolan’s titular church in Rome, Nostra Signora di Guadalupe a Monte Mario, which is dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. The assignment, he said, shows that Cardinal Dolan is “a bridge between the new world and the old world, manifesting the universal love for the Virgin Mother of God that we Orthodox share with our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters.”
“I have been privileged to know you and to walk beside you,” Archbishop Elpidophoros told him. “You are indeed most worthy of this prize. Axios!”
A record of advocacy
The Archons cited Cardinal Dolan’s record of advocacy for human dignity during his 16 years as archbishop of New York. They pointed in particular to his concern for Christians and members of other faiths who face persecution for practicing their religion.
Religious freedom is the Archons’ founding cause. The order advocates for the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, which has faced decades of restrictions under the Turkish government. These include the closure of the Theological School of Halki in 1971.
Cardinal Dolan led the Archdiocese of New York from 2009 until Pope Leo accepted his resignation in December 2025. Bishop Ronald Hicks of Joliet, Illinois, was named his successor. Pope Benedict XVI elevated Cardinal Dolan to the College of Cardinals in 2012. He served as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2010 to 2013.
His friendship with Archbishop Elpidophoros dates to Archbishop Elpidophoros’s arrival in New York. On Sept. 4, 2019, Cardinal Dolan hosted a lunch to welcome him shortly after his enthronement. Cardinal Dolan said he hoped each would attend the other’s major events and feasts. He then brought Archbishop Elpidophoros into St. Patrick’s Cathedral for prayer.
When Cardinal Dolan’s retirement was announced, Archbishop Elpidophoros called him a “steadfast friend of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and a true ecumenical partner.” In January, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Cardinal Dolan preached at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. Archbishop Elpidophoros presented him with a silver pectoral cross.
Hierarchs and dignitaries
His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, the former Archbishop of America, attended, along with Metropolitans Savas of Pittsburgh, Apostolos of New Jersey and Gerasimos of San Francisco. Several public officials were also there: Michael J. Rigas, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources; Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Aglaia Balta, Greece’s ambassador to the United Nations; Judge Madeline Singas of the New York Court of Appeals; Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, a senior federal judge for the Eastern District of New York; and the consul general of Cyprus in New York. Among the other guests was John Catsimatidis, a businessman and Archon.
About the award
The Archons established the Athenagoras Human Rights Award in 1986. It honors Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, who served as archbishop of the Americas for 18 years before his election as ecumenical patriarch in 1948. As patriarch, he met Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem in 1964. In 1965 the two lifted the mutual excommunications of 1054.
The award recognizes a person or organization with a consistent record of concern for human rights and religious freedom. Recent recipients include former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (2025), Yulia Navalnaya (2024), the Prince’s Trust (2023) and Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria (2022). Earlier honorees include Presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev, Elie Wiesel and Mother Teresa.
The post ‘You all have been bridge-builders’: Cardinal Dolan accepts Athenagoras award as Archons pray for Pope Leo appeared first on Orthodox Observer.
