(transcribed from a recording) Your Eminence Archbishop Demetrius, Your Eminences, Your Graces, Reverend Fathers, Faculty, Staff,

Students, Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you. And thank you Christopher for that introduction. I would just like to point out that the graduation ceremony at Oxford is performed entirely in Latin. I must confess to you that I really do not understand much Latin at all, so it is a joy today to feel that I have a pretty good grasp of what is going on. So for those who have difficulty understanding the Greek here, I would have to say: count your blessings! I am truly grateful and honoured to be standing here today. I have been given so many opportunities and learned so much over the last three years and my life and my whole familys life has been blessed by being here. As I was listening to the valedictorians speeches last year, I was reflecting on our honouring of academic achievement. Our schools purpose is not only to nurture academic achievement but to do this in the greater context of nurturing a life of faith. In Paradise there are two trees, the tree of knowledge and the tree of life. Because we want knowledge, we are easily tempted to eat of the tree of knowledge at the wrong time or in the wrong way, and that way comes death. The tree of life, on the other hand, is also the tree of wisdom and it is only in that context that knowledge is useful. The tree of life is also the cross of our salvation, the sign of Gods love for us. Knowledge in itself is neutral it can be used for good or for evil. The tree of knowledge becomes dangerous if we eat of its fruit apart from the tree of life, if we try to know in a way abstracted from love, abstracted from relationships, abstracted from persons. Rather we must live in the tree of life. So the greater honour for me comes from living in this community, sharing day by day in the life of prayer, and having the opportunity to learn so much more than can be enumerated in grades. If we could select the valedictorian on the basis of spiritual life, faith or love, I have people in mind here I could nominate to stand in my place, and I thank them for all I have been able to learn from them of living a life in communion with God and one another. These are the people at this school among students, faculty and staff and their families who partake of the tree of life and have life to share. So let us not be blinded by academic success; if we want to know anything that is worth knowing, let us rather run to those who exhibit in their lives the fruit of faith, love and wisdom. St Nikolai Velimirovic said, "Head for the Tree of Life and you will know more than you could possibly wish to know. This community aims to be a tent pitched in the shade of the tree of life, and, despite our ups and downs, this fact is enough to keep us together. We share in each others joys and sorrows feasts and fasts, birthdays and trips to the ER and we form friendships that will last. None of us can make our way through our years in the school without the help of others, and so I would like to conclude by saying thank you on behalf of the graduating class to Archbishop Demetrios and trustees, Fr Nick, the faculty, staff and all the students of the school. On behalf of the married members of our graduating class I would like to thank our spouses for all their sacrifices over the last few years, and our children. On a

personal note, Id like particularly to thank my wife Georgia, and to say Happy Birthday to my daughter Elizabeth who is five today. Although this speech is a valediction (and George already referred to this), once a member of this community, always a member of this community (isnt that right, Fr Nick), so I wont say goodbye, rather I simply pray that we all continue to grow in the faith and love of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.