On Sunday, September 18, 2016, Archon Michael Psaros addressed the congregation of the Greek Orthodox Church of Our Saviour in Rye, New York on the subject of today’s plight and persecutions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate by the Turkish Government. The subject coincided with a memorial service that was held that morning for the victims of the Greek genocide of Anatolia and Asia Minor who suffered similar persecutions by the Ottoman Empire, including the destruction of Orthodox Christian cultural, historical, and religious monuments.