Funeral Eulogy for Officer John Bartholomew
Delivered by Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago
Saint Andrew Greek Orthodox Church, Chicago
May 2026

Reverend clergy, Mayor Johnson, Superintendent Snelling, distinguished elected officials and civic leaders, first responders, members of the Chicago Police Department and the broader law enforcement community, honored guests, and most especially the beloved Bartholomew family:

Brothers and sisters in the Risen Lord,
Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!

For forty days after Pascha, Orthodox Christians greet one another with words of victory and hope: “Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!” We proclaim this not as a custom or mere religious slogan, but because the Resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything—even the way we stand before death itself.

Today, however, these words are not easy to proclaim. And still, there are no words perhaps more necessary for wounded and grieving hearts to hear. For it is precisely in moments of grief and sorrow that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ ceases to be a distant religious idea and becomes the very hope by which we endure the suffering of this life.