The Archbishop's mihi (greeting) follows in Māori and English below:

Ka tanuku! Ka tanuku!

Ka tanuku koa te tihi o te Maunga Tapu,

Ka hora te tihi tapu ki te whenua ki raro rā,

ki te pae o Tai-mihi-tāngata, 

ki te Moananui a Kiwa. 

E pari ra te tai ki te wahapū, ki tua;

ki tawhiti nui, ki te ara i takahia ai e te tini me te mano!

E rere rā kai taku manu tātāriki ki te tāpuhipuhi o te taumata okiokinga o te hunga tapu; ki reira titiro whakararo mai ki te iwi whakapono e mau nei i te parekawakawa o te aituā.

He tangi apakura mōu, e te Ātipīhopa e Fereimi, tō tātou hepara kua riro atu nei ki tua te arai, ki te moengaroa.

Whakauru atu ki te Kāhui Wairua e te Ātipīhopa, e te Pononga Pai. Noho mai rā i runga i te rangimārie. 

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Grief can leave our most high and sacred mountain shaken, even if only for the moment; its peak may shed delicate pieces of itself, and crumble to the land below in deep sorrow, even to the sea;

Even to the very tides that first welcomed us, to the very edges of this great ocean that first united our people. 

The gentle waves of our sadness reach across the sea to distant harbours and far away shores, across the sacred trail of the innumerable who preceded us. 

May your spirit now take flight, oh beloved one, to the gathering place of the Saints; from there may your gaze return to us, the congregation of faith, gathered now in deep mourning. 

Our hearts echo softly with the ancient laments of our people, sung for you Archbishop Fereimi; our shepherd who has departed from us, gone beyond the veil, taken to the place of eternal rest. 

Take your place among the Saints, our beloved Archbishop Fereimi, oh good and faithful servant. May you rest there in everlasting peace. 

Archbishop Don Tamihere

Archbishop Philip Richardson