The youth of the Greek Orthodox Parish of Saint Anthony in Prospect, Adelaide, found a particularly original way for the faithful to stay connected with their Greek Orthodox faith for the Easter period until the coronavirus pandemic is over.
The #SaintYourselfaSeat initiative gives every believer, wherever they are, the opportunity to donate a small amount of money in order to order the holy icon of their patron saint. The holy icon will be placed in the stalls of the church, thus representing the faithful and their family for as long as possible their physical presence is not possible.
#SaintYourselfaSeat was created and implemented a few days after Archbishop Makarios of Australia had officially announced to close all Greek Orthodox churches in order to curb the coronavirus spread and since then, within a week, the youth committee officials have already received more than 500 requests from believers around the world who wish to fill the church with their patron saints’ icons.
“We work all day long and our goal is to have our church filled with icons by Easter, as it seems we will not be able to celebrate together all these holy days,” said Nikolaos Demourtzidis, who served as president of the youth committee of Saint Anthony’s Parish for seven consecutive years.
The owner’s name is engraved on the back of each icon accompanied by a personal message of his/her choice.
The goal of the young creators is to decorate the Church of Saint Anthony with holy icons until the nightmare of the coronavirus outbreak is over, when each icon will be handed over to each owner.
Source: neoskosmos