On Saturday, May 18, during a reception at the Hall of the Throne, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew preached a sermon on the personality and the literature work of the late lamented Metropolitan Evangelos of Perga.
Earlier, in an emotional atmosphere, the annual Memorial Service for the late Hierarch was held at the Patriarchal Church.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew co-prayed from the Altar, along with Archpriests Elder Konstantinos of Nikaia, Elder Apostolos of Derkos (today’s resort villages of Durusu/Terkos), Apostolos of Miletus, Irineos of Myriophyton and Peristasis, Elpidophoros of America, Athenagoras of Kydonies, Maximus of Silibria and Bartholomew of Smyrna.
The late Metropolitan of Perga, as the Ecumenical Patriarch emphasized in his speech, was “a true child of Mother Church, the rights and privileges of which he cherished as the staunchest advocate of all. We are certain that, from the eternal Kindgom of God where he now resides, he can see that we do not submit pathetically to the major ecclesiastic issues of our time, but we are glad to undertake responsibility”.