By Romfea.news
Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria and All Africa was invited by Metropolitan Ignatios to Volos to preside over the Great Divine Liturgy on the Feast of Ascension, and to open the 2019 Maritime Week, which is dedicated to Alexandria.
The primate of the Church of Alexandria officiated at the Vespers service in the Church of the Ascension in Volos, concelebrated by Metropolitan Theophylaktos of Tripoli and Metropolitan George of Guinea from the Patriarchate of Alexandria, Metropolitan Ioakim of Helenopolis, and Metropolitan Ignatios of Demetrias.
Metropolitan Ignatios of Demetrias expressed the joy and love of the local Church, in the presence of the second highest primate of the Orthodox Church.
Metropolitan Ignatios referred to his personal ties with Patriarch Theodore while he highlighted the close links between Magnesia and the Church of Alexandria.
He also spoke of the hopeful future of Orthodoxy in the Dark Continent: “In Africa, as in Asia, lies the future of Christianity and Orthodoxy. We know that you devote all your energies and charisma to respond to this historic duty of evangelizing our African siblings.”
Subsequently, Patriarch Theodore received the highest honorary award of the Metropolis of Demetrias, as a recognition of the great services offered to the Orthodox Church as a whole.
In his address, Patriarch Theodore, referring to the Great Feast of the Ascension, pointed out that “Ascension is not an act of separation but a promise that Jesus is with us. If Jesus is in heaven, if we believe Him, if we hope in Him, and if we love Him, then we are also with Him. Despite the persecutions, the suffering, and the temptations, the good news of the Gospel were spread and transformed the Mediterranean into an Apostolic Sea while Alexandria, the flagship of the Horn of Africa, became the great city of the Divine Word of God.”
Patriarch Theodore thanked Metropolitan Ignatios for this award.
