Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew urged believers to visit the churches of Constantinople and to go on pilgrimages there. He added that those monuments are empty without them and therefore the smell of incense, some flowers, and phrases, such as “Happy Easter” and “May their memory be everlasting”, would revive those places.
He celebrated the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning at Xenophontos Monastery of Mount Athos on the 200th anniversary of its construction.
In his speech, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew highlighted that “Hypocrisy is the modern pharisaism, which is still the biggest threat to the theory and practice of Christianity in our Church.”
Loukas Xenofontinos, the most well-known hagiographer of Mount Athos, gave the Ecumenical Patriarch an icon of the Saints of Constantinople and of Mount Athos. He said, “Throughout the centuries, history has proven that Constantinople and Mount Athos are unique places. Even though it is something that some people don’t like to hear, Constantinople is a unique city. The same goes for Mount Athos as well.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with Metropolitans Theodoritos of Laodicea, Amphilochios of Adrianople, who accompanied them during his trip, Pavlos of Drama, Makarios of Sidirokastro, as well as the heads of Mount Athos, Alexios, of Vatopedi, Ephraim, of Iviron Monastery, Nathaniel, of Hilandar Monastery, Gabriel, of Simonopetra Monastery, Eliseus, of Dionysiou Monastery, Petros, and of Stavronikita Monastery, Tychon.
