LAST UPDATE 14:27
By Emilios Polygenis
In the presence of many people, today, Tuesday, June 11, the memory of Saint Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas was celebrated in the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a day that the name of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is also honoured.
A festal Divine Liturgy was held in the Patriarchal Church of St. George, by the Great Protosyncellus of the Patriarchate, Andreas.
The Ecumenical Patriarch officiated at the Liturgy, while Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kiev of the Autocephalous Church of Ukraine, also attended.
The Patriarchal Church was filled with hierarchs, clergy and a multitude of believers who rushed to honour the Ecumenical Patriarch.
The speech of the day was given by Metropolitan Elder Constantine of Nicea, who inter alia stressed that “the celebration of the Ecumenical Patriarch ceases to be just a feast, because it is connected not only with history but also with all the achievements that constitute Orthodoxy.”
Yesterday, moreover, the great Vespers of the Holy Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas was celebrated at the monastery of the Life-Giving Font of the Theotokos in Balikli.
Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece and Metropolitan Epiphanius of the Autocephalous Church of Ukraine attended the Vespers.
In his address, the Patriarch expressed his joy of the presence of Archbishop Ieronymos at the Vespers of his name day, and he thanked him personally, as well as his escort.
The Primate of Orthodoxy thanked Metropolitan Epiphanius too for his presence, stressing that “we are at the centre of work, decisions, changes, a new structure of Orthodox things, but also of disputes, attacks, slanders, great distortion of truth and reality.
We answer: Know the truth and the truth will free us.”
“Saint of Kiev and all Ukraine, Epiphanius, you were granted Autocephaly from the Mother Church, the Ecumenical Patriarchate; it was your right to request it and our exclusive right to grant it to you,” added the Ecumenical Patriarch.
In closing, Patriarch Bartholomew, clearly excited, pointed out: “Although the winds from East and West blew to put out, to wipe out a Beacon (the Phanar), the Phanar shone along with hope.
The Phanar is always a source of light and hope, and it cannot be extinguished by the winds blowing from East and West, nor by the winds blowing today from the steppes of the North.
Instead, it remains bright and immovable, and withstands…”
After the completion of the Vespers, Metropolitan Epiphanius offered Archbishop Ieronymos a commemorative engolpion from his enthronement.
The Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine, taking the floor to wish to the Ecumenical Patriarch, pointed out that he wants to express once again “the gratitude of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and personally of myself for all the beneficial actions of your All Holiness for the pious Ukrainian people. Without your actions and your great love, we would still live divided,” he noted.
And the Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine continued:
“I came with my associates in Constantinople in order to be rebaptized in common prayer with the First of Orthodoxy, the benefactor of the Ukrainian people, the Ecumenical Patriarch, who celebrates tonight the memory of his patron saint, St. Bartholomew. You have true grit, you are struggling for the righteousness of the Great Church of Christ. And this zeal is a model and a shinny example for all of us newer in the Church.”
Then, addressing to the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, the Metropolitan of Kiev said in Greek:
“Your Beatitude, I was delighted to know that you would be here tonight, and I expected to come to Constantinople tonight to meet your venerable person. The Shepherd of Athens, the Hierarch who loves and respects the institution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and who is the pillar of its righteousness. In your face I welcome all the Hierarchy of the Orthodox Church of Greece and I look forward to the honour and joy of us concelebrating in the future.”
Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and all of Greece left for Athens, right after the Vespers.
(photo credit Nikolaos Magginas)