Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, along with a group of forty pilgrims from America, will be visiting Mount Athos on the occasion of the Feast of the Epiphany.
On January 18, the pilgrimage will begin from the Holy Monastery of Xenophontos, where the Archbishop will attend the vigil and the hierarchical Divine Liturgy of the Epiphany as well as the sanctification of the waters on January 19.
On January 20, the Archbishop with his entourage will visit the Holy Monastery of Philotheos, which is the mother Monastery of the great monasteries, which late Elder Ephraim the Philotheite founded in America.
On Sunday, January 21, the Archbishop will attend the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the Holy Monastery of Philotheos. On the same day, the Archbishop and the pilgrims will visit the Holy Monastery of Pantokrator where they will stay.
On January 22, the pilgrims will return to Thessaloniki, while on January 23, the Archbishop will pay a visit to the new Metropolitan of Thessaloniki, Philotheos, at the headquarters of the Holy Metropolis of Thessaloniki. He will also have meetings with the Deputy Minister of Interior Mr. Stathis Konstantinidis at the Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace, the Regional Governor of Central Macedonia Mr. Apostolos Tzitzikostas at the Region of Central Macedonia, the new Mayor of Thessaloniki Mr. Stelios Angeloudis at the Town Hall, the Consul General of the USA in Thessaloniki Mr. Jerry Ismail at the Consulate of the USA and the Consul General of Turkey in Thessaloniki Mr. Orhan Yalman Okan at the Consulate of Turkey.
Then, the pilgrims will head to the Holy Monastery of St. John the Theologian in Souroti, Thessaloniki, where the gravestone of St. Paisios the New Saint can be found, and to the Holy Monastery of Timios Prodromos in Akritochori, Serres.
On Saturday, January 27, the Archbishop will celebrate the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the Church of St. Konstantinos and Eleni of Ilioupolis, where the ordination of the deacon of the Holy Archdiocese of America, Petros Gomez, as a presbyter will take place.
On the same day, the Archbishop will visit Metropolitan Barnabas of Neapolis and Stavroupolis at the headquarters of the Holy Metropolis of Neapolis and Stavroupolis. He will also pay a visit to the Municipality of Ampelokipi, where a meeting will be held with the Mayor of Ampelokipi, Lazaros Kyrizoglou, and to the “Pharos tou Kosmou” in Dendropotamos.
In the afternoon of the same day, the Archbishop will attend the cutting of the AHEPA University Hospital vasilopita at the Hyatt Hotel.
At the invitation of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, Archbishop Elpidophoros of America will be the keynote speaker at the events for the National Day of Remembrance of the Greek Jewish Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust that will take place in Thessaloniki on Sunday, January 28.
On Sunday morning, the Archbishop will concelebrate the Divine Liturgy with Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki at the Holy Metropolitan Church of St. Gregory Palamas and then he will lay a wreath at the Holocaust Memorial in Eleftheria Square (Liberty Square).
The keynote address at the event of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece will take place in the afternoon of the same day at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
