The Feast of Saint Voukolos, the first Bishop of Smyrna and student of Saint Ioannis the Theologian, was celebrated this year in Smyrna as reported by fanarion.blogpsot.com.
All the services for the annual commemoration of Saint Voukolos were performed in the Church of Saint Fotini, presided over by Metropolitan Bartholomew of Smyrna due to the COVID-19 restrictive measures and the traffic ban on the weekend.
On Friday afternoon, the Great Vespers service was celebrated, with the prayerful participation of Bishop Ambrosios of Evdokias.
In the evening of the same day, a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy was performed to give the faithful the opportunity to participate in the celebration of the feast of the patron saint.
On the feast day, Saturday, February 6, the Divine Liturgy was performed by Metropolitan Bartholomew behind closed doors due to the traffic ban, who also celebrated the Great Vespers of the same day and presided over the Divine Liturgy next day.
During the services, a fragment of the sacred relic of Sain Voukolos was placed for the faithful to venerate, which had been given by the late Metropolitan of Langadas, Liti and Rentina, Ioannis. The Metropolitan offered a Trisagion service for the repose of the soul of the late hierarch.
The Metropolitan of Smyrna, Bartholomew, offered a Trisagion service for the rest of the souls of his predecessors in the Church of Saint Voukolos in Basmane, Smyrna, in the afternoon of Friday, February 5. The Trisagion was offered for Metropolitan Chrysanthos of Smyrna, who established the Church of Saint Voukolos (1866), and Metropolitan Vasileios of Smyrna, who supervised the completion of the church (1887).