Amid the joy of the Paschal feast, the Community of Chalcedon experienced yet another great joy, as it welcomed Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who attended and prayed at the Poly-Hierarchical Divine Liturgy celebrated on Sunday, 3 May, by the local Hierarch, Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, concelebrating with Metropolitan Apostolos of Miletus and Bishop Kassianos of Aravissos, at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. Also present in prayer were Their Eminences Elder Metropolitan Apostolos of Derkoi, Metropolitan Theoliptos of Iconium, and Archbishop Nektarios of Anthidon.
The church was filled to capacity with faithful, not only from Chalcedon but also from the wider area of Constantinople and from abroad, including a large group of students with their teachers from the 1st General Lyceum of Florina.
At the conclusion, with deep emotion, the three-year memorial service was held for the long-serving Elder Metropolitan of Chalcedon and later Elder Metropolitan of Nicomedia, Metropolitan Joachim of Nicomedia, who, as the Community of Chalcedon notes, “left an indelible mark not only on our Metropolis but also on the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church, and his contribution is invaluable.”
“We will always remember with love and respect the man who laboured greatly for all of us, the man who, through his love, left his seal upon our land. May his memory be eternal,” the Community concludes.
