The three-day Priests’ Assembly of the Holy Metropolis of Belgium and the Exarchate of the Netherlands and Luxembourg took place from October 30 to November 1 in the Ardennes region.
Shortly before the celebrations for the Golden Jubilee of the Metropolis of Belgium and the visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch, 55 clergymen and Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium assembled in the Ardennes region for the fourth consecutive year.
The main topic of the Assembly was “The Spiritual Paternity of the Priest”. Among the speakers were Metropolitan Stephanos of Tallinn and All Estonia, Archimandrite, Abbot, priest of the Holy Monastery of Saint Theodora in Thessaloniki and Secretary-General for Youth, Varnavas Giagkos, and Protopresbyter, priest of the Holy Metropolis of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki, Dr Dimitrios Bathrelos.
Father Dimitrios Bathrelos was the first to take the floor and spoke of the topic “The priest as confessor and confessant” and of the history of confession. Dimitrios Bathrelos also referred to the history of the holy mystery of confession.
The second speaker was Father Varvavas Giagkos who talked about the topic “Confession of Couples”. Father Varnavas firstly spoke of the holy mystery of marriage, which is the bond of the couple, and the ultimate stage of their relationship, which is to live holiness as married people.
The third speaker, Metropolitan Stephanos of Tallinn, spoke of the topic “Confession of the youth”, and talked about his long experience as the leader of the youth in the Holy Metropolis of France.
