The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was celebrated in a solemn atmosphere at the Holy Centre of Orthodoxy.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided over the Divine Liturgy celebrated on Wednesday, September 14, 2022, in concelebration with Metropolitan Elder Emmanuel of Chalcedon, Metropolitan Meliton of of Philadelphia, and Metropolitan Andreas of Saranda Ekklisies.
After the rite of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, His All-Holiness, as tradition dictates, distributed flowers and basil to the Archpriests, the clergy of the Patriarchal Court, the Archons Offikialioi who came to worship, and the Consul of Greece, Mr. Stavros Christodoulides.
Clergy, Archons Offikialioi, and a large number of faithful Christians from Constantinople and abroad attended the Divine Liturgy.
In his speech, the Ecumenical Patriarch stressed among other things:
“Constantinople and its First-Throned Church have understood and experienced, and are still experiencing, more than any other city and Church, the meaning and the message of the Cross – to the point that the Holy Great Church of Christ has become known as the ‘crucified Church’, but which goes beyond the Cross and preaches the resurrection!”
Photos: Nikos Papachristou / Ecumenical Patriarchate