On Wednesday, December 31, 2025, New Year’s Eve, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided at Great Vespers, together with the Metropolitans: Emmanuel of Chalcedon, Apostolos of Derkoi, Dimitrios of the Princes’ Islands, Meliton of Philadelphia, Eirinaios of Myriophyton and Peristasis, Chrysostomos of Myra, Theoleptos of Ikonion, Stephanos of Kallipolis and Madytos, Athenagoras of Kydonies, Job of Pisidia, Maximos of Selyvria, Andreas of Saranta Ekklisies, Ioakeim of Bursa, Theodoros of Seleukeia, and Grigorios of Ankyra.
In attendance, praying alongside, were the Bishops: Adrianos of Halicarnassus, Kassianos of Arabissos, Veniamin of Tralleis, and Paisios of Xanthoupolis; Consul Athanasia Iliaki, representing the Consul General of Greece in Constantinople; Archons of the Holy Great Church of Christ; and a great multitude of the faithful.
After Vespers, the Ecumenical Patriarch received, one after another in the Patriarchal Office, the New Year’s greetings of the hierarchs, as well as of the members of the Patriarchal Court, clergy and laity alike, and of the remaining staff of the Patriarchate.
At the festive meal at the Patriarchal table, attended by the hierarchs of the Throne, the gold coin in the Vasilopita (Saint Basil’s New Year’s cake) was found in the portion of the Holy Great Church of Christ.
Thereafter, in the Hall of the Throne, the Ecumenical Patriarch blessed the traditional Vasilopita and distributed it to all the clergy and faithful present from Constantinople and from abroad.
In his brief address, the Ecumenical Patriarch prayed that God would grant, in the new year 2026, peace to all regions of the world afflicted by wars and conflicts, making particular mention of Ukraine, the Middle East, and Sudan.
He also prayed for the steadfastness of God’s holy Churches, for the unity and prosperity of the Romioi (Rum Orthodox) Community of Constantinople, and for the reopening of the Holy Theological School of Halki. He underscored the right of the faithful of the diaspora, and above all of the Mother Church, to have its own theological school, like all other Churches, and to educate its future clergy and cadres for the Sacred Center and for all the provinces of the Throne throughout the world.
“It is a great injustice for the First-Throned Church of Constantinople to be deprived of this self-evident right. We therefore hope that in the new year what we hope for and await will also come to pass, and indeed concurrently with the completion of the renovation works which, for the past two years, have been continuing on the Hill of Hope through the great donation and generous expenditure of the Archon and Great Benefactor Athanasios Martinos,” the Ecumenical Patriarch said, among other remarks.
As part of the festive celebration, pupils of the Patriarchal Great School of the Nation (Megali tou Genous Scholi) chanted the New Year’s carols, continuing a beautiful tradition of the Greek Orthodox community.
Photo: Nikos Papachristou
