On Thomas Sunday (also known as Antipascha), 19 April 2026, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew was present in prayer at the venerable Patriarchal Church during the Divine Liturgy presided over by Metropolitan Joseph of Proikonnesos.
The evening before, the Patriarch presided over the Great Vespers. At the end of the service, he welcomed pilgrims from Greece, including a group of over 100 Christian Student Action members from Thessaloniki and Patras. Marios Domouchtzis, who was representing the group, addressed the Patriarch.
“I welcome you into the ever-open embrace of the Great Church of Christ,” the Patriarch told the young people and all the pilgrims. “The affection of this Church, both leading and suffering, extends throughout the whole world, to every corner of the earth, not because its jurisdiction is so vast and universal, but because its love is great and encompasses all: Greeks, Flemings, Carpatho-Russians, Ukrainians, French, Koreans, and anyone else you can imagine.”
He then thanked Marios Domouchtzis and the young people for their pilgrimage and for supporting the pastoral work of the Metropolises of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey and elsewhere.
“The policy of our Ecumenical Patriarchate is not to coerce or pressure anyone. However, we cannot turn away anyone who comes of their own free will, voluntarily, and willingly. Thank God, we have recently seen many young and educated people coming forward who feel an inner void and find fulfilment in the Christian faith, particularly in Orthodoxy. It is true that the Catholics here in Constantinople also convert and baptise many non-Christians, but we Orthodox do the same, albeit without making a numerical comparison. We pray that the Kingdom of God, which is within us, may continually expand throughout the inhabited world. We pray that God may fill all of us with a ‘right spirit’, as we heard the choirs chant a little while ago.”
Photos: Ecumenical Patriarchate
Translated by Ioanna Georgakopoulou
