“The word expressing our truth is ‘keep’. Because God has ordained us to preserve here, in thw City of Constantine, the place and the way of life of the Greek Nation. We continue to keep open the temples of Romiosyne, our chapels, our monasteries and our schools, to take care of the tombs of our ancestors. We continue because we belong to the Polis. Here is our future, in the place where the past unfolded and the present unfolds. We continue, not only because we want to but also because it is our duty”.
The above saying was Bartholomew’s sermon, following the Divine Service held on Sunday, June 9, at St. George Church of Makrohori, on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Metropolitan Church of Derkoi.
Furthermore, Ecumenical Patriarch stressed that the course of the Church was never “idyllic”: “The Church of Christ faced heresies through its synodic operation and the theology of the Church Fathers”.
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Bartholomew also appealed to the present pilgrim, as well as all the faithful members of Mother Church, to visit the spiritual center of Greek nation, and to be sanctified by the Agiasmos of the City, the source of our values, traditions, and orthodox way of life.
“Come to the City of the Cities, the eternal spiritual center of our Nation. Here, in Eastern Thrace, Asia Minor and Pontus, there is the seal of the Orthodox way of life. Teach your children that here they are not foreigners and ordinary visitors”, stressed Patriarch Bartholomew.
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The Ecumenical Patriarch congratulated Metropolitan Elder Apostolos of Derkoi for the work of the new Metropolitan Church, and for the general renovation in Churches and institutions of his ecclesiastical province.
His Holiness also congratulated the new Archbishop of America, Elpidophoros, who was born in Makrohori, Constantinople in 1967, wishing him to continue his fruitful progress in the New World as well.
Previously, in his speech, Metropolitan Apostolos of Derkoi emphasized, inter alia, his creative collaboration with the members of the Taxation Committee of the Municipality of Makrohori, under the chairmanship of Nicolaos Athanasiadis, for the well-being and prosperity of Omogenia.