LAST UPDATE: 19:29
The Feast of Theophany was celebrated solemnly at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, today, Thursday, January 6, 2022.
The Ecumenical Patriarch presided over the Orthros and performed the Great Blessing of the Waters. Then, he officiated the Divine Liturgy, with the participation of Metropolitan Meliton of Philadelphia, Archbishop Nektarios of Anthedon, who is the Vicar of the Holy Sepulcher in Constantinople, Metropolitans Eirinaios of Myriophyton and Peristasis, Chrysostomos of Myra, Chrysostomos of Cerynia (Church of Cyprus), and Iokeim of Bursa.
Bishop Adrianos of Halicarnassus, clergymen, the Abbess of the Holy Hermitage of the Holy Forerunner in Akritochori, Iakovi, along with nuns of the hermitage, Greek MP Ioannis Bournous, Consul General of Greece to Constantinople, Georgia Soultanopoulou, along with her spouse Ioannis Raptakis, who is the Ambassador of Greece to the UK, Consul General of Ukraine in Constantinople Roman Nedilskyi, along with his spouse and officials of the Consulate, Archons of the Great Church of Christ, and a large number of believers from Constantinople and abroad.
After the end of the Divine Liturgy, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Hierarchs, the officials and the faithful headed in procession to the waterfront of the Phanar, where the Ecumenical Patriarch presided over the celebration of the Great Blessing of the Waters and he cast a cross into the water.
In the cold waters of Keration, more than 10 young people from Constantinople and abroad dived, and the Holy Cross was caught by Victor Galip Yavuz, to whom the Ecumenical Patriarch offered a golden cross as a blessing, while blessing and congratulating all the swimmers for keeping the traditions alive.