On Friday morning, March 21, 2025, as per longstanding tradition, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided over the Service of the Third Stasis of the Salutations to the Theotokos at the Holy Spring (Agiasma) of Panagia of Blachernae in Constantinople.
The homily was delivered by Bishop Barnabas.
Among those in attendance were Metropolitan Athenagoras of Kydonia, Metropolitan Panteleimon of Maroneia and Komotini, Archimandrite Georgios Christodoulou (Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus), Archimandrite Bartholomew (Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Esphigmenou) with fellow monks from Mount Athos, Ambassador Konstantinos Koutras (Consul General of Greece), Mr. Roman Nedilskyi (Consul General of Ukraine), clergy, and a multitude of faithful from the City and abroad, including students from schools in Greece accompanied by their teachers.
In his address, the Ecumenical Patriarch expressed his joy for once again chanting the Akathist Hymn together with the faithful in the very place where it was first sung. He reflected on the grandeur of the original Byzantine church complex and the current, much smaller church, built in the 19th century through the efforts and donations of the furriers’ guild of the City.
“Even though the Byzantine glory has passed, today’s Holy Church imposes itself through the sweetness of its humility—so fitting for the honor of our Lady Theotokos, whose humility the Lord regarded and made her His Mother in the flesh,” he noted. “Although a small space, it is mystically radiant and beautiful, perhaps the most appropriate place to praise the ‘beauty of her virginity’ and the ‘radiance of her purity.'”
The Patriarch emphasized the trials of the shrine over the years, including fires, as reflections of the sorrow and pain experienced by the Theotokos as she followed her only-begotten Son to the Passion and Crucifixion. “From this suffering, however, flowed the saving waters of the Resurrection for all mankind,” he continued. “Likewise, this holy spring remains inexhaustible, offering its coolness to every pilgrim who cries from the depths of their soul ‘Rejoice’ to the ‘unceasing spring of living water,’ the Lady of us all, Mary.”
He warmly welcomed Metropolitan Panteleimon of Maroneia and Komotini and the group of pilgrims accompanying him, the Abbot of Esphigmenou Monastery, and all the faithful who came to pray to the Theotokos.
“It deeply moves us to see this holy space filled with devout people, especially young people who show care and love for the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its sacred presence in this land. We invite you to return again and again, to draw living water from the endless fountains of the Great Church, to become participants in the mystery of the Phanar and partakers in the sanctity of Blachernae,” said the Patriarch.
He called on the faithful to unite their prayers with those of their ancestors, “those who glimpsed the transcendence of Romiosyni (Greekness), fragrant and crowned,” quoting the poet Evangelos of Perga.
Concluding his message, Patriarch Bartholomew invoked “the rich grace and immeasurable mercy of the pre-eternal Word of God, incarnate from her,” through the intercessions of the “Queen of Hymns,” the warm Protectress of the City, the Theotokos of Blachernae.
Finally, the Ecumenical Patriarch expressed his appreciation to Bishop Adrianos of Halicarnassus, overseer of the Phanar-Golden Horn region, and to Mr. Nikolaos Kalamaris, President of the Parish Council, and his collaborators for their devoted ministry. Both had earlier welcomed the Patriarch with words of heartfelt respect and devotion.
Photos: Nikos Papachristou
