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A Patriarchal Divine Liturgy was held on Sunday, November 10, 2019 at the Holy Metropolitan Cathedral to the holy archangels Saints Michael and Gabriel of Brussels, officiated by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with concelebrants the Metropolitans Athenagoras of Belgium and Exarch of the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Alexander of Mantineia and Kynouria, Joseph of Proikonissos, Damaskinos of Kydonia and Apokoronos, Maximos of Switcherland, Athanasios of Achaia, and Archbishop Job of Telmessos, as well as the Bishops Dositheus of the Patriarchate of Georgia, Eumenios of Lefki, Markos of the Patriarchate of Romania and Porphyrios of Neapolis of the Church of Cyprus.
In the midst of political, diplomatic and military authorities from Greece and Belgium, the Ecumenical Patriarch proclaimed the Divine Speech, referring to the great event of the golden jubilee of the Metropolis of Belgium, the life and activity of the local Church, both in the past and the present, holding out hope for the future.
The Ecumenical Patriarch then referred to the evangelical passage of the day, that of the good Samaritan, and ended his speech with exhortation and advice to Father Filadelfos Kafalis, archdeacon of the Holy Metropolis of Belgium, who was ordained a presbyter.
The Ecumenical Patriarch characteristically stated that the way we view human beings and the purpose of their lives also determines the way we treat them.
“In the Church and as a Church we are not a sum of individuals, but a society of persons, participants of common freedom. The very life of the Church of Christ is freedom, it is the victory over the powers and authorities of this world, over the state of death. The Church is the assurance and the certainty that evil does not have the last say in history. ”
Source: Metropolis of Belgium
