By Romfea.news
With the blessings of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the establishment and the grand opening dedication ceremony of the St. Bartholomew the Apostle Parish was held in Reykjavik, Iceland, by Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and all Scandinavia, on Sunday, April 7.
The Metropolitan arrived in the capital of Iceland on April 4, accompanied by the Archim. Alexandros Loukatos, and clerics from Greece, Archim. Sophronios Goutzinis, Protosyncellus of the Metropolis of Xanthi and Peritheorio, and Iakovos Vassiliou, former Protosyncellus of the Metropolis of Kassandria and Priest of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel Church in Neos Marmaras, Chalkidiki.
The Metropolitan visited the Reykjavík University and the President of Iceland, Gudni Thorlacius Johannesson.
Also, in the chapel, Reverend Friðrik Friðriksson (FRIĞRIKSKAPELLA), officiated the Divine Liturgy of the Fourth Stanza of the Salutations to Virgin Mary.
Metropolitan Cleopas referred to the ecumenism of the Mother Church of Constantinople and, consequently, its provinces to Europe.
He made particular reference to the first historic visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch to Iceland in 2017, and the visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch to be held to Stockholm at the end of September 2019.
On April 7, 2019, the Matins service and the Archieratic Divine Liturgy was officiated by Metropolitan Cleopas, while the grand opening dedication ceremony of the new parish took place.
*The photographs are a courtesy of the Metropolis of Sweden, f. Alexandros Loukatos, and Michael Bikoulis, Fotini Batsela and Pavlos Vasiliadis.
