On Saturday, February 26, 2022, the historic church of St. Andrew the Apostle was inaugurated in Ghent, now dedicated to St. Sophrony the Athonite. Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium presided over the inauguration along with Metropolitan Iosif of Buenos Aires and Exarch of South America, and with the participation of the Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Archbishop Dominique Verbeke, the Hieromonk Bartholomew of the Patriarchal Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, the Protopresbyters Bernard Peckstadt and Paolo Perletti, of the Archdeacon Emilianos Hadjivassilios and of the Deacon Barnabas Genbrugge.
On December 2, 1979, the church was inaugurated by the blessed Bishop of Evdokia, George, then Assistant Bishop of the Archbishop of Syracuse, George, a day on which Marc Osseel was also ordained a deacon, later Fr. Siluanos. After the thorough renovation, beautification, and hagiography of the temple, the temple was partially reopened. The frescoes, with the technique of fresco, were painted by the hagiographer of Ghent and friend of the parish Joris Van Ael.
The Parish of Ghent was founded fifty years ago by Ignace Peckstadt, in collaboration with Antoine Van Bruaene, and two lawyers in the Court of Ghent, who have been organizing conferences on Orthodoxy in Ghent for a decade. As a result, prominent theologians, monks, priests, and high priests came to Ghent to speak and get to know the newly formed parish. The Metropolitan briefly mentioned important figures of the Orthodox world who passed through the Parish: the Metropolitans Anthony Bloom, Emilianos Timiadis, Antonie Plamadeala, Kallistos Ware; the Archbishops Basil Krivocheine, Alexis van der Mensbrugghe and George Wagner; the priests Pierre Struve, Boris Bobrinskoy, Dimitrios Staniloae; the monks Simeon from the Essex Monastery; the theologians Olivier Clément, Christos Giannaras, Michel Evdokimov, Nikolaos Lossky, and many others.
The most notable visits were those of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (in 1989 as Metropolitan of Philadelphia and in 1994 as Ecumenical Patriarch); of Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov (now Saint Sophrony the Athonite), who presided over the Divine Liturgy on September 14, 1980; of the King of Belgium Baudouin, who on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Kingdom of Belgium, participated in the Vespers and talked with the parishioners.
The Metropolitan expressed his thanks and congratulations to the Hierarchical Head of the Parish, Fr. Dominique, for the beautiful renovation of the church, as well as to all those who participated and supported this project. He also thanked Joris Van Ael, as well as Martine Peckstadt and Christophe Beyer, who spared no time and effort in carrying out this project.
In the end, the Metropolitan of Buenos Aires expressed his joy for the opportunity to be in this parish again and to witness this historic event.
