LAST UPDATE: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 13:00
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew attended and blessed the inauguration of the renovated old chapel of St. Tryphon, in Schinoudi of Imbros.
The inauguration was performed by Metropolitan Kyrillos of Imbros and Tenedos, on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, a day on which our Church honors Saint Martyr Tryphon the Miracle Worker, protector of viticulturists and farmers.
The service was attended by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Andreas Katsaniotis, the Consul General of Greece in Constantinople Georgia Sultanopoulou, Pavlos Stamatidis, Archon Ostiarios of the Great Church of Jesus Christ and President of the Imbrian Association of Macedonia-Thrace, together with members of the Board of the Association Schinoudiotes and friends of Imbros who traveled to the island from abroad, and believers from all the villages of Imbros.
“For us Imbrians, every renovation of a chapel is a source of gratitude to the God of love,” said the Ecumenical Patriarch in his speech and added:
“Our small homeland had about three hundred chapels, located in the mountains, on the slopes, on the plains, and on our beaches. Few of them escaped the catastrophe caused by the relentless “Disintegration Plan” of 1964.
Most of them were demolished, desecrated, turned into stables, and disappeared from the face of the earth. Few survived, mainly those near or inside the settlements.
In the last two decades, several dilapidated chapels have been renovated and rebuilt, including the two churches of the Mount Athos Metochion of Saint Konstantinos and the Metochion Saints Taxiarches.
A typical example of this positive development is the renovation of the chapel of Saint Tryphon.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch then referred to the life of Saint Tryphon, who is especially honored by the Imbrians, as for centuries their main professions, as he said, citing the words of Bartholomew Koutloumousianos, were “Agriculture and Pastoral”.
“The Church embraces and sanctifies our whole life, human relations, work, our daily life, borderline situations, blesses the fruits of the earth, the struggle for justice and peace, for the protection of nature.
This holistic view and the integration of all creation into the process of renewal and transformation in Christ is eminently characteristic of Orthodoxy and its invaluable traditions. The embodiment of this truth is the sacramental life of the Church and the presence of the Saints.
Indeed, the sacred mysteries and holiness are at the core of life in Christ. The Eucharist is, as it has been said, “the DNA of the Church”, the only power of transformation of the world, always referring to the final renewal of everything in the heavenly Kingdom of God.
The temples and chapels of the Saints, their icons and their holy relics are a great blessing, an inexhaustible source of spiritual enrichment, healing of omnipotent and wonderful revelations.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch congratulated the Metropolitan of Imbros and Tenedos for his interest in the renovation of the chapel, but also for his overall effort for the spiritual strengthening of the faithful of the ecclesiastical province entrusted to him by the Mother Church.
Afterwards, the Patriarch blessed the traditional festive banquet that was held in Schinoudi, while in the afternoon of the same day he received the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece and his honorable entourage, at his paternal home, in the village of Agioi Theodoroi, and visited the adjacent small museum “Patriarch Bartholomew”, which includes personal items and photographic material from his childhood and his ecclesiastical ministry.