A memorial service for the memory of the Pontian Genocide was held on the Sunday of the Blind and the day of the memory of Saints Constantine and Helen, May 21, 2023, on the first Sunday after May 19, at the Holy Metropolitan Church of the Holy Archangels of Brussels.
The Protosyncellus of the Holy Metropolis, Archimandrite Philadelphos Kafalis, presided over the Divine Liturgy and the Memorial Service, while the Ambassador of Greece to Belgium, Dionysios Kalavrezos, representatives of the Greek Community of Brussels and other Greek associations, invited by the Presidium and the members of the Cultural Association of Pontians in Brussels were present.
At the end of the memorial service, the Protosyncellus conveyed the wishes of the Metropolitan for the continuation of the memory of the victims of Pontian Hellenism, referred to the huge cultural heritage carried by the descendants of the Roman martyrs of Pontus, which was based on piety and deep faith in God. “History was written, and you don’t time bar it, either we recognize it or we don’t recognize it.
Pontus gave us streams of martyrs according to the thousands of martyrs of the first centuries. The responsibility for what happened lies with those who wrote this black page about world history. But you, the young Pontians, the descendants of brave neo-martyrs, are responsible for preserving the memory, piety, and grandeur of Pontian Hellenism. Be proud of your origins, guard the faith of your grandparents, piety, and love to Christ and to the Theotokos! Guard the language and the great culture of the Romiosyni of Pontus as the pupil of your eye, visit your unforgettable homelands, like the first of the Nation, our Ecumenical Patriarch, who runs through the blessed land of Pontus, performs the Divine Liturgy and commemorates all those who ended their lives there…” he said, among other things.
Then the Ambassador and the President of the Pontian Association of Brussels spoke and referred to the historical events of the hardship and persecution of the Greeks of Pontus in the early 20th century, and the responsibility of preserving memory.
A reception followed at the parish center of the Temple, under the sound of a Pontian lyre.
