On Sunday, June 26, 2022, the 40-day memorial service for the repose of Marie-Thérèse Peckstadt-Janssens, mother of Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium, was held in the Parish of Saint Andrew in Ghent.
Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium presided over the Divine Liturgy, accompanied by Archbishop Job of Telmessos, Bishop Joachim of Apollonia, and priests and deacons of the Holy Metropolis of Belgium.
During his speech, Metropolitan Athenagoras commented on the Gospel Reading of the day for the miracle of catching fish, focusing primarily on our call. “Jesus is in Galilee by the lake, away from Jerusalem, away from religious and social institutions, and he talks to the fishermen who were fishing.” In this story, as in many other meetings of Jesus mentioned in the Gospels, the order is the same. Jesus walks, observes, invites, and is being followed: He “saw two brothers,” He “called them,” they “followed Him.” The same goes for us, and more specifically for our call. Our call does not depend on us, on our personal quests, on our intelligence, on our skills, on our talents, or even on our piety. It is above all a call addressed to each of us personally by Him who saw us before we even thought of Him. This call surprises us, like the morning light that surprises us in our daily lives.”
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, he performed a memorial service. Archbishop Job of Telmessos then explained the meaning and significance of the memorial service for the deceased.
Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium thanked the hierarchs, priests, and deacons who attended and the faithful who remembered his late and beloved mother. A treat was then presented in the parish hall. Metropolitan Athenagoras, Archbishop Job, and the family of the deceased also performed a Trisagion service at the tomb of late Protopresbyter Ignatius Peckstadt and his wife.