On the Fifth Sunday of the Holy Lent, April 18, 2021, Metropolitan Athinagoras of Belgium presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Monastery of the Nativity in Asten in the Netherlands.
During the Divine Liturgy, the Metropolitan ordained Quinten Koning as deacon, in compliance with all COVID-19 protective measures in force in the Netherlands.
The newly ordained deacon, who bears the name of St. Quinten, a 3rd-century Western saint who was martyred in France, is of Dutch descent, married and the father of four children.
He is a graduate of the Athonite Academy and is associated with Karakallou Monastery on Mount Athos, whose abbot, Archimandrite Philotheos, is his spiritual father.
In his speech to the newly ordained deacon, the Metropolitan stressed the importance and expounded upon the position of the deacon in the Church as a deacon of the Mysteries of Christ but also as a deacon to the Bishop in the liturgical, pastoral and charitable life of the Church, according to Saint Ignatius of Antioch.
He also stressed the importance of ministry in the Church but also the responsibility for this ministry, that is, the continued respect to the Holy Metropolis and the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
After the Divine Liturgy, the Metropolitan offered a Trisagion at the tomb of Gerontissa Maria, with whom the ordained deacon was associated since childhood.
The Metropolitan also offered a Trisagion for the rest of the souls of the hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne who passed away recently, Elder Metropolitan Konstantinos of Nicaea, Metropolitan Dionysios of Synada, Protopresbyter Siluan Osseel, Gerontissa Maria, and Nikos Manginas.