The Sunday of Orthodoxy was celebrated by the Holy Metropolis of Belgium with splendor on March 13, 2022.
Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium presided over the Inter-Orthodox Divine Liturgy at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Brussels. The service was co-officiated by Bishop Dositheos of the Patriarchate of Georgia and Bishop Ioakeim of Apollonias, and many presbyters and deacons of the various Orthodox presences in Belgium as well as of the Holy Metropolis.
The Ambassadors in Belgium, Dionysios Kalavrezos of Greece, Vakhatang Makharoblishvili of Georgia and Plamen Bonchev of Bulgaria, as well as other representatives of the Diplomatic Corps, Admiral Ioannis Pavlopoulos, Head of the Greek Military Delegation to NATO, and Archons of the Holy Church of Christ, honored the feast Sunday of Orthodoxy.
During the Divine Liturgy choirs from various Belgian parishes chanted. The Byzantines of the Metropolitan Church and the Romanian Parish and the polyphonics of the Flanders Parishes and the Polish Parish, which attributed the hymns, each to their style, language, and tradition, thus giving evidence of the unity of Orthodoxy, despite the different origins of each.
Protopresbyter Kyprianos Popescu, who referred to the celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, proclaimed the celebration and referred to the fact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which tarnishes the Orthodox testimony of love and peace in the world.
At the end of the Inter-Orthodox Divine Liturgy, the archpriests, priests, and deacons performed the procession of the icons inside the church and the reading of the Synodal of Orthodoxy by the Metropolitan, who then read with emotion a prayer for peace in the world and especially for peace in Ukraine and asked the following questions in public: “How can we celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy when Orthodox are waging war against Orthodox? We, Orthodox Christians, are not craftsmen of war, but we are craftsmen of peace, love, and mutual respect. This war must end today. ” Concluding his short visit, he thanked the concelebrated priests, Bishops Dositheos and Ioakeim, the priests and deacons of the Metropolis and the various Orthodox presences in Belgium, the choirs, the ambassadors and the other diplomats, the archons and all the faithful who came from all over the territory of Belgium.