On the afternoon of Monday, September 22, 2025, Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and All Scandinavia hosted a thanksgiving dinner in the reception hall of the Cathedral of Saint George in Stockholm, in honor of the volunteers who contributed to the flawless organization of the recent Patriarchal Visit of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
More than fifty volunteers attended the dinner, while over twenty others were unable to be present due to personal or family obligations.
The Metropolitan, after expressing his gratitude to those present as well as to those absent for good reason, delivered the following address:
“Very Reverend Father Bartholomew,
Reverend Father George,
Beloved Volunteers and Co-workers in the ministry of our local Church,
With deep emotion and profound gratitude I welcome you and pay due honor to all of you, the esteemed and blessed volunteers, who with self-sacrifice and selflessness supported the historic Visit of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Stockholm and Uppsala, from August 21 to 25, 2025.
The arrival and paternal presence of His All-Holiness in our midst was a heaven-sent blessing and an inestimable gift, for through it our unity with the Mother Church of Constantinople was confirmed.
If this historic event was crowned with order, exemplary organization, and success, it is thanks to the willingness and tireless dedication of your hearts.
All of you—young and old, men and women—proved in action what “service” truly means.
The Lord taught: “Whoever wishes to be great must be the servant of all” (Mark 10:43). You live this teaching, for Holy Scripture also exhorts us: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb. 13:2).
Just as Patriarch Abraham welcomed the three strangers at the Oak of Mamre and was revealed as a bearer of God, so too, through your hospitality and zeal, you became witnesses of the living Orthodox faith.
Saint John Chrysostom reminds us that “he who offers hospitality, offers it to Christ Himself.” Indeed, in the person of His All-Holiness, you hosted the Lord Himself, whom he represents and confesses “in the midst of the earth.”
In this historic moment, each of you placed your own stone, so that our local Church might prove itself worthy of this great honor. For this reason, our gratitude today is not only human but also theological.
We thank you, and at the same time we glorify God—the giver of every good gift—who inspired you to work with harmony and love, and who made possible the favorable comments of our seventy guests from ten different countries, who were impressed by your kindness, eagerness, and selfless, enthusiastic service.
May the blessings of His All-Holiness become the starting point of a new journey. Our Holy Metropolis is called to continue, with renewed strength, its pastoral ministry: caring for our youth, supporting our families, strengthening the weak, and promoting our culture and traditions.
The visit of the Patriarch is not only an honor of the past but also a responsibility and mission for the future.
I have left for last those to whom our Church always owes gratitude and heartfelt thanks: the owners of the restaurant Cypern, Mr. Nikolaos Athanasiou and Mr. Athanasios (Sakis) Kalpakas, who always—today as well—so generously and selflessly offer their services, allowing us to enjoy the exquisite flavors and quality that have rightfully earned them a high place in the culinary preferences of Swedish society.
May the God of love bless and strengthen all of you—both present and, for good reason, absent—together with your families, loved ones, and relatives. May He reward each of you individually for your labor and contribution, granting health, every blessing, and prosperity.
Thank you.”
Translated by Ioanna Georgakopoulou
