On Sunday, July 14, at the holy church of Panagia Dexia (Thessaloniki), the Metropolitan of Korea and Exarch of Japan Ambrosios celebrated the ordination of Deacon Vasyl Pokhylets to the office of Presbyter.
The Ukrainian-born Fr. Vasyl is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He was ordained deacon by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Fanar on the Sunday of Orthodoxy last March. He is to serve in the Exarchate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Japan.
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, the Metropolitan of Korea expressed his deepest gratitude to His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch because thanks to His paternal love, the Orthodox Metropolis of Korea and Exarchate of Japan has gained a new clergyman. He also thanked His Eminence Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki for granting the permission for the ordination of Fr. Vasyl in his Province. Finally, he thanked the priests Fr. Efthymios Vakalakis, Fr. Agapios Papadopoulos and Fr. Georgios Chilas for their hospitality and the love they showed to Fr. Vasyl during his diakonia in the holy church of Panagia Dexia.
The ordination was attended by many people and by students of the Department of Greek Studies of HUFS University (South Korea), who are attending the summer program of the Greek language of the University of Thessaloniki.
