Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and all Scandinavia ordained Deacon Μaxime Francois Lesage as presbyter of the Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation in Oslo at the Cathedral of St. Georgios on Sunday, November 22, 2020.
The ordination that was originally scheduled for Palm Sunday was held on Sunday, November 22, due to the COVID-19 measures.
For this reason, Metropolitan Cleopas chose to perform the ordination on the Feast of the Entry of the Virgin Mary into the Temple. Presbyter Μaxime Francois Lesage is the 13th clergyman of this historic diocese of the Ecumenical Throne in Scandinavia during the last six years.
In his address before his ordination, the deacon thanked the Metropolitan of Sweden for his trust and referred to the importance of the priesthood and the challenges of our time.
“I became the bridge between the Greek Orthodox and those from the local Norwegian community who join our local Church. Now, with my ordination, I will continue the development of this pastoral relationship and action, so my spiritual father, Fr. Alexandros, and I will serve Your flock in Norway. I express my gratitude to you and our brothers in Oslo and I hope to continue to offer the best I can now as a priest, equally and without discrimination,” said the new presbyter.
The Metropolitan of Sweden then addressed the new presbyter and his spouse Delphine in Greek, English and French, stating, inter alia, the following:
“Unacceptable fundamentalism, undignified and hateful rhetoric, the furious attempt to demean people and the struggles of a lifetime, the public ridicule of anything that is different, conspiracy theories, and as a result, the strangulation of Orthodoxy, and by extent, the great Orthodox family numbering 300 million faithful across the world, and its presentation as an ecclesiastical “unfraternal nation” represent today just a few of the materials that compose the rope keeping the vessel of the Church tied to the harbor of decline and gradual mortification.”
Metropolitan Cleopas concluded his speech with an excerpt from a prophetic text by the late Metropolitan of Chalcedon, Melitonas, entitled On Hypocrisy: “As a Church, we are intertwined with the path taken by the human race, in this great adventure called History, which leads us to the fulfillment of the final days. By pretending to belong to the past, we become absent from the present, and the future shall arrive devoid of us. Yesterday is long gone, and we are not even living out today. The day after tomorrow is already at hand.”
The Divine Liturgy was performed in five languages, Greek, French, English, Swedish and Norwegian and was live-streamed on the Facebook page of the Metropolis of Sweden. Archimandrites Bartholomew Iatridis, priest of Saint Georgios Cathedral in Stockholm, and Alexandros Loukatos, priest of Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Oslo, attended the ordination.
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, the Bishop performed a Trisagion service for the rest of the souls of the late Patriarch of Serbia, Irinej, and the late Metropolitan of Langadas, Ioannis.
The Metropolitan also prayed for the speedy recovery of the Archbishops Anastasios of Albania and Ieronymos of Athens.
After the Divine Liturgy, the President of the Ladies Philoptochos Society of Stockholm Cathedral, Fotini Batsela, offered a meal in honor of the newly ordained presbyter and his spouse.