This year, for the first time, the Parish of Eastern Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein commemorated Holy Father, Saint Gallus, patron of the Swiss canton and the city of St. Gallen.
On the evening of Friday, October 8, 2021, the faithful of the Parish welcomed the holy icon of the local Saint to the Parish Church of Saints Constantine and Helen in St. Gallen which was made and donated by the Holy Monastery of Saint Paraskevi in Didymoteicho.
With the canonical permission and blessing of Metropolitan Maximos of Switzerland, the Abbot of the Monastery, Archimandrite Kyrillos Koltsidis, brought the holy icon with the creator of the icon and member of the Monastery, Archimandrite Gabriel Cheimonas.
On Saturday, October 9, Archimandrite Kyrillos concelebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Church of Saints Constantine and Helen at the reception of the icon.
On Saturday, October 16, the feast day of Saint Gallus, a Divine Liturgy was celebrated with the participation of the Hierarchical Head of the Parish of Basel – Northwestern Switzerland, Protopresbyter Dimitrios Martzelos.
By decision of Metropolitan Maximos, henceforth every October 16, a day on which the Church commemorates Saint Gallus, its local Saint will be solemnly celebrated in the Parish of Saint Gallen, that is, in the land where he lived, practiced in Christ and reposed in the Lord in the 7th AD century.
This historic decision of the Metropolitan restores to the liturgical memory an unknown and invisible in the East but great Saint of the first millennium of the historical life of the Church, thus allowing the Orthodox faithful of the Parish and of the Metropolis, in general, to properly honor this figure who lived in this part of Switzerland and gave its name to the Canton and the city of St. Gallen.
