On May 9, 2021, the Parish of Saints George and Alina in Dilbeek celebrated the Sunday of Thomas.
Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium and Exarch of the Netherlands and Luxembourg presided over the service observing all the protection measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Belgium.
Metropolitan Athenagoras in his sermon referred to the “good” infidelity of Thomas and the subsequent confession of faith in the risen Christ and their importance for the lives of believers today, urging us to remove the clouds of infidelity from our lives and leave the event of the Resurrection of Christ to permeate our whole life.
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Athenagoras thanked the clergy of the Parish for the work they perform with the help of their associates, while he also made a specific reference to Saint Ieronymos of Simonopetra, whose memory is honored on May 9, and the fact that he, as a member of the Holy and Holy Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, co-signed after the Ecumenical Patriarch and the other Synodal Saints the Act of Ordination of Saint Ieronymos of Simonopetra as a saint.
After the end of the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Athenagoras performed a Trisagion for the repose of the soul of the blessed Elder Emilianos of Simonopetra, whom he knew from his childhood when he visited Mount Athos with his blessed father, Father Ignatius Peckstadt.