The Holy Clergy and the pious people of the Holy Metropolis of Petra were impressed by the humble presence and sweetness of the figure of the Pope and Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria, who visited Neapolis yesterday, responding to the kind invitation of Metropollitan Gerasimos.
On the evening of Tuesday, August 3, the chants of the Vespers and the Great Intercessory Canon to the Blessed Virgin Mary were performed at the Holy Metropolitan Church of the Great Virgin of Neapolis, officiated by the Pope and Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria. The Metropolitan Gerasimos of Petra and Herronissos and Bishop Prodromos of Knossos also attended.
Metropolitan Gerasimos said in his address to the Primate of the Church of Alexandria: “We welcome you with great emotion and joy today, Your Beatitude! The Holy Clergy and our pious flock welcome you to the Eastern Crete. Your presence today is extremely honorable for all of us! It gives us strength and helps that today we welcome the first after the First of orthodoxy. We welcome the successor of the great Patriarchs of Alexandria, Athanasios, Cyril, John the Merciful, Meletius of Pigas and Cyril of Loukareos.
We welcome you to a place that we know very well that you love very much because you have felt the protection of the Mother of God, the grace, and the help of the Great Virgin. And for this help that He generously offers to You and to each of us, you came tonight, humble pilgrim, and gave us joy and strength in these difficult times of the pandemic. When we see You constantly going from end to end blessing and preaching the Gospel of Christ, we too gain strength. Because You know from diseases and from epidemics and from pandemics and you have fallen ill many times during Your pastoral work.
But what we always see in Your face that shines with joy, smile, and God’s blessing, is Your Faith in Christ and the Virgin Mary. That is why God required you to ascend to the Patriarchal Throne and for this reason – especially we Cretans – we are very happy and proud that a Cretan adorns the Throne of the Apostle Mark”.
In response, the Pope and Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria said: “Your invitation to me, Your Excellency, to come here to Neapolis to sing together the Prayer to Our Lady, made my heart skip a beat because I have many good memories of this place. And I admire him because I want you to know that many great personalities of Naples lived in Alexandria and contributed with their good acts to the preservation of the Orthodox Faith, the ecclesiastical traditions and the Greek language and Education “.
Then Patriarch Theodoros spoke about the difficulties and requirements of his missionary work: “In Africa, I need to travel endlessly and visit hundreds of cities and villages without a car to serve. Many times I need to drop my cane and walk, walk… I am in the pandemics, but for me, this is not something new since for years and years now I am among them. I reach out and tens of hundreds of children come up to me, hug me, and come in contact with a white hand and face for the first time. And how sad I am then when I leave them and they run to greet me and say “God be always with you”, hoping that one day I will come to them again.
Concluding his speech, he said: “I came tonight to meet the good Clergy and your flock, but especially you who have admired you since my childhood. I had so much to confess to Our Lady Mother and to beg Her on my knees to give Her wish and blessing to all the people living in the 54 states I serve.
I also want to thank the Virgin Orphan, our Almighty Queen, our Virgin Mary who cares for each of us and always protects us in whatever we do in our lives. I want to thank from the bottom of my heart and you Your Excellency because you honored the monastery of Agarathos, because you honor the Church with your personality, with the justice that you impose where and when needed “.
At the end of the Holy Prayer, Metropolitan Gerasimos askedd the Pope and Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria to accept as a blessing an epitrachelion, and an amulet bearing the copy of the Virgin of the Orphan Holy Monastery of Agarathos. And he concluded with the wish: “The Virgin Mary to be your eternal helper, always protect you, accompany you in your path and give you strength and health, so that you can continue with zealous the missionary service and we will be exemplified by the divine work of Yours”.