“The Phanar is always a source of light and hope. And it does not
blow out, nor with the winds blowing from East and West, nor with the
winds blowing ice today from the steppes of the North” said
the Ecumenical Patriarch at Vespers while celebrated his name’s day at
the Monastery of Baloukli, in the presence of the Archbishop of Athens
and all Greece and the Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine.
“The truth for Ukraine, for her Church, for all that happen for her,
will shine through and prevail,” underlined the Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew, who on Monday afternoon presided from the throne the Great
Vespers for the feast the Holy Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas. The
service was held in the Monastery of Life-bearing Spring of Baloukli, in
the presence of His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All
Greece, His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphanios of Kyiv and all Ukraine, a
multitude of hierarchs, clergymen, archons, headed by their President
Gerasimos Fokas, the General Consul of Greece in the City Mrs. Georgia
Sultanopoulou accompanied by the Consul George Gaitani, the General
Consul of Ukraine Mr. Oleksandr Gaman, and the faithful from the City
and abroad. Mr. Hasan Baltaci and Mr. Ismet Tokdemir, members of the
Republican People’s Party, were also present.
In his speech, His All-Holiness thanked God for the celebration of
his name’s day for the 28th time as Archbishop of the Queen of the
Cities and Ecumenical Patriarch, in the historic and ancient Monastery
of Life-bearing Spring. He addressed a special greeting to the present
Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, Ieronymos, and then to the
Metropolitan of Kiev and to all Ukraine, Epiphanios.
“And we have the joy and honor of the presence of His Beatitude
Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and all Greece, who wanted to add another
link to the chain linking our two Churches and to enrich the jubilation
of our celebrations. Your Beatitude, I thank you and your suite
gratefully for the honor, that despite the high duties that you have at
the same time which impose upon you to return to your see, we address
you with most honor and fraternal love, wishing that we meet quickly
again. You have allowed us to greet you and to say goodbye to you with
the epigraphic words of Maximus of the Confessor: “Seize which is
becoming old and bloom which is new”.
“And in turn, we address You, Your Beatitude of Kyiv and all Ukraine,
Metropolitan Epiphanios, who likewise wanted to honor in person the
celebration of our name’s day. We are grateful to you. Lastly, you and
us are at the center of processes, decisions, changes, of a new order in
Orthodoxy, but also of disputes, attacks, slanders, great distortions
of truth and reality. We answer: ‘Know the truth, and the truth will
make you free.’ ‘Lie do not crawl to old age’, so do not be afraid, Your
Beatitude and brother. “False is insignificant and truth is much
stronger”, as Chrysostomos would say in this case. The truth about
Ukraine, for her Church, for all that happen for her, will shine through
and prevail. To those who unjustly defame us and our other
predecessors, we respond with the words of Gregory the Theologian:
‘These are of the things below, we are of the angels; these are of
anger, we are of faith; these are threatening us, we are praying for
them; these are of gold and silver, we are purified’. So, ‘do not
trouble your heart, never be tempted’.”
“You have received autocephaly and freedom of self-government from
your Mother Church, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which, according to
Professor Phidas, is the time-honored guarantor of the canonical order
in the Orthodox Church, and according to Professor Tarnanidis, the
continuator, the spokesman and the interpreter of the pure Orthodox
tradition. Therefore, you know what you have been asking for, that which
you have wished for centuries, and this Church which is the first
throne of Orthodoxy knows what she gave you and why she gave it to you:
that which was your right to acquire and which was her right, and indeed
her exclusive right, to grant; and they all sought it and received it
from her, and nowadays all of them are refusing to recognize it and act
against their benefactor.”
“Thank you for your presence and your participation in our joy and we
congratulate you for your steadiness and gratitude to your benefactor,
the Mother Church, from whom you have received previously baptism.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch also welcomed all those who traveled from
abroad to honor him on his onomastic feast. “Yes, brothers and friends,
children and co-workers! The Phanar is always a source of light and
hope. And it does not blow out, nor with the winds blowing from East and
West, nor with the winds blowing ice today from the steppes of the
North, but it remains bright, solid and immovable! It is tempered on the
stone of faith. Its power is accomplished through suffering. Christ is
interceding. And ‘now redeemed from all outside privilege and secular
power’, it pours forth through the story, ‘being a benefactor and
imminent’.”
Subsequently, the Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine took the floor
to greet His All-Holiness, and pointed out that his visit to the City
“encloses the willingness to express once again the gratitude of the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church and myself personally for all the beneficial
actions of Your All-Holiness to the pious Ukrainian people”.
“Without your actions, your loving care, your great love,” continued
the Head of the Autocephalous Church of Ukraine, “we would still live in
division. And yet! Today we all enjoy the common worship of the One and
Only God glorified in the Trinity, the God of our Fathers.”
Then, turning to the Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, the Metropolitan of Kyiv, speaking in Greek, said:
“Your Beatitude, I was delighted to learn that you will be here
tonight and I expected to come to Istanbul tonight to meet your
venerable person. The person of the Pastor of Athens, the Hierarch who
loves and respects the institution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and
who is the pillar of his righteousness. Through your person I greet all
the Hierarchy of the Orthodox Church of Greece and I look forward to the
honor and joy of our concelebration in the future.”
At the end of the Vespers, the Ecumenical Patriarch celebrated a
memorial service for the monk Bartholomew of Koutloumous from Imbros
(1772-1851), whose name he bears, and then, in the courtyard of the
Monastery, a reception took place during which the Patriarch received
the respect and congratulations from the clergy and the people.
It is worth noting that the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece was
accompanied by the Metropolitans Nikolaos of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki,
and David of Grevena, his Chancellor Bishop Symeon of Thespia, and by
the Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece
Archimandrite Philotheos Theocharis, while the Metropolitan of Kyiv and
all Ukraine was accompanied by Archbishop Eustratios and his ordained
and lay collaborators.