His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew speaking at the Saint Spyridon Patriarchal and Stavropegic Skete in Halki.
(Photo by Ecumenical Patriarchate/Nick Manginas)
CONSTANTINOPLE – His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
speaking during the celebration of Saint Spyridon, Bishop of Trimythous,
at the Patriarchal and Stavropegic Skete in Halki said that “this year
was especially important for the Mother Church of Constantinople because
at its very beginning we had the blessing of God to grant as Ecumenical
Patriarchate the Tomos of Autocephaly to our sister, now, Orthodox
Church of Ukraine.”
The Patriarch added that “disputed as it may have been and still is
by some, it is now an ecclesiastical fact, recorded as a historical one,
and this young sister Church of ours has been added to the Diptychs
list of the Autocephalous Churches.”
The Patriarch referred to the life of the Wonderworker Saint Spyridon
and especially to his simplicity and humility. He said that “we wish
for world peace, which is disrupted in many parts of the world, far and
wide, and human blood is unjustly shed, the blood of young people.
Therefore, our Church will not stop praying for world peace.”
The Patriarch introduced Metropolitan Panteleimon of Maroneia and
Komotini who was present and asked him to address the congregation.
Metropolitan Panteleimon, who shepherds one of the Metropolises of
the Ecumenical Throne, one of the Metropolises in the New Lands,
referred to the feast of St. Spyridon and also to the importance of the
doctrines of our Church, which “are not mere legal formalities but have a
soteriological dimension.”
Metropolitan Panteleimon said that “staying within the Church and
obeying their Bishop wherever they are is preferable to any
differentiation. I want to ask you, Your All-Holiness, to wish us all,
clergy and lay people, to be united and faithful to the tradition of the
One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, which is the Holy Great
Church of Christ that you lead steadily.”