Great Feast Day of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra, at the Holy Monastery of Porto Lagos
The Church yesterday, venerates Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra. This Saint lived during the reign of Saint Constantine the Great and reposed in 330. Saint Nicholas is the patron of all travelers, and of seafarers in particular, he is one of the best known and best loved Saints of all time.
The feast day of Saint Nicholas was celebrated with millennia-old ecclesiastical reverence at the Holy Monastery of Porto Lagos, which is dedicated to the saint. The monastery in extreme northeast Greece is a metohion of the Holy & Great Monastery of Vatopedi of Mount Athos.
The Abbot of the venerable monastery, the Elder Archimandrite Ephraim, officiated at a festal Vespers on Monday afternoon, on the eve of the feast day, accompanied by Vatopedi Elders and clerics of the Holy Metropolis of Xanthi.
Numerous faithful from the region and pilgrims from around Greece and the world attended the con-celebratory service, along with local authorities, office-holders and representatives of law enforcement and the military.
The Greek Byzantine Choir, led by chorister Georgios Kontantinou, chanted the hymns at the services.
The great feast day was also celebrated with an Hierarchical Vespers at the celebrating cathedral of Saint Nicholas on the Cyclades Island of Syros, as Nicholas the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra, is the patron saint and protector of the isle.
The visiting Metropolitan of Kifissia, Maroussi and Oropos, His Eminence Kirillos, officiated at the service and preached the Gospel.
Co-officiating were the Metropolitan of Veria, Naoussa and Kampania, His Eminence Panteleimon, and the resident Metropolitan, His Eminence Dorotheos.
Still in the country and from the picturesque southern city of Nafplio, a festal Vespers was celebrated on the eve of the feast day at the Cathedral of the Panaghia, the All-Holy Virgin Mary of Nafplion. The Local Cathedral this year substituted for the historic Church of St. Nicholas in the city, which remains closed, as repairs are needed on its roof and interior. A contingent of the Hellenic Coast Guard was on hand for the service, as St. Nicholas is the patron saint of this corps.
Source: orthodoxianewsagency.gr
More photos: Rafail Georgiadis
