The enthronement of the new Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Saint George Epanosifis of Crete
The Sunday of All Saints, 11 June 2023, was a special day for the Monastery of Saint George Epanosifis in Heraklion, Crete. In the afternoon after the Vespers service, the enthronement of the new Abbot took place.
A month before, on May 11, the brotherhood of the Monastery had been called to elect a new Abbot since until then, Archimandrite Bartholomew Voyiatzoglou, after an admirable abbotship, full of works and spiritual progress of the Monastery, assumed the duties of the Protosyncellus of the Holy Archdiocese of Crete. The brotherhood of the Monastery unanimously elected Archimandrite Father Dionysios Kasimatis to succeed Father Bartholomew, who, as mentioned above, was enthroned on Sunday, June 11.
The enthronement took place with ecclesiastical splendour and was presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Evgenios of Crete, in the presence of a large number of clergy and laity from all over Crete.
In his speech, the Archbishop, after extolling the work of the Prior Abbot Father Bartholomew Vogiatzoglou, referred to the new Abbot Father Dionysios Kasimatis in a laudatory, spiritual and advisory address, using several times passages from the words of St. John of Climacus.
The new Abbot in his enthronement speech, with obvious emotion, thanked His Eminence Archbishop Evgenios of Crete, his predecessor and the Brothers of the Monastery for the honour they bestowed upon him, and he thanked all those present including his relatives.
At the end of the service, the new Abbot accepted everyone’s wishes and this followed by an offering of hospitality from the Holy Monastery.
The new Abbot Father Dionysios Kasimatis was born on June 6, 1982 in Kalessa, Malevizio province, Heraklion Prefecture, Crete. He is a graduate of the Ecclesiastical School of Crete and a graduate of the High Ecclesiastical Academy of Crete. At the end of 2005, he settled in the Epanosifis Monastery and on May 26, 2006 he was ordained a Monk by his predecessor and current Protosyncellus of the Holy Archdiocese of Crete, Fr. Bartholomew Vogiatzoglou. A day later, he was ordained a deacon by the then Bishop of Knossos and current Archbishop Evgenios of Crete. He was ordained a presbyter by the former Archbishop Irenaeus of Crete on November 3, 2011, while he was tonsured an Archimandrite in April 2013. From 2012 to 2018, he was parish priest of the Parish of Saint Paraskevi in Pitsidis, from where he was transferred to the parish of Saint Vasilios in Pediados, where he remained until his election as Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Saint George Epanosifis.
