Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew returns from Switzerland
His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, together with his honourable entourage, returned late on Sunday evening, 3 November, from Basel, Switzerland, where in the morning of the same day His All-Holiness officiated during the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Holy Wisdom of God, where the 20th anniversary of its consecration was celebrated. It is noted that the foundation, as well as the consecration of the Church, had been performed by His All-Holiness.
In his speech, His All-Holiness said, among other things, the following:
“The great and genuine love of the late great benefactor of the Holy Metropolis of Switzerland and the Orthodox Community of Basel, Soumela Terzani, an eminent physician and true child of the Queen Mother Church, was the decisive reason for the dedication of this Holy Church to the Wisdom of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the model of the Great Church, Hagia Sophia, “the mother above all churches”, according to Fotis Kontoglou of Kydonia, which until today is admired and attracts the attention and admiration of the entire world. Despite the many changes over the centuries, it remains an eternal monument of the glory of God, which raises us, from the earthly, the material and the perishable and the temporary beauty of the building, to the eternal beauty of the dignity of the uncreated eternal Kingdom, whose walls “are painted by the precious hands of the invisible God”.
Honour, thanksgiving and praise are due to the late Soumela, because, with the divine zeal, the urging and the persistence of the then Bishop of Lampsacus, His Grace Bishop Makarios, assistant Bishop of the Holy Metropolis of Switzerland, and now His Eminence Metropolitan Makarios of Anea, sacrificially and silently took personal care of the Orthodox believers of this city and its surroundings who were deprived of a church building, in order to obtain the property of the church. Thus, it is not possible to forget the contribution of the late couple Achilleos and Elisabeth Kominos, of the Papastratos family, from Greece, whom the Late Soumela enlisted for the execution of this holy and noble work.
These noble and God-loving souls, today take up their abode in the triumphant Church, moving from the saddest to the most joyous a few years ago. All three left a good example of life and witness, a garment more holy in grace. We honour them, we remember them and we pray for the repose of their souls in a land of paradise with the blessed”.
On the eve of the Liturgy, in the evening, the Patriarch blessed the official dinner hosted in his honour by the Parish, on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary, on that day, of His enthronement. [Read the Patriarchal speech in Greek here]
