Ecumenical Patriarch: We will never forget Imbros
The Ecumenical Patriarch presided over the Divine Liturgy on Tuesday morning, April 18, 2023, at the chapel of St. Nicholas in Marmara of Imbros.
Metropolitans Kyrillos of Imbros and Tenedos, Chrysostomos of Myra and Anthimos of Alexandroupolis, Ioannis Zamboukis, Mayor of Alexandroupolis, students of the schools of Imbros, as well as many believers from Agridia, Schinoudi and other villages of the Aegean island, attended the service.
The Metropolitan of the island offered the Ecumenical Patriarch a commemorative leaflet prepared by the Metropolis since the first Easter that the Ecumenical Patriarch celebrated in Imbros in 2013, while immediately afterwards, in the green courtyard of the chapel, Metropolitan Myron, in a brief speech, referred to the history of the Church and the wider area of Marmara.
In his reply, the Ecumenical Patriarch pointed out the devout atmosphere that prevailed during the Divine Liturgy in this small and remote chapel and stressed the importance of faith in Christ and His Church, but also of preserving the history and traditions of Imbros. He said: “What the Metropolitans of Myra and Imbros and Tenedos organised today is a proof of great love for Imbros and its customs.
The Metropolitan of Myra referred to historical events of the past. We must know our history, and our ancestors to honor them, to remember both the pleasant and the unpleasant, to try to repeat and perpetuate the pleasant, and to avoid the unpleasant that we experienced in the past. Of course, as long as that’s up to us.
The point is that we must be connected with Imbros and the Imbrian customs, whether we live permanently here in Imbros, or we live in Constantinople, or further afield, abroad, as unfortunately we were forced to emigrate rather than many of us during the stone years of Imbros, after ’64, when the Imbrians left, propelled, within a few days, within a few weeks, but nostalgia, as I said many times these days in my speeches, the nostalgia and the desire of the Imbrians to find themselves again, even for a while, was never lacking. Today let us make this promise to ourselves, to each other, and to our place on Imbros that we will not forget it.”
Subsequently, the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Hierarchs, the clergy, and the faithful sat in the courtyard of the church and under the sounds of traditional Imbriot music tasted the local treats.
Source: orthodoxtimes.com
More Photos: Nikos Papachristou / Ecumenical Patriarchate
