Memorial for late Metropolitan Ioakeim of Nicomedia at the Metropolis of Chalcedon

A year has passed since the falling asleep of the late Metropolitan Elder Ioakeim of Nicomedia, from Chalcedon and Melitene. One year since the end of the suffering and pain of the illness that had immobilised him for twenty years, testing him “like gold in a smelting furnace”.

On Saturday morning, 20 April 2024, at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Chalcedon, where in 1992 the Late Metropolitan Ioakeim was enthroned as the 99th Shepherd of the Holy Metropolis of Chalcedon, a commemorative Poly-Hierarchical Divine Liturgy took place presided over by His Eminence Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, who was assisted by Their Graces, Bishop Kassianos of Aravissos and Bishop Benjamin of Tralee. The aforementioned Hierarchs were joined in the Divine Liturgy by the Grand Syncellus Archimandrite Iakovos, Protopresbyter Father Konstantinos Kayandelen, as well as by Patriarchal Deacon Father Ieronymos Sotirelis and Deacon Father Asterios Bardakci. The chanting was lead by Mr. G. Kioseoglou, Archon First Domestikos of the Great Church of Christ, president of the Association of Musicophiles of Pera.

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, connected, as is known, with the late Hierarch through a long and solid friendship but also spiritual kinship, since both were spiritual children of the late Elder Metropolitan Meliton Hatzis of Chalcedon, was also present for the Memorial Service and prayed together with the Holy Hierarchs from the Holy Sanctuary.

Also present at the Divine Liturgy were Their Eminences, Metropolitan Irenaios of Myriophytos and Peristasis, Metropolitan Andreas of Forty Churches and Metropolitan Dorotheos of Drama, and Their Graces, Bishop Smaragdos of Daphnusia and Bishop Paisios of Xanthoupolis, as well as the clergy of the Holy Metropolis of Chalcedon. The church was also attended by Archons of the Patriarchate, Community figures, relatives of the late Hierarch, teachers and many believers from Constantinople and from abroad.

After the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, a memorial service was offered for the repose of the soul of the late Shepherd of Chalcedon and the prepared koliva was also blessed and distributed in his memory.

Afterwards, a meal was offered in the community hall with the care and attention of the active and always welcoming Board of Directors of the Chalcedon Community.

Afterwards, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, accompanied by the local Shepherd Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, made their way to the cemetery of Saint Ignatios in Chalcedon, where His All-Holiness conducted a trisagion at the grave of the late Hierarch, being His successor on the great Throne of Chalcedon.

After this, in a well-known restaurant in the area of Modi (Kadıköy), the Holy Metropolis of Chalcedon hosted a meal in blessed memory of the Late Hierarch Ioakeim of Nicomedia, while, as a token of gratitude, they also offered the attendees a tasteful collection of texts about the late Hierarch, released on the occasion of the completion of exactly one year since his falling asleep, and was edited by Archimandrite Evgenios Karatzas, Protosyncellus of the Holy Metropolis of Chalcedon.