Ordination of Monk Prodromos to Hierodeacon at the Basilica of Bethlehem
On the morning of Sunday, the 12th/25th of May 2025, the Sunday of the Blind Man, the ordination of the monk Prodromos to Hierodeacon took place in the Basilica of Bethlehem, by the Patriarchal Representative of Bethlehem, His Eminence Metropolitan Benedictos of Diocaesarea.
Before the ordination, His Eminence addressed him with the following exhortation:
“My beloved child, Father Prodromos,
Today, on the occasion of your ordination, my thoughts return forty-three years to the past, to the day when His Beatitude Patriarch Diodoros of Jerusalem, my spiritual father, ordained me from a monk to a deacon at the All-Holy Tomb.
And now you too, with the permission, approval, and blessing of His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and of our Holy Synod, are called and have come forth to serve and minister from a new position and from another Holy Shrine, for the sacred common purpose of the All-Holy and Life-Giving Sepulchre. Despite your brief stay in the Holy Land, the Fathers—as did I—have recognised your obedience, your self-denial, your modesty, and above all, your love for our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Church of Zion, the ancient and martyric Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Order of the Studious (Spoudaioi), the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, continues its mission throughout the ages. It is the highest honour and a great blessing to belong to and minister within its fold.
You were born in Athens and raised in Mytilene, from where you inherit your paternal lineage, and from Cyprus on your mother’s side. You completed your general education and served in the Security Forces as a police officer, from which the All-Good God called you to follow Him through the monastic way of life. From Ioannis, you became a monk at the Holy Monastery of Saint Marina on the island of Andros, receiving the name Prodromos. And from the island of Andros, God guided your life’s steps to the Holy and God-trodden Places.
You ministered for about a month at the Central Monastery, at Saint Constantine, and you were then assigned to Holy Bethlehem, where you demonstrated eagerness, divine zeal, and love in your service and as a chanter. Continue, my child, with the same fervour in this next stage of your journey, as a Hierodeacon, in the Chief Secretariat of our Patriarchate and as the Overseer of the Holy Monastery of Saint George in the Jewish Quarter, and wherever else our Patriarchate may need and assign you—as a good and honourable soldier of Christ.
The All-Holy Shrines need servants and guardians of our faith, in need of fathers, monks, and nuns, so that the redeeming, spiritual, and liturgical mission of these Holy Institutions and Monasteries may continue—places where the souls of locals and pilgrims alike seek and find their Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, who, through His Precious Cross and glorious Resurrection, “wrought salvation amid the earth” (Psalm 73:12).
We shall miss you, father and brother, but the Basilica of the Nativity of Christ will always remain your starting point in the Holy Land, your first home. And as your first home, know well that it will be a great joy for us whenever you visit and pray for us, just as we shall pray for you.
May the Grace of the All-Holy Places accompany you on your journey, strengthen your faith, and support you in your trials.
God be with you now and always!
Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed!”
The ordinand responded to His Eminence as follows:
“Your Eminence, Metropolitan Benedictos of Diocaecarea,
Holy Fathers and Brethren,
Pious pilgrims of the God-receiving Grotto of Bethlehem
Above all, I thank God for His longsuffering, for His boundless compassion and love for mankind, and for all His gifts and benefactions.
“I thank God Who deemed me worthy to minister in Holy Bethlehem and to be ordained a deacon here, in the very place where our Most Holy Lady gave birth to Christ, granting me the opportunity to be “born anew.”
I thank God Who deems me worthy to minister in the Holy Land, despite my unworthiness, thus fulfilling a deep longing of my heart.
I thank God and the Holy Synod for the trust shown to me and for my inclusion in the noble Order of the Holy Sepulchre Brotherhood.
I thank God and His Beatitude the Patriarch, as well as all the Hierarchs, who have embraced me with paternal love from the very first moment.
I thank God and the other fathers of the Brotherhood, who with simplicity and genuine love have embraced me and welcomed me into their family.
I thank God and His Eminence, the Metropolitan of Diocaesarea, our Master, as well as all the fathers of Holy Bethlehem, who laboured for this day and who, in general, have offered me so much, both materially and spiritually—for by their manner they have taught me that there is no love without sacrifice.
I thank God and the monastery of my repentance, Saint Marina of Andros. The elders of the monastery greatly aided me in the first steps of my monastic life, and I feel that their prayers, together with the Protection of the Saint, accompany me everywhere.
I thank God and my parents, my siblings, my close relatives and friends, who support my choices and whom I know are all here in spirit. Glory be to God! His prayers have encompassed me since childhood.
I thank God and all of you who are present here today and join in prayer on my behalf. I thank especially His Eminence, Archbishop Aristarchos, for the great spiritual support he has given me and for coming here today, together with Archimandrite Christodoulos, to pray for me—as well as my brother and his wife, who, disregarding every danger, made their way here.
Pray that God may grant me the strength to serve the Church in this “post” with self-sacrifice, discernment, and the fear of God.
Yet no words can fully express the feelings and gratitude I bear toward God and all those mentioned above. One phrase constantly echoes in my mind:
“What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?”
Upon the visitation of divine Grace and the laying on of hands by the Hierarch, the monks serving at the Basilica of the Nativity, together with the congregation of Bethlehem, acclaimed him with the exclamation “Axios!”
His Eminence Metropolitan Benedictos of Diocaesarea received those who honoured the newly ordained in the rectory.
From the Chief Secretariat
Source: Patriarchate of Jerusalem
