Phanar: The Thronal Feast of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

On Wednesday 30 November 2022, at the All-Venerable Patriarchal Church of Saint George, Phanar, on the occasion of the feast day of Saint Andrew the Apostle and First-Called and the Thronal Feast Day of the Mother Church of Constantinople, a Patriarchal and Synodical Liturgy took place.

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided over the Divine Liturgy, in which an ordination to the deaconate took place.

At the Divine Liturgy, as per every year, a deligation from the Roman Catholic Church was present also.

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, during his homily, condemned, once again, the pro-war manipulation of religious belief.

His All-Holiness said, among other things, characteristically

“When hatred, violence and division are preached, then the name of God is desecrated.

Unfortunately, we are still witnessing today how religious faith can be manipulated to justify war and the use of violence.

The ongoing destructive war in Ukraine between brother and sister Christian peoples causes us deep sorrow and constitutes a great challenge.

With reference to these unacceptable events, it is important to remember that the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church (Crete, 2016) condemned war and declared that the Church of Christ condemns war in general, of which the church considers to be the result of evil and sin in the world. Also that the Orthodox Church strongly condemns the various conflicts and wars due to fanaticism stemming from religious principles.

The Synod of Crete underlined that the peace of Christ is the ripened fruit of the recapitulation of everything in Himself, of highlighting the value and greatness of the human person as the Image of God, of the promotion of the organic unity of the human race and the world, of the universality of the principles of peace, freedom and social justice and, finally, of the fruition of Christian love between the peoples of the world.

In this spirit, the Synod declared that the Orthodox Church considers it its duty to applaud everything that in reality serves peace and opens the way to justice, fraternity, true freedom and mutual love among all the children of the One Heavenly Father, as well as among all the peoples that make up the united human family”.

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Source: fosfanariou.gr