The celebration of the Great Feast of Theophany at the Ecumenical Patriarchate
The feast day of Holy Theophany was celebrated with all magnificence at the Ecumenical Patriarchate, today, Thursday, January 6, 2022.
His Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew after the Orthros service, during which he officiated, performed the Great Sanctification of the waters, and then celebrated the Divine Liturgy, cocelebrating with their Eminences, Metropolitan Melitonos Philadelphia, Metropolitan Nektariou of Anthidonos , Commissioner of the Holy Sepulcher in Constantinople, Metropolitan Irineos of Myriophytos and Peristaseos, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Myron , Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Kyrenia, from the Church of Cyprus, and Metropolitan Joachim of Proussas.
Also in attendance were their Graces, Bishop Adrianos of Alikarnassos, other clergymen, the Abbess of the Holy Hermitage of the Holy Forerunner of Akritochori Gerontissa Iakovi, with nuns of her Sisterhood, His excellency Mr. Ioannis Bournous, Member of Parliament for Lesvos, as a representative of the Greek Parliament, the Consul General of Greece in Constantinople, Mrs. Georgia Soultanopoulou, with her husband, His excellency, Mr. Ioannis Raptakis, Ambassador of Greece to the United Kingdom, the Consul General of Ukraine in Constantinople, His Excellency Mr. Roman Nedilskyi, with his wife and Consulate officials, Archons of the Great Church of Christ. and many believers from the city and abroad.
After the end of the Divine Liturgy, the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Hierarchs, the officials and the faithful went in procession to the waterfront of the Phanar where His Holiness conducted the ceremony of the Sanctification of the waters and the immersion of the Holy Cross in the bay of the Golden Horn.
More than 10 young people from the city and abroad dived into the cold waters of the Golden Horn, and the Holy Cross was retrieved by Victor Galip Yavuz, to whom the Ecumenical Patriarch offered a golden cross as a blessing, while also blessing and congratulating all the swimmers. thanking them for following the custom and tradition of diving into the blessed waters.
Photos: Nikos Papachristou – Dimitris Kamianovits – Ecumenical Patriarchate
Source: ec-patr.org
