The Feast Day of Christmas in the Marathokefala Cave in Crete
Thousands of believers, from all over Crete, flooded the cave of Saint John the Hermit, in Marathokefala Kissamos, in the Municipality of Platanias, and participated in the Evening Christmas Divine Liturgy, presided over by His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilochios of Kissamos and Selino.
Upon his arrival, Metropolitan Amfilochios was welcomed by the Priests, as well as the re-elected Mayor of Platanias, Mr. Ioannis Malandrakis, to whom His Eminence wished all the best for his re-election.
The crowds of faithful believers who flooded the holy cave participated, with awe and reverence, in the Divine Liturgy, and hundreds of them partook of the Immaculate Mysteries, the Body and Blood of Christ, for some time, from the three holy Chalices that had been prepared.
The Christmas Encyclical of the Metropolitan of Kissamos and Selino was read by Archimandrite Chrysanthos Tsahakis, a father from the Holy Patriarchal Monastery of Gonia, and His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilochios, offering his wishes with heartfelt words to the hundreds of faithful, noted: “This Christmas, let us experience the deepest meaning, the beauty of the feast day; a feast day that is a “time”, and an opportunity for revelations and a “time of thanksgiving”.
In other words, an opportunity to break the shackles of our egocentrism, to discover our true self. It is an opportunity, for an inner journey into the space of the heart. An opportunity to open our hearts wide so that Christ, who is God and the Prince of peace, may dwell. A chance to make peace with ourselves. To calm the soul, to free the intellect, to clear the mind. For peace to prevail and love to reign”.
“And when love prevails, then peace will be established, as Saint John Chrysostomos also mentions”, His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilochios concluded, wishing to all a “Merry and Blessed Christmas, full of Christ, grace, joy and peace”.
